Asian Cinemas

Hong Kong cinema: nostalgia and auteurship

Week 10

COMM2489

Image source
Today’s class
1. Course evaluation survey
2. Key concept: nostalgia
3. HK cinema as collective memory
4. Key concept: auteur theory
5. Film analysis:
In the Mood for Love
5. Industry skill: Making a video
essay

Image source

2
How’s everyone doing today?
1. What is the last emoji that you used on your phone?

2. Mark your attendance in this spreadsheet.

3
Key concept: nostalgia
What does nostalgia mean?
Can you describe a recent experience that made you feel nostalgic?

4
Key concept: nostalgia
What does nostalgia mean?

Source: Lexico 2020. Oxford English and Spanish Dictionary..

5
 Defining nostalgia

How can we read Hong Kong cinema through the lens of nostalgia?

Image source

6
Situating Hong Kong cinema

• Autonomy from mainland China means Hong Kong

developed a robust movie industry free from
interference, becoming the world's third largest
producer of films.
• End of WWII and Chinese civil war brought mass
migration into HK (i.e. film talent, capital, young film
audiences).
• 1950s: Filmed Cantonese operas were leading genre
1970s action films
• Kung fu films a reaction against theatrical wuxia
swordplay and fantasy.
• Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest Studios fueled
growth of kung fu.
• Bruce Lee became a transnational icon
… changed the cinematography of action films.
… resonated with global minority audiences.
Introduced action genre as ‘scenarios of “contact”
between rival ways of life’ (Morris 2004, p.184).
Eg., Fist of Fury (dir. Wei, 1972).

Image source
Kung Fu Hustle:
Nostalgia as parody
Dir. Stephen Chow, 2004.

Draws from a ‘transnational imagination’ (Morris 2004):

• Intertextual nostalgia that is global and local.
• Impersonations of old screen stars.
• Plot and setting recalls Hong Kong of the past.

• Let’s watch these clips (4 mins): Can you spot

any references to other films?
• Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRbPXbgsKyE

• Casino fight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmwFlIXekAk
Image source
Song of the Exile: Nostalgia as displacement
• Released 1990. Dir Ann Hui, renowned female auteur.
• Autobiographical: filmmaker’s journey of migration and longing for home.

• Made during politically

turbulent times (and set in
1967, tense times for China
and Hong Kong).
• Maggie Cheung as the New
Wave woman (tension
between feminism and
traditional womanhood).
• Watch trailer

Image source
Song of the Exile: Nostalgia as displacement
Part of Hong Kong new wave:
‘the “new wave” attempts to wash away the past, break
with tradition, and create a new agenda for filmmakers
in open conflict with the cinematic status quo’ (Marchetti
2012 96).

• Independent filmmaking vs studio filmmaking.

• Personal perspectives rather than commercial
genres.

Image source
 Key concept: auteur
‘Auteur’: coined in 1950s in French journal Cahiers
du cinema (Schatz and Perren 2004).
… the director as author of a film.
An auteur has a clear thematic and stylistic vision,
defined by a ‘personal statement’ or ‘worldview’ (Watson
2012 164).

Allows critics to discuss films as works of art.

Auteurs are a marketable commodity. Eg., Scorsese;
Tarantino
Some filmmakers are considered auteurs and others
are not.

Image source
12
Wong Kar-wai as auteur
Part of Hong Kong’s ‘second’ new wave.
Internationally acclaimed for his visually unique, highly
stylised work.
• Days of Being Wild (1990)
• Chungking Express (1994)
• In the Mood for Love (2000)
• 2046 (2004)
Gets discussed in every film studies course!

Image source
Local themes and global style

‘Postmodernist aesthetics’:
• Fragmented time and narrative structure where the
image is more important than the story
• Reflects ‘urban sensibility’ of HK as a ‘place of
transit’ and global hub (Lee 2009 22).
• Fleeting experiences; dislocated identity; anxiety;
longing.

Image source
Film discussion:
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Image source
In the Mood for Love (2000)
• Synopsis: Neighbours (Tony Leung,
Maggie Cheung) learn their spouses are
having an affair and develop feelings for
each other.
• A visually rich cityscape in 1962 as
traditional Chinese culture yields to
Western influences.
• Themes: time, memory, the impermanence
of human relations (references HK films of
the past).

Image source

17
Filming nostalgia
• Nostalgia as ‘collective memory’ (Lai 2001).
• Nostalgia as both ‘mood’ and ‘subject’ (Lee 2009).
• Nostalgic desire vs critique of nostalgia.
• Wong’s trilogy: anxiety over loss of memory
and identity in handover period in 1990s. Image source
18
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Watch from restaurant scene (27.49):
1. How is nostalgia conveyed through the mise-en-scene? What does it tell
us about the characters and relationships?
2. Analyse the cinematography. What does it reveal and hide?

