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SINGAPORE : Director Daniel Lee not only knows how to make a "wuxia pian" (martial arts movie), he also knows how to make the old ladies happy.
Describing a festival screening of his previous movie, "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon", he said: "There was an old lady, maybe 80-something years old? She was a western lady who sat in the front row and clapped very loudly.
"She stayed behind after the screening and told me in Mandarin: 'I have waited so very long. Now I finally get to watch Three Kingdoms!'"
While it was "very encouraging" that the audience at that screening was mostly Westerners - pleased old lady included - the Hong Kong director said he had to put notions of appealing to a North American audience aside, as he focused on making a "100-per-cent original wuxia pian".
"I define wuxia pian as different from action movies," the 50-year-old told TODAY during an interview at Swissotel's Intro Bar. "The action used in wuxia pian is not just another part of the movie. It's not drama, then action, then drama, then action.
"Action in wuxia pian is a language used to tell a more poetic, abstract side of the story that can't be told by dialogue - you need action to tell it. It's like a dance movie - you can't explain it in words."
For an international audience, cultural differences may compound obstacles to understanding this abstract form of storytelling, Lee said.
That's not to say that he doesn't want his wuxia pian to travel beyond Chinese-speaking shores: "Of course, more market support would be better; the producers have a list planning what to do in the Western world.
"But when you say you want a movie to be accepted by North Americans, it's not that simple. The cultural factor has a big focal difference."
Language and accents are only the beginning. For "Three Kingdoms", for instance, "at least 20 per cent of the accents in the movie were being cut down so as to be better understood", he revealed.
"So from the viewpoint of the director, it's really a debate: Do I want a bigger market? Or do I want to make cuts so as to make it more digestible for a North American audience?"
He certainly made no concessions when it came to "14 Blades" - the MediaCorp co-production that stars Donnie Yen, Qi Yuwu and Chinese actress Vicky Zhao Wei.
"When I made '14 Blades', I would say I forgot about the American market. And anyway, from any audience's point of view, the most important thing is whether it's an interesting or boring movie.
"If it's an interesting movie, people will want to see it - whatever audience in mind it was made for. So, I want to make interesting movies."
It's certainly a sure-fire way to keep the audiences coming, no matter what their creed or colour.
And who knows, Lee might just see that octogenarian again. "I hope I meet her again at one of the screenings of '14 Blades' - I know there's a chance!"
- TODAY/il
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