Wen 丨 Bian Zhengsi
Short video丨77, Bian Zhengsi
Editor丨Kino
"Sincere poetry, I will chant it today."
On March 18, the day of the release of Qiao Sixue's directorial debut "Umbilical Cord", Yao Chen, the film's producer, sighed so much on social platforms. Delicate emotions and deep mother-child love are the keywords for most audiences to experience movies.
For directors, every work is as important as his own child. About this debut work that took four years to conceive, Qiao Sixue also has a thousand words in her heart. On the occasion of the film's national release, 1905 Film Network interviewed "Umbilical Cord" director Qiao Sixue to listen to the story behind the film.
Parting the "exercise book"
In the early nineties of last century, Qiao Sixue was born in Evenk Banner, Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Hulunbuir Grassland, one of the world's four grasslands, has become a "playground" she frequented when she was a child.
At that time, her mother became her most emotionally attached relative.
With the flow of time, Qiao Sixue, who grew up, began to want to get rid of this dependence, and she did not want to expose too many details of her life in front of her mother. The daily communication between the two has gradually become rarer. Later, she simply left her country and came to France thousands of miles away to study.
"Umbilical Cord" director Qiao Sixue
Around 2017, Qiao Sixue, who studied at the 3IS International Film School in France, ushered in the graduation season. Whether to stay or go back became a life question she had to face. Later, confused, she found the answer from strangers.
That day, Qiao Sixue was drinking coffee with friends on a lively street. As she looked through the transparent glass window, a middle-aged aunt with disheveled hair and thin clothes on the opposite side attracted her full attention.
"She's about the same age as her mother, and she's wandering on the road all the time, and then you ask her what she's doing, and she says she's looking for her home. At that moment, it touched me very much, and suddenly I wanted to be a child again." After understanding, Qiao Sixue knew that the aunt in front of her was an Alzheimer's patient. Being about the same age as her mother had a huge impact on her heart.
When she went back that night, Qiao Sixue called her mother. After a long chat, Qiao Sixue knew her mother's recent real life situation. At that time, my mother was in menopause, had a lot of mood swings, and even occasionally had bad thoughts.
"It was a long, long time before she told me about this, and it actually touched me a lot. Because you will feel that between mother and daughter, whether we are verbally confrontational or not for a long time without contact, you will not feel that this emotion will change. Qiao Sixue confessed that the original intention of the creation, "because of the fear of parting, especially the fear of saying goodbye to her mother", so she wrote this story to familiarize herself with the fear of facing the parting of her loved ones in advance.
In her previous life, Qiao Sixue's understanding of death was too abstract. Through this writing and shooting, this abstraction began to gradually become concrete. Her attitude towards parting and death also became courageous.
The vast grasslands of the sky and wilderness are naturally another source of inspiration for Qiao Sixue's creation. The attitude of the steppe dwellers towards life and death also gave her a lot of creative inspiration.
After the script was completed, there were two names, the Chinese name was "Roaming in the Blue Grassland", and the Mongolian translation meant "umbilical cord". Executive producers Cao Yu and Yao Chen believe that the latter can better reflect the connection between mother and son, man and nature, and better highlight the theme of the film, so the title chose the latter.
In the film, the mother nourishes her son's life with the umbilical cord. When he grew up, his son used a long rope shaped like an umbilical cord to tie the fate of the two again.
Old artists complement amateur actors
The importance of casting for a directorial debut is self-evident. The main characters in "The Umbilical Cord" have also been carefully selected.
The prairie mother played by Badma makes people feel very close. In 1991, he starred in the film debut "Set of Horse Rods" reflecting the Mongolian spirit, which left a deep impression on Qiao Sixue. When considering the actor for the role of mother in "The Umbilical Cord", she immediately thought of Mr. Badma. Qiao Sixue is deeply encouraged to work with such a respected old artist.
Because Idel, who plays a mother-son relationship with Badma in the film, has never had experience in big-screen acting before. How to make the chemical reaction between the two and interpret the real and credible close mother-son relationship has become a difficult problem in front of the director.
"The hardest part was that he didn't know Badma-sensei before. Then, it was very difficult for him to play a mother-son relationship with such a strange older woman. Later, we let them eat and live together every day, including every day during the break on set, and they all sat in the same car. Qiao Sixue said frankly that Teacher Badma exudes a natural sense of intimacy and maternal brilliance. Every day on the set, she shushed and warmed like a parent and cared about everyone.
Over time, Idel and Badma gradually developed a bond close to family affection. When filming the last bonfire farewell scene, facing the coming of the parting moment of mother and son, Idel's eyes continued to tear, which completely exceeded the director's expectations.
The actor who surprised the director the most in the film was Nahoya, who played a couple with Ider. As an amateur actor, Nahoya plays the role of Tana in the film, which can be described as both gods and gods. There are many intersections between characters and real people's lives, and "they" are also very hands-on, riding motorcycles, driving pick-up trucks with manual transmission, etc.
Prior to that, Nahoya attended university in Beijing. She has seen the traffic of the metropolis and has also run for a life in the steel forest. Later, after careful consideration, she chose to return to grassland life.
In the movie, most of the starring actors are amateur actors. Except for Badma, the other actors are all from Hulunbuir City. In a native environment, the actors who perform in these true colors have a fairly accurate grasp of the role. Their presentation of people's material sense is a natural process.
A poem given to everyone by the filmmaker
The growth of new directors is naturally inseparable from the help of their predecessors.
"Director Si Xue, you don't know how lucky you are to shoot such a shot for the first time. You don't know how expensive Cao Yu, Fukang, or Li Zhu are! At the Beijing premiere of "Umbilical Cord", director Chen Sicheng's real name was envious, which attracted a burst of laughter from the audience. The main creative lineup of the film does have many highlights.
Film producer and director of photography Cao Yu's representative works include "Eight Hundred", "Coco Xili", etc., sound director Fukang's representative works include "I Am Not the God of Medicine", styling director Li Zhu's representative works include "King Kong River", "Ten Thousand Miles Home", etc., and art director Zhao Ziran's works include "Eight Hundred", "Hotpot Heroes", "Nine-Story Demon Pagoda" and so on. The film editing director Zhang Yifan's classic works "Crazy Racing" and "Looking for Guns" are impressive.
According to Cao Yu, the filming period was just in time for the death of his mother, and although grief will always exist, "Umbilical Cord" gave him a very beautiful guide. Yao Chen, another producer of the film, starred in this film with zero pay, but for the overall texture of the film, he still took the initiative to delete his scenes in pain.
"Sister Yao Chen, as a producer, actually looks at this issue very macroscopically. Because she is a professional actor, her acting style will actually be a little different from Idel, plus most of the film is in Mongolian dialogue, let's take it off if it is not suitable. Qiao Sixue frankly said that she was very grateful to Yao Chen for his sacrifice. Her professionalism deeply touched the director.
After watching the finished film, Yao Chen also praised "Umbilical Cord" as a poem given to everyone by the filmmaker. She hopes that this movie can soothe people who have not had time to say goodbye or say goodbye in the past few years.
Speaking of the future direction of creation, Qiao Sixue said that she will also focus on exploring the emotional relationship between people. Currently, she is working on a love story. In June 2022, the first draft of the script has been completed for this work, but the content is still being adjusted. In the near future, she will be busy again.