Jasmines Blooming ("Mo Li Hua Kai") Plot
April 28, 2003
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Jasmines Blooming is the story of a family of three generations of ordinary women -- Mo, Li and Hua -- set in
Shanghai:
Mo's Story (1930's)
Eighteen year old Mo (Zhang Ziyi) lived with her mother (Joan Chen)
who owned a small photo shop. She wanted to be a movie star, a dream her mother could never understand. One day, Mo met Mr.
Meng (Jiang Wen), manager of a movie studio. A close relationship
with Meng made her dream come true and also made her pregnant with Meng's baby. When the Japanese invaded China, Meng left
Shanghai and vanished forever along with Mo's dream. Mo gave birth to Li and blamed her for everything she had lost...
Li's Story (1950's)
Li (Zhang Ziyi) had grown up with her mother, Mo (Joan Chen) in great misery. She married Zou Jie (Lu Yi)
just to get away from her mother. Unable to bear a child of her own, Li adopted a baby girl named Hua. Day by day, Li had become
more and more paranoid, even accused Zou of violating Hua. Li's family eventually collapsed and her husband ended his life on a
train track...
Hua's Story (1980's)
Li disappeared while Hua (Zhang Ziyi) was still very young, leaving her to grow up with her grandmother, Mo (Joan Joan). Mo
treated her own daughter very badly but found comfort on taking care of her granddaughter. Hua's husband, Du (Liu Ye), was
not happy with his wife and had an affair with another woman. Hua decided to end the marriage even though she was already
pregnant with Du's child. Years later, Du would want to go back to Hua, only to find she remarried...
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Thanks to MonkeyPeaches for the news update.
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More Jasmines Blooming Pictures
April 22, 2003
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The following new images of the Jasmines Blooming cast and crew have very recently been
released:
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| Zhang Ziyi |
Jiang Wen |
Joan Chen |
Jiang Chen and Ziyi |
Ziyi and Joan Chen |
Ziyi and Jiang Chen |
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| Jiang Chen and director Hou Yong |
1930's Shanghai street |
Cast and crew on set |
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In the 1930's scenes from Jasmines Blooming (Mo Li Hua Kai), Zhang Ziyi plays Mo,
a young, naive Shanghainese girl dreaming of becoming a superstar, while
Joan Chen plays her mother. Jiang Wen
takes on the role of Mr. Meng, manager of a film studio, and presumably Mo's love interest.
Related links:
Related discussions:
Thanks to RGR103 and MonkeyPeaches for the news update.
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Interview With Jasmines Blooming Director
April 20, 2003
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The following is a continuation of a series of interviews by Beijing Youth Daily
with Jasmines Blooming (Mo Li Hua Kai)
director Hou Yong on the movie's
set in Shanghai. As
you will recall, Jasmines Blooming is based on
Su Tong's multi-generational novel,
The Lives of Women, set in 1930's, 50's and 80's Shanghai:
I heard you've been preparing for the film for 11 years?
Not that long, (but) I read Su Tong's book The Lives of Women (Funushenghuo) 11
years ago. I liked it very much. (I) felt it was very beautiful, very smooth and very enjoyable,
and (I think) it was very framable. At that time, I felt the urge to make a film (based on it).
After all these years, I just could not forget it. Now everything is ready, therefore making a
big-screen adaptation of it is naturally the next step to take.
What from the novel has drawn your attention and what are you going to show us in the film?
(It is) the feeling. Su Tong never used quotation marks for dialogues and he rarely used
adjectives. I like his way of quietly telling us the fate of a woman. In this book, Su Tong
shows us women who lived in different social environments and different times but shared the same
fate, and causing the sadness of their stories was their own faults. Starting from this, I want
to explore some deeper meaning. Maybe I won't make it clear, but I want to show I have (at
least) thought about it and want to show my love towards women.
In the film, are you going to recreate the feeling from the book?
No. Later when I was working on the script, I realized I felt good while reading (the book) only
because I was fascinated by the language. Therefore in the film I will pursuit a different kind
of feeling and taste.
Do you mean there will be a big difference between the book (and the film)?
The first two parts with Mo and Li are basically shot based on the book. The last part with Hua
has been changed a lot and the ending will be much more brighter than in the book. I once tried
to write the dialogues in Putonghua (Mandarin) with a Shanghai slang. But (my fellow) screenwriter Zhang Xian said it was
impossible to "translate"
Shanghainese to Mandarin, therefore I gave up on writing that so-called Shanghai
slang.
Tell me something about the cast. How did you recruit Zhang Ziyi to play Mo, Li and Hua?
I wanted the best actors in my film, of course, and Zhang Ziyi is one of the best (Chinese)
actresses of our times. I once wanted to cast
Gong Li and at that time, Zhang Ziyi was still too young to handle three roles
(in one film). I have already had very serious conversations with Zhang Ziyi and I have written
down my thoughts of (the roles), including many concepts. I believe Zhang Ziyi will handle it
very well.
Joan Chen was recommended by Hu Xuehua.
She is very humorous and very easy-going. I once worried about (not being able to) work with her (well),
because she is such a big star. But later I found out she was a very nice person. I told her she
should knew how I felt, just like when she was working with
Richard Gere (in Autumn In New York).
Then she laughed, very loudly.
According to the script, the visual and music is very vital for the film.
