The famous director of Hong Kong, China, Hui Anhua, once said, "If you ask me, would you rather be Hui Anhua or Wu Jinxia?" I will definitely answer: Wu Jinxia! ”
About 100 years ago, Wu Jinxia was a person like her name, and her life was indulgent, like a book like a morning star, like a cloud shining brightly.
The ancestors of the Wu family once made a career in Guangdong, traveled to many places, and finally settled in San Francisco, USA. Wu Jinxia's father, Wu Yuze, is a second-generation overseas Chinese born in the United States, who after years of struggle, founded a chain of coffee shops, and then settled in the local area. She has a total of 10 children, and Wu Jinxia ranks fourth and is favored because she is the eldest daughter.
Although Wu Yuze is doing business in the United States, he has never forgotten his motherland in his heart. He loved Chinese culture very much, often taught his children to say Chinese at home, and even if there were free church schools, he still tried to send all his children to schools that could teach Chinese.
Under the influence of Wu Yuze, the young Wu Jinxia is quite interested in Chinese culture, whether in her father's coffee shop or at school, she always pays special attention to people who can speak Chinese and takes the initiative to befriend them.
At that time, the "Xenophobia Act" promulgated by the US government forced the Chinese to stay in Chinatown, and in late 1920, Guangdong Cantonese opera troupes toured Chinese theaters abroad. The two most famous Chinese theaters, one is the "big stage" and the other is the "Great China" on her doorstep, and the troupes are all from Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places in China.
Wu Jinxia is in the United States, and there are very few ways to get involved in Chinese culture, so the Great China Theater on her doorstep has naturally become a blessed place for her to learn about Cantonese opera culture. In the days that followed, she often went to the Great China Theater to watch dramas, and slowly, she found that in addition to performing Cantonese opera, Hollywood movies were also shown in the theater.
Wu Jinxia seemed to open a new map, and the light and shadow, characters and plot of the peaks and turns in front of her had made her obsessed for a while. In order to realize the freedom of watching movies, she was still a middle school student, and she immediately decided to sign up to work as a part-time conductor.
Whenever night fell, Wu Jinxia rushed to the theater to work. She watched the audience rush in, and when it was the official opening time, she closed the ticket window, and then quietly slipped into the corner of the audience to enjoy the film intently.
The popular personal consciousness in Hollywood films runs counter to the national righteousness celebrated in Cantonese opera, and two very different art forms collide in Wu Jinxia's heart. Coupled with the constant political and military wars at home and abroad, this made her think about her future path as an ethnic Chinese.
One day in 1935, Wu Jinxia had just left the theater and returned home sullen. After the meal, Wu Yuze called her to the study alone.
He poured a cup of tea first, and asked while handing it to Wu Jinxia: "Big girl, which movie did you watch today, why do you look unhappy?" ”
When Wu Jinxia saw from the projected screen that the picture in the form of a documentary was that the Japanese army's tank troops were crushing the land of the three northeastern provinces inch by inch, she couldn't help but think of what kind of pain and humiliation the distant motherland and compatriots would face on the other side of the Pacific Ocean?
At this moment, with tears in her eyes, she raised her head slightly and replied: "Since you were young, you have taught us to remember that we are Chinese, hide it in our hearts, and forget it every day." ”
He suddenly clicked in his heart, slowly got up, approached her and said, "What happened to you today?" What do you want to do? ”
Faced with her father's questioning, Wu Jinxia calmly and repeatedly, and said positively: "I want to make a movie, and I want to use the movie to cheer for the Chinese War of Resistance!" ”
Wu Jinxia's words were loud and impressed him, but after several years of business, he knew that the political situation was complicated, and he was not as good as Wu Jinxia, who was alone, and he had many things to worry about outside his home, but he was sincerely proud of his daughter's sincerity.
For a moment, there was silence in the study. The cold wind outside the window swept by the window, and the two did not feel the slightest coolness in their eyes. From Wu Jinxia's eyes, he could see that this woman's heart was hot, as if there was a raging fire.
After half a cup of tea, Wu Yuze looked at her and opened his mouth to ask: "Do you remember the four sentences of Hengqu?" Wu Jinxia nodded, and then said: "I remember that these four sentences are for heaven and earth, for the people, for the saints, and for all generations." ”
"When you were young, my father always taught you to remember your origins, and also required you to speak Chinese at all times and places." Wu Yuze held her hand and continued: "These words are to encourage you to study hard, and you will be able to distinguish right from wrong in the future. I am willing to support your dreams and believe that you will stay the right way. In this life, if people can be responsible for themselves, they are not in vain. ”
At the end of the conversation, she received her father's approval and her confidence increased. In order to implement the filmmaking as soon as possible, she watched the documentary again and learned that it was Lai Minwei who took the photographer to risk taking these precious images on the front line, some of whom were laughing at the camera one second, and fell to the ground the next.
