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'Romantic,
But Not Sugarcoated'
Veteran
Hong Kong director Peter Chan recalls the local film industry's good old
days, before the financial crisis swept through Asia.
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GH (China) Pictures Ltd.
Aubrey Lam on the set of Twelve Nights.
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Hong
Kong's Golden Age of cinema is irretrievably over, he says, which means
the city has to reinvent itself to compete with Hollywood. Just before
the '97 crisis, Chan teamed up with scriptwriter Aubrey Lam. Fifteen months
ago they signed up a young, unknown actress named Cecilia Cheung, who
has since blossomed as Hong Kong's latest "It" girl. The trio have collaborated
on Twelve Nights, an unorthodox movie about relationships and love, written
and directed by Lam, produced by Chan, starring Cheung and opening in
Hong Kong on April 20. TIME reporter Stephen Short's interview with Lam
and Chan:
TIME: Aubrey how did you feel directing this movie? You must have
been nervous as a kitten. Sam Mendes told me that when he directed American
Beauty as a first-time film director, he was anxious and had to chuck
away the first three/four days of filming.
Lam: Everything came out almost exactly as I planned it, except
the pre-production process. Looking for locations, images or the style
of the characters, I was rather inexperienced at that and that can be
a little bit scary.
Chan: You've got to remember Aubrey wrote her own script. It's
not like Sam Mendes making his first film, where he picks up a script
that's hot property. For Aubrey, it's a very personal story and it's very
close to her. It's based on something that she would react to if she were
the main character. Aubrey wasn't very technically familiar though. So
we did throw away the first few days of shooting, exactly as Mendes did,
and restarted the movie again. I think in some ways it's a great investment
when that happens. We went through three days of shooting and because
of conflict over the actress schedule--Golden Harvest wanted Cecilia Cheung
for a Christmas project--we shot for only three days in November, then
closed production for three months and had to start again in January having
thrown away everything that we shot. And it's such a surprise that the
same director who shot those first few days, stepped back onto the set
and was totally in control.
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TIME:
Was there a big shift in your thinking and approach during that period
Aubrey? Did you rethink the way you wanted the film to look?
Lam: Definitely. From the outset, I was trying to shoot the film
without much camerawork or movement, but it didn't really seem to work
with this kind of story. I hadn't realized that would be the case, but
after those three days of shooting in November, I realized it was a problem.
I've always liked movies that have very minimal camera movements, but
it doesn't work with all stories. Twelve Nights I think requires a lot
of energy, a lot of editing and camerawork, so that required a big change
in my thinking over those months. Also the way in which I shot the characters
changed and how I wanted them to look.

GH (China) Pictures Ltd.
Twelve Nights.
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TIME:
You based Twelve Nights on an Ingmar Bergman film, right?
Lam: Yes. It's called Scenes from a Marriage. It's the story of
a marriage told within five to six scenes and lasts about two/three years
with very minimal effort but large impact. The format for my film is very
similar. I like the way Bergman analyzes relationships in film Š always
very precise and perceptive. In Twelve Nights, the conclusion and therefore
partly my own is that relationships and love are no big deal because everyone
is selfish, they love themselves and what's gone is gone. You can't change
things.
TIME: So you're an existentialist and a pessimist at the same time.
In the Bergman film, the characters split up and have affairs with others
before getting back together again. Same in yours?
Lam: No. In mine they split up, try to get back together, then
split up again. There's no affairs. The ages are also quite different.
TIME: What's Twelve Nights like in terms of Hong Kong film?
Chan: It's romantic, but not sugarcoated. It has real impact. It's
a relationship movie, without being a romance. It's quite blunt in terms
of addressing the weaknesses and selfishness of both characters, who you
are trying so desperately as a filmmaker to try and make the audience
sympathize with. But Aubrey's doing everything she can just to trash these
characters and say that's what we're all like. We are selfish, let's just
admit it.
TIME: Are you worried about the audience reaction as a result Aubrey?
Lam: Yes. In this story everything that takes place is very ordinary.
Usually in movies there will be more twists and turns, but in this you
can identify with all the characters because of the ordinariness of their
lives. I consider making such a film very risky as a first-time director
in Hong Kong. It's hard to draw the attention of the audience if you don't
have big themes.
Chan: It's almost not a story. Most movies are from point A to
B. In this there's no expectation. You don't root for anybody in this
movie.
TIME: Sounds like Kieslowski [Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski].
Looks great but what the hell's going on!
Chan: That's been the great thing about working with a young first-time
director. They can be so unorthodox. They have the kind of guts that we,
or I, don't have. We're so jaded with the whole experience of test-screening
and what the audience likes, and sometimes we lose perspective of what
could be done. We think unorthodox falls outside the practical parameters.
But if I said to Aubrey, 'you can't do that,' she'd just turn around and
say 'why?' And then I'd think, 'why not? She's right.'
TIME: Aubrey, do you feel fearless as a director?
Lam: No. I needed suggestions, I needed reassurance, I needed advice.
It's difficult enough for me just adapting to this industry. I'm a writer
by nature. I'm used to working alone.
Chan: We really don't come across people like Aubrey so often.
Most people in this business have wanted to be filmmakers since they were
very young. She started on a different track. Her first ambition wasn't
film. It's like Woody Allen's film Bullets Over Broadway--you can write
and it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, you can write.
TIME: Who's films do you most want to imitate?
