Screen Time: Another Red Dawn, Brody’s Best Films & James Cameron in Town

Welcome Screen Time, the Beijinger blog's regular film news column. It’s the end of the year – and end of the decade – which means roundup season. A few weeks ago we linked to an overview of the top online celebrities in China this year. Over at the New Yorker long-time film critic Richard Brody has posted his ten favorite films of the decade – and Chinese cinema has rated highly.

Coming in at number three is Jia Zhangke’s The World (Shìjiè, 2005), the first film by the internationally acclaimed director set in China’s capital. Brody describes Jia, with just a hint of condescension, as “best new non-American director of the last twenty years.”

If you haven’t seen The World, which takes place in Beijing’s World Theme Park (Běijīng Shìjiè Gōngyuán), it’s readily available in DVD stores. Personally I think Jia’s follow-up, Still Life (Sānxiá hǎorén, 2006), is superior, but all his work is worth checking out. You can read more about Jia’s films here and here.

Brody’s other Chinese picks were Wang Bing’s recent documentary Fengming: A Chinese Memoir (Hé Fèngmíng, 2009) and Ying Liang’s The Other Half (Lìng yībàn, 2007) – neither of which I’ve seen unfortunately. Brody writes of Ying’s The Other Half, “His anger builds to an apocalyptic outpouring with few parallels in the history of cinema.” Given the controversial content of both these films, you probably won’t find these titles on the shelves of your local DVD shop.

You can listen to Brody discussing his choices here.

In other film news, chinaSMACK has posted a series of images from the remake of Red Dawn, currently being shot in the US. Those lucky enough to remember Patrick Swayze’s early career may recall the original Red Dawn (made appropriately enough, in 1984), which depicted a surprise invasion of the US by Soviet troops, and the heroic efforts of Midwest teenagers to resist the takeover.

Fast forward to 2010 and the US is flailing around for a new enemy (the Middle East has become a bit messy, right?). As chinaSMACK notes, the new version, revolving around an invasion of the US by the PLA, is set to exploit “public hysteria surrounding the possibilities of a Chinese economic takeover.”

Yawn. One Chinese net user’s reaction (translated by chinaSMACK) hits the nail on the head: “China is beginning to replace the Soviet Union as the antagonists in American movies, Americans cannot rest unless they have an [imaginary] enemy.”

Just in case any Americans out there needed reassuring, the venerable James Fallows explains here why China is unlikely to be busting down your doors or taking over your economy any time soon.

Lastly, Hollywood director James Cameron made one of the highest grossing films ever released in China, with Titanic back in 1997. He’s looking to repeat that success with his new movie Avatar, set to be released on China’s mainland on January 2, 2010. According to UK newspaper The Independent, Cameron will be in town shortly to drum up support for the film: “Cameron announced on the weekend he would be in Beijing to meet Chinese press and film lovers in general on December 23 – and he will no doubt be looking to recoup a portion of the film’s massive budget from mainland Chinese fans.”

In a classic piece of Hollywood hyperbole, Cameron declared Avatar, “the most complicated stuff anyone’s ever done.” Really James? More complicated than putting a man on the moon? Or damming the Three Gorges?

Titanic was only recently knocked off its perch as China’s biggest box-office hit, first by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and then The Founding of a Republic. Speaking of the latter, you can read an amusing and insightful article about watching China’s October 1 masterpiece here in Beijing by Australian film critic Mike Walsh here.