The 73rd Berlin Film Festival is coming to an end, and what domestic fans are most looking forward to is whether the two Chinese-language films shortlisted for the main competition unit can win the award in Berlin. One is that director Liu Jian has been shortlisted for Berlin's new animation work "Art Institute" for the second time, and the second is the one we want to talk about today, "The Light of the White Tower" directed by Zhang Lu.
The crew of the film "Light of the White Tower" appeared at the Berlin Film Festival
The film "Light of the White Tower" is directed by Zhang Lu, starring Xin Baiqing and Huang Yao, and Tian Zhuangzhuang starring. The story focuses on the life of food journalist Gu Wentong: Gu Wentong, a divorced former poet who turns to work as a food journalist, recently learns from his brother-in-law that his father, who was swept away on suspicion of hooliganism, is living in Beidaihe.
Gu Wentong's partner, food photographer Ouyang Wenhui, is also from Beidaihe. The two have very different personalities, but they secretly have feelings for each other. At the same time, Gu Wentong is also secretly investigating his father's current situation, trying to restore the truth of that year. The high school reunion is getting more and more deserted, and there are some problems on the ex-wife's side...
In the film, the setting of the male and female protagonists is full of opposites, one restrained, and one detached. It is not surprising that such two people have feelings for each other by partnering, and the ending of the two is also expected.
We can see this from the "shadow play" at the end of the film: the two drank a lot of wine, crouched under the street lamp in front of the white tower, realized that they had no shadow, and then hugged each other and reappeared the shadow, at this time the relationship between the two was on the verge of collapse.
Teacher Xin Baiqing, who played Gu Wentong, played particularly brilliantly, vividly interpreting the frustration, loneliness and helplessness of a middle-aged literary and artistic man, while maintaining the usual "politeness" of adults, and suppressing his true thoughts more vigorously.
His repressed feelings were not until the scene of the "class reunion" that he burst out through alcohol, and he sang the song "Beijing Welcomes You" hoarsely to his old classmates in Paris, making the character arc achieve a breakthrough at this moment.
At the end of the movie, when Gu Wentong aggressively asked the heroine's friend Nanji "Are you (Guide Ji and Ouyang Wenhui's ex-boyfriend) sleeping", his "politeness" finally collapsed, and his character arc was finally perfected.
Throughout this film, it can be said that it is a model of "happy scenery lined with sorrow", and its "happy scene" is derived from the joy and heaviness of Beijing and its cultural background, and the whole viewing process is full of laughter. It is worthy of being director Zhang Lu, who can tell such a sad film with such a humorous and humorous attitude: two stories, countless relationships between people.
This time, the director abandoned the classic relationship of "threesome" and changed to "multi-person company". The reason for this is that the director said that the film is very suitable for building a "multi-person" relationship, just as his previous films are very suitable for "threesome". In the film, the emotional state of the two protagonists is to go around between many people, and it is difficult for them to come together without the relationship or sight of others.
The title of the film "Light of the White Pagoda" comes from a youth hostel near the White Pagoda Temple, and the English title "The Shadowless Tower" can be translated as "Shadowless Tower", which refers to the white pagoda in the White Pagoda Temple in Beijing. It is rumored that this white tower cannot find a shadow at any time, which can be said to be an important clue and image of this film.
Regarding the image of the White Tower, the director explained: "Beijing is a square city, and it is not easy to get lost. People find it difficult to find their true way inside. There is such a round, upward tower in Beijing, which can give people a sense of comfort. ”
The inspiration for creating "Light of the White Tower" came from a chance encounter with director Zhang Lu. As early as before the filming of the movie "Yanagawa" (The Long Confession), the director went to Beijing to discuss the production work of the crew. One day, the director took the staff to a Yanbian cold noodle shop in Xisi, and after eating, he sneaked to the vicinity of the White Pagoda Temple where he used to hang out when he was a child.
When ascending to the terrace on the second floor of a café closest to the White Pagoda Temple, Director Zhang Lu was surprised to find that the White Pagoda was so oppressive. Probably because of the perspective and distance, he never paid attention to this as a child. From this, he came up with the idea to create a story about Beijing and about the White Tower.
