The REDCAT theater in Los Angeles just screened the three hour documentary
Fuck Cinema by legendary doc filmmaker
Wu Wenguang, made in 2006. With a single handheld camera, he follows a man who hangs out front of the Beijing Film Academy, showing the surprising world of film in China, which seems to have some of the same hang ups the West does.
See, the main subject of the doc (pictured here) has written a screenplay he is trying to get someone to make. Except its not a script but a pile of handwritten pages. By his count 60,000 words. "This is insane, its a manuscript," one student remarks. And our hero is literally homeless, sleeping on the roof of a nearby student dorm. The script reflects that, the story of a homeless man who becomes a movie extra and is discovered.
But he can't even get a movie extra gig. It costs 300 Yuan to join a psuedo-union that would get you extra roles that pay 20 Yuan a day. He meets someone who "knows an investor" that would fund the movie, but then returns with a number that the homeless man will have to call. "Remember me if you get funding," the guy leaves our hero with. Then he meets a young director who is brutally honest about his "script" before taking off in a sidecar.
And the beatdown goes on. The film industry is taking off in China and the cliches seem to be coming with it.
Wu' Wenguang's hero reminds you of the adorable nature of
American Movie's
Mark Borchardt, working not only against the Hollywood system but just trying to get a damn day job. But there is also some egomania at work, wanting to be discovered and talked about without doing a lot of the work it takes. Now, how does that change when the person doesn't even have a bed to sleep in and wonders how the next meal is coming? Wu does an incredible job of simply showing the film world as it happens. What seems simple, following a guy around as he begs for movie acceptance, becomes dynamic over the 170 minutes - not because he shows everything he filmed, but because he is selective on what moments to show you, and then letting that moment play out however long it takes.
The film gets even more fascinating with its two subplots. Throughout the film Wu Wenguang edits back to an endless series of young actresses auditioning for a role of a hooker, the only question asking their feelings of real "hostesses." The other continual subplot is more amusing, as he follows a bootleg DVD seller around town, selling big movies and dodging the cops.
In a way, all these lesser roles of the movie industry have become stars by being in this documentary. But in the end, the would-be screenwriter reads a letter he wrote about the whole process of making the documentary that reveals how he gets the true nature of cinema, whether real or fake.
The REDCAT screening was an event - the rare miniDV tape of the doc was sent to Los Angeles and then transferred to DVD. The screening had one master go out and the other source tape finished the show. And leave it to hardcore programmer
Berenice Reynaud to put a short film in front of a three hour verite doc. Alas, lucky us, as we got to also see the 8-minute film
Ten Years by the great
Jia Zhangke, a beautiful piece about change in his country and a nice train ride.
# posted by Mike Plante @ 10/17/2007 09:05:00 PM
Comments (1)
Sounds amazing -- I wish I was there.
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posted by Scott Macaulay @ 10/17/2007 9:22 PM
