Chinese films at the 60th Berlin Film Festival
By admin on 2014-12-29

As the 60th Berlin Film Festival draws to a close, a number of Chinese films have been debuting, screening and competing in the prestigious event, including Wang Quan'an's much anticipated Apart Together and the heavily-panned A Simple Noodle Story from Zhang Yimou.

Opening the festival last Thursday, previous Golden Bear winner Wang Quan'an's Apart Together has received mainly positive reviews for its touching account of a soldier who was forced to retreat to Taiwan in 1949 during China's Civil War, separating himself from his wife and son.

The film tells the story of the soldier's return to Shanghai several decades later, only to find that his wife has remarried. Wang's depiction of the character's journey through past and present, love and hate and final acceptance of fate, received critical acclaim for its plot and strong characterization and is among 20 pictures vying for the coveted Golden Bear top prize to be awarded tomorrow.

A Simple Noodle Story by another previous Golden Bear winner, Zhang Yimou, has failed to impress on the international stage, receiving a similar response to critics from the Chinese mainland.

"I have shot no less than 20 movies and a majority of them were serious movies. I want to experiment with a new type with my movie and it will be at risk and it is quite normal for the audience not to accept the new genre in an instance," Zhang said while facing the press at the festival.

The film is an adaptation of the Coen Brothers' 1984 Blood Simple, relocated from Texas to the desert of northwest China.

Film magazine Screen International, graded Zhang's Noodle Story at 1.8 points out of a possible four, one of the lowest of all graded festival films by the magazine.

Echoes of the Rainbow by Hong Kong director Alex Law is in the running for a Crystal Bear award and was screened last Sunday. The small budget film, starring Simon Yam and Sandra Ng, depicts the changing society of Hong Kong through the eyes of a boy. The movie received a five-minute-long applause after screening in Berlin. According to Xinhua, the audience said that the film's plot and excellent acting made it worthy of such a response.

Several other Chinese movies have been part of Berlinale including Jackie Chan's Little Big Solider and True Legend by action director Yuen Woo-ping.

Berlinale will wrap up in Berlin Sunday with the highly-anticipated awarding of the Golden Bears.