About the Author
Huo Jianqi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is a film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Beijing in 1958, he graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Beijing Film Academy. Representative works include "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog", "Autumn Baihua", "Xiao Hong", "Tang Xuanzang" and so on. In 2003, his film "Warm" won the Golden Kirin Award in the main competition unit at the 16th Tokyo International Film Festival. He has also won the Best Director Award at the Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards, the Outstanding Director Award at the China Film Huabiao Awards, the "Five One Project" Award, and the Best Director Award at the Beijing University Student Film Festival. In 2005, Huo Jianqi was awarded the title of "National Film Artist with Outstanding Contributions". This year marks the 100th anniversary of director Xie Jin's birth. On November 21, 1923, Xie Jin was born in Shaoxing, a small city in the south of the Yangtze River. Director Xie Jin's film records a special era and is of epoch-making significance to the development of Chinese cinema, and the appearance of such a master is far more important than any award. It has been 15 years since Director Xie left us in 2008, looking back at history, his works, character, talent, and charm are unforgettable. His life experience is even more impressive!
In 2004, the film "Warm" won the 10th China Film Huabiao Award, and director Xie Jin presented the award to director Huo Jianqi, the author of this article.
Several encounters with Director Xie
When I was studying at Beijing Film Academy, I met director Xie Jin on the bus once, although he was close at hand and had the mentality of a fan, he would not take the initiative to express himself like today's young people, but just silently stared at the admirable director in front of him. At that time, Director Xie was still very young, wearing a beige windbreaker and elegant temperament, and the car arrived at Xinjiekou Station, leaving calmly and merging into the flow of people.
The next time I met director Xie Jin, it was when I was filming the film "Clear Water Bay, Tamsui Bay" (1984) with director Xie Tieli in Shanghai, and director Xie Jin came to visit director Xie Tieli. As we all know, "North and South Two Xie" was not only the most famous director in Chinese mainland at that time, but also a good friend, and I was also happy to see the two elders chatting and laughing.
Time flies, more than ten years have passed, and I have become a director. In 2000, at the 5th Changchun Film Festival, director Xie Jin was the chairman of the jury, and the judges also included director Li Xing from Taiwan, director Zhang Xinyan from Hong Kong, actor Pu Cunxin, etc., I was fortunate to be a member of the judges, watching and working with everyone, and feeling the personality charm and talent of director Xie Jin more.
In October 2000, director Shi Shujun from Shanghai called me to invite me to participate in the film week at Southmore University in Philadelphia, saying that directors Xie Jin and Wu Ziniu would participate, and I agreed at that time. During his stay in Philadelphia, Mr. Kong Haili, a professor at Southmore University, arranged activities such as movie viewing, seminars, speeches, and exchanges. We live in an old house on campus, we live together at home, chat about movies in the living room at night, in addition to formal activities, director Xie Jin's schedule is very casual, usually sleep in the afternoon, and then go to the alarm clock. I remember that time when I walked through the corridor, the alarm clock in Director Xie's room rang, the sound was loud, and the sound kept ringing, I gently pushed the door open, Director Xie didn't mean to wake up at all, I was a little panicked, and hurriedly called Ziniu...... It seems that the alarm clock has no effect on Director Xie who is wearing hearing aids, he basically wakes up naturally and is very casual. After all, Director Xie is old, so he basically wakes up and eats dinner at what time. That night, while he was eating and talking about movies, we gathered around him casually, listening to his teachings, his words were passionate, his language was sharp and engaging, and I deeply felt that movies were almost the whole of his life.
In 2000, the author Huo Jianqi directed and directed Xie Jin (second from right), Shi Shujun (first from left), Wu Ziniu (second from left), and Professor Kong Haili (middle) in Philadelphia, USA.
I remember in a Shanghai restaurant in New York, he said to me, you see, this person who came in, his image is the kind of person who mixes with the underworld, and the characters of the underworld in our movies are often conceptual and not very accurate, and it is very important to capture the typical sense of character. I suddenly felt that the reason why director Xie Jin's films are so well made is that his observation and shaping of characters come from his usual keen capture and long-lasting accumulation, and they are recreations taken from life, so his works will be wonderful.
On the morning of saying goodbye to New York, Director Xie and I met in the hallway, he was going to Los Angeles to see his son, and he was wearing a dark blue stand-up collar Chinese thin jacket, and he was very energetic. Director Xie is very tasteful, pays attention to appearance, and was in a relaxed and happy mood that day, he was going to get together with his son Xie Yan, who gave him the greatest spiritual comfort, and I was infected by his happiness.
A thousand rays of light in suffering
Looking back on the past, no matter how life went, God still favored Director Xie, he shot a large number of excellent film works, although he also experienced the suffering of the ruthless years, you can see his kindness, compassion and deep thinking from the movie, illuminating the light of human nature, so that people's lost and frightened hearts are soothed.
