Among China's three most powerful directors, Feng Xiaogang is
perhaps the only grassroots hero. People often refer to Zhang Yimou
and Chen Kaige as masters, but when talking about Feng, they smile
as if he is a sweet neighbor who always invites you to share his
dumplings.
Strangers will approach Feng and tell him which of his films is
their favorite. Such interest in his work shows that while he isn't
the most internationally acclaimed Chinese director, he is one of
the most popular with Chinese audiences.
His popularity is largely built on hesuipian, a word specially
created for his early films screened during December and next
February, roughly the time between New Year's Day and the Spring
Festival, when people tend to spend more time in cinemas.
Feng's smash comedies on ordinary urbanites' lives topped the
domestic box office from 1997 to 99. His films also raked in most
money from mainland theaters in 2001 and 2003. In 2006, his first
attempt at a costume epic, The Banquet (Ye Yan), won US$19.7
million despite savage reviews.
Feng did not grow up in a film studio, or have a director father
as Chen does; neither did he have Zhang's chance to work on a film
soon after graduation. The painting-lover from a single-parent
family never got a chance to enter any academy, which sets him
apart from most mainland directors.
If there is a secret recipe, he says, it is the passion and
courage to try. "To me, turning something impossible into possible
is really tempting and exciting," says the 49-year-old in black
polo shirt with purple logo, blue denim and black sneakers sitting
leisurely in the sofa in his lofty studio. While most of his films
feature hilarious puns and jokes, Feng is surprisingly serious.
"Every important step is made out of such a belief: I can do
it."
At 20, he was determined to join the army's art troupe. Friends
thought he was dreaming, but he was accepted as a stage designer
with his self-taught oil painting skills.
Eight years later, he left the army and worked at a grain depot.
But he chose to shuttle back and forth in different TV drama crews
as an art designer, which helped him get a job at the Beijing TV
Art Center.
The few years of experience there endowed him with ample
opportunities to hone his skills. Everyday he would talk about
films and TV dramas with his colleagues, seeking constructive
criticism. Such discussions could last for a whole day.
Liu Sha, one of China's earliest TV and film producers, is a
20-year friend of Feng. As he recalls, Feng was always frowning and
thinking. The young man always started conversations with jokes,
and then talked about a film he watched or a book he just read.
What was good about them? Which part could be better?
"He was an avid learner, very smart and hard-working," Liu says.
"And he was never afraid to try. Those who also worked as designers
then are still designers, but look at him now."
When a screenplay compiled by a group of writers got lost, Feng
rewrote half of it with his remarkable memory. When the director
felt tired, Feng would boldly ask for a try. He directed two
episodes as a result.
Soon the job as an art designer could no longer satisfy him. He
started writing scripts and in 1994, he got a bank loan for his
maiden work.
"From the very beginning I was shooting film by loan," he says,
"which gave me big pressure to perform well at box office,
otherwise I could have gone to jail. People who are saying that
Feng Xiaogang is more focused on market performance than artistic
value don't know the hardships in my early days."
Feng's friend Sun Jianjun says he is like a sponge, always ready
to inject anything interesting into his works. Many jokes in his
hits come from friends' dining tables.
One of their friends wore false teeth. This friend spent all of
his spare time in ballrooms despite his wife's protests. So Liu
made up a story to tease him. It goes like this: One day the man
has to leave the ballroom in a hurry, but finds his false teeth are
gone. He rushes back, only to see his dance partner still dancing
with her eyes closed, and his false teeth in her mouth.
Years later, Feng made some slight changes and used this story
in Be There or Be Square (Bujian Busan), his second comedy.
Feng and Liu Sha agree that the experience of working on TV
serials, which wins audience mostly by storytelling and punch
lines, has contributed to Feng's success.
"When I decided to enter the film industry, I knew what people
like to watch," Feng says. "Just imagine yourself as an audience,
and ask yourself what you want to see."
Everybody seems to know this rule but few have succeeded,
"because many directors prefer to win awards rather than the
audience", Feng says. "If you think about awards before you start
filming, you are already too far away from audience."
But with The Banquet, did Feng forget about his audience? "I am
not losing people's favor," he insists. "Banquet made the most
money among all my films. If it were so bad, how could it make so
much money?"
The project, he says, proves he can handle extravagant budgets
and make artistic breakthroughs. "I believe I have achieved these
goals, and I am lucky that we didn't lose money, can I expect
more?"
Feng has a strong faith in his own logic, which not everyone
would support. He once fought with a journalist over a press
release, because the magazine leaked his home address and caused
lots of troubles to the director.
His latest project, a war epic, called Assembly (Jijie Hao),
tells the story of an officer who seeks recognition for his dead
soldiers. Feng chose this topic partly because he used to be a
soldier himself and partly because war is his own favorite film
genre.
Some say he has no self-control, others appreciate his
unpretentiousness. But Feng tries to maintain his own direction
despite what others think.
"I care about reviews, I believe every director does. Those who
care but pretend they don't make me sick," he says. "But compared
to critics' or media's response, I care more about my audience,
because they decide if I survive or not."
Main movies directed by Feng
2006 The Banquet (Ye Yan)
A loose adaptation of Hamlet, the film is set in an empire in
chaos after the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). The Emperor, the
Empress, the Prince, the Minister and the General all have their
own enemies they would like to finish off at a banquet.
2004 A World without Thieves (Tianxia
Wuzei)
A thief-couple heads west after cheating a businessman out of
his BMW. But an encounter with a naive young carpenter traveling
with his life savings challenges their beliefs.
2003 Cell Phone (Shou Ji)
The plot follows a popular television talk show host who
accidentally leaves his cell phone at home. When his mistress
calls, his wife answers. This sets in motion a series of
increasingly tricky situations that threaten his carefully woven
web of lies, sending his life spiraling out of control.
2001 Big Shot's Funeral (Da Wan)
Starring Donald Sutherland, the film is set amid the rising
commercialism of modern-day China. An American director has a
stroke and makes a local cameraman promise that he will produce a
"comedy funeral" for him. This turns into a sponsorship feeding
frenzy, and the secretly recovering director is tickled pink by the
irony of it all.
1998 Be There or Be Square (Bujian Busan)
Two mismatched Beijingers struggling in Los Angeles become
reluctant friends after a house invasion. Subsequent coincidences
keep forcing the pair together until they can no longer resist each
other.
1997 The Dream Factory (Jiafang Yifang)
Four friends come up with an unusual idea to make some money and
have fun doing it. For a small fee, they will impersonate and act
out any character role for their customers to realize their wishes.
In the course of providing this novel service, they encounter a
whole spectrum of people, finding ways to genuinely help them boost
their morale and overcome their fears.
(China Daily August 22, 2007)
