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Life in China Chinese New Year at the Cinema
Life in China Chinese New Year at the Cinema | Chinese New Year at the Cinema |
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| China | |
| Friday, 01 February 2008 | |
 Chinese New Year often means a trip to the cinema. Traditionally, Lunar New Year films are family friendly comedies with famous faces. But in Hong Kong this year it’s a case of war and peace at the New Year box office, as big budget war epics vie with the big name comedies. But one name still ranks high – Stephen Chow - whose new, sci-fi comedy CJ7 looks set to storm Hong Kong’s screens. Back in the 80s, when New Year comedies really took off, the Aces Go Places teaming of Sam Hui and Karl Mak spawned a series of sequels – the Aces went places five times. More than just froth, Aces introduced a bigger budget kind of New Year movie – the action comedy. Full of mayhem, slapstick and likeable ensemble playing, the success of Aces coincided with Jackie Chan’s family-friendly rise to superstar status. And so Chan made it big with several New Year movies – First Strike, Mr Nice Guy, City Hunter, Gorgeous – his no-one-really-gets-hurt ethos chiming in nicely with the festivity of the season. Meanwhile, Stephen Chow came up on the outside with a different kind of comedy – mo lei tau. Sharply-scripted wordplay, absurd settings and quality production values made Chow’s comedies a must-see at holiday time. Fight Back to School, A Chinese Odyssey, King of Comedy, Chow kept them coming. Sending up familiar films and genres, poking fun at a range of cultural customs, Chow’s potpourri approach was intellectual, goofy and superbly crafted. Together with Chan, his films rang in the New Year, and rang the tills at the box office, to everyone’s satisfaction. And now, with Jackie Chan off the scene in 2008, Stephen Chow’s CJ7 takes poll position, and sees him move away from the kung fu pastiche of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle to a sci-fi comedy in which a poor Chinese labourer learns important lessons when his young son (actually played by a girl) gets a strange new toy. Chow attended the Hong Kong premiere on 23 January and is currently promoting the film in the mainland. It looks set to steal the New Year box office, four years after Kung Fu Hustle garnered world-wide praise. But also doing battle at the Hong Kong box office – and bucking the New Year trend for feelgood comedies – are two historical war movies: Assembly, Xiaogang Feng’s Chinese Civil War drama and Warlords, Peter Chan’s epic with Andy Lau and Jet Li. Opening earlier this year, they’re still doing well. Can Stephen Chow add another success this year? Will Chinese New Year movies move away from comedies to more serious dramas in future? It remains to be seen. Perhaps 2008 will mark a watershed moment. Whatever, for now, Chinese New Year and the cinema still seem to be good friends. Happy New Year! Glenn Watson For a quick history of the Chinese New Year movie, see Fiona Law’s entertaining article on YesAsia. |
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