Life

IN SHANGHAI - THERE is something poignant yet ironic about watching Little Toys, a 1933 Chinese silent film starring movie icon Ruan Lingyu, in the Shanghai of the 21st century.

Last Saturday evening, a full house of more than 1,200 people attended the screening of this made-in-Shanghai classic at the Shanghai Concert Hall.

The movie was accompanied by a score written by Singapore composer Mark Chan and performed by a group of eight musicians playing both Eastern and Western instruments.

The one-night-only show was part of this year's Singapore Season, a month-long showcase of Singapore arts and culture in Beijing and Shanghai.

Little Toys tells the story of a talented toy-maker (Ruan) whose life is thrown into disarray first by China's civil wars and later by the Japanese invasion.

The movie takes a tender, protective view towards the joy and integrity of handmade things, from Ruan's hand-crafted playthings to, one could surmise, the distinctive style of a home-grown movie.

There is a muted horror of assembly-line manufacturing in this movie, with characters repeatedly expressing ambivalence and fear about both factory-made toys and artillery.

Today, of course, China makes, by some counts, some 80 per cent of the world's toys in its mushrooming factories, a fact that was recently thrown into the world's consciousness by the recall of some defective products. In Shanghai, foreign franchises like Starbucks pepper the city with an ever-increasing frequency and tenacity.

Amid this backdrop of cosmopolitan modernity, enjoying Chan's score in the exquisitely conserved Shanghai Concert Hall, which first opened in 1930 as a cinema named Nanking Theatre, almost feels like a defiant stand against globalisation, a force that tends to wipe out distinctive regional differences.

Says Chan, 48, on why he wanted to perform in this venue: 'It's not just about the accoustics, but also the ambience, an ineffable thing you can't define.

'There are some famous halls that everyone would love to play, but which are very cold. I don't think this is one of those halls - you can feel the spirit of movies past here.'

Shanghai native and retiree Yuan Huizhong, 60, attended the show with a group of her friends. They also attended the concert staged by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra last month, which was also part of the Season.

'It is our first time watching this film, and the music complements the film very well, especially during the war scenes,' she says.

Says another audience member, Mr Lu Baojian, 60, an art teacher: 'I really enjoyed the experience. It's a very good format, to match the music to the film; you can really feel the impact of the story.'

Mr Dong Ruirong, 72, a retired architect, attended the show with his family. 'Before attending the show, we still had some doubts about how it would turn out. But it was really enjoyable. It's so interesting - how did a Singaporean composer know we have this movie?'

Explains Chan: 'The historical setting of the movie moved me because it was about China trying to move forward as a country.

'And then there was the story of this artistic, entrepreneurial and determined woman, so the scope and breadth of the story allowed for both grand and intimate themes, and I liked the challenge.'

< AUDIENCE COMMENTS from the Little Toys performance in Shanghai Concert Hall >

"It was a great evening out.
For me, it was interesting and enjoyable from several different perspectives. The music was wonderful and the CD is great. And it was great to see a wide range of people there to enjoy it-- Chinese Chinese, overseas Chinese, westerners, etc etc. The movie itself was also interesting, since that is one of the themes of my research-- innovation, creation rather than imitation, by Chinese firms-- combined with the larger political/cultural context of China's ambivalence towards learning from and being dependent/subject to foreigners.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work."

Steven.

"Ruan Lingyu's screen presence is electrifying. Her liquid eyes reach
out over the decades to captivate another generation of Shanghai people.
Mark Chan's music is not just an accompanying score to a silent movie. It
is a moving and loving tribute to an icon of Chinese cinema. The
composition brought colour, depth and powerful emotions to this silent
black and white movie. A live performance with the film gave a strong
sense that the musicians were not just playing the score but reacting and
resonating to the feelings portrayed on the screen. The older Shanghainese
in the audience were enthralled and I was proud to be a Singaporean seeing
this Singapore piece appreciated by the people from the home of Ruan
Lingyu."

Wing

Mark Chan's "Little Toy" is a creative approach which perfectly combines music and movie. Through its concise, romantic tunes, the audiences are able to experience the emotional changes of the characters in the movie. Chan manages to revive the old Shanghai style with his modern composition.

Michelle Zhang
Shanghai Daily
38/F, Wenxin United Press Tower, 755 Weihai Rd.
Shanghai 200041, China
Tel: 86-21-52921234*638045
Fax: 86-21-52920646

“Mark Chan’s music completed the movie – Lttle Toys.” This is the first thing that came to my mind after the concert/movie. To talk about the movie and the music, I would like to start with the movie first. It’s hard to imagine that a film in the 1930’s can contain so many different elements – individualism, family, neighborhood, love affairs, patriotism, sadness, happiness, etc. – All in a one hour 40 minutes movie.

With Mark’s music, the film is more expressive and convincing. Mark not only sees the movie, he reads it and reads through it. His music leads the audience through the movie and helps us to “read” and “interpret” the movie. The most memorable part for me was when the very Chinese ensemble and sound played the western style music. It totally felt to me like “Shanghai”. - A mixture of East and West, Old and New. While being in modern Shanghai, sitting in a European style concert hall, watching an old Chinese silent movie, listening to the east-west blended music, all of a sudden, I fell into the setting of the movie, fell into the past, and fell into the old Shanghai.

The music cleverly blended the piano and traditional Chinese instruments. It was a brand new sound effect for a classical musician like me. It was balanced, it was expressive, it was a eye/ ear wide open experience for me. Though we had some technical problems during the performance, it did not affect the superb performance. Thank you Mark for the wonderful music, thank you all the musicians for the great performance, thank you director for an amazing film. This is such a catharsis for me.

在觀賞了小玩意之後，我心中的第一個想法是 – Mark Chan 讓這部電影完整了。首先我想先講這部電影。很難想像一部1930年代拍攝的電影能夠將這麼多的元素融合在一部電影之中。電影裡有家庭，有個人，有朋友，有鄰里；有兒女情長，有愛國主義，有寫實的社會現象，也激勵振奮人心的片段。

Mark的音樂讓這部電影更加的豐富，更加的具有表現力跟渲染力。他完全抓住了電影的精髓，讓觀賞者/閱聽者的情緒隨著電影及音樂而起伏。讓我印象最深刻的，是其中幾段西方色彩較濃的樂段。樂團是一個非常中式的樂團，以及非常中式的音響效果，但是配上西方的樂段，讓我完全感受到上海的味道。這就是上海的感覺，融合了東西方，擷取了兩邊文化的特色。當我在現時的上海，坐在歐式風格的音樂廳，眼中看的是中式的默片，耳裡聽的是中西融合的音樂，這著時讓我有時光及空間錯置的感覺。我便隨著音樂的帶領，跌入了劇情，跌入了過去，直至電影散場，音樂結束，我卻久久不肯離去。

整場表演之中，我覺得鋼琴穿插全場的表現尤為出色。由國樂及西樂所造成的音響效果是學習西樂多年的我覺得耳目一新的。主題音樂琅琅上口，令人印象深刻。雖然在中間有音響的問題，但完全不影響整場演出的完整性。對於這樣一場音樂會，我覺得深受感動。感動的是Mark的投入創作，感動的是樂手的專業演出，感動的是電影的多元融合。對我來講，This is a catharsis.

《小玩意》是一部含义丰富的电影，无论是它的拍摄、表演还是思想意识，都能够代表中国电影在20世纪初的那个黄金时代。但是如果没有陈国华的音乐，谁会真的去关注这样一部尘封的默片？陈国华用音乐把这部电影带回现在，并且为这部现代作品，注入属于“当下”的理解。最感人的，是叶大嫂遭遇人生最大悲哀的时刻，音乐里传来人声的悲啼，那一刻，在场观众无不动容。如果只是看默片的话，这样的感染力一定是大打折扣的吧？

November 5, 2007 Monday