Zhang Ziyi’s other Japanese-themed film is quirky fairy tale musical

Hong Kong, April. 17(AP): Zhang Ziyi’s best-known foray into Japanese culture is the Hollywood movie “Memoirs of a Geisha,” which stirred worries of an anti-Japan backlash in Zhang’s native China, where many are still bitter over Tokyo’s past military atrocities.
Less known is the fact that “Memoirs of a Geisha” isn’t the only time Zhang has danced in kimono on the big screen.
There’s also famed Japanese director Seijun Suzuki’s “Tanuki-Goten,” a quirky fairy-tale musical made in 2004 and recently released on DVD in Hong Kong.
It’s the story of a mythical ancient Japanese lord who, jealous over his son’s good looks, wants to kill him. Meanwhile, the young man meets and falls in love with Princess Raccoon (Zhang), who incurs the lord’s wrath.
Suzuki’s bizarre tale is matched by an equally unconventional cinematic approach and production design.
For starters, Zhang dabbles in Japanese dialogue _ but speaks Chinese for most of the film.
Meanwhile, sappy melodies are punctuated by an upbeat, trumpet-driven anthem that sounds like the theme song to a Japanese video game.
In one scene, the lord and a minion break out in Japanese rap. In another, Princess Raccoon and the son tap dance _ he in wooden sandals _ before launching into a slow number.
The set resembles a theater production with colorful costumes, sparse structures and painted backdrops.
The pacing and aesthetic bring to mind Lars von Trier’s sometimes excruciatingly slow film “Dogville,” set in a one-dimensional layout of an American village.
All of it begs the question: What was Zhang thinking?
Suzuki’s stature must have been a factor.
The veteran director is known for his unique style. He challenged the traditional Japanese gangster film genre in the 1960s, inserting a gay mobster who parks a pink limo beneath matching cherry blossoms in “Youth of the Beast.”
In the 1980s, after a decade-long absence from movie-making, Suzuki re-emerged as a critics’ darling with “Zigeunerweisen,” an exploration of Japanese identity as it faced Western influences in the 1920s. He went on to establish a reputation as a top art-house film director.
Zhang has also shown a willingness to work with a variety of filmmakers. She’s appeared in Chinese, Japanese, South Korean and Hollywood movies.
The quirky “Tanuki-Goten,” which never generated much mainstream attention despite screenings in 2005 at several film festivals, including Cannes, shows a different Zhang.
For Zhang fans accustomed to her feisty characters in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” or “Rush Hour 2,” her cheerful fantasy character in “Tanuki-Goten” is a refreshing, amusing change of image.
Source: The Hindu News

Hong Kong loves to hate Ziyi

Celebrity media go out of their way to show prejudiceBy Min Lee
Associated Press

 

HONG KONG — She speaks English with a funky
Beijing accent. The beaded black and gray Armani outfit she wore to the Oscars was frumpy. She squats on the floor like a Chinese farmer when she goes shopping.      So say
Hong Kong media, which just love to bash Zhang Ziyi — the movie world’s hottest young Chinese actress.
      Although
Hollywood is enthralled with the spunky beauty who starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha” (which was just released on DVD) and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” Zhang’s critics in this movie-mad city enjoy picking her apart. And the criticism can be downright vicious.
      “Zhang Ziyi’s Armani evening gown made her look so flat-chested it was scary,” the Sing Tao Daily, a major Chinese-language newspaper, said in a headline about the 27-year-old starlet’s appearance at the Oscars earlier this month.
      Zhang, who declined to provide comment for this story, has said previously the venom has to do with Hong Kongers’ deeply entrenched bias against mainland Chinese, who are viewed to be bumpkins and gold diggers.
      “They think, ‘How can you be an international movie star? You are only from
China.’ For them,
China is like the countryside,” Zhang was quoted as saying in an interview with The Sunday Times of London in 2004.
     
Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 150 years before it was returned to
China in 1997. The city, a global financial center, is much more cosmopolitan than mainland cities, and the population is better educated and more affluent.
      A good example of the disdain for mainlanders is found in a 2004 article about Zhang in Next magazine, a popular weekly glossy known for its hard-charging paparazzi.
      The publication printed a photo allegedly showing Zhang squatting down to browse the bottom shelf in a store. A snarky picture caption said, “Miss Zhang displays the special trait of our motherland’s compatriots” — squatting down, her legs splayed.
      People can often be seen squatting in
China in crowded places — such as railroad stations — where the ground is too dirty for sitting and there’s limited public seating.
      Zhang’s rapid rise and ongoing success may also feed envy that has made her the favorite dart board for
Hong Kong’s newspapers and magazines, whose hyper aggressive celebrity coverage makes
U.S. supermarket tabloids look like National Geographic.
      Many of the
Hong Kong publications made sure their knives were extra sharp for the Oscars, where Zhang presented the award for best editing.
      A headline in Apple Daily — one of the most popular dailies — ripped into Zhang’s English: “Zhang Ziyi presents awards with Beijing-accented English.” The story added, “She still can’t change her English with a
Beijing country accent. She didn’t pronounce the ‘r’ in the winning movie ‘Crash’ properly.”
      Sing Tao Daily said Zhang read her cue card with “quivering lips” and her pronunciation of “Crash” sounded more like the toothpaste “Crest.”
      The Ming Pao Daily noted the Zhang forgot to hug or shake hands with the award winner, though the paper conceded that her English was improving.
      The Zhang bashing didn’t stop there.
Hong Kong writers also savaged her Giorgio Armani outfit: a black beaded bustier with a crystal encrusted gray skirt.
      “Lacking in youthful vigor,” read a photo caption in the Oriental Daily News, a mass-market Chinese-language paper. Apple Daily hissed, “Zhang Ziyi two decades behind the times.”
      Zhang’s performance could have been an ethnic Chinese pride-pumping moment, and that’s how it was treated by media in mainland
China and
Taiwan.
      “Zhang Ziyi’s English rolls off her tongue,” said the Liberty Times, one of
Taiwan’s three biggest dailies. Another Taiwanese paper, the Min Sheng Daily, said “Zhang Ziyi’s English is no longer poor.”
      She made her big screen debut with famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s “The Road Home,” released in 1998. Her next film was “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the Oscar-winning kung fu hit of 2000. In her short career, she’s made 11 films, including the
Hollywood movies “Rush Hour 2″ (2001) and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
      Thomas Shin, a film critic and editor at the Hong Kong Economic Times, doesn’t buy into the Zhang bashing. He feels she is a solid actress with strong fundamentals. And when he interviewed her she left a good impression.
      “She’s very nice and she’s a very smart woman,” he said.
      “She’s really sincere,” he added. “She says what’s on her mind.” Source: Deseretnews.com