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This article was first published in 2017
Since the mid-80s, Toh has made a name for himself as Hong Kong's preeminent commercial film director, thus creating a career trajectory and status that is very different from his contemporaries such as John Woo, Tsui Hark and Wong Kar-wai. He devoted himself to his national films, never attempted to make a foray into Hollywood, and founded his own production company, Galaxy Images, in 1996. It was not until 2005 and 06, with the premiere of the films "Big Event" and "Underworld" at the Cannes Film Festival, that To Qifeng, as an author and director, was finally recognized by Western critics and audiences. Even so, it was only his crime and genre films that were critical success and considered commercially promising in international markets for their elegance and directorial control. However, a look at the more than 50 works directed by To Qifeng, you will find that he is by no means a director who is stuck to a single model. Although he is arguably one of the greatest filmmakers of our time to focus on form, at the same time, his fluid expression in visual narrative has transcended genre.
Between October 26 and December 28, Toronto-based TIFF Bell Lightbox is hosting a series of retrospectives called "To Qifeng: Expecting the Impossible." Curator Shelly Kraicer is a leading scholar of Chinese mainland and Hong Kong cinema. This retrospective covers a variety of films created by To from 1992 to 2016, including action films, romantic comedies and some so-called "outliers" in To's films, in an attempt to show the audience different aspects of To and recreate this unique film master with a richer perspective.
Q: What kind of filmmaker is To Qifeng?
Xie Feng: He is a commercial film director, entertainment film director, genre film director, but under various rules and commercial constraints, his films far exceed these definitions. It is the genius that is, without exaggeration, the talent for turning bondage into artistic inspiration. David Baldwell, a leading researcher on To Qifeng, in the English-speaking world, said that the requirements of Hong Kong commercial films for filmmaking were precisely the means that Toh tightly grasped and used to create art, which gave him a prerequisite structure to become an artist.
Q: Although he gained his status as an author's director in the West, he was biased.
Xie Feng: In a way, To Qifeng, for Western audiences, is an action movie director, and his fans like movies with people with guns. And this is far from the real To Qifeng—it's just a Western audience who designed him, or just a part of his creation. In Hong Kong, his real popularity is romantic comedies. In the 80s and 90s, his blockbuster works were melodramas and family comedies. While he used these films to firmly capture the local audience in Hong Kong, he also shot films that were relatively private, small-production, and at the same time had a very limited audience in Hong Kong. I hope that this curation will help the audience open their horizons and make them realize that Toh also likes so many different genres. The song and dance film "Gorgeous Office Worker", which he has been slowly advancing for many years, was finally released in theaters in 2015. Before that, there was "Wenque" (2008), which felt like Jacques Demi's song and dance film. There is also Zhong Wuyan (2001), an "interlude movie" in the form of semi-song and dance. These are his attempts outside of action movies.
"Gorgeous Office Worker"
Q: Once at a film festival, I was going to see the media section of Blind Detective (2013) when I met a critic who laughed at me and said, "Don't you realize this is his kind of comedy?" ”
Xie Feng: My whole curatorial inspiration is to discuss this issue. Everyone's understanding of To Qifeng's is based on the publicity and marketing strategy of his films in the West. For Hong Kong films, action movies are a narrow passage through which they want to infiltrate Western culture. They play the role of "action clowns", pleasing Western audiences with a form of violence that the system allows for them, which also determines which films can enter theaters here. To limit an audience's vision of To to his words as an action film director is a regrettable echo of a narrow and biased perception.
Q: The first I saw to see To Qifeng's films were "Big Events" (2004) and "Underworld". When I first saw his romantic comedies and started exploring his other films, I felt a little uncomfortable, as most people reacted to. His action movies conform to the traditions we are familiar with, and the rhythm and style of his comedies are completely different from what we are used to.
Xie Feng: Actually, in his minimalist action films, we can easily see his originality. I see To as a structuralist filmmaker—neither Michael Snow nor James Benning—whose films are about the structure of space. It's a way of looking at and opening up his work, and using it to find his experimentation and creativity in cinema hidden behind the content. His films take the structure of space extremely seriously, examining how the body is subject to tension and pressure in space, how it coordinates power relations in space, and how these objects are forced to work and change under intense tension, and how new structures emerge. This is a classic To Qifeng movie. Of course, this is a narrative that I have overly simplified.
"Gunfire"
When it comes to the performance of the male body in a state of movement stillness, we have to mention the movie "Gunfire" 1999). In the film, Anan arranges five people as Wen Ge's bodyguards, and the tension gradually builds up, and as external factors/hostile forces emerge to break the existing structure, you witness it destroyed, which is the wonderful thing about the movie. To Qifeng's reorganization of the cutting of space in a temporarily stable spatial structure to express the interrelationship between a series of heroic characters is used again and again.
