Mou Tun-fei
Mou Tun-fei | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 May 1941 Shandong, China |
| Died | 25 May 2019 (aged 78) Philadelphia, USA |
| Other names | T. F. Mou Mou Tun Fei Tun Fei Mou Chi Chiang He |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Years active | 1966–1995 |
| Known for | Men Behind the Sun |
Mou Tun-fei (Chinese: 牟敦芾; pinyin: Móu Dūnfèi; Wade–Giles: Mou2 Tun1-fei4) (May 3, 1941 - May 25, 2019) was a Chinese filmmaker known for directing the infamous 1988 horror film Men Behind the Sun.
Biography
[edit]Born on May 3, 1941, in Shandong, China, Mou's family left China for Taiwan in 1949 due to Chinese Civil War. Mou graduated from National School of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) that could not even afford equipment for the students. Mou thus was forced to learn filmmaking by theory alone, mainly by watching films numerous times in theaters and identifying how many cuts the films contained. After graduation, Mou was assistant director on an anti-communist propaganda film called Give Back My Country and then directed numerous Taiwanese films in a style akin to the Italian neorealist movement. His first and second feature I don't dare to tell you (1969) and At the runway's edge (1970) were both banned by Taiwanese government, especially the latter film contained homosexual overtones.[1]
In 1977, Mou settled in Hong Kong and joined the Shaw Brothers, his first film there being Gun, a segment in the fifth film of the Shaw’s exploitation true crime series The Criminals. While at the Shaw Brothers, he would dabble in crime (Bank Busters), romance (Melody of Love), horror (Haunted Tales) and kung-fu (A Deadly Secret). However, his most notable work for the Shaw Brothers would be Lost Souls (1980); telling the story of a group of illegal immigrants taken captive and sexually and physically abused by a gang of human traffickers, Lost Souls has often been called a brazen, vicious and outrageous exploitation film and a film that brings Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom to mind.
Mou then left the Shaw Brothers to become the first director from Taiwan to work in the mainland. While working on a children’s kung fu film called Young Heroes, Mou began to hear stories about war atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. One account, of how the Japanese military had performed every manner of horrific experiments on Chinese POWs and civilians while stationed at Unit 731 in Manchuria, particularly grabbed Mou. Thus, he decided to make a film about it. Originally, he wanted to make a documentary, but he then realized that the Japanese army had destroyed or classified most of the photographs and films so he set about making a staged recreation instead. The film that resulted, a collaboration between Hong Kong and the mainland, would be the horror film Men Behind the Sun. After co-directing the hardcore pornographic film Trilogy of Lust with Julie Lee Wa-Yuet, Mou set about making a fourth sequel to Men Behind the Sun, this time visiting the 1937 Nanjing Massacre (or Rape of Nanjing) called Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre which released in 1995.
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Title | Director | Actor | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | I don't dare to tell you | Yes | |||
| 1970 | At the runway's edge | Yes | |||
| 1977 | Xiang Gang qi an 5: Jian mo | Yes | Credited as "Chi Chiang He" | ||
| 1977 | Boa jian ta | Yes | |||
| 1978 | Bank Busters | Yes | |||
| 1980 | Die xian | Yes | |||
| 1980 | Da da xiao xiao yi jia chun | Yes | |||
| 1980 | Lost Souls | Yes | Yes | Credited as "T. F. Mous" | |
| 1980 | A Deadly Secret | Yes | |||
| 1983 | Zi gu ying xiong chu shao nian | Yes | |||
| 1988 | Men Behind the Sun | Yes | Credited as "T. F. Mou" | ||
| 1995 | Trilogy of Lust | Yes | Pornographic film | ||
| 1995 | Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre | Yes | Yes | Credited as "T. F. Mou" |
References
[edit]- ^ "Mou Tun Fei". The Ultimate Guide to Hong Kong Film Directors. Retrieved 17 July 2018.