is still the best woman photographed by Hou Xiaoxian
A few years ago, "Millennium Mambo" was re-screened, and I couldn't help but review Hou Xiaoxian's movies again, and came to a conclusion - there is really no director who is better at filming Shu Qi's beauty than him.
That kind of blurry, chaotic and innocent emotional composition made Shu Qi's face suddenly have the power to shock people's hearts.
▲《Chizen Manbo》
In the play, she wandered in the corridor of the midnight of the millennium, and had fun in the snow of Hokkaido, and was remembered by the big screen for more than 20 years with just one side face. Hou Xiaoxian's images seem to have a kind of magic, before that, even Shu Qi's own play failed to become a meal replacement for this beautiful flavor.
I think the reason for the charm is probably that his camera is always aimed at people, so he can see more differences when he shoots women. Even Li Jiaxin, who has always been known for her vase, successfully counterattacked on the big screen with the wise and pungent Huang Cuifeng in "Flowers of the Sea", and contributed beauty and acting skills that fit her temperament and are completely different from her previous image.
▲《Flowers of the Sea》
Hou Xiaoxian's pictures have indeed shaped many women in the new century. Whether it's a neon-lit bar girl or a courtesan playing a game of love, it's all fascinating.
But to be honest, the new women in his films did not exist from the beginning, but were injected.
The person who injected this soul elixir was none other than Zhu Tianwen, the screenwriter behind Hou Hsiao-hsien's movie.
In the entertainment era, this woman with long black hair, gentle and gentle smile, and plain clothes like a neighbor is often ridiculed as the queen screenwriter and confidante of the great director, and the ambiguity is stronger than the discussion of the work.
▲ Zhu Tianwen when he was young.
But few people outside of literature lovers know that her writing arrived "famous" earlier than Hou Xiaoxian's films. Zhu Tianwen was born in a literary family, and his family is a kung fu person who writes.
She loves to write and read, and she began to write novels at the age of 16. In addition to being a screenwriter, she has long been an important female writer in Taiwan, China.
▲ "They Write on the Island"
The first time the two collaborated was because Hou Xiaoxian threw an olive branch after seeing her award-winning work "The Story of Xiao Bi". At the beginning, Zhu Tianwen didn't have much affection for Hou Xiaoxian, after all, they watched Hollywood movies and Hong Kong films at that time.
She doesn't like to watch Taiwan's self-produced dramas, and she has never heard of this person, not to mention that "I didn't have a good impression of the film industry at that time, and I felt that there were no good people."
On the day of the meeting, Zhu Tianwen deliberately dressed herself in an old-fashioned manner, wearing high heels, narrow skirts, and thread shirts, and coiled up her hair before going out.
At that time, she was really defensive, who knew that after meeting, she seriously felt that the other party was sincere and down-to-earth, and since then she has started the first 30 years of cooperation.
▲ Zhu Tianwen in writing.
Although Zhu Tianwen does not have an amazing appearance, the woman born in his pen is amazing.
Before the millennium, the woman she depicted could have a lover of her father's age, the model Mia was independent of her feelings, she worshiped money, worshiped her beautiful body, played love games, and said that "love is too boring and will only make people sink", and the chic and dashing emotional outlook is an earlier existence than "Pink Girl".
She also wrote a novel - "The Most Missed Season", the beginning of the story is that Liu Xiangmei, an unmarried and pregnant metropolitan woman, urgently needs to find a nominal father for her child, and then gradually becomes affectionate during the marriage agreement with a kind man. What may seem cliché today was a novelty at the time.
▲ "The Most Missed Season" was adapted into a movie, starring Li Zongsheng and Zhang Aijia. Hou Hsiao-hsien and Zhu Tianwen are one of the screenwriters, and Chen Kunhou is the director.
A writer once described the cooperation between Zhu Tianwen and Hou Xiaoxian, and compared Zhu Tianwen to a "rare metal". "Hou Hsiao-hsien is undoubtedly a precious metal, but would Hou Hsiao-hsien's films be like this without the entry of rare metals like Zhu Tianwen? ”
Seemingly exaggerated praise is not unreasonable. You must know that most of Hou Xiaoxian's early films are actually related to memories, and most of the women portrayed are retro. "Once Upon a Time in Childhood" tells his own story, and the true outline of his mother and sister actually reveals his instinctive and primitive observation and projection of the women around him.
The women in it are all Hou girls' previous lives. They always appear with traditional faces, dedicated, sacrificial, and marginalized people who support the actual functioning of the family. Dad has been sick for a long time and doesn't like to talk, so he has long become a silent shadow at home. Most of the people in charge of the work are only chattering mothers and sisters.
▲ "Once Upon a Time in Childhood"
My sister with excellent grades, in order to reduce the burden on her family, she can only give up the opportunity to study in college, she often talks about the past of studying in the interval of housework, her expression is proud and happy, but when it comes to the future that has been abandoned, she can't help but silently aggrieved and wipe her tears.
