Seventeen Years Q&A Session

When tall, well-built director Zhang Yuan and actress and beauty Li Bing-bing appeared together on-stage, both chic in all black, they were greated by rounds of applause and camera flashes. The director's answers to audience questions were equally smart, which might be no surprise when you realize that the 37-year-old director made his first film at 27, and has been releasing films full of piercing predictions for Chinese society for ten years now. It's impossible not to like the calm and refinement that those ten years have given him. One of infamous Chinese censorship system's most prominent targets, Zhang is loved by audiences overseas, and has many fans in Japan. When a member of the audience asked about his next work, and about which actress he would like to cast in it, the director answered, then suggested that the audience stick to talking about Seventeen Years. That said, there were few issues raised about this well-made, well-directed work, and the majority of questions and comments were more along the lines of "Is spending New Years with family really that important?" and "I was surprised when the wife told her husband that if she was reborn as a cow or a horse, she would want to be used by him." Incidentally, Zhang's response to both of these comments was that that is the way things are in China today. Li Bing-bing was first approached to play the murderer, but had to turn down the offer when a television engagement meant she couldn't rearrange her schedule. After filming started, Zhang approached her again, this time to play the guard. She had no time to prepare for the role, but Zhang praised her, saying that his choice was anything but a mistake.