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Opera films integrate on-stage performance of Chinese opera and cinematic production. Chinese opera's emphasis on the abstract and cinema's inclination to present the concrete complement each other and create different possibilities. Opera films even reinvent operatic arts through the transition of time and space, depth of field, colour and mood. The Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) programme "From Real to Abstract - Cine Attempts on Stage Operas" will feature nine opera films with diverse regional genres and vernacular music to showcase various techniques of combining the real and the abstract in opera films.
"From Real to Abstract - Cine Attempts on Stage Operas" is presented by the HKFA of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) in collaboration with the China Film Archive. The film screenings on November 22 will present Shaoxing opera in "The Butterfly Lovers" (1954), Kunqu opera in "Breaking the Willow" (2003) and Beijing opera in "Wild Boar Forest" (1962), while the screenings on November 23 will cover Shaoxing opera in "Bride Hunter" (1960), Beijing opera in "The White Snake" (2006) and Qin opera in "Suo Lin Nang" (aka "The Unicorn Pouch") (2011). In support of Cantonese Opera Day 2014 on November 30, three Cantonese opera films, namely "The Lost Kite" (1957), "Patriotic Heroine" (1960) and "The Red Robe" (1965), will be featured.
Some of the screenings will have post-screening talks respectively hosted by Koo Siu-sun, Wong Ain-ling, May Ng and Tong Ka-wai, who will share their observations on opera films. Also, the director of "The White Snake" and "Suo Lin Nang", Li Tao, will meet audiences after the screenings of his films.
"The Butterfly Lovers", which was China's first full-colour opera film, features the two towering figures of Shaoxing opera, Yuan Xuefen and Fan Ruijuan, in performances that enhanced the influence of operatic art in film. The touching story of the butterfly lovers, the sentimental music and lyrics and the special vocal styles of Shaoxing opera have earned applause for the film. This was also the first digitally restored classic released by the China Film Archive on DVD.
"Breaking the Willow" depicts two love stories in two opera excerpts, starring the "Queen of Kunqu", Zhang Jiqing, who plays a wilful woman divorcing her dirt-poor husband, and Wang Fang, who plays a royal wife being abandoned by her husband. The opera excerpts are documentary-like, with the happenings on stage contrasting with the cityscape of present-day Suzhou, creating a dreamy crossover. Zhang's fascinating performance is a living testimony to her art form's age-old legacy.
Beijing opera master Li Shaochun's "Wild Boar Forest" is adapted from the literary classic "The Water Margin", and he acts as the male lead, Lin Chong. Performing opposite him as Lu Zhishen is Yuan Shihai, a celebrated hualian (painted-face) actor. Directors Chen Huaiai and Cui Wei created the fluid transition of time and space with cinematic technology, while keeping intact the artistic excellence of the maestros, providing an invaluable record of a performing art.
Co-directed by Hu Siao-fung and Lin Huan (aka Jin Yong), the romantic comedy "Bride Hunter" features an all-female cast in accordance with the tradition of Shaoxing opera. The film stars Hsia Moon, Feng Lin and Yu Wanfei, who cross-dress as scholar Zhou, Zhu Zhishan and Tiger Wang respectively, as well as Li Tziang playing Tiger's sister. Hsia and Li's singing voices were dubbed by Shaoxing opera masters Bi Chunfang and Qi Yaxian.
Director Li Tao made use of pared-down aesthetics to display the beauty of Chinese opera in "The White Snake". The simplistic interior of White Snake's home and pale coloured costumes deviated from the traditional theatre rulebook, which emphasises contrast and juxtaposition. While making innovations, Li also highlighted traditional opera footwork with close-up shots. Zhang Huoding, who plays White Snake, is an outstanding dan actress of the Cheng Yanqiu school. Her co-star, Song Xiaochuan, who plays Xu Xian, has also cross-dressed as White Snake on other occasions, showing the boundless creativity in Chinese opera.
Another work by Li, "Suo Lin Nang" (aka "The Unicorn Pouch"), is the signature piece of Cheng Yanqiu, one of the "Four Greatest Dan Actors" in Beijing opera. The story features a rich bride, who gives generously to the poor and is later saved from misery when calamity strikes. Li's version successfully blends the sonorous, lilting Cheng sound with Qin opera's flamboyance and rustic charm, producing a wonderful chemistry.
Starring Hung Sin Nui, Ma Si-tsang and Li Feilong, "The Lost Kite" depicts a star-crossed love affair between a maidservant and a scholar. Director Xu Tao combined celluloid and stage opera to great effect, making this full-colour opera film a complete revelation. During her scene of being locked inside a storeroom, Hung performs the nocturnal naamyum (southern tune) passage with a varied mix of melodic rhythms and plucking techniques, presenting a superb showpiece of the Hung sound.
"Patriotic Heroine" is one of the greatest Cantonese film adaptations of Mainland opera and is based on a tale from Chaozhou. Playing the leader of a female army, Ng Kwan-lai leaves a strong impression with a convincing display of northern-school acrobatics in the film. The excellent performances of Law Kim-long and Lan Chi Pak, who respectively play the patriotic commander Wai and the traitor Cho, are also appealing to the audiences.
In "The Red Robe", Yam Kim-fai, a distinguished siu-mo (a person who is well trained in martial plays), seamlessly furnishes the scholar role of the righteous Imperial Censor with an awe-inspiring staunchness. Yam's enemy, the thoroughly wicked Prime Minister played by Lan Chi Pak, meanwhile inhabits his role with superb eye movements and beard skills. The two Cantonese opera icons performed at their very best in the film. The existing cut is an incomplete version salvaged from Oakland Chinatown in the US and has all the climactic scenes intact through restoration by the HKFA, giving audiences a fair view of this real gem of Cantonese opera cinema.
"The Butterfly Lovers" and "Bride Hunter" are in the Shaoxing dialect; "Breaking the Willow", "Wild Boar Forest" and "The White Snake" are in Mandarin; "Suo Lin Nang" is in the Shaanxi dialect; and "The Lost Kite", "Patriotic Heroine" and "The Red Robe" are in Cantonese. "Breaking the Willow" has Chinese and English subtitles; "The Butterfly Lovers", "Wild Boar Forest", "The White Snake" and "Suo Lin Nang" have Chinese subtitles; and the other films have Chinese subtitles for lyrics only.
Tickets priced at $40 are now available at URBTIX. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 and above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Credit card bookings can be made at 2111 5999 or on the Internet at www.urbtix.hk. For enquiries, please call 2739 2139 or 2734 2900. Detailed programme information can be found in "ProFolio 74", distributed at all performing venues of the LCSD, or by browsing the website www.lcsd.gov.hk/fp/en_US/web/fpo/programmes/2014cop/index.html.
Ends/Thursday, November 13, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:46
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