Access the film here.

Image source

19
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Choose 1 screenshot from the Google Drive folder.
Prepare a short presentation for the class explaining:
1. How is nostalgia conveyed through the mise-en-scene? What does it tell
us about the characters and relationships?
2. Analyse the cinematography. What does it reveal and hide?

20
Industry skill: Making a video essay
Assignment 3 (due week 12)
Work in groups of 3 – 4 to produce (1) a group video essay (5 minutes), and (2)
a written individual reflection on their group audiovisual essay.
You need to:
• Let me know your topic by the end of Week 10
• Source existing materials from Asian films, analyse these materials, script a
narrative and produce a video essay.
Video essays will be screened in class in Week 12.

22
Assignment 3: topics
The topic for your VIDEO will follow this format:
[Film Element] + [Film Theory/Concept] + [Asian Country]
Film elements Theory / concept / genre Asian country

Mise-en-scene (props, costume,
framing, set design, acting)
Cinematography (shot size,
framing, perspective, movement)
Lighting and colour
Theories and concepts: genre; spectacle, Japan, China, India,
melodrama; feminist film theory; national Hong Kong, South
cinema; semiotics; soft power; cultural Korea, Thailand,
imperialism; transculturalism; auteur; Indonesia
censorship; hybridity; co-production
Themes: national identity; memories of war;
women on screen; history and authenticity;
nostalgia

Editing

Sound (music, dialogue)

23
Assignment 3: topics
How to develop a thesis statement and structure…
[Film Element] + [Film Theory/Concept] + [Asian Country]
Example thesis statement:
1. In this video essay we will use feminist film theory to examine
how colour is used to represent women as national symbols in
Chinese cinema.
2. In this video essay we will examine how sound is used in a
unique way to construct the South Korean ‘extreme cinema’
genre.

24
Assignment 3: making a video essay
Use Canvas Studio, Adobe Premier Pro, Da Vinci Resolve (free), iMovie or any
video editing application you are comfortable with!
Plenty of online tutorials to help you with this software.
• Tutorial for Canvas Studio:
https://rmit-arc.instructuremedia.com/embed/8fceaae5-bb37-40de-8766-eca2f4
39b5fe

Check the Video Essay Resources on the Modules page for creative ideas.
Some examples of video essays:
• On Sixth Generation filmmakers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp_bC9At0Jc
• On Hero https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy2LdlGUz6Q
25
Assignment 3: making a video essay
1. What is your overall message (argument)?
2. Decide on a structure and format: Voice-over? Subtitles? Supercut?
3. Gather materials: clips from movies
4. Script your text / voiceover
5. Draft and edit your video essay: piecing materials together
6. Test and playback!

26
Be creative!
What happens to the tone of your essay if you:
Change the music?
Use a combination of voice over and subtitles?

Get music from Free Music archive:

https://freemusicarchive.org/static
Or other Creative Commons sources – there are lots.
Finalise your groups by the end of this week.

27
Individual reflections (due Friday, week 12)
Written reflection of 500 words.
Please include the following in your reflection:
(1) introduction of theory or concept discussed in the video essay,
(2) critical reflection on the findings,
(3) how this reflection has enriched your personal understanding of Asian cinema,
(4) the parts you have prepared for the video essay.  

28
Reflective writing tips
Thinking critically about your knowledge, action, and experience.
• Go beyond just describing what happened – try to understand the deeper
meanings;
• Be thoughtful, ask questions, be analytical;
• Be honest even when this is difficult or uncomfortable;
• Relate what you experienced to wider contexts e.g. future courses or
employment.

29
References
Lai, LC 2001, Film and Enigmatization: Nostalgia, Nonsense, and Remembering. In ECM Yau (ed.), At Full
Speed: Hong Kong Cinema in a Borderless World. University of Minnesota Press, USA, pp. 231-250.

Lee, V.P. 2009. Post-nostalgia: In the Mood for Love and 2046. In V Lee (ed), Hong Kong Cinema Since 1997
The Post-Nostalgic Imagination. Palgrave Macmillan, UK, pp. 21- 42.

Marchetti, G. 2012. The Hong Kong New Wave. In Y Zhang (ed), A Companion to Chinese Cinema, Wiley &
Sons, pp. 95-117.

Morris, M. 2004. Transnational imagination in action cinema: Hong Kong and the making of a global popular
culture. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 5(2), pp.181-199.

Schatz, T & Perren, A 2004, in J Downing, D McQuail, P Schlesinger, & E Wartella (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of
Media Studies. SAGE: Thousand Oaks, pp.495-516.

Watson, P 2012, ‘Cinematic authorship and the film auteur’, In Introduction to Film Studies, ed., Nelmes, J
Routledge, Oxon.

30