Lam: Kieslowski and Edward Yang.
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GH (China) Pictures Ltd.
Cecilia Cheung, Hong Kong's current "It" girl, in a scene
from Twelve Nights.
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TIME:
Did you feel like you were manipulating her more than was healthy sometimes
Peter?
Chan: Because Aubrey's a new director, I was trying to navigate
the movie...more than that...navigate the ship (meaning the crew), making
sure it didn't hit any icebergs. So I was just trying to make her aware
of things that might happen or go wrong. Also, first-time directors may
try to include things that are too personal. I had to remind Aubrey that
if I didn't understand some references having read the script many times,
then the audience certainly wouldn't know what the director's trying to
say. So I encouraged her to find another way to say things, without changing
the fundamental message of what she was trying to say.
TIME: Was she so brave and unorthodox that that happened quite
a lot?
Chan: At first I thought that sometimes she could be offensive
and justifiably so as a new director but then, by the end, I realized
that she understood the whole process and had matured a lot as a filmmaker.
TIME: Pretty impressive!
Chan: Even better than that though was what Aubrey told me a couple
of days ago. We were trying to get a little piece out of the movie so
a scene could be shortened. I was saying to her, 'I know you love those
three lines but they might not be the most relevant three lines in the
film and without them it would clip along so much better. But it's your
call, I'm telling you, ultimately it's your call. So?' Then she turns
around and says to me, 'It's not about whether I like it or not, it's
about what's effective.' I thought that was a very mature thing to say
because she's got some very beautiful shots with those lines, which I
was very attached to. I really respect a filmmaker who can agree to cut
the arms and legs off their baby for the betterment of the movie; it's
very objective and very tough.
TIME: Did much of your dialogue get cut?
Lam: Some. At first it was a little word-heavy and also some actions
were out of character. I think again though, due to the ordinary nature
of many people's lives, the dialogue is repetitious.
Chan: Yes, but sometimes I thought that made the film more charming
and real for being so repetitious.
TIME: Have you ever wanted to act Aubrey?
Lam: No. I'm very camera shy. I don't take very good pictures.
I only let people take my picture about once a year.
TIME: How did you get on with Cecilia being only 19 and very much
the current Hong Kong It-girl?
Lam: Cecilia's a lot like the character she plays. She's very smart.
She could play exactly the way I wanted instantly and if not, with suggestions
she was very capable and very sharp.
Chan: Cecilia's quite a phenomenon. I mean, even Maggie Cheung
did not get the kind of attention within three years that Cecilia's getting
now. Maggie bloomed more slowly before she evolved into what she is today.
But that's happened with Cecilia overnight, just like that.
TIME: That must have really surprised you both? How did that happen?
Lam: I think it's because the industry needs new faces. But then,
she can definitely act.
Chan: She's a baby. I mean, she's what...19...but she certainly
doesn't act like one in terms of the way she thinks. She's so mature.
I think her image is very attractive to Hong Kong people. Fly Me to Polaris
really put her on the map, but if she only had that, people wouldn't take
her seriously. Her performance as a really foul-mouthed cigarette-smoking
character in Stephen Chow's God of Comedy really helped to paint a different
picture. No baby-faced actress ever started by talking with a harsh voice
like that. Twelve Nights is a mature and sophisticated piece of material.
Put the three together and she has a very broad portfolio. She's really
going to go places.
TIME: If Cecilia Cheung is Hong Kong's It-girl, who's the It-Boy?
Chan: Nicholas Tse, by far. And he's only 19. In fact, the next
eight or nine guys are not even close to him. Things like that never used
to happen. Our idols took a lot of time to become idols. This is now getting
like Japan. You pick up a magazine and think I've been reading about these
stars since I was a kid and they're still only in their late 20s, early
30s.
TIME: The Hong Kong film industry's not in a pretty state at the
moment is it?
Chan: It's coming back, but like most developing countries. In
Southeast Asia you see these beautiful malls and theaters but everything
else is prehistoric. In Hong Kong there's about 5/10/15 movies a year
that make money. But on the whole, the Hong Kong movie industry isn't
even profit-related anymore. The only market-driven cinema in Asia right
now is coming out of Korea.
TIME: Is Hong Kong still creative?
Chan: I think it's trying to reinvent itself as a film capital.
The Golden Age days won't be back. The market has changed and matured.
The demand for Chinese language entertainment to counterbalance Hollywood
is non-existent, it's dropping; before we had a niche in the '60s, '70s,
'80s because there were people who needed sophisticated Chinese language
entertainment, but the older generation has stopped going to theaters
anymore and the younger generation can speak English (and that's not just
Hong Kong, it's the whole of Asia). Hong Kong needs to export films harder
than ever. For this generation, a Hollywood film is practically as good
as a Chinese film. So they don't look for Chinese entertainment, but if
there is a good Chinese film they'll watch it. Before, if Chinese films
were rubbish, they'd still watch them, because there were fewer American
movies to see. But this is a very different day and age, so Hong Kong
needs to reinvent itself, not as the Chinese film capital, but as an Asian
film capital. It will become like Europe, where you can't always tell
which film is French, Italian or English. Think Il Postino being directed
by a British guy. That's the future of Asian cinema and perhaps the only
way it can counterbalance Hollywood. Asia has a huge collective cinema
audience. Co-productions are Asia's film future and Hong Kong's trying
to be a step ahead in that aim right now.
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