When it comes to Shanxi movies, most fans will think of director Jia Zhangke. This director, who is good at shooting the bottom, the countryside and the "rivers and lakes", uses his lens to show the world an unadorned Shanxi. To this day, some people will criticize Jia Zhangke for smearing Shanxi, thinking that he deliberately only presents the bad side of Shanxi to outsiders. But more people are grateful to Jia Zhangke, because he made the survival posture of Shanxi people seen by the world and brought them to life on the screen.
Recently, an independent film about Shanxi "Night is Coming" was released, which successfully continued the realistic route since Jia Zhangke. At the 2023 Pingyao International Film Festival, newcomer director Kan Haodong won three awards: "Fei Mu Honor" Best Film, Fan Choice Honor and Tongye Honor. At the same time, he also won the Most Notable Director Award in the "Focus on the Future Unit" of the 13th Beijing International Film Festival. Such a newcomer could have been described as lucky, but as long as you look at his resume, you will sigh that he deserves it. In order to raise money to make a movie, Kan Haodong, who was not from a professional class, worked as a miner for a year after graduation, and this bizarre experience made him the director who knows the most about coal mining in China, and also gave him a more "in-depth" understanding of his hometown Shanxi. Now, he chooses to shoot the story of his hometown again, and the images capture poetic moments, but more often than not, they are ordinary daily life. In the face of these materials, which most creators feel are lacking in dramatic conflicts, it is Suga's most private memory. How to decode this series of encrypted images, let's listen to what director Kan Haodong has to say.
Directed by Hiroshi Kan.
1
For the sake of what I love, I can put up with anything I don't like in front of me
Nandu Entertainment: Can you still remember the feeling of winning the "Fei Mu Honorary Best Film" from Jia Zhangke and Ning Hao at the 2023 Pingyao International Film Festival?
Kan Haodong: At that time, it was like a dream, and I really never thought that this film would win the "Best Picture", and I won the "Fan Choice Honor" and "Kiroba Honor" in the front, and I was very content. So when I finally presented another award, I was very surprised, like a dream, even if the host was reading the (award) words, I still hadn't been able to sober up, and I wouldn't look forward to the future.
Nandu Entertainment: How did you celebrate the night of the award?
Kan Haodong: It's very ordinary, in fact, after the end of that day, some friends asked us to go to dinner, but it was already more than 11 o'clock in the evening, relatively late, and everyone had to leave the next day after the awards. So that night, the four of us went back to the hotel to chat, and it was a very ordinary evening for us.
Nandu Entertainment: Your experience as a miner has made you the director who knows the most about coal mining in China, looking back now, what is the biggest benefit of this experience for you?
Kan: I think this experience in the coal mine has honed my tenacity, and if I have something I like and want to do, then I can tolerate anything I don't like in front of me. Because when I was in the coal mine, I knew very well that the purpose of my going there was to make money. Make money and leave to make my films. So when I was working in a coal mine, some old workers or some squad leaders asked me to do something, and I would be more obedient, because I knew that I didn't come to conflict with them. Even if they ask me to do something that I am not happy about, whatever he asks me to do, I will be obedient and do it well. I got my fair pay, and I left after a year. (This experience) is especially like Andy, the protagonist of "The Shawshank Redemption", who endured humiliation for 30 years in order to escape from prison, he could endure everyone's insults, abuse, accusations and beatings, and he endured everything just to finally be able to escape. So my state in the coal mine is a bit similar to him, I just need to make enough money and leave, and everything else is acceptable. In fact, I made movies later, and I had the experience of coal mines, and the difficulties I encountered while making movies, I could face and solve them calmly.
Nandu Entertainment: At what point in your life did you decide that you wanted to make movies in the future?
Kan Haodong: I think it was after filming "Light Blindness". Actually, I had this plan even before when I was in college. I bought a DV when I was in college and went to shoot it, and that process was the most beautiful, memorable, and happiest thing for me, much happier than when I went to learn about mining or went down the mine. This spiritual level brings you happiness that cannot be replaced by anything else. But when I was in college, I wasn't sure if the idea would come to fruition, and after graduation, I planned to work in a coal mine for a year, and then make a film in Beijing. When I went to work in a coal mine and finished filming "Light Blindness", I became more determined to make a movie.
Nandu Entertainment: Are there any darkest moments that make you almost unable to survive?
Kan: I thought about it for a moment, and I really didn't have a moment like this. Even in the first year of the epidemic, I never thought that I would want to give up and leave if I couldn't hold on in the film and television industry. It's just a choice between making a movie or a short traffic video. I applied for a job as a director of Douyin short videos, and after a week of work, people didn't want me, thinking that I was not suitable for Douyin short videos.
