Have you seen The Foreigner by JC?

[gwr71]

I have just watch both the mandarin version and the English version of The Foreigner with Jacky Chan.  I loved it.  One of the few movies with JC acting in non-comedy role that I have seen recently.  I thought it was perfect for him at his age.  It also raises the question of China's new role in Hollywood.   I can see  Chinese influence in Hollywood movies increasing.  Is this just the beginning?  Will more blockbusters be from China?

Let me know what you think.

[somethingfunny]

My understanding is that this is a British co-production, so you'll need to be careful with the term "Hollywood Movies".

 

Edit:  As far as Chinese influence in Hollywood films is concerned, this is an interesting article.  You can just hear the movie executives saying to themselves, "We get good publicity at home for casting a non-white actor, and we get access to the massive Chinese audience? Yeah, OK."  I think this will happen more and more, and it will be especially noticeable when actors popular in China start getting roles over their traditional, American counterparts.  After all, why pay Jennifer Lawrence $15 million and get access to 300 million Americans, when you can pay a Chinese actress a fraction of the price and get access to an extra billion Chinese people.  The mainstream narrative will be "Hollywood diversification" but really it's all about the money.

[gwr71]

i agree.

[Lu]

Somethingfunny, you may be right, but your argument would be a lot more convincing if it wasn't about Mulan. I can't really see how even Hollywood would have gotten away with casting Jennifer Lawrence in that role. Surely the main actor would have to be at least half Asian. (Speaking of which, who is the go-to Asian actress in Hollywood these days? The current Lucy Liu or Michelle Yeoh?)

[Publius]

I love Lucy, and her Dr. Joan Watson!

[somethingfunny]

I wasn't implying that it was the case here, but that it would be in the future.  They've made the step (rightly so) to casting asian actors in roles playing asian characters.  But I think the next step will be a general increase in the number of Chinese actors in Hollywood films - ostensibly in the name of diversity, but actually for access to the massive Chinese audience.  This is what I meant, not that they could have cast Jennifer Lawrence as Mulan, rather than if they had cast Fan Bing Bing in Passengers, they would have paid her less and probably grossed a lot more.

 

(Actually, I don't know much about this, so please correct me if I've just made this all up.)

[Lu]

I would be delighted with such a development, even if the increase in Asian characters was just a side effect and not the main goal, but I really don't think it will happen. I think the important people in Hollywood believe that Americans generally prefer to look at white characters, and that non-white characters don't have as big a box office appeal. It's possible that we will see an increase in Asian best friends/sidekicks/guys who didn't do it, but not in main characters. And the Chinese audiences will soon realise that to Hollywood, they are always of secondary importance, and be annoyed.

[陳德聰]

I enjoyed The Foreigner because I enjoy watching Jackie Chan blow people up for a change. But I think it was a mediocre movie with a boring and predictable plot and even worse messaging. Without spoiling too much, I just felt it was a “propaganda movie”.

[Lu]

1 minute ago, 陳德聰 said:

I just felt it was a “propaganda movie”.

I'm not at all surprised. Jackie Chan is a brilliant film maker and action actor, but also a total sellout to the CCP.

[gwr71]

I agree with Lu.  Western movie goers will prefer white faces as stars.  I can only point to JC himself, it took a long time for him to be accepted by mainstream Hollywood.  It was mainly comedy movies like rush hour that gave him popularity in western culture. 

 

In respect to whether it was propaganda movie I don't know.  One can look at it that way or in another, it may signal China's intention to make Chinese stars more acceptable on the big screen.  Even if it cost China billions of dollars to do it.  China is patiently and carefully cultivating it's image in western audiences.

[陳德聰]

I meant that it felt like an anti-Irish propaganda film that took on Jackie Chan for the Chinese $$$. The anti-Chinese rhetoric used by the bad guys in the film was also a bit much for me, but it is based off a book called “The Chinaman” so I guess I’m not that surprised.

[gwr71]

. Thanks for the correction.  It struck me as odd as with UK Brexit and the issue of the physical Border that must be built between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 2019, that this movie may ignite NI to resume calls for freedom from the UK.  

[DavyJonesLocker]

I watched this movie last night. It was good to see Jackie chan acting a more serious role outside asia.

The movie itself I felt wasnt great. It just seemed odd to feature any Chinese actor or anything Chinese related to the IRA and the  northern Ireland history. 

The movie was quite anti Republican Irish in that they had made Pierce brosnan uncannily resemble Jerry Adams ( Sinn Fein President) , called him the "butcher of the bogside" which was a name given to Martin McGuiness (ex head of the IRA). In any case those references and many others used are lost on any audience outside Ireland .

 

Overall I think the movie is positive to show Jackie chan and but poor and insensitive choice of plot. 

[happy_hyaena]

On 2017-11-30 at 7:43 PM, Lu said:

I would be delighted wit.h such a development, even if the increase in Asian characters was just a side effect and not the main goal, but I really don't think it will happen. I think the important people in Hollywood believe that Americans generally prefer to look at white characters, and that non-white characters don't have as big a box office appeal. It's possible that we will see an increase in Asian best friends/sidekicks/guys who didn't do it, but not in main characters. And the Chinese audiences will soon realise that to Hollywood, they are always of secondary importance, and be annoyed.

 

I don't think the Chinese would be annoyed actually. They would just look at it as Hollywood, an American "establishment", serving their American customers, assuming that the Asian depiction isn't outright offensive.  I'm convinced that over time, the Chinese movie industry will improve to the point that they will be able to offer Hollywood-level quality. Furthermore, Hollywood will have to compete with other cinemas in China, like Korean or Japanese, not to mention the various Indian cinemas around. The fact that the Bollywood movie Dangal did so well is proof that Chinese people are quite open to a variety of international media - certainly more so than 99% of the Americans I've met!

 

The Asian-American community is a whole different story though. They are (rightfully) very unhappy about their current underrepresentation in mainstream American media, as well as the stereotypical roles Asian-American actors are being offered.

[DavyJonesLocker]

 

On 1/1/2018 at 10:41 PM, happy_hyaena said:

I'm convinced that over time, the Chinese movie industry will improve to the point that they will be able to offer Hollywood-level quality. I'm convinced that over time, the Chinese movie industry will improve to the point that they will be able to offer Hollywood-level quality. Furthermore, Hollywood will have to compete with other cinemas in China, like Korean or Japanese, not to mention the various Indian cinemas around. 

 

 

I am a bit of a movie buff. I watch 5 movies a week but in my view I do think Chinese have a way to go in terms of their movie industry. They are a long way behind the Japanese and Korean's in terms of creativity . I wonder is it due to artistic talent, unwillingness for directors to think a bit outside the box or is government control?

 

To any americans reading, is there still a lack of willingness for Americans to watch non English speaking movies or is the general public more open to world cinema these days. 

 

[imron]

12 hours ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

or is government control?

I think it's the spectre of government control causing directors and producers playing things very safe. 

[happy_hyaena]

Even within the context of government control and (seemingly arbitrary) censorships, there are still some pockets of entertaining media. I personally have a soft spot for Chinese roadtrip movies.