Transcript Report of the Sit & Talk Event Featuring Xu Haochen (Film Journalist) - Held at the Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho, Tokyo, on May 18
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Unplugged,
May 26, 2024
The much-talked-about film, "Hidden Blade," which was released in China last January and became a smash hit with box-office revenues of over 18.1 billion yen, is now showing in theaters including the Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho, the Cinemart Shinjuku, and other locations throughout Japan.
A sit and talk event featuring film journalist Xu Haochen was held at the Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho on Saturday, May 18 to commemorate the success of the blockbuster film, which has been fully booked for several showings since its first release day (May 3) in theaters. In response to requests, a transcript of the event is provided below. In order to preserve the actual atmosphere of the event, we have used the spoken language as much as possible.
Thank you very much for coming despite the hot weather. My name is Xu Haochen, and I am a film journalist working in both Japan and China. I look forward to today's event. Please allow me to sit and begin.
"Hidden Blade" was released during the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) in 2023. As you may know, the film market was greatly affected by COVID-19. In China, 2022 was a severe year due to the zero COVID policy, and the film industry suffered a significant blow. However, fortunately, the situation has calmed down, and the film market in China is expected to recover from 2023 onwards. As a result, numerous major films were scheduled to be released during the Lunar New Year in 2023. Originally, there is a custom in China for everyone to go to the cinema together to see a movie during the Lunar New Year. For this reason, it has become a recent trend to concentrate on the release of many popular and major films during that time. Typically, around 5-6 major films, plus smaller ones, are screened. In the Chinese film market, the box office revenue during the Lunar New Year alone is equivalent to the annual box office revenue in Japan, which is around 200 billion yuan, and it has become a market that rivals the global market, including North America.
"Hidden Blade" was one of the films released during the Lunar New Year in 2023. At that time, due to COVID-19, major films were still waiting to be released. For example, Zhang Yimou’s historical epic film "Full River Red (Chinese: 满江红)" was screened, and "The Wandering Earth II (Chinese: 流浪地球2)" was also released, which was the sequel to "The Wandering Earth," the first of which is also available on Netflix, and the sequel has already been released in Japan on March 22, 2024. "Hidden Blade" was highly anticipated before its release, amidst the situation where many major films were also being released.
I would like to introduce Director Cheng Er briefly. Director Cheng Er is actually not a young man. He is almost in his 50s. He is 47 years old. He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy, a prestigious school for studying Chinese cinema. At the end of the 1990s, he presented a short film titled "Criminals (Chinese: 犯罪分子)" as his graduation project. If you look it up, that film is still available for free on YouTube with English subtitles. It is considered a legendary graduation work. It is highly acclaimed by many people. After graduating, Director Cheng Er started working at the Shanghai Film Center. Despite him originally being from Hubei Province, most of his works are related to Shanghai, which is rare. He is a director who has tremendous emotional connection with Shanghai.
Although he no longer lives in Shanghai, his time at the Shanghai Film Center has had a significant influence on him. He believes that Shanghai is the perfect city for making films. However, Director Cheng Er is a very particular director in that, he has a policy of not making films if the budget doesn't allow him to do what he wants to do. As a result, he has only made a total of five films since his graduation project until now. In the mid-2010s, he made a major film in China titled "The Wasted Times (Chinese: 罗曼蒂克消亡史)," which was released in Japan as well. It featured Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, and the entire film was in Shanghainese dialect. Although it did not achieve great box office success in China, Director Cheng Er had an incredibly high reputation in the industry, and there was always talk that he could make even more films. Even so, Director Cheng Er continued to be true to himself and so he concentrated on what he wanted to do for a while, which included writing books, before finally moving on to the film "Hidden Blade." According to other articles I have read, Tony Leung also saw Director Cheng Er's previous film and became interested in his world, leading to his participation in this film. The reason why Director Cheng Er is so interested in Shanghai is because Shanghai in the 1940s was quite special. During that time, Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese army because it was in the midst of World War II. However, from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, foreign occupations expanded into Shanghai, and there were concessions, Westerners, and the Japanese army. In addition, there were also terrible complications within China. Even in this film, it is quite difficult for Chinese people to understand where a character is a subordinate and who this character is, and it is such a complicated structure that even after an hour of watching the film, one can only somewhat understand it.