At that time, Wu Jinxia was only in her early 20s, about one meter and five meters tall, and she was in a foreign country, and it was probably a fantasy to imitate Mulan to kill the enemy in battle. But she always thought about what she should do for her war-torn compatriots.
This time she had the opportunity to make a movie, she was actively consulting relevant materials every day, and because a large number of Chinese-American anti-Japanese enthusiasm continued to rise, she decided to plan and shoot an anti-Japanese theme film as soon as she got it. In order to fulfill her wishes, Wu Yuze invested in the establishment of a film production company for her in the same year.
When the dream became a reality, she relied on her father's sponsorship to boldly invite Frenchman Paul Effano and Chinese photographer Huang Zongxi to serve as photography consultants, and rented a film studio on Hollywood Sunset Boulevard, and after several days of hard work, she finally succeeded in filming the film "Hate".
Two months later, the film premiered in San Francisco to critical acclaim. The media's impression of Wu Jinxia is: her shiny blue-black hair combed into a boy's flower head, wearing dark blue trousers, and a specially tailored off-white jacket with a T-shirt underneath. Her face is well defined, her lips are soft, and she looks like she is 17 years old.
It is strange to say, her appearance is handsome, even the clothes also love to wear men's clothing, the personality is bold and atmospheric, she never wears makeup, but the hairstyle is very exquisite, an inch more and less an inch is not to your liking. People who are familiar with her, including some colleagues on the set, will call her "Brother Xia" from the good stream, and some juniors will call her "Uncle Xia".
The progress of her career has brought many opportunities for Wu Jinxia to be exposed. As a behind-the-scenes personnel, she should have no possibility of showing up, but she dared to break the convention and enter the pairing with the heroine of the film, Wei Jianfang, and went to various places to accept media interviews together. According to insiders, they were inseparable during the filming, and in the blink of an eye, scandals about them quickly dominated the headlines of major newspapers.
The three became tigers, and as this kind of news continued to ferment, it also caused a certain degree of trouble for them. Before a certain publicity campaign began, Wei Jianfang took the initiative to talk to Wu Jinxia.
"Brother Xia, these reporters outside are writing articles indiscriminately, and the people who have seen it may think that we have an improper intimate relationship, aren't you worried at all?" Wei Jianfang deliberately avoided the crowd and grabbed her and whispered.
Wu Jinxia has always been casual, never paying attention to all kinds of speculation about her from the outside world, in her world, movies come first, and other things are insignificant.
She raised her face to look at Wei Jianfang, and blinked mischievously: "Those things can't affect us, so why should you care?" All in all, I trust you and admire you, and am I afraid that those people will disappear if they talk nonsense? ”
A few words were concise and to the point, and Wei Jianfang's concerns disappeared. After giving the heroine a reassuring pill, she thought about it, water can carry a boat and can also overturn a boat, if she can use this shareholder wind of the media to create momentum for the propaganda film and attract more people's attention, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?
Wu Jinxia publicly announced in the face of other film contracts after the explosion of "Heart Hate": No matter what movie is made, Wei Jianfang must be the heroine! Since then, she and Wei Jianfang cherished each other and gradually became the best partner in front of and behind the scenes, and the friendship between them has become deeper and deeper as the years go by.
In 1936, Wu Jinxia and the actress Wei Jianfang came to Hong Kong with the film "Heart Hate", when Hong Kong was a British colony, Hong Kong's largest Queen's Cinema, originally only screened Western films, but made an exception to release "Heart Hate", in order to meet the market, the title was also changed to "Iron Blood Fang Soul".
On the surface, the film is a tear-jerking romance scene, but in fact, it implies the background of serving the country with loyalty. This film conveyed the belief of overseas Chinese in solidarity with the War of Resistance, and was not only screened in the United States and Hong Kong, gaining unprecedented fame, but also exported to Southeast Asia, once again triggering a wave of popularity among many patriots.
With this film, Wu Jinxia became a model for Chinese female directors, and Chinese and foreign media claimed that she was "Hollywood's patriotic female director!" In an instant, all kinds of articles praising her talent poured in, and in the era when the Internet was not developed, her heroic deeds gradually became a household name.
