King of the Children (Film)

Haizi wang. 1987. Dir: Chen Kaige. Scr: Chen Kaige, Wan Zhi (aka Chen Maiping), He Jianjun(?).

Context:
Based on story by Ah Cheng, with whom Chen had spent his zhiqing days, working together in a rubber plantation during the Cultural Revolution.
It was Chen's first film to be produced at Xi'an Film Studio, under the wings of Wu Tianming, having moved from Guangxi Film Studio and his collaborator Zhang Yimou (who would himself soon make the move from cinematographer to director).

Reportedly Chen re-edited the film after seeing Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Dust in the Wind, and gave the rhythm an even more impressionistic feel. [Cheshire, Film Comment 1992]

The Film:


Relation to ideas about Chinese culture: "Chen does not attach to copying the value of a positive meaning as does Ah Cheng; rather in it he sees the contemporary Chinese culture's deconstruction of traditional Chinese culture. For Chen, the destructiveness of the Cultural Revolution is not an accident but the summation of the Chinese civilisation, and the act of copying, to which the students are reduced, signifies the emptiness of culture itself." [Rey Chow, Primitive Passions, 120]

Reception:
Distribution: ICA (UK theatrical, 1988); Orion Classics (US theatrical).





References:
http://alsolikelife.com/shooting/2009/05/967-109-hai-zi-wang-king-of-the-children-1987-chen-kaige/
http://worldcinemadirectory.co.uk/component/film/?task=view&id=1154
"The Pain of a Half Taoist" - an Jingfu, CInematic Landscapes pp117-125