A coming movie that will tug at your heartstrings
Up-and-coming Chinese film director Peng Fei deals with the sensitive topic of war orphans in his latest film “Tracing Her Shadow.” It’s due to arrive in Shanghai cinemas on March 19.
The making of the film was made in conjunction with co-producers — Chinese director Jia Zhangke and Japanese director Naomi Kawase.
The story, written by Peng, is about the attempts of a second-generation orphan named Xiaoze who tries to help a Chinese grandmother go to Japan to look for her adopted daughter, who has been missing for years. Along the way, they are joined in the search by a retired Japanese policeman.
The film was mainly shot in Nara, capital of Japan’s Nara Prefecture. With the soothing, fresh rhythm of road movies, it combines Nara’s quaint customs with a touching family story.
“Tracing Her Shadow” will meet audiences in cinemas next week.
The story sets its background in true history. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, many Chinese families in northeastern provinces adopted Japanese orphans. When the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, many orphans began returning to Japan in the 1970s and 80s.
In Peng’s story, the grandmother’s adopted daughter Lihua left China for Japan in 1994 to look for her relatives. By 2005, the grandma hasn’t heard or received letters from her for years.
She seeks for help from Xiaoze and starts her journey to look for Lihua, during which they meet other war orphans and their children. Some have managed to resettle in Japan but face discrimination there. Some have been struggling to define themselves, torn between two different cultures.
Does the grandmother find her daughter in the end? You’ll have to see the movie to find out.
Peng spent eight months in Nara researching and looking for material for his script. He dug out stories from the orphans. Two of them actually played themselves in the film.
Peng finished shooting in Japan in November 2019.
When dealing with heavy, profound stories and themes, Peng said he prefers to take a lighter approach rather than hitting audiences with strong, blunt emotions.
“The story has a sentimental theme that could easily make audiences cry,” said the 39-year-old director. “But I don’t want heavy emotions through a movie. Therefore, the characters’ sorrows are restrained, though it doesn’t detract from the depth of their feelings. There are also some humorous moments in the movie.”
Peng himself played a small character — a butcher — in the film.
The Chinese grandmother, who doesn’t speak Japanese, tries to imitate the bleating sound of a sheep when in the butcher’s shop trying to buy mutton. The butcher replies by oinking like a pig to tell her that he sells pork.
Peng graduated from the French film and television school La Fémis. He has worked with Taiwan’s famed filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang, creating an imprint on his cinematic style.
Peng’s acquaintance with Kawase began with his previous film “The Taste of Rice Flower,” which won the Audience’s Pick Award at the 2018 Nara International Film Festival.
Under tradition, festival president Kawase picks an award-winning director every year and assists that director in a new creation. Peng was her pick; “Tracing Her Shadow” was the result.
Kawase produced and organized the Japanese crew for Peng. The other producer, Jia, helped in editing after Peng finished shooting in November 2019.
“Tracing Her Shadow” stars veteran actress Wu Yanshu and 30-year-old actress Ying Ze.
Veteran actress Wu Yanshu (left), Ying Ze (2nd left) and director Peng Fei (right) work at a shoot scene.
Ying plays the role of Xiaoze, a second-generation orphan who returned to Japan after finishing college in China. Despite her hard work, she finds she is not fully accepted by Japanese society.
“The biggest challenge was language because I don’t speak any Japanese,” the Beijing native told Shanghai Daily. In the film, most of her lines are in Japanese.
Ying was coached by a Japanese language teacher, but the lessons were tightly scheduled because she received the script only 10 days before filming began. She spent great effort on memorizing her lines to sound like a native.
“I received encouragement and learned a lot from the veteran actors, including Wu (who plays the role of the grandmother) and Masatoshi Nagase (who plays a deaf-mute character),” said Ying. “Nagase stopped talking and communicated with the crew only by writing, which is what his character does in the film. I was impressed by his dedication.”
Ying is also the heroine in Peng’s “The Taste of Rice Flower,” in which she played a mother who returns to her hometown in Yunnan Province to restore a relationship with her daughter.
It was her performance in the movie that won Ying the support of her parents for her chosen career. They had initially wanted their daughter to become an investment banker.
In "Tracing Her Shadow," Japanese actor Masatoshi Nagase (center) plays a deaf-mute character who communicates by writing.
Ying majored in social policies and criminology while she was studying in the London School of Economics and Political Science.
“I developed an interest in movies during college and applied for assistant positions in movie crews during vacations,” said Ying. “Many friends and relatives of mine are already in finance and related businesses. I wanted to do something different. My interest in movies just grew and grew, until director Peng tapped me as the heroine of his maiden film ‘Underground Fragrance’ in 2015.”
“Tracing Her Shadow” becomes their third collaboration.
“When playing the mother role in ‘The Taste of Rice Flower,’ I had to think about the relation between me and my own mother to get into the role,” said Ying. “But when I took on the role of Xiaoze, I entered the story and character so easily. The emotions emerged naturally because this is a really good, touching story.”
Ying added: “Despite my academic background, which is not related to movie industry, I believe all previous study and life experiences help me as an actress. The dedication of the Sino-Japanese film crew increased my respect toward film as an industry and an art.”
Director Peng also described his working experience with the Japanese crew members as “memorable.”
“I was very touched when one of the Japanese crew told me that my film made him rethink history and war, and that he cherishes peace even more,” said Peng.
The movie has English subtitles.