That's right. The music will be Molihua (Jasmines, a Chinese folk song) and the
composer (Zhang Ye) is the one who wrote
Zou Jin Xin Shi Dai (Walk To New Age). What exactly the music is going to be - I
don't want to say right now.
The shooting has [been ongoing] for 20 days (note: the interview was conduced on March 27th).
As a first time director, are you satisfied by your work so far (note: he is a second time director actually)?
Not bad, just too nervous. (There are) a lot of things, but I just don't have time for all of them.
The ratio is 1:15 (14 feet of film wasted for each foot of usable film) and I still think that's
not enough. Such as, we spent four hours to shoot a hand soaked by rain outside a window. (We)
have wasted too much time. It would be more time consuming for shots which are more tasteful and
more enjoyable. I feel I am very nervous.
After becoming a director, I finally realized what an excellent cinematographer I am. That's
right! I didn't know that before. As a cinematographer, I know how to completely, efficiently
and remarkably achieve what the director is asking for. Therefore I won't give up being a
cinematographer. Then I think, in the future, maybe I will be the cinematographer and hire a
director to make (another) movie.
You can be both.
I think it wouldn't be a good movie if the director and cinematographer are the same, so I must
have someone (else) be the director.
What do you expect from your directing debut?
I am satisfied by what I have designed for this project. The design is having Zhang Ziyi play
three characters -- the young Mo, Li and Hua. I believe this has never been done before and I
will do it with my style.
The following images are of Jiang Wen
and Zhang Ziyi and of Joan Chen from the Jasmines Blooming set:
Related links:
Related discussion:
Thanks to MonkeyPeaches for the news update.
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Purple Butterfly Plot
April 15, 2003
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Shanghai Film Studio has recently posted the plot
for Purple Butterfly
along with a number of photos of the film's cast, including Ziyi, at
Shanghai Film Studio/Purple Butterfly:
The film starts in the 1930's in China's the Northeast (Manchuria), at the dawn of Japanese invasion. A young Chinese girl, Xin Xia (Zhang Ziyi), has just seen her Japanese lover, Itami (Nakamura Tooru) off, and on the way back, she witnesses her brother being murdered by a Japanese right-wing extremists. She moves to Shanghai, changes her name to Ding Hui and joins Purple Butterfly, a secret organization led by Xie Ming (Feng Yuanzheng) that's fighting against the Japanese aggression.
During an operation, a bystander, Situ (Liu Ye), accidentally gets involved, and his girlfriend, Yi Ling (Li Bingbing), is gun down by a Japanese agent. Ding Hui feels sorry following Yi Ling's death and asks Situ to simply walk away. But, Situ insists on joining Purple Butterfly to seek revenge for his lover's death. Meanwhile, Itami arrives in Shanghai with a new identity as a spy for Japan, and his mission is tracking down Purple Butterfly. After reunited with her old lover, Ding Hui has to make a tough choice between love and her nation. And what really lies beneath the passion is...
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Related discussion:
Thanks to MonkeyPeaches for the news update.
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Hero Wins Big at Hong Kong Film Awards
April 7, 2003
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The 22nd Annual Hong Kong Film Awards, one of the most
prestigious events on the Chinese movie circuit, was held last
night in Hong Kong
with Zhang Yimou's Oscar-nominated Chinese
epic Hero and the Asian cop drama
Infernal Affairs sweeping up almost
every prize -- Hero winning seven and Infernal Affairs taking nine.
Of it's total of 13 nominations, including one for Best Supporting Actress for Zhang Ziyi, Hero,
though losing Best Film and Best Director to Infernal Affairs, won the following other awards:
Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle),
Best Art Direction (Huo Ting Xiao),
Best Costume and Make-up Design (Emi Wada),
Best Original Film Song (Hero by Faye Wong),
Best Action Choreography (Tony Ching Siu Tung),
Best Sound Design (Tao Jing) and Best Visual
Effects (Murray Pope, Richard Schlein,
Luke O'Byrne,
Ellen Poon).
The mood of this year's gala event was muted by the recent suicide of Hong Kong megastar
Leslie Cheung and the recent
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome) outbreak in Southern China.
Related links:
Related discussion:
Thanks to Carrie Lee of Reuters for the news update.
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News From Jasmines Blooming Set
April 04, 2003
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Beijing Youth Daily recently did an interview with Zhang Ziyi and Jasmines Blooming
director Hou Yong on the movie's
set in Shanghai. As
you will recall, Jasmines Blooming is based on
Su Tong's multi-generational novel,
The Lives of Women, set in 1930's, 50's and 80's Shanghai. At the time of the interview,
they were filming 1950's scenes of Ziyi as Li and her co-star and on screen love interest,
Lu Yi, as Zou Jie.
Zhang Ziyi and Lu Yi and presumably director Hou Yong:
Zhang Ziyi commenting on how this role is her most challenging to date: "Mo, Li, and Hua are
three characters in three different generations. In addition to having different dispositions
and personalities, each character is also quite subtle. This is actually quite hard, but at the
same time there's a lot of possibilities. I already have a clear picture of the 30's Mo and 50's
Li, but I'm not as sure with the 80's Hua."
The part of the movie where Zou Jie (a steel worker) and Li interact is expected to take place
sometime at the start of the
Great Leap Forward, when
Mao Zedong encouraged the Chinese to gather all their spare iron to be made into steel.
Related links:
Related discussion:
Thanks to puubs for the news update.
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