The timeline is lengthened, and it comes to the director after filming "Yanagawa". Because of the emergency in his hometown, the director flew back to Beijing from South Korea. In the process of isolation in Guangzhou, the shadow of the White Tower constantly appeared in his mind. So, during the fourteen-day quarantine, he immersed himself in the script. This is the origin of "Light of the White Tower".
Director Zhang Lu's unique technique of "long shots driving changes in time and space" is still quite amazing in this movie. Especially the last shot of the film, there is a sense of trance that makes people wake up from their dreams; The fixed lens frames the characters and shows the depth of the alley quite meaningfully; The dialogue of the characters always guides the camera, making the lens language in the dialogue appear more flexible.
The mirror is also a very important visual element in the film. The male protagonist Gu Wentong untied his heart with his father and danced in the mirror, which is an unforgettable moment in the entire film. The two looked at each other in the mirror and saw each other that they had not observed in real life, which represented the letting go and liberation of the two.
Finally, I would like to talk about an interesting phenomenon of cultural barriers. Any movie is bound to be closely related to the culture where the story is located. From this point of view, "Light of the White Tower" is actually very local. Therefore, during the entire viewing process, our Chinese audience's reception of the film information is obviously higher than that of foreign audiences, and even domestic northerners can understand some details of the film better than southerners.
For example, when it comes to putting cilantro in a marinade, the chef's movements and faces are difficult to see, and the reason is that there are differences in food culture. This is also reflected in the French film "Jungle Beast" in this year's Berlin Panorama Unit, and it is difficult for us to understand the European bungee culture, just as it is difficult for them to understand the meaning of "Welcome to Beijing" to us.
But there is another category of films that are rapidly emerging at the festival, that is, represented by "The Former Life", which I would like to call "global cinema". It is not rooted in pure Korean or American culture, but rather in a fusion that allows all the audience, whether Korean, European or American, to immerse themselves in it. Of course, there is no superiority between the two, just a little different discovery.
The following is a Q&A record of director Zhang Lu's group interview at the Berlin Film Festival. Our reporter also participated in this group visit, so as to select some dry goods for fans' reference.
Reporter: At the end of the film, there is a conversation between the male protagonist Gu Wentong and the female protagonist's girlfriend Nanji. He asked, "Have you ever slept with him?" He politely asked such a very unkind question. Why did he ask this question? For what purpose? Because this question is actually quite unkind.
Zhang Lu: Of course, you are not polite, and it is a violation, even a powerful violation. Sometimes when a person is extremely polite, he will have an outburst over time, and he knows it. Even the most elegant person can explode at a certain moment in his life. His emotion in the film is that his wife is cheating, his father is like this, and the girl who is slightly ambiguous or attracted to each other leaves with her ex-boyfriend, which means that he has nothing in the end. People are sometimes so inexplicable, the most polite people say the most unpolite words, this is our life, we people are like this. It may also be very intense people, at a certain moment because of a memory, may become very gentle, it is difficult to say.
Reporter: The "White Tower" in the film is a very important image, can you briefly explain its deep meaning?
Zhang Lu: Nothing profound. It's just that there is a white tower in this city, and if there is a heterogeneous thing in the neighborhood where you live, you won't delve too deeply into what it has to do with me, or what the deep meaning is, but you subtly have this in your heart. Just like when it comes to color, the basic color of the whole of Beijing is gray, mixed with vermilion with grade differences. Therefore, this white tower is actually different from Beijingers, Beijing's weather, and Beijing's space.
Reporter: From the color contrast you just mentioned, I thought that the title of the movie is "The Light of the White Tower", which seems to illuminate some gray areas, which is my understanding. As you said at the press conference, Beijing as a whole is square, but people's hearts are easily lost. I want to ask, you chose "White Tower" as the title of the film, and it happened in Beijing at the same time, but why did it have to be Beijing? Do you think that people in big cities today tend to have this kind of lost mentality?
Zhang Lu: I think it's about the same, because I'm familiar with Beijing, right? You are familiar with this space, or you are interested in this space to shoot. "Light of the White Tower" is indeed a bit positive (laughs), but when it comes to the true source of the title, you may be disappointed or have nothing to do with positivity. Because the youth hostel where our crew lives is called "Light of the White Tower".
