Zhang Yimou, a famous director and chairman of the international jury of the 13th Beijing International Film Festival "Temple of Heaven Award", attended the "Film Master Class" dialogue event on April 27 - "From "Red Sorghum" to "Manjiang Red": All Life in Zhang Yimou's Film World". During the period, he responded positively to the online controversy and negative comments he has been subjected to, "I have always grown up in scolding and got used to it. ”
Zhang Yimou bluntly said that now is the Internet era, "I believe that there is no director who does not pay attention to his evaluation, the key is your attitude to these evaluations and the impact on you." He believes that it should be treated with a "normal mind", "this is the Internet".
You can't sulk just by looking at it
Zhang Yimou can be described as one of the most controversial people in the film industry, although there are countless honors and awards, but each of his new films will be accompanied by controversy and negative evaluation. Even "Manjiang Hong" is no exception.
Zhang Yimou said: "In the face of widespread voices and criticism on the Internet, we must face it normally, this is the Internet era, everyone is speaking, can fully express themselves, rather than concentrated in the hands of some critics and authorities, everyone is a critic." ”
"You can't sulk at the first glance, it's about how to look and how to analyze. There is always an old saying in our generation: humility makes people progress, pride makes people backward, and I read comments with this attitude. Even if it's all insults, but what is said in it makes sense, and it's all what I want to pay attention to in the next part. This is another food for me, and only when I eat all kinds of grains and grains will I be healthy. ”
"Manjiang Hong" has cross-cultural communication capabilities
This year's Spring Festival, he directed "Manjiang Red" became a box office dark horse, "The box office is really unexpected, in fact, 'edutainment' is difficult to do, I didn't expect the audience to like it." Zhang Yimou revealed that he cooperated with Shanxi to build a compound five or six years ago, and was preparing to shoot "The Red Lantern Hangs High 2", and after the compound was built, "I suddenly changed my mind and didn't want to shoot it." But he felt that it was a pity to be abandoned for a long time, so he sent screenwriter Chen Yu to the scene to see and come up with a story.
Zhang Yimou wanted to make a genre film suitable for the Spring Festival from the beginning, and also wanted to make "Manjiang Hong" into "one mirror to the end", so he also asked Chen Yu to go to the courtyard and pinch the story in seconds, but found that many scenes could not be connected. Although he eventually abandoned "one shot to the end", the revised script became "the most fast-paced of all the films he has ever made".
After the release of "Man Jiang Hong", Qin Hui was not killed at the end of the film, which caused controversy among many audiences. Zhang Yimou said with a smile that he actually does not care about "killing or not killing", because first of all, it must conform to the laws of history, and cannot be made up too bizarrely, "killing the audience will be more disgusting". What really attracted him was the words "Manjiang Hong", "A few small soldiers who can't read big words, in order to get Yue Fei's last words before his death, are willing to pay the price of their lives, this is a historical legend, it produces a unique feeling, elevates the intention, which is rare in movies around the world, and has the ability to spread across cultures." ”
Insist that all titles are calligraphed with a brush
After decades of filming, Zhang Yimou has not lacked the spirit of innovation. He admits that if he doesn't have confidence in creating, even if some scripts have been in the works for years, he will give up. He wanted to inject his own unique cinematic aesthetics into each film, for example, at the beginning of "Above the Cliff", he did not shoot the shots of the secret agent parachuting according to the convention, but used a "game" perspective to film the process of the agent landing, "I think it is very beautiful".
Zhang Yimou has always had a soft spot for traditional Chinese culture. "I insist that all titles are brush letters." Zhang Yimou has been cooperating with calligrapher Xu Jing over the years, and the titles of "Shadow", "On the Cliff" and "Manjiang Hong" are all from the latter, "The title is calligraphed with a brush, I think it is particularly cultural in the world." ”
For the name of the film, Zhang Yimou admitted that he did not particularly attach importance to it, "It doesn't matter what the title of the film is, word of mouth is the most important thing for a movie." He prefers "easy-to-understand" titles.
From the award-winning literary and art films such as "Red Sorghum", "Big Red Lantern Hanging High" and "Qiu Ju Lawsuit" in the 80s and 90s of the last century, to the creation of domestic commercial blockbusters represented by "Heroes" after 2000, Zhang Yimou firmly grasped the mood of the times and the hearts of ordinary audiences, and dedicated one wonderful film after another.
Now, he has a soft spot for genre movies. "A literary film can talk about emotions throughout the film, but a genre action film may only spend one-tenth of the time lyrically, but it is precisely this just the right emotional point that I will feel very advanced and evocative." In "Above the Cliff" directed by him, Zhang Xianchen, played by Zhang Yi, made a pact with Wang Yu, played by Qin Hailu, that "the living go to find children". He said: "There were a lot of wonderful lines in the original script, but I only left this one. Now the audience has rich experience in watching movies, and he understands everything you say. The more white space, the greater the aftertaste. ”
Let the film "fly into the homes of ordinary people"
Speaking of China's film industry and film industry, Zhang Yimou said bluntly, "If the audience does not go into the cinema, they all go to the Internet to watch and watch short videos, there will be no industry for movies." "I think we should put down the status of 'artists', try to fly into the homes of ordinary people, first put the artistic ideas we want to express behind, get as close to the audience as possible, and interact with them, I myself highly recommend this kind of creative ideas."
"What makes a good movie? Accounts differ and opinions vary. But this must be added, for creators, attracting the audience can survive, and the film power can exist, otherwise it is all a bubble. Zhang Yimou said.
Zhang Yimou, 73 years old this year, still maintains a strong creative force, in addition to directing the online drama "League of Legends", he will also start shooting a "new realism" movie in June this year, "I hope this story can enter the homes of ordinary people, and the audience can be interested in watching it." ”
For the future of film, Zhang Yimou is cautious. He talked about his views on ChatGPT, "In the long run, I think people come first, but from the stage point of view, it's hard to say. For example, a draughtsman who has worked in the crew for 15 years, his work can be replaced by artificial intelligence in a second, "At present, the film industry is greatly impacted by artificial intelligence, because making movies is essentially a screenwriter and director who convert the story in their minds into optical images, and in the future, 95% of people may be cut, leaving 10 people." I also don't know what our films will look like in the future. ”
Zhang Yimou said, "I have always maintained the mentality of the era of gratitude. My contemporaries have retired, and I was supposed to be a worker. I was very lucky to turn my hobby into a profession because that era gave me opportunities, so I never dared to relax and waste my time. ”
Finally, he said to the young audience in a serious manner: "From now to the future, movies are always for young people, and I just say: what you love, you have to persevere." ”
Author and editor of this issue: Wang Jinyue
Photo by He Guanxin
Executive Producer: Li Li