A representative of the Fifth Generation Movement and a strong female voice in the directorial scene of China, Li Shaohong attended the 4th International Film Festival & Award of Macau (IFFAM) with her latest film, A City Called Macau, a revelation of the complexity and cruelty that lies behind all the glamour of the city.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Yan Geling, the film centres around the story of Mei Xiaoou, a mainland junket operator in Macau, and her entanglements with the three most important men in her life. The film captures the cinematic scenes of the city and discusses the vulnerability of humans in the face of temptations and the gambler mentality in everyone.
Before the screening of A City Called Macau on December 9, Li returned to the city where the story took place, and recalled the creative journey of the film at a press conference at the Macau Cultural Centre.
As the director of A City Called Macau, you once said that choosing the subject matter was like “taking a gamble”. Now, a year after the premiere of the film, how do you feel about the result of your bet?
Indeed, it was like taking a bet. It was the first gambling-related film to be screened in mainland Chinese cinemas, so the subject matter posed a real challenge. There was also the period that film was set in a period of dramatic economic changes in the mainland, reflected faithfully by the experience of a woman, Mei Xiaoou, our protagonist. It was quite challenging for us on creative and expressive levels.
As a result, the censoring process was particularly tedious – it took a whole year. We missed the submission deadlines for all the film festivals last year. Also, the time slot for screening we were given was relatively undesirable. But for me, the most important thing was that audiences finally got to see it. The film got better market responses and acclaim than I had expected, with a pretty high rating. It was particularly popular among younger generations. Later, when it was made available on the streaming platform iQIYI.com, the number of views was also high.
Luckily, we made it to IFFAM, a year after the premiere, which was the best result we could ask for. I think it could be a representative work, especially when we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the handover of Macau.
What do you think made the process of censorship so long? Did you feel pressured to change any parts of the story so that it would get approval?
Mainly because of the subject matter. The censoring was difficult be- cause gambling-themed films were basically unheard of before in the mainland. Our intent was to reveal the dark side of gambling, which is a good thing, but in the meantime, we were not allowed to have too many gambling scenes, which put us in a real dilemma. The authorities were very strict with the scenes showing casinos and gambling details, and asked to us to revise again and again. They didn’t want the film to contain anything that might promote gambling or teach people to gamble. For example, originally, we had a scene where Mei Xiaoou led Shi Qilan, one of the male characters, into the casino and introduced various games to him – it was deleted. Scenes like that were not allowed at all.
Gambling is at the centre of the story. Why do you think it’s important to talk about this? Was your intention to warn the audience of its dangers?
Yes, that was part of our intention. And I feel that love is a lot like gambling. The protagonist in the film is treating her work and her love life with a gambler’s mentality.
How much did Yan Geling, the author of the original novel, participate in the film itself? In addition to writing the script, was there any other relationship between you and her?
Many of Yan Geling’s novels have been adapted into films, including Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home, Feng Xiaogang’s Youth, and some TV dramas. But her contemporary stories were relatively rare – except this one. Yan and I share very similar family backgrounds and life experiences, and we had always wanted to cooperate. When she told me about this story, I became immediately intrigued. I felt I had been waiting for it for so long, a good story closely relevant to contemporary life with a female perspective. We kept in contact during her writing of the novel, and later she wrote the first draft of the film script.
A rare quality of Yan’s works is the female perspective, which examines great changes of the times very emotionally. Against the backdrop of major economic changes in the mainland, the changes of people, in particular men, evoke waves of emotions in the protagonist, Mei Xiaoou. I think such a perspective is very unique. I asked Yan to retain the subjectivity, the emotional side of the novel as much as possible in the script.
Then we asked Chan Man Keung, winner of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Screenplay with Ann Hui’s Summer Snow, to enrich the script in terms of its “local flavour”, as Hong Kong neighbours Macau and has very similar cultures. Finally, we invited Lu Wei, a mainland screenwriter known for his excellent grasp of the depth and weight of history, as is shown in his past works such as Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine and Zhang Yimou The Story of Qiu Ju. He wrote the third draft, which contributed to the sense of history in the film. So, we have three screenwriters in total.
The beginning of the film is set at an interesting time in Macau’s history (1999), this dawn or twilight moment. As a film-maker, what sort of opportunity does this kind of historical period offer you?
After the Handover, the mainstay industry of Macau underwent profound changes. We know that the biggest source of casino customers in Macau is the mainland. Mainlanders flood to the city to entertain, to gamble. They are government officials, businesspeople, artists…from all strata of society. Consequently, many stories that would never happen in the mainland are happening in Macau, with all these people of different backgrounds. Also, Macau has the closest ties with the mainland. It’s not like Hong Kong, which is an international port and trade centre. Macau has a completely different economic form. All these impossible characters somehow gather in Macau and stories happen here, which epitomises the changes of the times vividly.
Star Ambassador
Juliette Binoche was chosen by the IFFAM organization to be the ‘Star Ambassador’ for the 4 edition of the Festival. During a press conference at the Festival, the French actress expressed the possibility of working with Chinese director Diao Yinan in the future. The star of movies including Three Colors: Blue, The English Patient and Chocolate, Binoche said that during her time in Macau, she had met three “very interesting” Chinese filmmakers.
“I am very excited about the idea of making a movie together, it could happen. But not in the near future, as I don’t have time,” she said.
While in Macau, Binoche also took the opportunity to promote her new movie, The Truth, which was screened at IFFAM. Directed by the Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-Eda, the film premiered in August at the Venice Film Festival and tells the story of a French film star and her relationship with her daughter. Commenting on the Japanese director making his first movie in France, she said: “Taking the risk of going to another country is also a way of renewing ourselves. He went to a world he was discovering.”
“What I realized was that he was always trying to find the ideal way to express himself. He trusted us. He felt the language, even though he did not understand French.”
Binoche revealed that during the shooting of the film, Kore-Eda had even asked her to bring objects from her home to the set to be used as authentic props.
“He called me to the set one day and asked me to bring home items, so I brought a rug and curtains and luggage to make it homely,” she recalled.