(note from author: This is the second of a series of reviews AsAmNews will feature this week on films at CAAMFest. After a successful premiere at DOC NYC in November 2013, The Road to Fame will be making its California debut at CAAMFest on March 15 and 21. For more details and tickets, please visit their website.)
By Dana Ter
So much has been said about China’s “repressive government” stifling creativity that The Road To Fame is not just a breath of fresh air, but a documentary film that is also needed. Tracing the lives of spunky, outspoken college seniors at China’s top drama academy as they compete for roles in the country’s first ever collaboration with Broadway, the film is a microcosm of China’s post-80s generation.
Directed by Hao Wu, the film depicts how the struggles that the students at Beijing’s Central Academy of Drama go through are similar to those of any other young, 20-something writer, actor, playwright or artist around the world. For this reason, The Road to Fame speaks to struggling millennials who understand the difficulty of navigating the job market these days, especially within the entertainment industry.
The characters are extremely likeable because we see elements of ourselves in them. For instance, Chen Lei is 
the headstrong, opinionated girl, while Wu Heng is the guy who smokes and drinks his problems away. Their so-called “flaws” are endearing. How many times have we resorted to alcohol when we came to a realization that the real world wasn’t flowers and rainbows or ranted about our miserable condition as a starving artist? The audience is encouraged to empathize with each drink and rant. Essentially, there’s a human quality in these students that strikes a chord. Far from being ignorant or naive, they are also aware of the hurdles, and are determined to press on.
LATEST STORIES
The Road to Fame effectively conveys striking similarities between the American and Chinese Dreams. Chen Lei sums up the struggles of her generation when she tells the camera: “those of us born in the 80s, we’ll filter whatever you tell us. We understand that you mean well. But we’ll still do what we think is good for us.” In that sense, there’s a great deal of rebelling against authority, which is relatable across cultures.
But authority figures are not one-dimensional either. The Road to Fame dismantles the stereotype of Chinese parents being unsupportive of their only child pursuing a career in the arts. Most of the parents in the film want their children to chase their dreams, but with an understandable dose of parental concern. One of the fathers is constantly bombarded with the same question from relatives: “what is a musical?” He replies jokingly that all he knows is that “there’s singing, dancing, jumping.”
There exists a great deal of entanglement between feelings of hope and disillusionment throughout the film. Jasper, the Broadway producer who comes to Beijing to train the students, comments on how Wu Heng has the potential to be a popstar if he only had the money behind him. Wu Heng is aware of this himself. Without money and connections in Beijing, he describes, you’re destined to sing at “small bars” (xiao jiu ba 小酒吧) in order to pay rent.
The film stresses that connections (guanxi 关系) are key. Just because you have the skills and put in the effort, doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get cast, Wu Heng explains; instead, there are “under-the-table deals.” Interestingly, Jasper says the same thing about Broadway, that “it’s 90% who you know and 10% talent.” This shows how Chinese and American cultures are not that different when dealing with the cut-throat entertainment industry.
Despite all odds though, the students are steadfast in pursuing their Chinese Dream. It’s about creating opportunity when there isn’t one, says another male student, Fei (飞) whose name means “fly”. The film ends on a hopeful note with a series of vignettes of what happened to the students three years later, and we can rest assured that they’re all doing pretty well.
Other CAAMfest Coverage:
