At just 71 years old, Zhang Yimou is more active than ever. In addition to directing movies, this February he took command of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics for the second time. If A Second was in charge of inaugurating the San Sebastián festival in 2021, Cliff Walkers - which premieres today on the Spanish billboard - participated in the official section of the Sitges Festival. The spy thriller set in the 1930s on the snowy cliffs of the puppet state of Manchukuo, represents his first foray into the genre.
Through an overwhelming visual staging, the veteran author of titles such as Red Sorghum, The Red Lantern or The House of Flying Daggers, adds images to the story written by Yongxian Quan about a group of spies from the Chinese Communist Party (Zhang Yi , Qin Hailu, Zhu Yawen and the young Liu Haocun) who, after being trained by the Soviet Union, return to their country and embark on a secret mission. But they are betrayed and will find themselves involved in a complex web of deceit from which it will be difficult to get out alive. The veteran filmmaker answers questions from La Vanguardia via e-mail.
What led you to want to direct this story whose script is signed by Yongxian Quan? Is it based on a real case?
I came across Mr. Yongxian Quan's script by chance and at that time I simply did not have ideal material at hand, so I decided to shoot this story. I am a professional film director and normally I always want to read good scripts, but the options are limited. Not all the scripts that come to me are good, and many times the choice of one is the result of chance and has nothing to do with having a greater affinity for a subject. This is a period in history and reviewing it will help us avoid a repeat in the future. I wish that from now on, the people of China and Japan will have a friendship that lasts for generations.
What does the title of the film refer to?
It refers to the hit television series The Brink (in Mandarin, The Cliff), also written by screenwriter Yongxian Quan. He always had the idea of writing a continuation and for this reason he wanted to reflect this relationship in the title and for the film to be called Cliff Walkers (in Mandarin, On the cliff).
You are talking about a little-known historical event. Do you think it is important for cinema to help recover historical memory?
Actually, most historical movies tell about little-known events. However, if they were invented or related events that are not part of the real story, it would not be an impediment for viewers to enjoy them. As long as they are well done, that is enough. The contribution that cinema makes to remember history is very important. We have all grown up watching historical films that we also remember as adults. It is an experience that we all have in common.
Two years ago, the Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa filmed The Spy's Wife, where he denounced the atrocities of the Japanese imperial army in Manchuria, a virtually taboo subject in Japanese society. What do you think?
I've seen Kurosawa's The Spy's Wife. It is shot in a very subtle, discreet and restrained style, very different from large-scale spy movies. It seems more like a literary film. To some degree, Spielberg's Bridge of Spies has this same style. I am aware that it takes a lot of courage to carry out these types of films.
The visual spectacle of his films is overwhelming. In this, in addition, snow is one more protagonist. How do you manage to impose that beauty despite the tragic situations you are recounting?
The visual environment of this film focuses on the cruelty and coldness of the snowflakes and the icy wind among which harsh trials for humanity take place. I really like the effect of the snow that does not stop falling. In China we have beautiful thousand-year-old poems in which snow is praised. Even today, many people can recite them by heart, such as this verse from Cen Shen: "it would seem that last night / a spring zephyr blew, / making a thousand pear trees bloom". The author uses the spring wind and the white color of blossoming pear trees to describe the snow, a very beautiful comparison! Every director knows that when the story takes place in special weather conditions, be it snow, rain or fog, each scene will be instinctively more poetic, giving the story more nuance.
Filming would be difficult with so many action scenes under the snow. Where was it filmed and how do you remember it?
It is more complicated to make it not stop snowing than to make it rain. First of all we had to find a good artificial snow machine and the right material for our snow. It had to be a biodegradable material that would not contaminate once it fell on the ground, as well as easy to clean and recycle, since we cannot spoil the natural environment. We also needed the snowflakes to cooperate with our multiple cameras, which is extremely difficult. We often shot with 5 or 8 cameras at the same time in many different shots. So how do we get the snow to fall evenly? Well, basically, racking our brains every minute and every second. For this we established a team specialized in dealing with snow. These people were in charge of finding different solutions, even if it was exhausting. Luckily, they completed their task perfectly. Thanks to them, in post-production we had to do very few computer arrangements. Nowadays, many directors only use snow made by computer, and of course you can, but I have always believed that it is somewhat false. I prefer to shoot it for real.
In the film there is a small homage to Chaplin's The Gold Rush. Why did he choose her?
The cinema is a place where spies meet in secret, but what movie would they go see? It is clear, the first option would be one of Chaplin! I personally like it a lot. What is a huge coincidence is that on one occasion, I received the Asia Chaplin Award from the granddaughter of Charles Chaplin himself.
Cliff Walkers has achieved great public success in China. Was one of his objectives to make an entertainment film?
All directors want to make entertaining movies, no one wants to do something boring. But wanting to make an entertaining film and making it entertaining are two different things. The biggest challenge has been presented by the plot and the plot twists to get the viewers to feel trapped by the suspense and to make the twists unexpected. In the age of social media there are no longer any secrets in the plot of a story. The spectators are very clever. If the suspense or the twists have the slightest flaw, people don't have patience, they make fun of you. Therefore, with this type of argument you have to compete against the intelligence of the viewer and be very careful.
You have directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics twice. Has it been more or less complicated than making a film?
More complicated. The filming set of a film is, in essence, the world of the director. There you can make any decision on your own. But the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is very different. There are many aspects involved and, as a director, you must have a lot of patience, commitment and perseverance.
How do you see the future of movie theaters? If you were given a blank check to make a movie for some platform, would you accept it?
As a director, of course I would like movie theaters to have a beautiful future assured, but I know that social networks and the media have dealt a great blow to theaters and do not stop stealing viewers from them. I have no way of knowing the future, but while I don't think movie theaters will disappear, I do fear that they will have to change forms to survive, don't you think? Perhaps it will happen as with many traditional arts and they will become something to be kept in museums. On the other hand, I would not at all reject shooting a series for streaming platforms as long as the script is interesting to me. I think a director is a person who has to tell stories. If you have the opportunity for people to listen to them, you don't have to be a purist in a certain way. This is how the story evolves. As the old Chinese saying goes: "if the old doesn't go away, the new won't come". We just adapt to the story, since it cannot be stopped.
After 40 years in the film industry, what motivates you to continue making films?
Since I joined this profession in 1982, my motivation has always been passion. When you like something, you have infinite energy, you don't care about problems or tiredness.
