A pair of personal Stanley Kwan documentaries that enlighten and move (Film review)

Long overdue for Stanley Kwan to be the Hong Kong

International Film Festival's Filmmaker in Focus

 

Yang +/- Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema (Hong Kong-U.K., 1996) + Still Love You After All These (Hong Kong, 1997)

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Stanley Kwan: Filmmaker in Focus program 

- Stanley Kwan, director

 

Stanley Kwan is known for his feature films (such as the critically acclaimed Rouge (1987) and Centre-Stage (AKA Actress) (1992)).  So he can seem like an odd choice to helm a documentary commissioned by the British Film Institute for its "Century of Cinema" series.  And this especially if the expectation was for a conventional documentary on Chinese cinema -- which his Yang +/- Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema most certainly is not.    

Alternatively, Stanley Kwan -- a male filmmaker who has helmed a number of female-centric works -- would be a good choice to make a film that examines how gender is conceived in Chinese cinema and among people living in "the three Chinas" whose cinematic history and tradition are so distinct from one another.  And that is what Yang +/- Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema is, as its title quite clearly delineates. 

 

This 1996 made-for-TV documentary is particularly notable for its director having come out as gay in it.  Kwan didn't do it in a flashy manner.  Rather, his sexual orientation becomes evident in a conversation he has with his mother in it, one which also saw her talking about how she had idolized Yam Kim-fai, a female Cantonese Opera megastar known for her male roles and her off- as well as on-stage-and-screen relationship with fellow actress Pak Suet-sin, and his talking about how she had ensured that he had grown up watching a number of their Cantonese opera performances.  

 

There's no two ways about it: Yang +/- Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema is Kwan's personal take on gender in Chinese cinema and the history of Chinese cinema in general.  Lest it be thought otherwise though, the offering is not all centered on him.  Rather, this documentary also features interesting interviews with -- and illustrative film clips from works by or featuring -- the likes of Taiwan's Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Ang Lee, Hong Kong's Chang Cheh, Tsui Hark and Leslie Cheung, and Mainland China's Chen Kaige and Zhang Yang. 

 

A confession: This was actually my second time viewing this work.  But the first time was decades ago on a VHS tape.  So I was happy to rewatch this offering -- and, actually, I think it works much better the more familiar one is with the cinemas of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China.  Hence my having a far more favorable reaction to it than the individuals whose reviews of it are up on the International Movie Database (IMDB)!    

And while we're on the subject: those individuals should know to steer clear of Still Love You After All These!  An even more personal as well as shorter (at 45 minutes, as opposed to Yang +/- Yin's 79 minutes) documentary from the same filmmaker, it also is Stanley Kwan's most experimental feeling work by far -- mixing clips from some of his films along with filmed (at sometimes strange angles) excerpts from a stage play he was involved in and evocative imagery of Hong Kong spaces and life.  

Filmed in the months leading up to Hong Kong's Handover by the British (back) to China, this 1997 documentary makes for a bittersweet -- actually, far more bitter than sweet -- watch in April, 2021, here in Hong Kong; this not least because so many issues facing Hong Kongers then are ones that Hong Kongers are facing still/again, including the question of "Should I stay or go/leave/emigrate?"

 

It says a lot about Stanley Kwan as a man and filmmaker, and also about Hong Kong, that in 1997 (through to today), his answer was that he was staying put in order to continue making films and also because he loves Hong Kong.  And the same applies to a conversation captured in Still Love You After All These: one in which someone points out buildings being constructed to him and talks about the increased housing in store for Hong Kongers; whereupon Kwan indicates that his greater concern is how the people who will be living in those residences will be feeling about it all.

 

My ratings for the films: 8 for Yin +/- Yang: Gender in Chinese Cinema; 7 for Still Love You After All These