CHEN KAIGE

'Chen Kaige' () (born August 12, 1952) is a famous Chinese film director.

Contents

Early life

Directorial career

Personal life

Filmography

As director

As actor

As writer

As producer

Notes

See also

External links

Early life

Chen Kaige was born in Beijing, and grew up with fellow Fifth Generation alumnus Tian Zhuangzhuang as a childhood friend. During the Cultural Revolution, Chen joined the Red Guards. As a teenage member of the Red Guards, Chen, like many other youths, denounced his own father, a fateful decision he eventually learned to regret. Indeed, this period of his life continues to influence much of his work today, notably in the unblinking depictions of the Cultural Revolution in ''Farewell My Concubine'', and in the father-son relationship in ''Together''.^[1] With the end of the Cultural Revolution, Chen, in 1978 joined the Beijing Film Academy, where he graduated from in 1982 as part of the so-called Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers.

Directorial career

His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling. His first movie, ''Yellow Earth'' (1984), is one of his most famous and important works. Together with Zhang Yimou as cinematographer, the film established itself as one of the most important works of Fifth Generation filmmaking; though simple, its powerful visual imagery and elliptical storytelling style strongly influenced contemporary Chinese filmmaking. ''The Big Parade'' (1986) and ''King of Children'' (1987) expanded on his filmic vocabulary and are often seen together with ''Yellow Earth'' as an early informal trilogy. Early in 1989, he did further experimenting in a music video for the song "Do You Believe In Shame" by Duran Duran. Later that year, he made ''Life on a String'', a highly esoteric movie which uses mythical allegory and lush scenery to tell the story of a blind er-hu musician and his student.
His most famous film in the West, ''Farewell My Concubine'' (1993), nominated for two Academy Awards and winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival, follows two Beijing opera stars through decades of change in China during the twentieth century. Chen followed up the unprecedented success of ''Farewell My Concubine'' with ''Temptress Moon'' (1996), another period drama starring Gong Li. Though it was well received by most critics, it did not achieve the accolades that ''Concubine'' did, and many were put off by the film's convoluted plot line. Almost as famous is his ''The Emperor and the Assassin'' (1999), an epic involving the legendary King of Qin and the reluctant assassin who aims to kill him. But Kaige doesn't limit himself to epics, in 2002, Chen made his first, and to-date only English-language film, ''Killing Me Softly'', a thriller starring Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes, though it proved to be both a critical and popular disappointment. His more recent ''Together'' (2002) is an intimate film about a young violinist and his father. In 2005, he directed ''The Promise'', which sees him returning to the historical epic.
Chen has also acted in several films, including Bertolucci's ''The Last Emperor'' (1987) and his own ''The Emperor and the Assassin'' and ''Together''.

Personal life

In 1996, he married actress Chen Hong.

Filmography

As director

Year	English Title	Chinese Title	Notes
1984	''Yellow Earth''	黃土地
1986	''The Big Parade''	大阅兵
1987	''King of Children''	孩子王
1991	''Life on a String''	边走边唱
1993	''Farewell My Concubine''	霸王别姬
1996	''Temptress Moon''	风月
1999	''The Emperor and the Assassin''	荊柯刺秦王
2002	''Killing Me Softly''
2002	''Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet''		Segment ''100 Flowers Hidden Deep''
2002	''Together''	和你在一起	Silver Seashell (San Sebastián International Film Festival) for Best Director, 2002
2005	''The Promise''	无极

As actor

Year	English Title	Chinese Title	Role	Notes
1987	''The Last Emperor''		Captain of Imperial Guard
1999	''The Emperor and the Assassin''	荊柯刺秦王	Lü Buwei
2002	''Together''	和你在一起	Yu Shifeng

As writer

Year	English Title	Chinese Title	Notes
1984	''Yellow Earth''	黃土地
1991	''Life on a String''	边走边唱
1996	''Temptress Moon''	风月
1999	''The Emperor and the Assassin''	荊柯刺秦王
2002	''Together''	和你在一起
2005	''The Promise''	无极

As producer

Year	English Title	Chinese Title	Notes
2002	''Together''	和你在一起

Notes

1. Interview - Chen Kaige Leonard Klady

See also

★ Cinema of China

★ Zhang Yimou

★ Tian Zhuangzhuang

External links

★ They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?

★

★ Chen Kaige: "Freedom Above All Else"''

★ Chen Kaige -- Star of Chinese Fifth-Generation Cinema Directors