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Bai Hongwei sent me a location, it was Duoyun Academy on Changle Road. We talked in the café of this bookstore.
After the release of the movie "Love Myth", many friends of Bai Hongwei are laughing about his similarity with the protagonist of the movie, Lao Bai: "I didn't expect that Lao Bai became the prototype of the movie characters", "Bai painstakingly tossed himself into the movie", "My friend Lao Bai became famous and became an Internet celebrity Lao Bai"...
Director Shao Yihui spent six years in Shanghai "doing nothing" and made a bunch of "idle" friends, and Bai Hongwei was one of them. But Bai Hongwei never admits to being an idler, he once worked at the Shanghai television station, and later he was busy painting, cooking, playing drums, picking up mixed-race children, writing novels, calling himself "white hard". Shao Yihui placed these elements on Lao Bai and named Lao Bai's painting exhibition "Bai Is Not Hard".
Bai Hongwei and Lao Bai in the film both live in the old French Concession, and Duoyun Academy is also here. Paintings of Kim Woo-sung hang on the walls of the store, and dramatic lines are posted on the glass doors, such as "How terrible it is to have wisdom in a place where wisdom is not good for the wise!" "From The King of Oedipus."
When I went there, Bai Hongwei was attending an afternoon tea party. Six people sat around, Bai Hongwei leaning against the door, and five Other Shanghai women in their forties. They all loved Love Myth, and four of them went to see it twice. They say this film is particularly close to their lives, grounded and interesting.
"Shanghai men love to go to the vegetable market, my father is more than eighty, and every week he has to make a table to call us back to eat."
"My husband has to go to the vegetable market on weekends to decompress."
"At our age, many people around us have been divorced."
"Love, there is the best, there is no can also be."
I asked them why they didn't have to go to work on weekdays today, and they laughed and said, "We just have money and leisure, but my husband hasn't disappeared yet." They found Gloria, one of the three women in the film, interesting and dashing, and couldn't help but read out the lines in the movie: "It's good to be a wild cat, go where you want to go, do whatever you want, carefree and carefree." "After eating well, wipe your mouth, and you don't need to turn your head back, so you run away."
They also like to draw, take out their mobile phones and click on the pictures of the paintings inside, and ask Bai Hongwei to comment one by one. "This is good", "You teacher taught a little problem", "light and dark should have a big cut." "White Red Guard. They said that they would come to Bai Hongwei to learn to paint in the future, and Bai Hongwei waved his hand and said goodbye, he was going to write a novel.
They are all Shanghainese who grew up in the "upper corner". Although The districts of Shanghai have been prosperous and developed for thirty years, the two historical words of "upper corner" and "lower corner" still appear in some old Shanghai mouths. "Upper Corner" refers to the French-New Concession and the Western District of the Public Concession during the old Shanghai period. Specifically, it is those famous streets: Nanjing West Road Huaihai Middle Road, Wukang Road Fumin Road, Julu Road Changle Road, Fuxing Road Hengshan Road and so on. In addition, the old Shanghai is the lower corner.
To this day, "Shangjiao" is still the most prosperous place in Shanghai. No wonder they still have to mention that when they talk about Xujiahui, they still have to mention that it was once a farmland, and the memories of Wujiaochang and Fudan University are only "unpopular" and "gloomy" - the planning of Wujiaochang originated from the "Great Shanghai Plan" of the Republic of China government to break the monopoly of the concession city center.
When I talked to them about some controversy over the "suspension" of the movie on the Internet, they repeatedly retorted: "The shoemaker who drinks coffee may be suspended in other districts, but in our district, it is normal", "The shoes of the old giant (expensive) repaired by the shoemakers on Huaihai Road are all good shoes." ”
Stills from Lao Bai's "Love Myth"
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In a good acclaim, the sharpest controversy Shao Faced was: Is the Shanghai presented in the film the real Shanghai? The market value of the old white house is about fifty million, can this still be regarded as the story of ordinary people?
Shao Yihui has repeatedly responded to this question on social media, to the effect that she wants to talk about the small matter of love and love, not to show authentic Shanghai. "I just shot a limited, familiar Shanghai, but not comprehensive and objective." She said, "Whether it is the middle class or the small citizens, whether it is poor or rich, it must also be judged by the audience according to its own coordinates." ”
The old French Concession was inhabited by the rich as well as the poor who could not move away; the nostalgia of the inner ring and the outer ring may not be able to empathize. But discussing class in a romance film is like making shallots in a Kiesin's bakery: both are local, but they have their own origins.
Another detail similar to Lao Bai is that both The White And White have several houses collecting rent: they have both benefited from the soaring house prices of the past two decades. The difference is that the old white house was left by grandpa, and the white and red guard's house was purchased by himself.
Originally from Shandong, Bai Hongwei came to Shanghai with his parents at the age of two and lived in Pudong. "At that time, Lujiazui was like a rural area," he said, "and in 1999, I bought a house on Anfu Road and moved to Anfu Road." I made a little money, I began to invest in buying a house, the house near the drama center I bought when I bought it was only 8,210 square meters, and now more than 100,000 square meters. ”
Shao Yihui described her idle friends this way: "These Shanghainese, first of all, have a house at home, they are not short of money, they don't want to make a lot of money, and they don't say how to jump up the class, or have greater ambitions." Anyway, there is no shortage of money, I can eat and drink, and at the same time, there is no expense. I don't think there is anything (so-called) to live a certain exquisite life, just to say that I enjoy life very much, that is, I am willing to spend money on coffee. ”
Bai Hongwei placed his studio in the new style of Julu Road, and he and his friends liked to go to the third-floor terrace to blow wind and chat, and drink and sing on summer nights. "When the weather is good, sitting on the terrace, blue sky and white clouds, surrounded by red tiles, Julu Road and Fumin Road are covered by large sycamores, which is very comfortable."
He was hospitable and learned his craft from the hotel's chefs, all of which were home-cooked dishes such as shredded eels in oil, braised pork, sweet and sour steaks, and steamed sea bass. "I cook, everyone comes to eat, comes to chat, brings interesting friends, it's really lively." Bai Hongwei said, "I am also a literary and artistic youth with feelings, people who don't like tacky people, and talk about how to make money all day long, I don't like it." I feel like I've bought a lot of houses, and the money thing won't be discussed. After talking about money for half a day, will you give me the money? I hate people like that. I like people to talk about art, to talk about literature, to talk about poetry, to talk about architecture, to talk about love, and I like this kind of thing. ”
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Bai Hongwei couldn't tell how much love he had talked about, in short, every time it was unforgettable, each time it was unhappy and scattered, "What can I do, everyone has weaknesses." I really appreciate people who can go from one to the end, like a job from twenty years old to retirement, too powerful. I'm not one of those people, but I'm genuine about feelings. I respect myself, if there is no emotion, and I have been arguing, everyone should break up. ”
He had been married for nine years, a pair of mixed-race children. "A real marriage and falling in love are two completely different things. Falling in love is dating, after marriage, every day up is to eat and drink Lasa, everyone naked in front of this cup who washes, who cooks this meal, this process will produce quarrels, and finally divorce. Bai Hongwei said.
"There are so many love myths," said Miss Li in "Love Myths." The light and clear heartbeat of middle-aged people and the courage to go to each other is already a myth.
"When I was twenty years old, there was excitement, there was heartbeat, there were tears. Even if I'm seventy years old, I want to feel that way, and I want me to ride a bike to ask a seventy-year-old lady out to dinner. But it's just thinking about it. When I'm older, I can't ride a car, the romantic stuff is gone, and I have to go back to reality. ”
A middle-aged man, after repeatedly experiencing a good feeling because of his appearance and temperament, liking each other after contact, falling in love, and then breaking up because of quarrels, has already felt "bored". "Knowing, falling in love, breaking up, every time the situation is different, but the essence is the same, round after round of repetition, very annoying." 」 Bai Hongwei has reflected on and summed up, "I hope I have a good love and a good marriage, but what can I do when I really encounter this kind of thing?" ”
I shared the feelings of a middle-aged friend with Bai Hongwei: "The feelings of middle-aged people are particularly pure, young people can still figure out what to do when they fall in love, and middle-aged people really don't have those messy things." ”
"Yeah. If I had divorced 20 years ago, I would have felt that the house and money were important to me, and I would have to continue my career and my love. Now that I'm 55 years old, I feel like I'm going to die in another ten years, so why bother. He said.
For Bai Hongwei, the most important thing now is to write novels, which is his dream from his youth to the present. He no longer expects the heartbeat and tears of love, and the reality of middle-aged people is permeated between his words: "At our age, we have thought very thoroughly." Find an old companion, go out for a trip, have a meal, and go shopping. Old husbands and wives, don't quarrel, don't give flowers and gifts, pour tea, drink water, take a medicine, take care of each other, rest assured and wait for death. ”
"So, will love disappear?" I asked him.
"Love can't go away. But the love between two people will definitely disappear. He said.