ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses three key mainland Chinese filmmakers and their films. Essentially, what makes the imagination of these three filmmakers particularly and irrevocably “Chinese” is how their film characters see and respond to their world—which reflects these filmmakers’ own responses to what ultimately concerns them, or their afterimage. The filmmakers notably, Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, and Feng Xiaogang, appear to frequently wrestle with either a sense of existential angst or agony, or are almost always searching for redemptive hope. The obvious thread running through the film narrative of this disparate group is culture-based—one that exudes a belief in the presence of “More in Life than Meets the Eye,” even without being consciously aware of its outworking. Essentially, traditional Chinese religious values and beliefs continue to inform mainland Chinese films today. Thus, what makes the imagination of the Fifth Generation filmmakers particularly and irrevocably Chinese is the afterimage of Chinese religious traditions in their works.
