Zhang Yimou Earns Lifetime Achievement Award

The great Zhang Yimou will receive a lifetime achievement award at the Asian Film Awards in March. Red Sorghum was the filmmaker's breakthrough in 1987, though it wasn't until 1991's Raise the Red Lantern that Yimou solidified his international reputation, and earning a Best Foreign Language Film nomination in the process. Zhang is perhaps best known to American movie audiences for Hero and House of Flying Daggers, or to non-cineastes as the guy who choreographed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is difficult to accurately pin down where Zhang ranks in the pantheon of great filmmakers, even of his generation, because he doesn't have the resources a Spielberg or a Ridley Scott has at his disposal. However, we know enough just from seeing his films that Zhang is as versatile as just about anybody working today, with or without the luxury of the Hollywood system supporting him unconditionally. That kind of versatility is common among Fifth Generation filmmakers from China, having been immersed in a wide variety of influences following that country's cultural revolution. Zhang has a totally rearranged remake of the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple in Chinese theaters now, and we'll probably see it in the states by the end of 2010. I'd like to see an artist of his worth and catalog be similarly acknowledged by AMPAS, and that's not a real longshot. Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Fellini, Antonioni, Wajda, and Jean Renoir are all artists who operated outside Hollywood and were awarded with lifetime achievement honors here.

Comments

[Lengthy Johnson]

This is nice. Zhang Yimou actually got me interested in world cinema with his two masterpieces, JuDou and Raise the Red Lantern.

Above all I enjoy great cinematography and Yimou has created some of the most beautiful scenes and films - that I have seen at least.

I also enjoy the fact that he seems to be one of the few film-makers who can create a film with a rather elusive plotline, mimicking a more realistic flow of events, and still keep the viewers enthralled.