David Carter - East Asian Cinema

There has been a rapid surge in international recognition of the films of the East Asian region in recent years. This is partly due to their being more readily available on video and DVD, but also because the films are increasingly winning top prizes at highly respected film festivals throughout the world. Some directors have acquired celebrity status, such as Ang Lee, Wong Kar Wai and Kim Ki-duk. The ultimate accolade has been the provision of resources, sometimes outside their native countries, to make big, glossy, Hollywood-style films, occasionally at a loss to the cultures that originally produced them.

Although one thinks of the cultures in question as disparate, they also have many features in common, which enables them to be classed loosely as East Asian. For the purposes of this book East Asia incorporates the countries of The Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China), Hong Kong (now part of China but long a separate entity), Taiwan, Japan and the two Koreas (North and South). These countries share much common cultural heritage, in various proportions: that of Buddhism, Confucianism and in two cases Communism. They have also interacted with each other politically in various ways during the course of their histories. It is therefore meaningful to study the films of the region in relation to each other.

Many films of all the countries in the region reflect their shared Buddhist and Confucian heritage, and those of Mainland China and North Korea are conditioned by Communist ideology. In the works of some of the greatest directors it is also possible to trace the influence of traditional conventions in the visual arts which are uniquely East Asian: the imagery, the composition within the frame, and the sense of space (when to fill it, when to leave it empty). Forms of martial arts have also contributed greatly to the success of the films, from the most popular entertainment products to the most accomplished artistic achievements. Each country has been able to popularise its own unique forms of martial arts through its films: kung fu and tai chi in the Chinese-speaking areas, kendo and karate in Japan, and taekwondo and taekgyeon in Korea (mainly in the South).

As the cinemas of South and North Korea have common beginnings and share a common history until after World War II, the historical account in this book is presented as a continuous narrative divided into three parts: the period under Japanese domination, South Korea and North Korea. In the case of Taiwan, as the country was a new state set up by refugees from Mainland China and there had been only a little film production on the island during Japanese domination, it has been possible to depict its cinema history separately from that of the Mainland.

This book attempts to provide a broad overview of developments in the cinema in East Asia from the beginnings to the present day. With such a broad scope it has not been possible to describe all the films in depth; some directors alone have made over a hundred films. It is intended that the brief introductions provided to selected directors and their films will stimulate interest in the reader to explore further the full range of his or her output. In the final analysis all the films included in the present study are the authors own personal choice. Some well-known films, including the readers favourites, will inevitably be absent. But the authors selection has been well-considered, and films have only been included if they meet one or more specific criteria: they are historically significant, artistically accomplished, innovative, good examples of a genre, in some way unique, represent a trend, reflect a social or cultural theme in their countries of origin, or represent major landmarks in a directors career. Some directors are not included, either because they do not meet any of these criteria or simply for lack of space.