And my mother has been trapped in the identity of a boy and a good wife. She complained about her husband's indifference and her in-laws' preference for sons. When I got married, I didn't know my husband's physical condition at all, and after 20 years of marriage, I could only serve for 20 years.
▲ "Once Upon a Time in Childhood"
When she got married, her husband's family had no money, not even a bed, and then she slept in a house in the countryside and was bitten by insects and was injured. ”
The first two children were daughters, and the mother-in-law was very unhappy, and she didn't even want to help wash the children's clothes. On the second day of confinement, my mother had to go to the creek to wash diapers by herself, and while washing, she burst into tears.
▲ "Once Upon a Time in Childhood"
Hou Xiaoxian makes movies, the rules are calm and restrained, and even the bitter clips of the women are as light as clouds. The first half of her mother's life was hard, but she was like a spring that she was used to being squeezed, and she had long thought that this was a normal life, and while compressing herself, she taught her daughter who was about to marry to do her duty and duty as a good wife.
Even the favorite object in the movie is full of dreamy projections of juvenile feelings. Whether it is Xin Shufen in "Once Upon a Time in Childhood" or Wu Kuanmei in "City of Sadness", they are sweet-looking, docile and innocent, simple and innocent, with introverted and subtle temperaments, but almost all of them are outlined with the template of the same "virgin" wife.
▲The heroines in the early Hou Xiaoxian movies all have the same temperament. / "City of Sadness", "Love in the Dust"
The addition of Zhu Tianwen undoubtedly brought the tone of a new millennial woman to the woman in Hou Xiaoxian's movie.
From "Once Upon a Time in Childhood" to "Millennium Mambo" written by Zhu Tianwen in the later period, the transformation of women is huge. Although Zhu Tianwen has always said that she is just a secretary who makes records, recording the director's thoughts and ideas.
She always praised Hou Xiaoxian for being a script writer herself, not relying on screenwriters, all she can contribute is to practice playing with him as an opponent - you have a concept, I have a concept.
▲ Director Hou and Zhu Tianwen at work.
But as Zhu Tianwen said himself: "Even if it is a fight, the two subjects must be strong enough to play a beautiful game." She said her responsibility is to constantly provide perspectives and to be an echo, an "echo of the valley" in the course of the discussion. But it is not easy to provide a response in a blank space.
Many of the things she provides are indeed invisibly influencing the women in Hou Hsiao-hsien's films.
Hou Xiaoxian said that his kind of "cold eyes on life and death" shooting method - even when it comes to the plot of life and death, there are not too many ups and downs of vision - he learned from Zhu Tianwen's recommendation of "Shen Congwen's Autobiography". This kind of overlooking and indifferent perspective on the joys and sorrows of all things has also formed the free and easy Shu Qi in "Millennium Mambo".
"Millennium Mambo" tells the story of a group of young people who are restless and dizzy from alcohol. Vicky, played by Shu Qi, has had a love intersection with three men, but there is nothing to rely on. She was confused, confused, and experienced countless losses.
▲《Chizen Manbo》
The ordinary ending may lead her to loss, but the special thing about the script is precisely that, just like Shu Qi's countless narrations "That was ten years ago", no matter how painful things are, they will pass. The ending is frozen in the Yubari snow of Hokkaido, and she finds herself again and completely cleanses the past.
▲《Chizen Manbo》
When the film was released in Cannes that year, Hou Xiaoxian said that Shu Qi, who had finished watching the work for the first time, suddenly cried in front of the mirror. This is the first time she realizes what acting is all about, how far the role can be played, and the first time she sees that there are actually a lot of appearances she can have.
Since then, her soul seems to have truly opened her mind. From a sexy actress to a movie queen, she has gradually withdrawn from pure physical performances and contributed the brilliance of countless amazing moments. In and out of the play, it is like intertextuality, which is also a confirmation.
▲ Shu Qi. / "Affectionate Drinking Water", "The Best Time"
Hou Hsiao-hsien makes films, and the first half of his journey is about looking for the past and nostalgia. As a result, filming more modern scenes has become a turning point in his works, and what provides this sense of modernity is also an important ingredient of Zhu Tianwen.
Hou Xiaoxian and Zhu Tianwen once collaborated on a "Daughter of the Nile", which was adapted from Zhu Tianwen's novel. The opening is a narration from a female perspective, and Lin Xiaoyang, the heroine who loves to read comics, often substitutes herself as the heroine in the girl's comic "Daughter of the Nile". She loves fantasy and falls in love with her brother's friend, but after witnessing the other party falling in love with a married woman again and again, she slowly abandons the "love brain".
▲ "Daughter of the Nile"
This innocent, romantic and independent mark of a modern girl has begun to appear in Hou Hsiao-hsien's films since then, washing away the nostalgic atmosphere of the past. It can be said that the kind of girlish heart of the new millennium, without Zhu Tianwen's intervention, is actually difficult to imagine.