Reporter: The film as a whole is more realistic, but there is a plot where after the male and female protagonists are drunk, the two people are under the lights of the alley, there is no shadow at first, and after hugging each other, the shadow slowly appears. This scene is not realistic, and the image of shadows does appear many times in the film. So I want to ask you, what is the meaning of this design?
Zhang Lu: Actually, it's not very interesting, as long as people who live around there, or people who are familiar with that area, know that the White Tower really has no shadow. All the people in our crew wanted to find the shadow of the White Tower at all times, but they couldn't find it. This is actually a mystery in architecture, whether it means religion or not, I don't know. But the residents of that neighborhood have always had this question about the White Tower, why there is no shadow. Because all buildings have shadows, people have them, but this one does not.
In our perception, no shadow is abnormal and contrary to common sense. When we have a shadow, we don't really care about the shadow, that is, I follow it wherever I go. I'm here, the shadow is there. However, when there is really no shadow, you will be very empty, you will feel panicked in your heart, and you may even wonder if you are a real state or an entity. Because the shadow that confirms that you are the entity is not there. This kind of architectural mystery is related to human emotions.
So when I was shooting, I had no problem using this design. The two of them have their own backgrounds and emotions, and after dating for a period of time, they actually find that it is impossible for them to be together. After that scene, the relationship between the two will become very weak, or even disappear, right? I drank a lot of alcohol that night, and sometimes drinking alcohol will have a psychedelic feeling, it turns out that you can see those things that were otherwise invisible, that is, emotional things. In this way, we are immersed in the state of these two people, and they are always moving in the area, which is like the white tower, and suddenly there is no shadow. Of course, I ended up giving them a shadow.
Reporter: You have always said that you want to photograph the space of Beijing, so to what extent did "Light of the White Tower" meet your wish? Did you capture everything you wanted? Is there anything you haven't captured?
Zhang Lu: Actually, you can't capture something when you want to, and you will never be satisfied. But if you try to talk to this space again, then this space can talk. As for whether the outcome of the dialogue is that I know more about this space, that's not necessarily. But at least, after experiencing this conversation, I feel as if my curiosity is still there, and I still have the feeling that I will have a relationship with this space in the future.
Reporter: You just said that you want to find a living state suitable for Beijingers, is it the search for this state that forced you to give up the kind of threesome relationship that began with "Spring Dream" this time? There is no particularly obvious triangle in this movie, and Nanji does not have many scenes. But looking back at your previous works, including "Spring Dream", "Fukuoka", "Yong Goose" and "Yanagawa", in fact, they are all this triangular structure of threesomes, do you think Beijingers are not suitable for this state?
Zhang Lu: Maybe during that time, the movies I made happened to be threesomes, or maybe I preferred to make such character relationships. But in fact, in the end, it is still multi-person. I feel that all our emotional states are inseparable from the influence of many people. Just like this movie, if there is no sight of others, they will definitely not be able to walk together. So, this time I have developed from a three-person relationship to a multi-person relationship.
Reporter: When I watched "Fukuoka" before, I felt that you had a lot of ideas about the same generation. Until now, you have photographed Beijing in this new story. I would love to know, what kind of thoughts do you have for the same generation?
Zhang Lu: As a filmmaker, I don't think age really has much to do with it, you may sometimes pay attention to the emotions of a child, sometimes a middle-aged person, sometimes an elderly person, all of which are different. In the past, when I made those films such as "Spring Dream", I wanted to show the hesitation and hesitation of the group of people who were close to middle age. And in "The Light of the White Tower", Xin Baiqing may have a little more of this feeling, that is, the male protagonist Gu Wentong. He is generally middle-aged, and he has a state of hanging in the middle with no way to come from and no way ahead. His relationship with his daughter, his ambiguity with his young business partner, and his relationship with his father are all mixed up, which may be the state of middle age.
Reporter: Yesterday I saw a lot of Chinese in Europe in the theater, and in the film there were people like in Paris, and there were people like Ouyang Wenhui who drifted north. The theme of feeling like a stranger appears in many of your films. Does this feeling of being in a foreign land come from your personal experience after going to Korea?
Zhang Lu: All the same, I think everyone is a foreigner. In today's world, the so-called globalization, is foreigners. Which friend around, in Paris or London or in New York, is in that state, all the same, recently.
Author| Fang's Xiu Yuanfu; Public number| Watch movies and see death
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