A Boy Whose Only Joy Is Causing Distress Is at Heart of 1990’s ‘Ju Dou,’ on Screen at Film Forum

A 1990 film undergoing a revival at Film Forum, “Ju Dou,” is as sumptuous a morality tale as you’re likely to imagine. Co-directed by Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang, the picture was based on a novella by Liu Heng, “Fuxi Fuxi.” Mr. Heng adapted his book for the screen, but, really, this story of family bonds, community mores, and love gone awry could’ve been the work of Sophocles, Anton Chekhov, or David Seltzer.One might ask: “David who?” Also, I suspect Mr. Seltzer might do a double-take at being lumped in with such an illustrious company. His book “The Omen” is likely best known for the 1976 movie version directed by Richard Donner and starring an ill-at-ease Gregory Peck. The plot, you’ll remember, dealt with a young boy who turned out to be the Antichrist. “Ju Dou” is nowhere near that apocalyptic, but it does raise distressing questions about the supposed inherent innocence of children.Tianbai (portrayed by Yi Zhang as a child and Zhen Ji’an as an adolescent) is a boy whose only joy is causing distress. He carries himself in a severe manner and invariably pops up in situations at which the other parties are behaving badly. Tianbai is the hard-won scion of Yang Jinshan (Li Wei), the owner of a silk-dyeing mill and a vindictive old man. Did Jinshan kill his first two wives because they couldn’t bear children? That’s the scuttlebutt, and it seems probable.“Ju Dou” takes place in a rural outpost of China around 1920, though the overall temper of the film is more feudal than modern. Tianqing (Li Baotian) is nephew to Jinshan, and has come to work for the old man. Upon arriving he learns that his uncle has taken a new bride, Ju Dou (Gong Li). Tianqing takes particular note of his aunt: How could he not? Ju Dou is young, beautiful, and covered in bruises: Jinshan is physically abusive, a tendency only exacerbated by his impotence. Ju Dou’s screams punctuate the night.Gong Li in ‘Ju Dou’ (1990). Via Film MovementThe dye-works in which our protagonists live and toil is an elaborate, maze-like setting, an edifice with pools of pigmented liquid, elevated drying racks, and heaving wooden wheels. The filmmakers, who worked in conjunction with cinematographers Gu Changwei and Lun Yang, play up the panoply of colors and textures that festoon, engulf, and otherwise pockmark the surroundings. “Ju Dou” was filmed in Technicolor — a technology that had since been abandoned in the States. The picture has vivid, old school resplendence.In and amongst the nooks-and-crannies of Jinshan’s homestead, Tianqing and Ju Dou begin a relationship. When Ju Dou becomes pregnant and later delivers a baby boy, Jinshan is ecstatic, believing that the child is his. For the sake of Tianbai and an abiding sense of family loyalty on Tianqing’s part, the couple keep their relationship secret and do their utmost to encourage the illusion of Jinshan’s paternity. All the while, Tianqing and Ju Dou continue to meet on the sly, their lust getting the better of them.The dynamic between the players becomes ever more fraught, taking some bizarre and genuinely surprising turns. Jinshan earns our sympathy after undergoing an accident that leaves him paralyzed — but that doesn’t diminish his villainy — even as Tianqing and Ju Dou prove themselves capable of callousness and cruelty. All the while, Tianbai grows more sullen, more knowing, and increasingly punitive in his temper and actions. He’s not a good kid.The upshot of all this is vivid, rash, and operatic, with a denouement that proves “Ju Dou” a fairy tale in which redemption is moot and forgiveness not forthcoming.

A Boy Whose Only Joy Is Causing Distress Is at Heart of 1990’s ‘Ju Dou,’ on Screen at Film Forum

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