This article was first published in: Knife Knife Nagging Literature and Art (WeChat public account ID: DDDDART)
Before winning the Golden Horse Film Emperor, Tu Men, an old drama bone from Inner Mongolia, has been doing licorice actors in obscurity.
When I heard that he won the award, many people have to ask: "Who is he?" ”
However, I believe that everyone who has seen the "Old Beast" released on December 11 will applaud from the heart: TuMen, fierce!
Although it was headlined by the media as "Upset defeating Huang Bo", the Golden Horse judges revealed the inside story: "There is no suspense, the first round of voting will be qualified." ”
When the film was screened at the FIRST Youth Film Festival, it had already been predicted by the sharp eyes: "Tu people will take a movie emperor"
"Old Beast" was shortlisted for four Golden Horse Awards, and eventually took away "Best Actor" and "Best Original Screenplay", and responsibly, the film's brilliance was largely due to Tu's performance.
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Everyone has an old beast by his side, and even we ourselves will become him
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The old beast, with this name achieved well, called out an elderly animal with dull coats and bones, but its eyes were still full of immortal desire.
Unlike Feng Xiaogang's old Beijing cannon, this old beast from the grassland is much more asshole and much more animalistic. In addition to being poor, the old cannon has the righteousness and can take care of things, and he is simply an ideal kind of loving father.
But the old beast, for those around him, is a trouble, a big trouble.
In marriage, infidelity. His wife had been paralyzed for many years, and he had nowhere to vent his desires, so he adopted a second grandmother, younger than his own daughter.
For children, unrighteousness. His wife suddenly fell ill and had important surgery, and the children were in a hurry in the hospital, and he took his friends to massage.
He even took away the medical expenses given by his children, which became the fuse for being tied up by his children later.
To a friend, no faith. He had a friend who led a camel to see a doctor and gave the camel to the old beast and asked him to help take care of it, and as a result, the old beast turned around and sold the camel to the butcher, and let the family sell it as beef.
Even strangers, the old beast is a bastard. He went to the ATM to withdraw money, and had a few words with the strangers in the queue behind him, and in order to get revenge, he blocked the mahjong card in the crack of the door outside the ATM.
Some people say that this story in the cinema makes me tremble all over, too true, too true, really think of the same bastards around me.
Because of this stubble around, but unable to cope with life, so that no one owes me, but can not reconcile with anyone old beasts, in our lives abound.
Even if we are not careful, we become him when we are old.
But there must be something to be compassionate about the hateful.
The old beast, too, sold his friend's camel, but thought of buying a cow for his friend to compensate for it—stealing his wife's medical bills for this.
Although he had never brought a grandson, he hurt him very much.
Leading the camel as a baby, he went to show it to his grandson, but the grandson wanted a transformer, and Lao Yang sold the camel to buy a transformer.
Although he was grumpy, he took his son and son-in-law who had kidnapped him to the detention center. But he still softened his heart and ran to the court to withdraw the lawsuit.
On the day that his son and son-in-law were released, he quietly went to the door of the detention center to look at the children and the grandson who refused to call Grandpa away.
From the conversation of the children, we can also guess that the eldest son-in-law's job was found by the old beast, and the house of the younger daughter was also bought by the old beast, he was not so asshole-looking, he used to be - beautiful.
I really like this scene:
The gray city is full of rotten houses. The old beast was wearing a very expensive but very old leather coat, and only by riding the electric car out of the aura of the big run, did he betray the scenery before his fall.
The crow, the white horse and the ghost, the three surreal fragments are the deepest realism
A city that was once brilliant and has fallen again. A group of people who belong to the middle class and are deeply involved in their own bad things.
The old beast's ending was unexpected, but reasonable.
"The truth of life is pain," said Zhou Ziyang, director of "Old Beast".
The story of the children kidnapping their father, from the director's relatives, real people and real events. The clip of the old beast playing mahjong at the beginning also comes from the director's personal experience.
"I want to put the complexity and truth of human nature on Lao Yang (old beast), I don't want to simply comment on the right and wrong of a certain person, good and evil are always relative, not that what you see is what it is." 」 Zhou Ziyang.
In this realistic "author's film", there are three surreal segments that I find very interesting.
