From China, a Comeback

By Rebecca Winters

And people complain that getting their films made in Hollywood is a trial. Try China, where director TIAN ZHUANGZHUANG'S award-winning The Blue Kite (1992) earned him a government blacklisting. In his several-year break from directing, Tian spent a lot of time watching movies and helped produce a few. But "the kind of film I wanted to make was not allowed," he says through an interpreter. "And those the government likes I didn't want to do. I waited to see if either the government changed or I was changed by them." Lucky for filmgoers, Beijing blinked first, and Tian is back with Springtime in a Small Town, a remake of a classic Chinese film, opening in the U.S. this week. The new tyranny in Tian's life, however, is the box office; China's young moviegoers, he says, prefer simpler fare.