It’s been quite a year for Korean-Chinese director Zhang Lu. In September, his feature Gloaming in Luomu had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival and went on to win the Best Film Award in the festival’s first-ever official competition. His second feature of the year, Mothertongue, had its world premiere on October 29 at the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, also in the Competition section. Will he make it two in a row?
 
Like Gloaming, which is about a young woman vacationing in a popular Chinese tourist resort once frequented by her boyfriend, who has since (literally) ghosted her, Zhang’s new film is predicated on a strong sense of place —in this case the hallowed Emei Film Studio in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The protagonist of Mothertongue is Chunshu (Bai Baihe, also the star of Gloaming), a struggling actor who manages to land a choice role in a major motion picture because the character she will be playing is from Chengdu, Chunshu’s hometown.
 
But when the producers learn that Chunshu has lost her facility with the local dialect in the years since she left, they drop her. Dejected, she returns to Chengdu to reconnect with her past, in particular the acting coach (Liu Dan) who convinced her to lose her regional accent because “only actors who speak standard Mandarin” can get work these days.
 
Both Bai and Liu, who also played a leading role in Gloaming, were on hand for the post-screening Q&A at TIFF, along with the director and another actor, Wang Chuanjun, who plays the acting coach’s son and a possible romantic interest for Chunshu.
 
Zhang was keen to discuss the Emei Film Studio, where many famous Chinese films had been made. “I myself shot two films there,” he said. “It’s a beautiful studio, with housing quarters, that was established in 1958.”
 
It is in these quarters, now mostly abandoned, where the acting coach still lives, suffering supposedly from dementia—Chunshu thinks she’s faking it—and wandering through the ruins of the studio, which is about to be torn down. “I had heard there was a redevelopment project planned for the studio site,” said Zhang, “so I wanted to make one last film there, but they told me I would have to hurry.” Since he shot Mothertongue, demolition has proceeded apace. “Soon there will be new buildings there.”
 
Because of the studio, Chengdu is known as a movie town, and many places in the city have names associated with the cinema, such as an apartment complex named after the Cannes Film Festival—something that turns into a jokey leitmotif in the movie as all these would-be movie people discuss Cannes as if it is the pinnacle of existence.
 
When asked about Cannes, where Zhang’s second feature, Grain in Ear, was screened, the director said he wasn’t sure if Mothertongue “would make it to that festival,” but he expressed appreciation to TIFF for selecting it for its Competition section. “That has a lot of meaning to me.”
 
Liu also expressed appreciation, saying she was “overwhelmed” at having her performance shown at the festival. “I’ve always had some kismet with Japan,” she said. “I first came to Tokyo in 1995 with a theater piece, and then returned in 2003 to do some research.”
 
Bai, who was seeing Mothertongue for the first time in Tokyo, was asked how close she really is to Chunshu, since the actor herself grew up in Chengdu. “I had to do a lot of thinking about the character, and wondered if it’s really possible to forget one’s native tongue,” said Bai. “But the director told me it happens. I myself moved from Chengdu to Beijing, and I feel that when you’re cut off from the language you grew up with, you lose part of your identity. That’s why Chunshu is so desperate to regain her dialect. I myself, whenever I feel anxious, have an urge to return to my hometown. For that reason, I felt very close to the character.”
 
Q&A Session: Competition
Mothertongue
Guests: Zhang Lu (Director/Screenplay), Bai Baihe (Actor), Wang Chuanjun (Actor), Liu Dan (Actor)