A canceled Lithuanian martial arts champion finds refuge in a Taiwanese household’s restaurant as he tries to piece his life again collectively in China Sea, a hard-hitting drama in regards to the weight of guilt and second possibilities from director Jurgis Matulevičius (Isaac, 2019) and author Saulė Bliuvaite, whose characteristic directorial debut Poisonous received the high award at Locarno 2024.
The film, impressed by the real-life story of a Lithuanian fighter, world premiered on the twenty ninth version of the Tallinn Black Nights Movie Competition (PÖFF) in Estonia, the place it simply received the Critics’ Picks Competitors.
“Champion fighter Osvald (Marius Repšys) is banned from competing after injuring a woman in a avenue battle,” reads a synopsis for the movie. “Stranded in his bleak Lithuanian hometown, he takes refuge in a run-down Taiwanese restaurant owned by his solely pal, Ju-Lengthy. Courtroom-ordered remedy leads him to Skaistė, a girl who presents a glimpse of a life he’s by no means recognized. However as Osvald clings to this fragile hope, his violent previous resurfaces, forcing him to decide on between redemption and self-destruction.”
The solid additionally options Jag Huang, Severija Janusauskaite, Sonia Yuan, and Vaidotas Martinaitis. Ieva Cern and Stasys Baltakis produced the movie, with co-producers Amy Ma, Marta Gmosinska, Mariusz Włodarski, Jakub Košťál, and Vratislav Šlajer.
Watch a trailer for China Sea right here.
THR spoke to the movie’s director and author about placing China Sea collectively because the first-ever co-production between Lithuania and Taiwan, mixing a real story and fiction, and exploring the darkish sides of humanity in a proudly gritty model.
“This story is impressed by an actual individual, an actual fighter from Lithuania, who was a celebrity in Asia, particularly in Japan, within the early 2000s. He was a world celebrity, actually well-known overseas,” explains director Matulevičius. “So, some producers got here to me and requested if I needed to do a biopic about this man, however they mentioned that this movie could be praising him. I Googled him, and I noticed that sure, he was a celebrity, however he was additionally a really controversial determine, so I might not reward him in a biopic. That’s not my model.”
So, “Jurgis rejected the thought, however the story stayed in our heads as a result of this man got here from my hometown,” recollects Bliuvaite. “And I used to be studying lots in regards to the tales that might come out. He was a celebrity exterior of his house nation, however at house, he was recognized for very violent incidents and being related to a nasty crowd.”
And he was shot in 2015 with an computerized rifle. There was one other man that the filmmaking duo was interested by. In Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, there was a small Asian restaurant known as China Sea. “You’ll see this middle-aged Asian man simply standing there [outside the restaurant] all remoted and smoking on a regular basis,” she explains. “And so for me it grew to become very fascinating to discover this immigrant story in Lithuania,” provides Matulevičius.
A standard theme between the 2 males struck him. “These are two very completely different folks, however they each stay their lives in a sure isolation. This kickboxing celebrity feels remoted as a result of he comes house and no person actually thinks of him as a star. And this household is making an attempt to run an Asian restaurant in Lithuania, which can also be an isolating expertise. So, we felt that there was a connection there.”
‘China Sea’
China Sea begins off with precise TV footage of a battle with German commentary, taken from Eurosport, meshed along with footage filmed with the film’s lead actor. This author should admit he couldn’t inform, to which the director replies: “It’s edited for you to not know. This primary scene is to indicate his super-stardom.”
Frustration, rage, and poisonous masculinity all play into his challenges find a path in life that leaves him glad, although. “Our principal character has a person’s physique, however his mindset continues to be caught in his teenage years,” explains Matulevičius. “The world is altering, however you’re nonetheless caught in your teenage years, the place you most likely lived in a poor neighborhood, your position fashions have been males stuffed with poisonous masculinity, and also you tried to be part of their world, as a result of in any other case you’ll be a sissy, they usually didn’t present you any feelings. So, you solely know anger and violence, and you may’t specific your self since you have been taught that males don’t cry, males are sturdy, and don’t have emotions. I feel that’s the tragedy of our principal character.”
He’s hoping for a change, although. “He begins considering, ‘I’m most likely doing one thing mistaken, and I would like to alter. I should be a greater individual’,” says the director. “And he tries to do this. He begins coaching youngsters and befriends these immigrants, and tries to assist them within the restaurant.”
Bliuvaite chimes in, saying: “He’s making an attempt to go on a path of therapeutic. And also you see these monks and psycho-therapy, whereas on the similar time, you see crimes taking place.” Solely when she noticed the ultimate model of the film did the author totally understand one thing. “This can be a movie about individuals who attempt to heal personally whereas being ignorant about what’s taking place round them,” she tells THR.
The title China Sea, representing an enormous hurdle it’s essential to overcome to get to the opposite aspect the place you wish to be, is “a straight-up metaphor that was within the script within the early levels of this mission,” the author provides.
‘China Sea’
The China Sea duo additionally shares some perception that you could be not understand as a viewer. For instance, the person taking part in the protagonist’s coach was the precise coach of the real-life fighter who was the inspiration for the film.
“After we launched this sea metaphor to the coach, I keep in mind very vividly that he grew to become emotional as a result of he felt that connection to the individual he knew, and this concept that you simply attempt to be higher, however this [ocean] is getting larger and greater,” says Bliuvaite.
Director Matulevičius had a cinematic inspiration for China Sea as nicely, The Work, a 2017 documentary from administrators Gethin Aldous and Jairus McLeary that additionally offers with rehabilitation, and in an much more direct means. “Set inside a single room in Folsom Jail, three males from the skin take part in a four-day group-therapy retreat with a bunch of incarcerated males for an actual take a look at the challenges of rehabilitation,” reads a synopsis for it.
The principle China Sea actor, Repšys, did martial arts for 10 years when he was youthful, so he knew learn how to transfer and “had the look,” Matulevičius tells THR about his casting selection. “However, after all, for him, it was a extremely robust preparation, as a result of after I invited him to be on this half, he weighed 110 kilos, and I informed him he wanted to be 84. And he mentioned, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’ And he was actually dedicated.”
The Taiwanese casting appeared considerably surreal to the director, although. “I went to Taiwan, they usually have been introducing me to some folks. And I see these stars. And I used to be questioning: Can we get them? Do they actually wish to do that movie? The actor taking part in the restaurant proprietor [Jag Huang (Life of Pi)] was performing in Ang Lee movies. And Sonia [Yuan] was in Drive My Automobile. However they mentioned, sure, they’re actually inquisitive about touring to a Baltic nation.”
‘China Sea’
Most likely the toughest scene to shoot in China Sea, from a technical standpoint, is what the inventive group merely calls “the ice scene.” “For that shot, we would have liked an ice gap to be in the course of this lake,” the director recollects. “Our well being and security supervisors informed us we couldn’t try this. However we might do it if we put strings on the actors. So, that’s what we did. After which, for 2 months, we have been deleting the strings in post-production. It was a really tiring job.”
The China Sea inventive duo doesn’t have one other main joint mission lined up, as a substitute engaged on their very own new concepts. However she and Matulevičius prefer to share their concepts and script drafts, Bliuvaite emphasizes. “We perceive one another very nicely, and it’s a giant assist,” she shares. “And we give every our our trustworthy, brutal opinion. Not everybody can try this.”
Matulevičius shares this a lot a few movie he needs to do subsequent – he hopes it’s going to take him from the wetness of the ocean to a give attention to dry sand. “I wish to return in time to the center of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries within the Curonian Spit,” he shares. This UNESCO World Heritage Website is a skinny, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea and is shared by Lithuania and Russia. Within the lagoon, in previous occasions, there was plenty of sand carried round by the winds. Explains the director: “It will drown folks’s homes, so that they wanted to relocate on a regular basis.”