Old German Films, New Beijing Tunes

Ah, silent movies.

The entertainment of a glamorous¹ by-gone era…

Well here in Beijing, they're seeing a revival…

With a very local twist.

Allie Johnson has the story.

 
When your grandpa watched silent movies, they sounded like this.

Today, they sound like this.

Broadway Cinematheque MOMA is holding its second annual Open Air Cinema festival. Three German silent films from the 20s are being paired with some of Beijing's hippest² musicians.

The first three shows are up on the roof of the Broadway Cinematheque. All around us, the tall white towers of the MOMA complex are lit up in electrifying³ colours. Some people are sitting on fold-out plastic chairs…And others are on the roof's grassy⁴ man-made hills. They're kicking off their shoes, and drinking wine from plastic cups. It's kind of like being at an outdoor music festival…

But right in the middle of Beijing.

Tonight's film is Metropolis⁵…

A 1927 sci-fi about a futuristic urban dystopia.

It's a city of impersonal⁶ skyscrapers⁷, men ruled by machines, and owners exploiting workers.

The strangest thing is, the skyscrapers in the movie look IDENTICAL to the MOMA buildings around us.

Beijing electronic band Shanshui is accompanying the film with a mix of pre-arranged and improvised⁸ tunes…And they're as eerie⁹ as the movie itself.

It's sure not what the first Metropolis audiences heard back in the twenties…But it seems strangely fitting.

Shanshui's ME:MO says it's easy to pair modern music with the film…

Because today, Metropolis's ominous¹⁰ skyscrapers and mechanized work environments are a reality.

"Looking at this movie today, you can see the director was able to predict the future with an incredible amount of accuracy. It just seems unbelievable that anyone could have made this film in the 1920s. He's amazing."

The Open Air series is co-organized by German cultural organization The Goethe Institut.

Programmer Gao Yi says the conflicts in this movie are timeless…and could describe modern-day Beijing.

"People want to destroy the machine, but at the same time, they love the machine. Without the machine, it doesn't work, the city."

For many people this is the first time they've seen a silent movie. But they're not new to China.

"Well you know, the film industry in the 20s and 30s in Shanghai, it was very influenced from Hollywood. There's a lot of silent film. So silent films for Chinese are actually not strange. Because people have same mimic¹¹, how they're scared, how they're happy. You know when they're fighting and when they fall in love. They have a body language that's quite the same."

Gao Yi says now that anyone can stream a movie on their home computer…

Silent films have taken on a new importance, because you HAVE to watch them with other people.

"When I saw a silent film in Germany, it's winter. It's December. It was snowing, and everybody's sitting outside in the square. And you know, people watching a movie, together…it's a very special experience."

The second annual BC MOMA Open Air Cinema Season wraps up this weekend in Beijing.

Electronic group Shanshui will again accompany the film Metropolis on Saturday September 10th…

And folk fusion¹² band Da Wang Gang will perform to the movie Faust: a German folk tale.

For CRI, I'm Allie Johnson.

1 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

2 hippest   

hip（（衣服、音乐等方面）时髦的，赶时髦的）的最高级形式

参考例句：

3 electrifying   

v.使电气化( electrify的现在分词 )；使兴奋

参考例句：

• The dancers gave an electrifying performance. 舞蹈演员们的表演激动人心。
• The national orchestra gave an electrifying performance of classic music. 国家交响乐团举行了一次古典音乐的震撼性演出。 来自辞典例句

4 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

5 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

6 impersonal   

adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的

参考例句：

• Even his children found him strangely distant and impersonal.他的孩子们也认为他跟其他人很疏远，没有人情味。
• His manner seemed rather stiff and impersonal.他的态度似乎很生硬冷淡。

7 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

8 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

9 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

10 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

11 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

12 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。