China's first world acclaimed director, Zhang Yimou, celebrated the China premier of his new film Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles Friday in southwest Yunnan Province, ringing up the curtain of a run with his formal classmate, and now rival -- Chen Kaige.
Just four days before the gala debut ceremony of Zhang in Yunnan, Chen Kaige, director of the critically acclaimed Farewell My Concubine, which was banned in China when it was released but won the best picture award at Cannes in 1993, released the Chinese mega-budget Wu Ji or The Promise with his all-star cast for the New Year movie market.
Zhang and Chen, who both graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in the early 1980s, are the two most active figures among China's Fifth Generation Directors.
Zhang worked as the cinematographer in Chen's directorial debut Yellow Earth and follow-up The Big Parade. But they have not worked together for almost two decades.
But before Chen made his hit, Farewell My Concubine, Zhang had already been the first Chinese filmmaker to impress international audiences. Red Sorghum, his 1987 directorial debut, won him the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
His recent Hero and House of Flying Daggers, two martial-arts epics, became box office legends in China. Gong Li and Ziyi Zhang, two leading actresses in Zhang's films, also obtained world fame.
For Chen,Wu Ji, widely expected to the biggest hit in the New Year time film market, represents his first attempt in the kungfu genre.
He has invested three years and 340 million yuan (about US$42.5 million) in the movie, which assembled a constellation of Asian stars -- Cecilia Cheung, Jang Dong-Kun, Hiroyuki Sanada, Liu Ye, Nocholas Tse and Chen Hong, from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Computer games, books, toys, documentaries, blog sites and even stamps related to the movie have been developed to promote the film.
Compared with Chen's fantasy epic, Zhang's Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, or Qianli Zhou Danji is less grandiose, having only one famous star, veteran Japanese actor Takakura Ken.
It has no bright costumes or colorful stage designs, only a simple plot about a Japanese fisherman who accompanies his ailing son to Yunnan to search for the secret behind a local opera.
But Zhang lavished 23 million yuan (some US$2.87 million) or 40 percent of the film's total investment on the debut ceremony in Lijiang. More than 10,000 people sang a song from Red Sorghum and a 300-m-long banquet decorated the ancient town's quiet streets.
The literary film is expected to reap 60 million yuan (US$7.5 million) in box office revenues, a ceiling level for such films in China, while the martial-arts film Wu Ji is expected to pocket 200 million yuan (US$25 million).
Despite being called rivals in a "player kill" situation, the term used by Chinese computer game players referring to games where you have to kill other players , both Chen and Zhang obviously did not want to start a feud.
"Only competition helps China's movie industry to keep going forward ... We'are doing our jobs and what I have for Zhang is respect," said Chen.
Zhang felt funny about the public's sole concern for only one man or one film, but he thought it was good to put together the two movies. "If the public is concerned about what features the directors have and discuss which one they like more, it is a blessing for China's movies."
But audiences do not have to bother debating which film is better. In the end, they have got more choices for fun in the imminent New Year.
(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2005)