The growth of our generation is synchronized with Director Xie's films, his films are profound, inspire, and bring us spiritual resonance, and it is a pleasant thing to wait for his films to be released. And every time you watch his movies, you will see the perfect combination of characters, which is where director Xie Jin excels, and it is destined to make his works deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. You see, Liu Qiong and Qin Yi in the movie "Women's Basketball No. 5", Xie Fang and Shangguan Yunzhu in "Stage Sisters", Wang Xingang, Zhu Xijuan and Xiang Mei in "Red Women's Army", Zhang Yu, Cun, Ma Xiaoqing in "Ah, Cradle", Chen Chong and Yu Ping in "Youth", Shi Jianlan, Wang Fuli, Shi Weijian, Hong Xuemin in "The Legend of Tianyun Mountain", Zhu Shimao, Cong Shan, Niu Ben in "Wrangler", Liu Xiaoqing, Jiang Wen, Xu Songzi and Zhang Guangbei in "Furong Town", Pan Hong, Pu Cunxin, Xiao Xiong and others, his movies are inexhaustible, and the number of outstanding actors is also endless, and many actors become famous in one fell swoop on the camera for the first time, which proves his accurate grasp of movies. His theory is that if you choose the right actor, the movie is half the success, so he doesn't care if the actor is a star or not, he can make all the actors turn into characters in the play, presented on the screen, and shine, this is Xie Jin, China's best filmmaker!
Movie stills: (in order from left to right in each row) "Wrangler", "Red Detachment of Women", "Furong Town", "The Last Aristocrat", "Women's Basketball No. 5", "Ah, Cradle", "Legend of Tianyun Mountain", "Stage Sisters", "Youth".
Director Xie loves art, except for movies and doesn't care about other things, we go abroad together, in Philadelphia he wants to visit the "flea market", he has no material requirements, he said that every time he goes out of the country to walk the "flea market", he likes old goods, especially all kinds of candlesticks, he said that there are a lot of candlesticks at home, every holiday, he lights all the candles, pours a little wine, pours himself a drink, and looks at his mentally retarded baby son Ah Si. He chatted with us happily and said that every time he came back from filming, Ah Si brought him slippers and asked his father to change them into. He tasted wine in the candlelight, happy and worried. His eldest son Xie Yan is comforting him to study film abroad, and Ah Si is happy to be by his side. Director Xie once told Xie Yan that after he and his mother died, his younger brother would be handed over to him. Xie Yan knew his father's hard work. In 1997, I participated in the "Cross-Strait and Hong Kong Directors Conference" event, and that dinner was to meet on board the harbor wooden house, Xie Yan also came, he was tall and handsome, sitting there silently, unassuming, very responsible, very low-key. Many years later, when I saw Xie Yan again, I participated in the observation seminar of Director Xie's movie "Women's Football No. 9", and Xie Yan was busy with it. My father is very old, and he feels that it is his duty to fulfill his filial piety. I think that in fact, my father also hopes that Xie Yan will participate in film-related things and gradually create films. However, the sky is not beautiful, Xie Yan is sick, and he has a serious life-threatening illness, he feels that he not only has to inherit his father's career, but also to bear his father's entrustment, and take care of his mentally handicapped younger brother who has no ability to live.
God was really cruel to Mrs. Xie, but he was still optimistic in the difficult years, and he never lay down and waited for the light. However, Xie Yan couldn't bear the torture of illness, as the deadline was getting closer and closer, he had to tell his father the reality he didn't want to say, which was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Director Xie, how could people who love Director Xie not be heartbroken by this.
Director Xie Jin
A century of nostalgia for a film giant
A smile in Paradise Cinema
In 2008, Xie Yan finally left his parents who loved him with endless sadness, the white-haired man sent the black-haired man, which was undoubtedly a fatal blow to Xie Lao, from that day on, Director Xie always had tears in his eyes, and his expression seemed a little trance-like, in the long night, Xie Lao silently drank the bitter wine of fate, his inner support collapsed, and his soul drifted away, more than a month after Xie Yan left, Director Xie left this world in a hurry, and he still had a lot to say to Xie Yan......
It has been fifteen years since Director Xie Jin left us this year, we miss him, miss him, the past is like yesterday, we can only pray to the sky. Xie Lao must be chatting with Xie Yan about the movie on the screen, the movie is all he has, no matter how heartbreaking everything that happened later, he and his family and children are finally reunited, there is no pain, no trouble. In the light and shadow of the incense candles, he plays back his interpretation of the film life. In the Paradise Cinema, Director Xie smiled with satisfaction.
This article was published in the 22nd issue of World Expo magazine in 2023
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