Chloé Zhao names her three filmmaking mentors: “You really feel the elevation”
Chloé Zhao made history when she won the ‘Best Director’ Academy Award for Nomadland, a feat that saw her become the first woman of colour to take home the prize despite the Oscars being founded almost a century beforehand.
The filmmaker might have dipped her toes into the treacherous waters of Marvel with Eternals, but she has reminded us of her cinematic powers – first demonstrated in 2015’s acclaimed Songs My Brothers Taught Me – with her latest film, the Golden Globe-winning Hamnet.
Exploring the soul-destroying, earth-shattering effects of grief and its connection to creativity, the film has received plenty of acclaim so far, reminding us of the power of cinema to take us to the cruellest depths, simultaneously transcendent and harrowing in its abject blend of pain and beauty.
Zhao has long been inspired by various cinematic greats who have shaped her approach to film, from Àgnes Varda – particularly her movie Vagabond – to Christopher Nolan and his expansive approach to filmmaking, yet there are three directors in particular whom she considers her mentors, looking at them more than anyone else as significant sources of inspiration.
The first is Terrence Malick, known for movies like Badlands, Days of Heaven, and The Thin Red Line, but it’s The Tree of Life which affected Zhao most deeply. She told Little White Lies, “For me, the tree of life has the highest branches that reach to the heavens, and then you’ve got the trunk in the middle, and then you’ve got the roots that reach all the way down into the void.”
Adding, “And I think watching Terrence’s films is interesting because I can tell that he’s trying to reach up as high as possible to the heavens. You really feel the elevation watching his film. And that’s why they are so spiritual.”
You can certainly feel a connection between Zhao’s approach to deeply personal and human filmmaking and Malick’s philosophical, meditative visions of existence, because The Tree of Life is truly an unforgettable viewing experience, taking audiences to another plane yet simultaneously grounding us in the meaning of forming connections and how we cling to our memories despite living in a world that is just so much bigger than us.
“I have three mentors, Terry, Werner [Herzog] and Ang Lee. And something has evolved in the last few years, which is how deep can we go to descend into the underworld, to the realms of the deluge, because that is also where the scarab beetle is. That is also part of The Tree of Life,” Zhao continued.
Herzog, as a frame of reference, is understandable, too, because he toes the line between reality and fiction, standing as a successful documentarian as much as a narrative filmmaker. Zhao told Google TV about her love for his documentary Into the Abyss, explaining, “That’s what the genius of Werner Herzog is, it’s always about more. It shows you how much life can shock you, and how magnificent it is to be alive in the most bittersweet way.”
Ang Lee, who is also of Chinese descent, has inspired Zhao significantly with his work, too, which ranges from period dramas like Sense and Sensibility to the mega-hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. “Ang Lee’s career has been very inspiring to me – how he’s able to bring where he comes from to all the films that he makes,” she explained to Indie Wire.
With these filmmakers on her mind, Zhao has ascended the ranks from making small-sized projects to epic blockbusters – the sky is seemingly the limit for the director.
