Wu Kui (The Wooden Man's Bride)
Directed by Huang Jianxin
Reviewed by Peter Boyle and Pip Hinman
Sydney Film Festival director Paul Byrnes says that this year's program reflects the fact that Asia is where the action is, filmwise. But if we are to judge Asia's offering by The Wooden Man's Bride (previewed at the May 13 launch of the festival), this may be just a slogan for the times.
We have all been told, ad nauseam, that there is money to be made in Asia. The Wooden Man's Bride was directed by Huang Jianxin, by one of China's feted young film makers, and fully funded by Taiwanese. And while the money shows in fine photography, talented and good-looking actors and tight editing, the total result is a disappointment, especially when compared with Huang's Black Cannon Incident, a black comedy about the bureaucratic order in China.
Set in remote and desolate north-west China in the 1920s, The Wooden Man's Bride begs comparison with Yellow Earth and Red Sorghum but lacks the power of either of these films. Based on a folktale, it is a familiar story of a young woman enslaved by marriage — but this time to a wooden husband, because her real husband dies before the wedding ceremony. Kui, a poor working man, saves her from her imprisonment, gets the girl and rides off into the desert dust.
Perhaps this film is a casualty of transition. One can sense Huang's desire to distance his characters from the political stereotypes long favoured by Chinese censors, but Hollywood stereotypes step into place. Kui turns into Schwarzenegger, complete with muscles bursting out of a sleeveless vest!
The characters display more individualism than has been characteristic of a couple of generations of Chinese films, but the plot is not developed to allow room for this to be explored properly. Is this simply a sign that Huang is half way to a new approach to film making, or was his style cramped by those who financed this film?
Other interesting Asian films to screen during the 41st Sydney Film Festival (June 10-25) include Eighteen (Taiwan), about a man who loses his daughter and maybe his insanity, Red Beads (China), set in a psychiatric hospital, where a young orderly is fascinated by a beautiful but withdrawn patient, The Days (China), a black and white existential poetic film about the troubled relationship between two young artists, Forgive Me (Vietnam), in which a young woman born after the liberation of Saigon is asked to star in a movie about the war, and Leaves and Thorns (India), set in a village in Kerala where four young women stand up to male aggression.
This year's festival retrospective will feature the films of the Japanese master, Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963).
Almost 200 films will be screened at four main venues (State Theatre, University Hall at UTS, the Pitt Centre and the Mandolin). An evening each has been devoted to Italian and Spanish cinema. As well, there are new films by women directors and new queer shorts featuring video work from Tom Kalin and Patrick Snee.
Other films which caught the eye in this year's preview publicity (available from 405 Glebe Point Road, Glebe 2037, Phone 660 3844) include Margarethe von Trotta's The Long Silence, about a woman who tries to lead a normal life while her husband investigates corruption at the highest levels, Ladybird Ladybird, a Ken Loach film about a young couple in love — and at war with Britain's child welfare authorities, Go Fish, a lovely loopy lesbian romance, and a sequel to Robert Kramer's 1969 People's War, Starting Place, a thoughtful film set in Vietnam which looks at the struggle to rebuild.