Movies in China

Movies find you in China. You walk along the streets and DVD is whispered into your ear. You walk out of the grocery store, and they are waiting there at your feet. You get money from the ATM, and you glance over your shoulder to see them gathered together on some steps. As you approach the top of the footbridges over traffic, they are lying at the top of the steps, anticipating your arrival. They are even sold inside stores from time to time.

The movies you thought you would miss because you left the US are already prepared to be watched in your home. The movies that so long ago drifted into your consciousness and back out before you ever got to crack them open are simply splayed in front of your eyes. And, they all find you.

Of course, with all these film lying before you, you are left with too many options. You must distinguish which ones are actually waiting for you. Some are going to tear your heart out over the cost or horrendous dubbing. You must be picky, haggling, waiting, and searching covertly to avoid the wrath of pushy DVD pushers.

Recently, Death and the Maiden happened to run into me in a real estate agency. It was one of those movies that I had heard of when I was too young, and then saw as a pop culture reference in the past month. The title jumped at me, but I didn’t know why I wanted it. Anyway, after a short dance it came home with me, and I saw it. It was a riveting film. It was exactly the interest I had fostered in college: truth and reconciliation. It was honor and depravity, humiliation and pride, power and weakness all filed against each other and jammed into the viewer’s mind. The film was wrought with passion, and filled me with purpose.

And, this is what I wait for from films. The beauty of China is that you simply have to wait for such things. You cannot find the title online and seek it out at the stores or the Independent Film Channel. Only patience will be rewarded, that and some faith in spontaneity. Every film is a romance in China because you find yourself wooed by and wooing every film as you keep your heart open for something you might love.