| A
Meeting with Chen Kaige
January 6, 2000
It just so happened that the
program on independent film produced by
my company would
be featuring an interview with this giant of world
cinema. I gladly volunteered to stay the evening and
help around with the taping, if only to have an
opportunity to shake hands with Mr. Chen -- and perhaps
speak with him -- and perhaps have a photo taken with
him -- and perhaps...
I told my mother a couple days in
advance that he would be at my station, if only to show
that being a lowly assistant at a public TV station had
its perks. After all, not everyone can make
millions at an internet startup -- to her
disappointment, I'm not "not everyone".
The first time I told her about our special guest she
reacted with disbelief -- however by the next day she
was wondering if she should invite one of her friends
along to meet the guy. From there it was all a
matter of figuring out transportation, since she the
thought of driving into the city at night scared her.
It was agreed that at 7:30 I would pick up my mother at the
16th and Mission BART station, not a safe
place to be at night. At 7:30 I headed out of the
building -- on the way out I ran into a towering Chinese
man being led through the front door. I introduced
myself to Mr. Chen, showed him to the elevator, then
raced to my car to get my mom. I found her
wandering in the wrong direction from the station, but
unfazed by the loitering gangsters and winos pushing
shopping carts around her.
It was when we were back in the
building that could notice in the light how she had made
herself up for the occasion, and it pleased me that she
felt energized and motivated to do that. We
entered the green room, where Chen was in make-up while
his publicist waited. I introduced myself and mom
and made small talk until Chen emerged. From there
I was on -- in kind of the same way I have seen my boss
catch fire in his eyes, voice and gestures when he
starts talking to people about something he cares about
passionately. I milked my experiences in China for
all they were worth to impress the man -- and it did
impress him. He kept remarking to my mother his
pleasure that I had not forgotten my motherland and
could still speak Chinese. And of course, I talked
all I could about movies, Chinese and
otherwise.
Alternately, I asked him so many
questions that it seemed like I was warming him up for
his on-air interview. It was fascinating hearing
some of his opinions (that he considers Hou Hsiao-Hsien
a bit too slow for his liking) and his history (son of a
filmmaker, reluctant to follow in his father's
footsteps). Aside from being tall, he has a
reserved, composed face, and his English is very
articulate, so much that I think he could do well in
Hollywood. Apparently his next film will be set in
England. He seems to have already set up a life in
Los Angeles, where his wife and child were staying at
the time. In many ways he already has developed an
American sensibility -- he had worked in New York for a
short while in the early '90s. There is nothing
simple about well-accomplished Chinese people,
especially Mainlanders -- the ones I know (a cousin in
Shanghai originally from Taiwan by way of the U.S.; a
classmate born in New York, now a pop star in Taiwan)
seem strangely disassociated from any particular place,
even though they may feel a strong attachment to their
homeland. What they are really attached to
is family.
Mr. Chen was exceptionally kind to
me in spending as much as a half hour in conversation
before the studio was ready to tape him. I suppose
my mother and I kept him entertained while he
waited. At the end I took out my camera and took a
few pictures of him -- only later did I realize that no
film had been loaded... Then he kindly offered me his
fax number to contact him if I ever wanted to meet him
in L.A. His publicist offered to give us free
passes to The Emperor and the Assassin. It was a
very successful evening indeed.
But most importantly for me was
that my mom got to witness all of this. She got to
see me in my environment, talking happily and engagingly
with a Chinese celebrity she can now boast to others
about having met. She was in a good mood for
days -- though eventually she would ask me if I was
going to give up the pipe dream of filmmaking and join
an internet company. I don't know what I need to
do to convince her now -- there's nothing to be done, I
suppose. But at least now I can refer back to this
evening and remember how great I felt, how large I felt
in the presence of a great filmmaker, and capable of
someday also doing something great.
Back to Home
|