Crows, white horses and ghosts.
First, the old beast pulled out a crow from the wall of the bathing center.
Second, a white horse appeared in the old beast's dream.
Third, the old beast was on the road and met a white ghost.
In fact, these three surreal fragments are all the inner projections of the old beast at the moment.
The crow is trapped and powerless to struggle, and the white horse tendons are clear and strong, corresponding to the old beast's state of mind towards friends and lovers, respectively.
The white ghost is actually the equipment of the local people in Ordos to catch pheasants on snowy days, and this paragraph writes that the two animals hurt each other.
"Based on surrealism on top of realism, you feel that surreality is a deeper, deeper reality. For example, the bird release scene seems to be in some kind of dilemma, which may be more profound than people. But my design is not completely fantastical, it seems reasonable and unreasonable. For example, in the scene of the white-robed figure on the side of the road, the last scene where this picture appeared was just old Yang (old beast) arguing with the child in the court. Catching pheasants is also one animal hurting another animal, twisting and struggling. I want to convey the feelings of the characters through this processing, and if that feeling is there, it is OK. "Zhou Ziyang.
Interestingly, although the role of the old beast has allowed many people to see the shadow of the old beasts around them. However, Tu Men, who play the old beast, in real life, are an old gentleman who is diametrically opposed to the old beast, humorous and peaceful.
An old gentleman who starred in zero film remuneration and insisted on not taking a script on the set
Speaking of the behind-the-scenes story of finding Tu to play the old beast, Zhou Ziyang still clearly remembers his feelings about watching the movie "Farewell" played by Tu .
In "Farewell", Tu Men played a terminally ill father, and there was a scene in which Tu Men used his legs to clip a pillow and struggled to climb forward, making Zhou Ziyang fully believe that "he is a terminal cancer patient."
Stills of "Farewell", this film won the best actor award nomination at the 31st Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards for Tu.
So he sent the script to Tu, and two days later Tu called and said that he liked it very much.
The next day, Zhou Ziyang flew to Hulunbuir to meet Tu, who was willing to star in the film with zero remuneration. The two of them talked about the script on the snowy night, drank a drink, and then when Tu sent Zhou Ziyang to the airport, he said "your ID card to me", and after saying it, he directly took Zhou Ziyang's certificate to join the queue!
Zhou Ziyang felt at that time, "The right person has been chosen!" "Because Old Yang won't be in line." Since then, Tu has begun to speculate on the psychology of the characters.
After "Old Beast" started, on the set, Tu never brought a script, because he prepared the lines early and touched the script to the end, and he had this confidence.
"The actor should have finished the role before shooting." Tu said.
In playing historical figures such as Genghis Khan, Tu mainly entered the role through desk work such as historical materials and biographies. However, a realistic character like the old beast, he opened the memory warehouse, through the past observation and contemplation to enter the role, especially good at grasping details.
For example, in this scene, the old beast was with the lover, although he sent beef and a coat, but the real moving details in this place - the old beast used the sunlight outside the window to "make" a "light bracelet" for the lover, teasing her.
Another example is this highlight, Lao Yang clashed with two young men who handed out leaflets, was beaten, and then received a call from the hospital, saying that his wife's surgery fee was paid and could be operated on.
In the script, it is only written that Lao Yang received a call from the hospital and smiled, but during the shooting, the Tu people sitting on the side of the road first threw away a box of cigarettes, then answered the phone, and after answering the phone, he wiped off the nosebleed that had been beaten, smiled, picked up the cigarette again, and finally lit one and started smoking.
From throwing cigarettes, picking up cigarettes to smoking, a box of cigarettes vividly expressed Lao Yang's emotions from decadence and anxiety to joy and relaxation, which made Zhou Ziyang, who was sitting in front of the monitor, stunned.
At the beginning, there is also a scene of playing mahjong, Tu themselves can not play mahjong, but he has observed the people who play mahjong, so he brought their state of playing mahjong without saying a word and ignoring them to the old beast.
Tu men said that the process of figuring out the characters was very happy.
"A character who is not in a normal relationship can be figured out about. Guess what? Pondering his soul, pondering the depths of his heart, such words will help the integrity of the character. ”
Only people like Tu Are entitled to be honored: good actors.