Near the beginning of the documentary, Down: inside Rock in the People's Republic of China, co-director Andrew David Field asks Kang Mao, the outspoken female singer of the Subs: "so, what do you think of Cui Jian?"
"Cui Jian is handsome. Cui Jian is the godfather: "the singer replies.
"How about Subs? Ever heard of that band? " Field remains.
Kang says: "no one has heard of the Subs. People just know Cui Jian. The Subs are a little strange. "
The filmmaker was on a train with the Subs to Changsha, the capital of the province of Hunan, where she would perform with Cui Jian, known as the "Godfather of Chinese rock", in 2007.
Field since in China on and off for more than 25 years, his first visit in 1988. He is familiar with the jazz scene Shanghai's long and watched some Chinese rock bands in Beijing in 1996. Most were cover bands, doing renditions of songs by Western bands such as Nirvana and Oasis.
It was a far cry from his experience on the road for two years with the Subs, with whom he moved to cities like Hubei Wuhan, Changsha and Shanghai capital traveled.
He was very familiar with how the Subs traveled and were treated by concert organizers.
Field are summarized the experience in a 52 minute documentary. The film also features several other bands from China's growing indie scene, including the Beijing-based bands carsick cars, Hedgehog, PK-14, Lonely China day and Re-Tros, and the Shanghai-based outfit Flying Fruit and Cui Jian.
Field interviewed bands, club owners and promoters in each place of the sweaty stages of dark underground clubs to huge outdoor rock festivals in China. He says that the movie itself represents a process of inquiry – not a polished story on paper produced before filming began.
"It is therefore a more fair approach, more of a true documentation than a prefabricated story about rock bands in China," he says.
In November 2006, Yugong Yishan attended a concert in the field rock club in Beijing, which featured Kaiser Kuo band spring and autumn. The band was followed by an AC/DC cover band under the direction of Jaime Welton.
"It was my first time attending a rock club in China since the 1990s," says field.
"The energy level was amazing, and I liked watching the Chinese and Westerners in the audience respond in such a visceral way to what is happening on stage."
He had a camera and started filming the tyres and the public. It struck him that this kind of scene would be a great subject for a documentary about life in contemporary urban China.
He had not seen this scene before and thought that most people outside of China and even most in the country-knew nothing about it.
In June 2007, field was in Beijing and a two-day music festival in the club Dos Kolegas was filming. The Subs was the last band to play.
He initially could not take their sound. It was also raw and powerful, and he had to step outside. When he returned to the venue, he found the energy to be carnal.
"It was primal," he says.
"I knew that this band would play a big role in my film."
In one of their hits, "Down", sings Kang:
"A, a, no money, keep the naked body. Two, two, no family, as the first day. Three, three, no job, throw away the old cage. Four, four, no future, come down to rock 'n' roll. "
The film maker decided to rename his documentary after the song.
Their album, "Down", was selected as the best Album of the year by the Chinese edition of Rolling Stone. The song namesake, down, also got the best song of the year.
"We do not belong to the upper class, and we don't want to compromise with the commercial market," says Kang, who founded the band in 2002.
"We want real and to become independent."
The Subs name sounds like "sha bu si" in Chinese, which means, "never be killed". This shows the band spirit.
"I think that spirit is what they want," says the singer.
It was not the first time the Subs were as a leading role in a documentary filmed. Norwegian documentary Director Karen Winther put the Subs in the leading role in her documentary, Rock heart Beijing, which the band recorded in Norway tour in 2007.
"We don't feel nervous facing the camera," says Kang.
"We keep it real, under any circumstances."
Field says: "all bands their art very seriously, and their music and live match that spirit. Indie rock bands in China are not about bling bling and becoming international celebrities. They drive around in limousines. They are very sober life and are very dedicated to their craft. "
That sentiment was shared by Jud Willmont, who wrote, produced and edited the film.
"This film was made with sweat equity," he says.
"Andrew and I share and that were able to get this film out of passion and friendship."
The film Beijing Bastards Chinese director Zhang Yuan released in 1993, which Cui Jian himself plays.
"It is very rough and you get to see how people like Cui Jian lived in those days," field says.
But downstairs, which is narrated by the two Western filmmakers, rock is no different in China and the West-loud, shocking and in-your-face.
The documentary is already accepted by two film festivals-thin line in Texas and NXNE in Toronto.
Her two film makers financed the documentary and spent four years on it. Nor had no idea how much work it would mean or how long it would take.
Field did all the filming of the rock bands. Willmont especially helped the story structure and assisted field to write of the narration.
They also gathered friends feedback.
Willmont also points to the ideas and struggles expressed by the featured rock musicians are not unique to China.
"So, in this way, we bring together China and the West, also" Willmont says.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment