Written and directed by Li Ruijun and starring Wu Renlin and Haiqing, the film "Hidden in the Dust" was released nationwide on July 8, and was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival. The film tells the story of two lonely individuals abandoned by their respective families in the northwest countryside, who are mixed with each other in the day-to-day cultivation, Wu Renlin and Haiqing show the mental journey of a low-level peasant couple from strange to familiar, from acquaintance to mutual observance.
The film is 133 minutes long, and like most literary films, the narrative rhythm of the film is very slow, and some viewers even think that it is a "documentary" with rural themes. Due to the use of dialects, if you don't look at the subtitles, you can't understand what the actors are saying?
"Hidden in the Dust" continues Li Ruijun's consistent casting habits, using professional actors with non-professional actors. Li Ruijun found his uncle Wu Renlin to play the male lead in the film, Wu Renlin has starred in several films of Li Ruijun, and is relatively familiar with film shooting. The heroine chose Haiqing, who is familiar to the audience, and she played a northwest peasant woman in the film this time, and Before filming, Haiqing lived in Wu Renlin's home to experience life, do farm work, and learn dialects.
Cao Guiying (Hai Qing) has been living a life of abandonment in her brother and sister-in-law's house for many years, living in a wooden shed where the wind and rain are blowing, her body is weak and cold, one leg is still lame, and she can't do heavy physical work. She suffers from urinary tract disease and urinates incontinence at any time and place. With no fertility, her rural dating market is at the bottom of the food chain. Guiying is "arranged" by his brother and sister-in-law to be introduced to the elderly bachelor Ma Youtie (Wu Renlin) in a neighboring village.
Ma Youtie is the fourth oldest, his brothers Ma Youjin and Ma Youyin have died, and although the third brother Ma Youjin has a good life, he can only live in an abandoned empty house in the village, guarding a donkey to live, and is laughed at by the villagers as "there is no poorer than you." After marrying Guiying, Ma Youtie's life was suddenly full of hope.
People like Ma Youtie and Guiying actually exist in some villages, even in county seats, such as those homeless people.
The most admirable thing about "Hidden in the Dust" is its warmth and compassion. Cao Guiying was rejected by her family since childhood, unable to have children, and suffering from urinary incontinence, and was completely desperate for her future fate. As she said, "I never imagined that I could have a home." "Mu Ne's loyal horse has iron and is financially embarrassed, but two desperate and lonely souls have found comfort in each other and experienced the warmth of love from the details of life." The film devotes a great deal of space to describing these details, such as the two using electric light bulbs and cardboard boxes to hatch chicks, pasting the word "hi" at the head of the bed together, building a new house together, and pressing the "shape of a flower" with wheat grains on each other's wrists. They cherish every life, Ma Youtie said, farmers have no land, how to live? In the process of planting, Ma Youtie said, no matter how high or low you are, you plant a bag of wheat, the land can grow dozens of bags for you, these pastoral romance, people are moved.
Guiying and Ma Youtie were together itself as an accident, they originally thought that their respective lives were like this, they did not think that they could start a family by mistake, and at the beginning they were living together, and they did not think that they would have emotions. They not only have emotions, but also produce closer emotions, but just when everything is fine, suddenly, Guiying leaves by accident, which is the accident of life itself, the uncontrollable accident, which constitutes daily life. An unexpected beginning, an unexpected end.
In "Hidden in the Dust", when Guiying drowned, the villagers were there to watch. When Guiying died, someone said to Ma Youtie, "Sit for a while, don't be too sad, you now have a house and food, and it's good to live alone." Some people will feel that this is a manifestation of disregard for life, but if you have experience in rural life, you will understand that they are indeed considering Ma Youtie, and it is a burden to take care of such a person who is sick and cannot create any value in real life, and a person's life is more free.
Speaking of this ending, Guiying's death finally ended - "Her previous life was incomplete, she did not experience love, did not experience being respected, cared for, cared for, stable, secure, dependent, none, but she finally found all this in the body of the fourth, it was the fourth who made her awaken her ability to love and be loved, they both awakened each other's ability, filled the other's previous regrets, they became complete, as a person, everything that should be enjoyed, what should be enjoyed, She was complete, and I think her departure was either a regret or a happy departure. ”
"Hidden in the Dust" is extremely solid and transparent, the life experience based on life memory is a return to the basics of expression, after restoring all the details related to the land, it completes the symbolism and expression beyond reality, a man, a woman and a piece of land, the most real way to exist, and then leave.