FIGURING TIME: Lyricism in Contemporary Chinese Poetic Films

This chapter examines the concept of lyricism as one form of transmediality, revealing how Chinese lyrical tradition offers rich vocabularies, values, and sentiments in cross-genre and media practices. Focusing on two well-known “poetic films,” Crosscurrent and Kaili Blues, it examines the functions of the frequent insertion of poetic text and voices, disruptive narratives, and intricate intertwining of memory, reality, and multiple temporalities that contribute to the distinctive poetic qualities of the films. This chapter argues that lyricism (with its constantly shifting definitions and attributes), as a characteristic style, method, and vision, has become a creative inspiration and force in facilitating cinematic representation and artistic experimentation of the shapes of time and the configurations of the emotions in contemporary Chinese films.