To put it simply, it was a mixture of the Japanese army and Westerners I mentioned earlier, and on the Chinese side were the Communist, Kuomintang governments of Chongqing, the Nanjing government of Wang Zhaoming, among others. It was a situation in which even the individuals themselves didn't know who was good or bad during that time. There are numerous Chinese films that depict those days. One recent example is "Saturday Fiction (Chinese: 兰心大剧院)" directed by Lou Ye, which was also released in Japan. There are actually quite a few directors who believe that those days allow for making films with a variety of personalities and characters. It's true that around the mid-2000s, China had a TV drama series called “Undercover (Under Cover, Chinese: 卧底归来),” which triggered a boom in spy stories, a large number of spy dramas and spy movies were made after that. Because it's a spy genre, it's not only about who is good or bad, but it also has suspense and mystery elements that are enjoyable for the audience. That's why there are still many spy dramas and movies being made. Alongside story-driven films, many film directors have produced works in their own styles. One well-known example is "Lust, Caution (Chinese: 色，戒)," directed by Ang Lee and starring Tony Leung. When I first watched "Hidden Blade," I felt as if I had been in the same place, time and universe as "Lust, Caution." I thought they were two such works. I also had a feeling that Ms. Jiang (played by Jiang Shuying) in “Hidden Blade” is similar to Ms. Wong, played by Tang Wei in “Lust, Caution.”
I think it is because of those days that stories can be developed in many different ways, and Director Cheng Er can also create different types of stories because of those days. However, as it is screened during the Lunar New Year. If the film becomes too difficult to understand, the audience may become tired and lose interest. Therefore, it is necessary to make the film as simple as possible for everyone to understand. Director Cheng Er is very creative in this matter and puts a lot of effort into the production of his films. He used a technique of completely changing the timeline in his previous works, and he also did so in "Hidden Blade." When I saw it for the first time, I definitely had questions like "Who is this person?" "Is this person a good person?" "Which side does this person belong to?". However, as the film progresses into the latter half, the relationships gradually become clear, and in the end, it becomes a film that can be enjoyed, including its spectacular action scenes. The film recorded a box office revenue of nearly 1 billion yuan during last year's Lunar New Year, which is equivalent to around 20 billion yen, although it was affected by the yen's depreciation, making it a big hit. Of course, Zhang Yimou's film “Full River Red” achieved even greater numbers. What impressed me about this film, "Hidden Blade," is as follows. During the Lunar New Year, most people prefer to go to a movie theater to see movies with their families, so Inevitably, many of the hits were family-oriented comedies or human dramas. "Hidden Blade" is rather a work that requires the use of one's head. However, it still became a major hit, which indicates that the overall evaluation of the film was high within China. Before the release of this film in China, Director Cheng Er expressed four wishes, and let me briefly list them. First, he wished for the film to be a hit. Director Cheng Er is a director who is very particular about film production and is more inclined towards art. However, he also wanted the film to be commercially successful because he believed that the film should not only satisfy himself but also bring enjoyment to the audience, actors, and staff. Second, he wanted the film to be enjoyable for the audience. Third, he wanted the film to show what kind of director he is, in other words, his characteristics as a creator. After the film was released last year, he received high praises and gained recognition in China. Finally, his fourth wish was his desire for Wang Yibo, or rather for Wang Yibo to be appreciated more as an actor.
Before this film was released, Wang Yibo had already appeared in many hit dramas in China. However, he had only appeared in a few films, so while some audiences were looking forward to seeing how he would perform in the film, many others had their own negative expectations, leading to an intense online discussion before the release. Although I work in the film industry and have many film-related colleagues and fans around me, after the release, I noticed that the praise for Wang Yibo was extremely high. Let me briefly expand on this from perspective of Chinese film writers and film enthusiasts. First, a comment from Professor Wang, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy: "This director truly understands Wang Yibo's strengths. He captures Wang Yibo's best qualities, and it's possible that Wang Yibo will become a great actor in the future." Second, a comment from a popular influencer: "I watched a Wang Yibo film for the first time, and I encountered a very talented actor through this film." Another comment came from a film critic: "Wang Yibo's body language was absolutely fantastic. Since it's a spy film, movement is more important than dialogue, and it seems like he has great chemistry with the director." I believe Wang Yibo can continue to grow as an actor with real skill. Another movie fan also highly praised Wang Yibo: "The role of Wang Yibo is a complex character, a very difficult role that tells a story with the movement of his eyes and facial expressions, and he plays it brilliantly." Indeed, after seeing this film, Wang Yibo's reputation in China has expanded to a different segment than the existing fan base. I think it is safe to say that last year was an important year for Wang Yibo as well. Last January, during the Lunar New Year, "Hidden Blade" was released. Following the film, last May, there is a three-day holiday at the beginning of May, although it is not as long as Japan's week-long holiday called Golden Week, "Born to Fly" (to be released in Japan on June 28, 2024) was released. This film was also a great hit. Later, "One and Only" (to be released in Japan on September 6, 2024) was released last July in China. These three films were all released in the same year and were all big hits, which is quite rare in the current Chinese film market. I think it is safe to say that it feels like a miracle. Let me briefly explain the Chinese film market. The top film in China's all-time box office ranking is the film with a gross revenue of close to 6 billion yuan, or 120 billion Japanese yen. Generally, in China, a film is considered a mega-hit if it reaches 1 billion yuan. If it exceeds 500 million yuan, it is considered a big hit. Although China has become a large film market similar to North America, it is not easy for a film to become a hit. Especially now, with fewer movie stars worldwide, there are very few films that can become hits just because of the casting of a particular actor. Even in China, there are few films that people go to see just because a particular actor is in it. If the film is bad, the Chinese will not go to a movie theater to see it. The reason why Wang Yibo's three films, including "Hidden Blade," became consecutive hits in China last year is, of course, due to his personal popularity and recognition, but also because the quality of his works themself have been highly evaluated in the Chinese film industry.
I would like to introduce myself briefly. Although I work as a film journalist in Japan, I am mainly responsible for selecting Japanese films as a programmer at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Just last June, I returned to China for the first time in a long time to participate in the Shanghai International Film Festival due to COVID-19 the previous year. The closing film of last year's festival was "One and Only." At that time, I happened to meet Wang Yibo in the greenroom and greeted him. Until then, I had never met him and didn't know who he was, but he was incredibly serious and polite, and I felt his aura. He had many interactions with film industry professionals during the award ceremony while getting used to the atmosphere of the festival, which was very impressive. I was also thrilled to see Wang Yibo's film achieve such great success in Japan. This is because, due to political reasons in China, cultural exchange in the form of film has been progressing at the grassroots level in East Asia thanks to mass media but not yet as smoothly in Japan. Personally, I find this to be a missed opportunity. As someone involved in the Shanghai International Film Festival, I feel a strong desire to introduce more Japanese films to China. I believe that such efforts can further enhance cultural exchange between Japan and China. In fact, North America is the world's largest film market, followed by China in second place and Japan in third. If Japan, China, and South Korea were to collaborate more extensively on film production, we could create a film market that surpasses the North American one. However, progress has been slow. I believe that if we could foster more grassroots exchanges, we could open up a world of possibilities. Therefore, I think it is mutually crucial that Chinese people watch more Japanese films and that more Chinese films be screened in Japan. China has a large film market, and although there are still restrictions on the screening of foreign films, the growth of the Chinese film market over the past 10 years has led to a tremendous increase in attention to foreign films, and Japanese films are the second most popular, following North America. At the Shanghai International Film Festival, we screen about 50 Japanese films every year, and tickets often sell out quickly. There is a high level of interest in Japanese films in China. What I feel is that it would be great if more Chinese films could be screened in Japan. In the past decade, I have been in Japan and felt that major Chinese films have had limited opportunities for release here. While the Tokyo International Film Festival showcases auteur-driven films, I would like to see more commercially successful Chinese films screened in Japan to introduce Japanese audiences to the current state of Chinese cinema and the diverse range of Chinese movie stars. Amidst this, the release and success of "Hidden Blade" in Japan is a very important development. If various major Chinese films are screened in Japan and more Japanese people get to know Chinese films, it may lead to more collaborations between Japan, China, and other Asian countries in filmmaking. It may also lead to Wang Yibo appearing in Japanese films or Japanese actors appearing in Director Cheng Er's films. Tadanobu Asano and Hiroyuki Mori have already appeared in Director Cheng Er's films, and I felt that such exchanges could lead to a more beautiful future. This is one of the things I realized through the screening and success of "Hidden Blade" in Japan.
MC: What do you think is Wang Yibo's charm as seen from your perspective, Mr. Xu?
Well, as someone involved in the film industry, I must apologize because I have only seen a few of Wang Yibo's dramas. However, based on my experience of seeing "Hidden Blade," I felt that Wang Yibo's strength lies in his movements and body language. He conveys the language of film not through words, but through his posture, face, and eyes. It is actually quite difficult for a newcomer in the first blockbuster film to achieve this level of performance. That's why I believe he has the potential to become a good actor, a talented performer. Director Cheng Er also recognizes Wang Yibo's strengths and wants to showcase his best qualities to the audience. They have built a trusting relationship, and Wang Yibo has been cast in Director Cheng Er's next film, "Intercross." According to Director Cheng Er himself, "Hidden Blade" is a super-commercial film, while his upcoming film is more of a super-art film. I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of film it will be.
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