I read the interview, and the sense of modernity has always been what Hou Xiaoxian and Zhu Tianwen talked about the most. In order to shoot more "modern", Hou Xiaoxian almost photographed anxiety, he said that he used to hold on to the past too tightly, and the things in his memories are filtered, making it difficult for people to integrate into the present, and he is also unsure of the life and thinking of modern youth.
Zhu Tianwen provides a perspective of observation, she said: "In fact, writing is to organize yourself, your relationship with contemporary reality." The girl who chases romantic love in "Daughter of the Nile" is one kind, and the woman in the late Qing Dynasty is another. Their sense of modernity is the result of awakening and self-emancipation.
The woman in the long three books in "Flowers of the Sea" has always lived between tradition and modernity. They depend on men for support, but they are not dependent on men. Zhou Shuangzhu has always maintained a balanced and friendly relationship with men, while Huang Cuifeng can move among many men without feelings, and finally heroically left all the treasures to redeem himself and open a store. It is said that the book of "Flowers of the Sea" was recommended by Zhu Tianwen to Hou Xiaoxian.
▲《Flowers of the Sea》
Shu Qi in "Assassin Nie Yinniang" was forced to leave her biological mother, she was deprived of everything, and was asked to focus on kendo and be a heartless and ruthless assassin. The power behind her seems to be a metaphor for society's various disciplines for women.
One day, Shu Qi was ordered by his master to assassinate his childhood sweetheart's cousin. But in the process, she was moved by compassion for a child, and she finally gave up the assassination plan considering the current situation in the world.
▲《Assassin Girl》
The whole play, on the surface, is the choice of "thorn" and "not stab", but behind it is actually how Shu Qi completes self-redemption, how to disintegrate inherent values, and how to extract and rebuild the freedom from it. Although the chivalrous woman lives in ancient times, her soul is modern and free from moral norms.
Behind Nie Yinniang's chivalrous spirit, it actually reflects the sense of the times of the woman outlined by Zhu Tianwen. In the interview, she said that she hoped to become a "scholar" rather than a novelist, not only as a literati, but also as an ancient intellectual, who could delve into various economic and social categories. Being a scholar, aiming for the world, and having a sense of participation in the country is not gender-neutral.
▲《Assassin Girl》
Nowadays, I have seen many people say that Zhu Tianwen is not Hou Xiaoxian's royal screenwriter, but Hou Xiaoxian is Zhu Tianwen's royal director. Zhu Tianwen denied this, and she also explained that Hou Xiaoxian's gradual focus on women after the millennium was not actually her credit, but the result of Hou Xiaoxian's attraction to all the women around him. It is the female martyrdom that gradually influenced the "male society" in Hou Hsiao-hsien's films.
In the past, Hou Xiaoxian loved to shoot men, men who slapped, and men with gangster temperament. But later, the women around him, such as Huang Yingwen, the film's royal director and art director, the prototype translation teacher of the heroine in "Coffee Time", and even She Aizhen, the heroine of his favorite novel "This Life and This World", slowly made him realize that in fact, the fierceness of women is even more rare.
▲《Flowers of the Sea》
He said in the book "Love in the Dust": "Men and women are the archetypes of two kinds of life, there is an old Chinese saying 'men are strong, women are strong', strong and resolute men can be seen in many historical figures or novels, or in their own elders." This kind of perseverance is the principle they adhere to, and it will not change", and women's fortitude is scarce and precious.
The world of women's growth and the perspective of women began to make him feel interesting and enjoyable. "Growing up, because society valued boys and girls were on the margins, men and women saw very different things," he said. The maturation process of women is faster and more attractive. The so-called female martyrdom, she is not only fierce, but also chivalrous. ”
Without those women in the real world, the women in the waiting images would not be what they are today. Some people say that watching Hou Hsiao-hsien's films is like getting a magnifying glass to peek into the back and edges of male society, and those complex women who are constantly swinging and changing between the old and the new in the ambiguous zone of the millennium and the end of the century can be so fascinating.
▲ "The Best Time"
It is not intended to analyze who has contributed more credit in the portrayal of women in Hou Hsiao-hsien's films. is just grateful to the new human born in Hou Hsiao-hsien's movie, and naturally I want to thank Zhu Tianwen, who has always "leaned on the horse" and injected so many modern erotic perceptions into women on the screen, as well as so many women who have "contributed" together.
In the character, the cause of the charm of a real woman is even more pleasing.
▲ "The Best Time"
A while ago, Hou Xiaoxian suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had to take a break from filming, and the entire circle of friends was full of regrets.
For the audience, it is of course bad news that they will never see Hou Hsiao-hsien's new movie again, but every time I see it, someone shoots Hou Hsiao-hsien on the streets of Taipei, drinking Yakult while walking, ordinary and comfortable, and I feel that this is not a good thing.
Hou Xiaoxian, who had too many regrets when he was a child, now seems to have a childhood again.
▲ "The Man from the Wind Cabinet"
Content Editor: Feng Bai Ka