Learn Chinese through Chinese Movie: March 2011 大腕" Big Shot's Funeral "
Big Shot's Funeral (In Chinese: 大腕; pinyin: Dàwàn; literally "Big Wrist")
An interesting Chinese comtemproary movie as cross-cultrures and cross-languages learning material, “Big Shot's Funeral” is an ideal one to be on our monthly movie list.
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Writing Credits: Feng Xiaogang, Li Xiaoming, Shi Kang
Cast: Ge You, Rosamund Kwan, Donald Sutherland, Ying Da, Paul Mazursky
Genre: Comedy
Country:
China, Hong Kong
Language: Mandarin
Year Released: 2001
Big Shot’s Funeral (大腕Da Wan) is an interesting collaboration between China and USA. Directed by Feng Xiaogang, one of the hot new directors in China
Legendary director Don Tyler (Donald Sutherland) has embarked on his latest, ambitious project. he plans to re-film Bernado Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor. Filming commences in Beijing, and Tyler’s assistant, Lucy (Rosamund Kwan) hires a local cameraman, Yoyo (Ge You), to document Tyler’s shoot. Lucy is China-born, but received her education in the West hence, she acts as interpreter between Tyler and Yoyo, who seem to share similar viewpoints despite the cultural and language barrier. Things aren’t moving smoothly during the shoot, however, as Tyler begins to feel more and more disillusioned about the project. Tyler suddenly decides to call it quits, to the horror of longtime friend and production company bigwig, Tony (Paul Mazursky), who immediately flies down to Beijing to oversee the shoot.
Tony decides to replace Tyler with another director, although retaining Tyler’s name on the final product. Tyler grows even more despondent, and his health suffers. Through a slight communication breakdown, Tyler misunderstands Yoyo, and thinks that death for the elderly in China is a joyous occasion a "comedy funeral." Tyler makes Yoyo promise to give him a comedy funeral if the event of his death, before slipping into a coma. Yoyo feels responsible for the impending funeral, and gets good friend Louis (Ying Da) to help out. Louis, head of an event management company, goes all out to create a grand funeral for Tyler to be held at the Forbidden City. However, the two forget an important matter who is going to pay for the funeral? In a desperate attempt to secure funds, Louis and Yoyo starts selling product placements and advertisement space for the funeral to great success. Soon, the funeral resembles a carnival, chock-full of products and ads everywhere, and even space on Tyler’s body has been reserved.
Big Shot’s Funeral has an interesting premise, and Feng Xiaogang milks it for all its comedic worth. The best scenes are not from these product placements, but rather the dialogue that transpires between the leads. Although Tyler and Yoyo are almost incapable of understanding each other’s language, they manage to communicate their views via sign language and stilted dialogue (and some help from Lucy). Also interesting is how Feng subtly works in issues about Sino-US relations. In a particular scene we observe an American and Yoyo butting heads (literally), only later to see the two being buddy-ish after the scuffle.
Big Shot’s Funeral is an entertaining look at the entertainment industry and the state of modern China these days.