Nandu Entertainment: You are a director who is not from a professional class, what directors or works have influenced you?
Kan Haodong: During my university years, the student union would organize us to watch projection movies, and the first movie I watched at that time was called "Slumdog Millionaire", which had a very shocking impact on me at that time, and for the first time I felt that movies are charming, they can move people's hearts, and they made me feel that movies are like a dream machine. I used to watch movies on the TV in my hometown to watch CCTV 6, and I didn't watch the big screen projection in a scene where many students gathered, but now I still remember that scene very memorably and shockingly. So, at that time, I really wanted to try my hand at filmmaking. Later, the appearance of director Jia Zhangke let me know that the movie could be so close to me.
After I went to Beijing in 2015, I started to watch a lot of Western movies, such as Clint Eastwood's films, his earliest "The Golden Three", "The Dream of the Covered Bridge", and many classic films after that. He is already eighty or ninety years old, and he can still write, direct and act on his own, which also made me realize that the charm of movies can keep a person's life young and long. Later, Asghar Farhati in Iran and the Coen brothers in the United States, the realistic films made by these directors had a great influence on me. A large number of Western films have greatly expanded my cinematic thinking.
Nandu Entertainment: Share your aesthetic standards for good movies?
Kan Haodong: I don't want to affect my love or dislike of a movie because of other people's evaluations of a movie, my feelings are very pure, that is, whether watching the movie has moved me, or whether it has influenced me to think more. For example, even if there are movies with low ratings, I still feel that they are good movies for me after watching them. I think I'm in a more pure state.
2
Chinese-style father-son expression,
It is introverted, subtle and not good at words
Nandu Entertainment: What is the special meaning of the movie called "Night is Coming"?
Kan Haodong: Actually, the content of our film is very simple, it tells the story of a day, and the actor starts in the day and then when he gets home, night falls, and the movie ends. The movie ends at nightfall, so the title is called Nightfall. I think "night is coming" also means a new day, a new dawn, and a new hope.
Nandu Entertainment: There are a lot of long shots in the movie to show the environment of Hequ County, Shanxi, so what is your intention in recording these landscapes?
Kan: It just wants to highlight people and the environment, time and space, especially this film tells the story of going home one day. The relationship between time and space is every means of transportation they pass, every section of the way home, the people they meet on the road, and the scenery they meet. The life in Shanxi presented in the film is the most intuitive visual presentation of Shanxi or my hometown. It's also the road and scenery I'm most familiar with when I get home.
Nandu Entertainment: There are a lot of mysticism episodes of burning incense and worshipping Buddha and fortune-telling in the movie, do you think there is an unpredictable force above the world?
Kan Haodong: I think Chinese people will have this kind of mentality, many Chinese will go to God to worship Buddha, this is a common phenomenon, everyone is seeking stability, safety, psychological comfort, as if sometimes God is not very important. Especially after three years of the pandemic, during which human life is too fragile. In the final film, we removed some of the broadcasts about the epidemic, and we originally added a little design to the sound to highlight that this is a story that takes place in the context of the epidemic. The broadcast included the death of Kobe Bryant and the death of Maradona, two childhood stars, and the death of my favorite director, Kim Ki-duk, who also died in La Bovia due to the coronavirus, and he was the inspirational director who influenced me to take the path to cinema. They accompanied me through adolescence and left one after another during the three years of the pandemic, which is a mark of the times.
Nandu Entertainment: At the end, there is a long shot of riding a motorcycle, what do you want to convey by choosing this form of expression?
Kan Haodong: A motorcycle is driven all the way to the end, and there is a long scene of wandering in the middle, and the ending part is all open-ended, all of which need to be imagined by the audience. Although the road to the end leads to the only way home, I think there will be many possibilities in the future. Why is the shot so long? Because in the shot, the whole vehicle is getting smaller and smaller, the people in the car are getting fewer and fewer, the way home is getting narrower and narrower, and the protagonist has less and less dialogue with his father until there is no dialogue. His father sheltered him from the wind and rain in front of him, but both father and son were silent. In fact, this is the Chinese-style father-son expression, which is introverted, subtle and not good at words, unlike Westerners who can directly express their love for their families and give each other a positive hug. The Chinese choose to use a way of hugging their backs, riding a motorcycle is a manifestation of daily life, and it can also be regarded as a hug with his father, a manifestation of inner closeness. I think the wind blowing in the picture is also like the mood and state of the two of them. In fact, we filmed for 20 days, and the first 19 days were calm, only on the last day, when there was a strong wind, we filmed. I think God gave me such a surprise, which just echoes some of the mysticism in the movie.
