In addition to being a poet and essayist, Xi Chuan has also worked as a film actor. In Platform 站台 (2000), directed by Jia Zhangke 贾樟柯 about personal and artistic changes in Shanxi 山西 province from the ’70s to the ’90s, he plays a theater director from Beijing modeled in part off the poet Mang Ke 芒克 (co-founder of the journal Jintian 今天, and whose poetry I should be translating soon). Here’s the English-language trailer:
I’m still looking for an excerpt of one of Xi Chuan’s scenes with English subtitles, but the entire movie is available on youku.com. Xi Chuan appears at about 3:38, in disbelief that his troupe has never seen a train in person and berating them for unrealistic acting and individualism; at 32:31, interrogating a misbehaving actor about the goals of socialism under “reform and opening up” 改革开放; and again at 37:13, where his speech indicating the troupe’s future direction is, tellingly, interrupted by a solo flamenco performance.
Just a quick feedback of the blog entry. (1) Xi Chuan’s acting is good, particularly in the scene at 32:31. The scene shows that he is talented. (2) I felt very exciting when I heard “A Night at Military Port” 军港之夜 broadcasting in the movie. And there were Li Guyi 李谷一, Deng Lijun 邓丽君, George Lam 林子祥and even more, I guess.