At the Hong Kong Film Awards last Sunday, the film "Diary of a Youth" received 12 nominations, winning director Cheuk Yi-him the New Director Award. On April 19, the film was officially released in the mainland, and mainland audiences can finally get a glimpse of the true face of this Hong Kong film topic.
Domestic violence, child suicide, and emotional problems are all condensed in the 95-minute "Youth Diary". The tone of the story is heavy, but it unexpectedly resonates with the audience. After its release in Hong Kong last year, the film sparked discussions, and the local box office exceeded 23.45 million yuan. After the screening in the mainland, the Douban score rose instead of falling, as high as 8.6 points.
"Diary of a Youth" is the first feature film directed by Zhuo Yiqian. He poured a lot of personal experience and emotion into it, and the growing pains in the film were strong enough to shock the audience. Film producer Er Dongsheng is 30 years older than Zhuo Yiqian, a senior in the film industry and a senior in life, and he has another understanding of this story. On the eve of the film's release in the mainland, the two accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from Yangcheng Evening News.
Cheuk Yiqian:
Many of the characters in the film are at different stages of my growth
"Youth Diary" cuts from the perspective of middle school teacher Zheng Sir (played by Lu Zhenye), who finds an anonymous suicide note in his class, which reminds him of a diary many years ago and his unhappy childhood.
The film is written in a diary throughout, and for Cheuk, "Diary of a Youth" itself is like his personal diary. When he was in college, a friend of Zhuo Yiqian died suddenly, and he began to pay attention to the news related to suicide. For a period of time, the news reported one after another on the suicide of students, and he had 10,000 question marks in his mind but could not find the answers, and the incomprehension, guilt and even resentment in it finally gave birth to "Youth Diary".
In the film, adulthood and adolescence are parallel: the 10-year-old boy Zheng Youjie lives in a suffocating family, his father is violent, his mother is cowardly, and his excellent younger brother enjoys exclusive favor, he is just the "stupid one" in the family; Zhuo Yiqian said frankly that he disassembled and reorganized various experiences and feelings in his life and integrated them into the story: childhood loneliness, depression experience, regret for the death of his friend...... "Many characters in it have my shadow, and they are me at different stages of growth." ”
A rather personal creation, the strong response caused by Zhuo Yiqian was unexpected. At the Guangzhou screening last Saturday, in the second half of the film, sobs came and went in the dark theater. While rejoicing that the movie was well received, Zhuo Yiqian's tone was also a little bitter: "This story has caused so much resonance, but it's actually not a good thing." The film points to the trauma of the original family, adolescent emotional problems and suicide problems that have been hotly discussed in recent years, and the strong resonance that the audience gets is likely to come from the similar painful memories they share with the characters in the film.
Zhuo Yiqian admitted that the theme of the film was heavy, and he was hesitant to make it for a while, but he finally decided to face it positively: "If you don't discuss it, it will only get farther and farther away from solving the problem." A very good thing happened after the movie came out, and after my sister watched it, she had a long and deep conversation with me, which I cherished. After watching the movie, everyone talked more about their inner feelings with each other, which is very good. ”
Er Dongsheng:
In the film, the parents made me start thinking about their daughter's education
When the movie was released in Hong Kong, Er Dongsheng secretly went to the theater to watch it three times to observe the audience's reaction. "The wonderful thing about this film is that audiences of different genders and ages can be moved. He said.
And when Er Dongsheng returned to the audience, what did he think of this film? He said with a smile: "When I was young, I was beaten more seriously by my father! But after my father died, I didn't really hate him much." It seems that this was the case in those days, but of course times have changed now. Actually, the things in the movie didn't happen to me much. I didn't have any friends who committed suicide, at most I was beaten by my father, my mother was gentle with me, but my brother was stricter. ”
What resonates with Er Dongsheng is not Zheng Sir, but the parents in the film. This made a false example to the parents, and made Er Dongsheng rethink the matter of education. "My daughter is now over 8 years old and is learning piano. I never read the educational section of the newspaper before, but after reading "Diary of a Youth", I started reading it. Nowadays, children have so heavy schoolbags and so many cram schools, in fact, I can understand the feelings of parents, because of the big competition in society, they are worried about their children's future, so they want to give their children the best education and force them to become better. But if you push it too hard and destroy the parent-child relationship, will it not be worth the loss? Does it put more pressure on the child? This movie made me think about what I should do with my daughter. ”
Er Dongsheng hopes that more young parents will enter the cinema: "I have always said that making movies is to raise problems, and we can't solve them. If this movie is a little bit of inspiration for parents who are raising their children, I think it is already a great merit. ”
"First Feature Film Project"
So that new Hong Kong directors can make films "willfully".
In the past Academy Awards, how Hong Kong films can achieve generational change has once again sparked public discussion. Er Dongsheng is not worried about the lack of Hong Kong films: "When "Diary of a Youth" was filmed, I only went to the class three times. We had a celebration party after the release, and that's when I met all the staff in front of and behind the scenes for the first time. I found out that 90% of the people I didn't know, and I said, 'I think there's a save for the [Hong Kong] film industry.'" Because a new force has emerged. Er Dongsheng felt the difference between the new generation of filmmakers and the older generation: "To be honest, when I entered the industry, the level of education in the industry was not high, and I could hear a lot of foul language on the shooting site. But their generation is different, the level of education is higher, and they are more rational, which is a big difference. ”
In recent years, new directors have emerged in Hong Kong. Taking this year's Academy Awards as an example, three of the top five finalists for Best Director are also nominees for new directors. One of the reasons for the emergence of the Forces nouvelles is the support of the Government. For example, Diary of a Young Man is an award-winning film under Hong Kong's First Feature Film Initiative, funded by the Hong Kong Film Development Fund for directors who have not made feature films. "One of the advantages of this program is that these funds are given directly to the director and do not need to be recycled. So the director doesn't need to face the investor, and there is no market pressure. So they can create whatever they want. Even when I was executive producing for "Diary of a Youth," I didn't look at the film from a commercial point of view. Whatever you want to express and how you want to shoot, try to shoot as much as you can. I will only assist you to complete the script and give some comments later. Er Dongsheng said. It is precisely because of the support of the "First Feature Film Project" that in recent years, a number of new directorial works with realistic concerns such as "Ignorance" and "Falling Flowers" have appeared in Hong Kong, blowing a new wind for Hong Kong films.
The "First Feature Film Project" is also somewhat extravagant and capricious. When it comes to the second feature film, the director has to face the market and the investors. Zhuo Yiqian is lucky, his second feature film is already planned, it is a commercial film. How do you balance market expectations with personal expression? "It's a new beginning," he said. I've written and directed my own short films, music videos, and feature films like "Diary of a Youth" in the past, but I've always trained myself to make stories written by other people. But I believe I can find myself in any story and bring my own style to the film. Since I am making a commercial film, what I have to do is to tell the story to the best of my ability, communicate well with the audience, and be responsible for the boss. ”
As for Er Dongsheng's message to Hong Kong's new directors, he said: "Don't push any work. Try to take all the online movies (big online movies), advertisements, etc., practice more, and don't miss any opportunity to be a director. ”
Text | Reporter Hu Guangxin