Nandu Entertainment: In the recent roadshow, you have had direct communication with many audiences across the country, have you heard unexpected views from their speeches, beyond your original intention?
Kan Haodong: There are some viewers' interpretations of the plot that I didn't expect when I wrote the script myself, but I think this kind of interaction has achieved my purpose and original intention of creating the script, that is, the story of the film is not only the only answer, it can be diverse, it can accommodate multiple voices, just like an open-ended ending. For example, the action of the protagonist Liang Zhe looking for the grave at the end, from a realistic point of view, as everyone sees most often, he is looking for a mobile phone and a dog, but some viewers say that he is looking for a charm. The film we just mentioned is creating an atmosphere of mysticism, and the behavior of Chinese fortune-telling, worshipping Buddha and praying to God plays a very calming role in their inner spiritual level. When this talisman is not available, people's hearts seem to become flustered. In the end, some viewers interpreted that he was looking for a charm? I very much agree that the audience has such an imaginative interpretation, it has gone beyond the scope of reality. The dog and the mobile phone are real objects, but this charm is like the spiritual sustenance of the heart. There are also viewers who say that he is looking for cigarettes, I remember that I have shown this movie to a teacher alone, this teacher may usually be very fond of smoking, and he finished watching it with a cigarette, so he asked the protagonist if he was looking for cigarettes. Smoking is a way to release anxiety and stress, so finding a cigarette can also be an interpretation of this movie.
3
I'm determined to make a realistic story that takes place in the moment
Nandu Entertainment: The protagonist Liang Zhe, I think the interesting thing about this character is that he has been in a state of depression and forbearance since returning to his hometown, although he has been asked all kinds of questions by his fellow villagers who have no sense of boundaries and offense, but he still maintains basic politeness and decency, this attitude of forbearance all the time, is it a projection of your personal character?
Kan: Actually, just like I told you about my experience, I think I'm just a forbearant person, and I'm not so good at or like to have a head-on conflict with people. Of course, there are such people, and the narrative of the entire film, including the performance, is very calm and restrained. My forbearance is both a character and a native of this land, which is also the normal mode of getting along with many Chinese.
Nandu Entertainment: Judging from this movie, it seems that your hometown is a place that you want to escape from, but you can't give up? Do you have any special feelings for the identity of Shanxi people, or do you have a sense of identity? Do you mind being labeled as a director who shoots Shanxi stories?
Kan: I don't mind, because I grew up with all kinds of doubts. I have gone from studying mining to making films, and I have met all kinds of people, all of whom have their own evaluations and opinions. I think this is what a movie should look like, so my hometown has an impact on me, and all the creative impulses come from the parts that sting you and touching you. Every time I write a script, especially a story that takes place in my hometown, I go back to Shanxi to write the script. Then I will go back to Beijing and form a team to shoot and do post-production. The soul story of the script comes from my hometown in my memory, but the final completion of the filming technology of this film requires the support of a city like Beijing with corresponding environmental conditions.
Nandu Entertainment: Will you continue to shoot Shanxi stories in the future, and will you try to create purely fictional works?
Kan Haodong: I have never told anyone that I want to insist on filming Shanxi stories. This was my first film in the true sense of the word, and for me, I just made this story that I knew and experienced in my hometown. I have written several scripts before, and some of the scripts have nothing to do with Shanxi, and there are various themes and styles, but for my first film, I can only achieve it with limited resources, and it can only be presented in Shanxi. I've also written a western with a bit of film noir crime suspense, and a story about a haircut, regardless of geography, and I didn't tell the audience where it happened. These are the things I want to shoot.
Nandu Entertainment: The background of this movie is during the epidemic, and there are many words that reveal the impact of the epidemic on life, which is actually another epidemic narrative outside the main theme movie, can this be regarded as your attempt to record and reflect the times?
Kan: From the beginning, I was very determined to make a realistic story that happened in the present, because it was what I liked and what I was good at. In the three years of the epidemic, there is no movie that can tell what ordinary people have experienced and encountered in the life of ordinary people in the context of the epidemic. After three years of the epidemic, many people are reluctant to watch movies that sting themselves, and everyone wants to watch movies that make them happy. But I think that maybe for a few more years, this movie has its value and significance.
Written by: Nandu reporter Liu Yifan intern Zheng Xinhui