Let's take a romantic comedy as an example, in "Single Men and Women" (2011), the male and female protagonists are in two adjacent office buildings, obviously they are limited by their own space, but it is also the spatial relationship between the two that provides opportunities and possibilities for the love story of the couple of men and women, which is the key point of the relationship between the two. To is fascinated by the shaping of the human body in space, and in his action films, there are indeed violent outbreaks, but he is not a "violent poet" like Sam Peckinpah or John Woo, he writes poetry around space and structure. Violence occurs at a time when space is broken and reorganized. To does not advocate violence, but sees it as a means of resolving tensions.
"Single Men and Women"
Q: And he found a lot of different solutions for different types of movies.
Xie Feng: In True Heroes (1988), there is a famous bar scene where almost no plot takes place, during which two originally hostile killers eventually form an alliance, and the progress of the relationship between the two is achieved by a game-like exchange of objects in the bar space structure. You can look through many of To's videos to find similar cases. The way he analyzes the dismantling of the space is technically fascinating, the layout is very clear, you know the exact location of all the characters, what kind of tension there is in the picture – he needs to give you an accurate understanding of the story that is happening.
Q: To what extent do you think To's films reflect the social reality of Hong Kong? Does his work have the effect of exposing or subverting?
Xie Feng: To Qifeng: Du Qifeng is completely immersed in the current political climate and turmoil. His work always contains reflections on politics and society, but not overtly. I learned a lot from scholars in Hong Kong's film criticism system, such as Li Cheuk-to, who advocated that Hong Kong films be interpreted in two time points – one in the late 80s and the other in 1997. To Qifeng's film obviously fits this time clue, but he does not explicitly talk about political affairs in his own film.
《Major Incident》
Q: Like the old school director, he used to hide his intentions.
Xie Feng: There are many reasons for this. He has many relationships in the industry, and alliances in the film industry are common. Pro-mainland directors, neutral directors, as well as pro-Hong Kong directors, actors, producers, all factions, and there are all kinds of people. If you accidentally get on the wrong side in these political divisions, you're likely to be blacklisted. A knowledgeable producer/director needs to open his perspective and horizons, especially a director like To who produces both Cantonese works in Hong Kong and Chinese works in mainland China, in pursuit of maximum commercial success.
The meaning of Du Qifeng's work is rich, it is difficult to easily fathom, and naturally it cannot be rudely reduced to a few specific concerns. But we can't say that Du's focus on space is purely coincidental in the face of Hong Kong at this stage – Hong Kong's dilemma is undoubtedly about space. As a small and powerless former colony, after exercising a brief period of autonomy, it is negotiating a new set of laws of relations in a powerful Chinese mainland. How will the pressures in the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland change the two individuals? What are the possible outcomes of this series of struggles? These are all points worth paying attention to.
"Underworld"
Q: Can you talk about the curatorial ideas for these 19 films? These films represent one-third of his film chronology.
Xie Feng: These 19 films include 18 films by To Qifeng, and one licensed film, Hu Jinquan's "Dragon Gate Inn" (1967) (this is the tradition of TIFF Cinematheque, the main director of the screening unit introduces a work by another director). I try to find a balance between the kind of film that the audience expects, other different types of films, or his early works. They may have been shown in local Cantonese cinemas in Toronto! There used to be three cinemas in downtown Toronto showing new Hong Kong films, and there was also one in Markham.
Q: In addition to the most well-known works in this exhibition, do you have any special recommendations?
Xie Feng: "Hot Hand Rejuvenation" (2000) definitely needs attention, this is one of my favorites. It's a small, bizarre, one-off work about three idealistic heroic doctors fighting against a corrupt health care system. This is how Toh and associate director Wai Ka-fai imagine how Hong Kong can heal itself through professionalism. The film is witty and funny, full of absurd elements like chaotic power operations or talking cars. The whole film constructs a catastrophic scene, belonging to the kind of fantasy "Hong Kong apocalypse" film, which stimulates Hong Kong's thinking on this issue. "Hot Hand Rejuvenation" took only 27 days from story idea to finished film release. Admittedly, it is a bit sloppy, but this haste reflects a sense of urgency and the creator's anxious concern.
"Hot Hand Rejuvenation"
Another "other" work is "Zhong Wuyan". The title comes from an ancient heroine who fought against the monarch for her lover, and she participated in a series of important wars. The film focuses on the plasticity of gender. The three main roles are played by Hong Kong's most famous female comedian: led by the evergreen Cheng Xiuwen, the singer Anita Mui, who was a hit in the 80s and 90s, and Cecilia Cheung, who is rising in the new millennium. This is a costume drama with a constant flow of gender changes, and the love story in it transcends these gender transitions. This is a somewhat strange movie for To Qifeng, reminiscent of Tsui Hark's masterpiece "Smiling Rivers and Lakes 2: The East Is Undefeated" (1992).
