(BruceWillis) blowshimselfup, therebysavingthe Earth
while simultaneouslyresolvinga tricky Electra-complex-like
crisis with his daughter,Grace(Liv Tyler).In Gwo’snarra
tive, it is the duty of adultsto sacrificethemselvesfor the
sake of the youngergeneration;indeed,commercialChinese
films routinelyforegroundyouth,on the understandingthat
this mirrorsthe demographicslappingdown its (or rather its
parents’)100-yuannotes at the new megaplexes.But the
move to sci-fi signalsa searchfor a more globallypalatable
productthan successfulactionfilms such asWolfWarrior 2
(Wu Jing, 2017) orOperationRedSea(DanteLam Chiu Yin,
2018),whichhave drawncriticismin the Westernpress for
daringto suggestthat Chinesenationalismis on the rise
and might be expressedthroughmilitarism.^8 Sciencefiction
of the sort we see in Gwo’sfilm, in castingits dangerson a
planetaryscale, at least has a more utopiantendencyto posit
worldcooperationasitsstartingpoint.Certainly,thisis the
case here, as the disembodied– thoughFrench-speaking–
world governmentorganisesineffectualglobal action,but has
to cede primacyof place to the Chinese,who are a nation
of go-getterspossessingthe youthful exuberance and self-
belieftosavetheworld.
AtthesessionI attended,I wastheonlynonChinese
memberof the audience,and a youngwomanapproached
me to tell me how much she lovedTheWanderingEarthand
that this was her secondvisit. After seeingthe film myself,
I was puzzledby this reaction.I was appalledby the lack of
clarityin the actionsequences,the unsympatheticnature
ofthecentralcharacters(especiallyDuoduo,whodissolves
into tears at vexatiousmoments)and the way that the heroic
groupdon’t achieveanythingmuch until the very end of the
film. My reactionwas in keepingwith those of Asian cinephile
friends,who, while interestedin the growthof a Chinesefilm
industrythat might challengeHollywoodhegemony, regularly
assureme that its outputis still pretty terrible.
I suspectthat, for a Chineseaudience,these films have a
qualityofnationalisticnovelty.Thelocalpeoplehavenever
seen anythinglike this from their own filmmakers,and, be-
fore being seen in aestheticterms,such worksrepresentfor
them a claim to be a vital part of world culture.A national
cinemais many things,includingthe assertionthat one is on
equalfootingwithothernations.Thisis a reactionthatought
to be familiarto any Australianwho lived throughthe early
1970s,when each new Aussiefilm was an explicitstate
ment on what Australianness, and an Australian cinema,
couldaspiretobe.
But what can Chinesecinemaaspireto be? Answersto
thisquestioninvolvenotonlyaestheticissuesconcerningthe
films, but also, more vitally,industrialquestionsabout how
these films will circulate.What is a film, after all, but a bundle
ofrightsthatcanbelicensedfordistributionfeeson different
platformsand in differentparts of the world?
I notedearlierthatTheWanderingEarthhasgrossed
US$700milliongloballyto date, with US$690millionof that
comingfrom China.In other words,outsideof its homeland,
the film has largelybeen restrictedto diasporicChineseau
diencesand eked out relativelyminor amountsof money.
Contrast this with the Chinese–American co-production
Thisspread,clockwisefromleft:Peiqiang’sdaughter,
Duoduo(ZhaoJinmai);Peiqiang’sson,Qi (QuChuxiao,two
images); Peiqiang with Makarov (Arkady Sharogradsky)http://www.metromagazine.com.au | © ATOM | Metro Magazine 201• 73