During her stay in Hong Kong for several years, Wu Jinxia successively shot "National Heroine", "100,000 Lovers", "Jealous Flowers", "One Night Couple" and "Women's World" A total of 5 films, the most popular of which is the film "Women's World", also known as "36 Women Tiangang", the actors in the film are all women, and come from 36 different industries, the subtlety of the concept is unprecedented.
Trees move to death, people to life. After circling Hong Kong for several years, Wu Jinxia completed her transformation from a layman to a professional director. She demanded that she be able to spread her wings like an eagle in heaven and earth, rather than stick to the rules, and in May 1939, Wu Jinxia boarded the ship and left Hong Kong and returned to San Francisco.
She immersed herself in B-grade films in Hollywood, that is, small-budget films that can be completed in a short period of time. With her previous experience of throwing stones and asking for directions, in 1941 she made a movie called "Golden Gate Girl", which still received rave reviews after its release.
Her high sensitivity to film art not only made her famous in the industry in just a few years, but also laid a solid foundation for her to successfully expand her business territory. Later, she set up her own Yinguang Film Company, tried to do film distribution, and also launched strategic cooperation with the well-known Shaw Film and made a lot of money.
In 1949, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party ended. On October 1 of the same year, the People's Republic of China was founded, and overseas Chinese compatriots living abroad were overjoyed and excited.
Perhaps tired of Vanity Fair's competition for me, or perhaps longing for freedom and feeling the true love of the world, in early 1950, Wu Jinxia decided to temporarily retire from the film industry and moved to New York with her female partner.
Life went on, Wu Jinxia changed the runway in New York and started again, she funded the opening of a restaurant specializing in Cantonese cuisine, initially called "Baby Restaurant" and later renamed "Wu Jinxia Restaurant". At this point, the first female director who was once a powerful woman turned into a hospitable restaurant owner.
She is willing to accept any Chinese who ask for her, whether it is refugees displaced during the war, veterans after the war, or compatriots who have come to the United States from home and have no relatives, she has always done her best to help them avoid the pain of homelessness, not only providing free food and lodging, but also finding ways to introduce them to jobs that can ensure their livelihood.
This restaurant, since then, has become the exclusive canteen of these Chinese, she is very kind, sometimes really like a big brother, carefully caring for the Chinese who want to survive in New York. She seems to have moved the movies on the screen into real life, and she is like a movie character who wanders outside of real life, but it is close or far, but people can't take their eyes off.
She is very business-minded, and in the Chinese Town, where food is full of food, it must be difficult to make the restaurant's business prosperous. Rather than research the dishes, she prefers to provide a place for diners to speak freely.
Due to her ingenuity, the restaurant is full almost every day, in addition to the Chinese who need her care, there are many well-known movie stars, including the famous Hollywood actor Marlon Brando, and Lin Dai, who has won the Asian film queen laurel four times. The restaurant has also been featured in the New York Times many times and has been rated as a two-star restaurant by many gourmets, similar to today's four-Michelin starred restaurant.
In 1961, Wu Jinxia was invited by the famous Hong Kong movie star Xiao Yanfei to make a comeback and directed the last film in her film career "New York Chinatown Shredded Corpse Case".
This film is the earliest Sino-foreign co-production in film history, and the film mentions the theaters of New York, the dragon and lion dances in China and the Chinatown scenery of San Francisco, which seems to be Wu Jinxia using the lens to review her various experiences, and at the same time presenting her eyes to countless audiences the world.
In 1970, Wu Jinxia found out that she was seriously ill, and she lamented that she was not long in coming, and returned to San Francisco, accompanied by her female companion, to visit her surviving relatives and friends one by one. Sometimes, in the face of life and death, Wu Jinxia never coveted, only relieved. Six months later, Wu Jinxia died of illness in New York at the age of 56 and never married.
The New York Times published an obituary for her: "A film director, producer, restaurant owner, a great lady who runs a restaurant in New York and makes and directs films in Hong Kong." ”
In 2013, Chinese female director Wei Shiyu made a documentary called "Golden Gate Silver Light Dream" to express her respect for female film pioneers around the world and commemorate the centenary of Wu Jinxia's birth, which told her legendary story more completely.
No one expected that she would win a place in the male-dominated film industry, and that the silly and cute movie fan would become a pivotal director at a certain time in the 20th century.
In those stormy days, her thin figure shuttled through San Francisco, Hong Kong and New York, working hard for the film industry and winning honor for the Chinese, and the deep national pride in her heart was forever revitalized.
Time has passed, and Wu Jinxia, an outstanding female director with a great reputation, is little known in today's booming information technology. All the traces of her life are like a cup of coffee that does not refill, and her cheeks are fragrant, which can only leave a rich chapter in the past time and space.
Text | Jerry who loves cheese