Zhong Wuyan is inspired by the male and female indictments in Cantonese opera, and the audience's emotional connection to the characters also flows naturally between the male and female gender roles. Songs and puppet shows are interspersed throughout the film. The performances of these three actors are among the most entertaining and charismatic I've seen on a Hong Kong movie screen. I hope that this series will open the audience's eyes and let everyone appreciate the humorous side of To Qifeng. And "Three Heroes of the East" (1993) is somewhat of a pioneering film in which three women are the protagonists.
"Zhong Wuyan"
Q: It would be a pity to miss a moment if we didn't find the opportunity to talk further about the actors repeatedly used in To's films. For example, the one-of-a-kind Lin Xue always reminds me of the character actors in John Ford's films, who are always loved by the audience as soon as they appear on the screen.
Xie Feng: Since To Qifeng, and Wei Jiahui formed Galaxy Image in 1996, a group of actors have repeatedly appeared in To Qifeng's films, forming a royal team of character actors (character actors refer to actors who often play weird, funny, and distinctive supporting roles in movies). One of the most popular actors is Lin Xue, in fact, at the beginning he was just doing miscellaneous work for Du Qifeng's prop group. He carries his own mole, has curly hair on top (he can't cut his hair because of bad luck), and the image of Humpty and cute is deeply rooted in people's hearts. He can give a unique form to display, and Du Qifeng's knows how to use it. To Qifeng basically does not deliberately select actors in order to implement a specific image.
Lin Xue
The main thing in To's film is not the story or character psychology. Many of the lines in his films were improvised while filming on set. He has a script team, sometimes referred to as the "Galaxy Image Writing Team", who specializes in writing lines on set for the shots that To's came up with immediately. Lines are secondary to visuals. This practice is not uncommon in Hong Kong films: Tsui Hark and Wong Kar-wai are largely "improvisational", but To is more extreme than them. He doesn't draw storyboards, but likes to tell the scene in his head that these shots are carefully designed. The narrative is indeed pre-set, but To's details are always alienated on the set, as if Michelangelo sits quietly staring at the marble, just focusing on work, and the statue emerges.
Speaking of actors, Du Qi'ai often uses Gu Tianle as the protagonist of her love movies. Gu Tianle is indeed very handsome, to be honest, he basically has no acting skills, but this is not important, because he can give a temperamental, eye-catching screen presentation, almost the most box-office guaranteed male star outside Andy Lau.
Zheng Xiuwen is a very interesting actor. She can seamlessly switch between a state of big grin and grief-stricken heartbreak at any moment. You know, she has not been trained at all, and her main identity is a pop singer.
The soul core of To's film is Liu Qingyun. He doesn't look like a starring actor. He has melancholy, hound-like eyes, and an aura of nobility and majesty. He is by no means an action film actor by training, but he has always been able to create memorable characters that symbolize the belief of every ordinary person in Hong Kong who overcomes hardships and obstacles under desperate pressure according to an unshakable moral code.
Liu Qingyun
Q: Wai played a big role in the idea of To Qifeng's film.
Xie Feng: Many of the works selected in this series were completed by To Qifeng and Wei Jiahui. Coming from the television industry, Wai brings key points to To's filmmaking: the extraordinary perception of fantasy, specifically the fantastic fantasy inspired by Buddhists, embodied in collaborations such as Big Man with Big Wisdom (2003); There is also a subversive sense of humor, which is already present in To Qifeng's films, but the addition of Wei Jiahui has taken this humor to the next level. He injected a lively and comical texture into the film. He is more conceptual in plot setting, and more complex and bold in narrative design.
"Big Guy Has Big Wisdom"
When describing their working methods, the two mentioned that Wei Jiahui was the director in the pre-production stage, while To Qifeng, who was the set director, paid more attention to the actors and camera settings. They all hold a complete pessimism, willing to inspire the viewer to gaze into the gloomy abyss without a future, something many entertainment-led artists are unwilling to do. Even Hollywood-style endings don't account for much of Hong Kong movies.
Q: This seems to be a rare relationship between commercial studios and general audiences.
Xie Feng: All Chinese traditions, or popular culture, come from the Confucian tradition. The role of an artist is to teach people how to do good. This may be an exaggeration, but the moral code is still alive and well today, and To's films do to question the problems of contemporary life, asking what tools we can use to face or overcome these difficulties (but usually only because of the pessimistic and gloomy side of their films), and how we can stimulate the use of these effective resources. All of this is amazingly expressed in entertainment movies that are meant to stimulate and please the audience. What amazes me is how you can strike a balance between giving the audience what they want and what they need, and I think To's ability to capture that balance is convincing.