Speaking of China's older generation of film directors, "North and South Two Xie" are definitely two immortal legends.
One of the "Xie" is Xie Jin, who likes to shoot small people in big history, "Red Detachment of Women", "Wrangler", "Furong Town"... These classic works in the history of cinema are all written by Xie Jin.
Another "Xie" refers to Xie Tieli, from the "Early Spring and February" in the 60s to the "Bao's Father and Son" and "Dream of the Red Chamber" series of films in the 80s, the director's career has been making different attempts for decades.
In 1991, after completing the "Dream of the Red Chamber" series of movies, Xie Tieli, who was nearly 70 years old, came up with a new idea, that is, to adapt the story in "Liaozhai Zhiyi" into a movie.
This film is the "Tomb Desolation" that gathers a lot of handsome men and beautiful women, and the film has achieved good box office results after its release;
Later, because one of the heroines, Zhou Xun, became popular and received more and more attention, and also got 7.3 points on Douban, which was higher than the later "Painted Skin".
01, liaozhai universe of "skewer burning"
When he first chose to shoot "Tomb Desert", Xie Tieli did not intend to follow the rules to shoot, but chose four stories in "Liaozhai Zhiyi", and cleverly "connected" them through the role of Shusheng Yang Yuwei.
The names of these stories are probably not unfamiliar, "Chain", "Jiaona", "Painted Skin", "Nie Xiaoqian", especially the last two stories, have long become the blueprint for the adaptation of countless film and television works.
Yang Yu, a poor scholar who is bent on obtaining a meritorious name, is not afraid of the talk of ghosts and gods, and reads in a long-abandoned deserted house day and night, but unexpectedly encounters a beautiful female ghost named Chain in the courtyard.
Chain cried that he had been entangled by the white impermanence of the underworld many times, and Yang Yuwei was very sympathetic to her suffering, and finally he got rid of the white impermanence who came to force the chain to become a relative with the help of his friends.
There is a gradual secret affection between the ghosts and the people, and the chain uses its own funerary products to pay off the debt to the Yang Yuwei family, and Yang Yuwei uses his Yang Qi essence blood to make the chain return the soul, and brings the chain back to her home before she died, reunited with her parents.
However, after the chain father learned that Yang Yuwei was only a poor student, his attitude immediately became cold, and he politely refused Yang Yuwei's request to marry the chain and forcibly separated the lovers.
Yang Yuwei, who was depressed in his heart, fainted in front of Jiaona's house on the way to Beijing to catch the exam, and was carefully cared for by Theona family, and bluntly said that it was to repay Yang Yuwei's "life-saving grace".
After recovering, Yang Yuwei continued to rush the exam, and when he stayed at a temple, he met Wang Sheng, who also entered Beijing to catch the exam, and Yan Chixia, a swordsman who acted mysteriously.
In the night, Yang Yuwei was teased by a guihua named Nie Xiaoqian, but Yang Yuwei was not moved, and Nie Xiaoqian saw that he was actually a true gentleman and quietly left.
The next day, Yang Yuwei, who was passing by the door of Wang Sheng's house, inadvertently saw that in Wang Sheng's house, a murderous and ugly evil ghost was drawing a portrait of a woman, and draped the painting on his body to become the beautiful woman who seduced Wang Sheng.
Just when he didn't know what to do, Nie Xiaoqian rushed to tell him to hide in Yan Chixia's room, and begged him to escape the persecution of the demons, and then go to the backyard to water the osmanthus that was about to die.
Late at night, Wang Sheng in his sleep was killed by the evil ghost's heart, and the scene of the evil ghost cutting his heart and drinking blood is still frightening to watch now.
Yang Yuwei, who lived in Yan Chixia's room, saw a bright light fly out of a box in Yan Chixia's belt, killing the evil ghost, and the danger was also lifted.
Xiao Qian, who is a guihua essence, survived because Yang Yuwei watered the osmanthus tree, and in order to repay her for casting a spell, Yang Yuwei was on the dragon and tiger list, and finally achieved fame.
Back at Juana's house, Yang Yuwei learned that the fox he had saved at that time was their family, and then he protected Juana and they survived the thunder disaster, and received a gift from Juana's red pill.
Yang Yuwei went back to the chain and found that it was already a wasteland, and he learned that the chain had ended his life again because his parents forced him to become a parent, and he was transformed into a lone ghost.
Frustrated, he suddenly remembered Juana's red pill, so he gave the red pill to the chain for her to eat, and the chain was revived, and after experiencing countless setbacks, the two finally became family members.
Four originally unrelated stories, in such an interesting way to form an intertextual, hooked into their own "Liaozhai universe", have to make people admire the creator's "brain hole" creativity.
02, Zhou Xun's first film
In addition to the plot, the four female characters are a very beautiful landscape of the film.
Fu Yiwei, who plays the chain, is charming and lovely, and interprets the "charming" and "soft" of the chain quite movingly, and I have to say that Fu Yiwei is really suitable for ancient costumes, and the daiji in the old version of "Fengshen List" is a classic of Fu Yiwei's costume style.
Hu Tiange, who plays Xiao Qian, is a Yue opera actor, and the most well-known film and television image should be Lan Zigege played in "Kangxi Dynasty", and Lan Qi'er's innocence and straightforwardness have left a deep impression on many people.
Chen Shasha, who played the "painted skin" woman, was a "Professional Household in Liaozhai" in the film and television circle as early as the 1980s and 1990s, and in addition to this film, she also played roles in many "Liaozhai" series of dramas.
Amazing is the role of Zhou Xun, who plays Jiaona, she was only 16 years old when filming this film, and she was often selected to be a wall calendar model due to the advantages of her appearance and temperament.
It was in this way that Xie Tieli inadvertently discovered Zhou Xun on the calendar, and his big eyes were full of agility, which was very suitable for making movies.
In contrast to the current situation, the development of the four in the show business circle has since moved towards a completely different life.
The best is undoubtedly Zhou Xun, who has successively starred in Chen Kaige's "Wind Moon" and "Jing Ke Thorn Qin King" after this film, not to mention "Daming Palace Words", "Orange Red", "Painted Skin" and other works that make her get the audience's "eye edge".
In more than 20 years of acting career, Zhou Xun has won the highest "three awards" of Chinese films and become a legend in the film industry.
Chen Shasha faded out of the film and television circle at the end of the 90s, and Hu Tiange also did not appear in film and television works since "Kangxi Dynasty", and now rarely sees the news of the two.
The most emotional is undoubtedly Fu Yiwei, from appearance to temperament, are worthy of the Chinese film and television circle deserved beauty actress, in addition to this film, she also played Xue Baochao in Xie Tieli's "Dream of the Red Chamber" series.
But a few years ago, because of drug abuse, Fu Yiwei, who was more than 50 years old, was imprisoned, and his brilliant acting career was finally exchanged for such a "late festival" ending, which had to make people sigh.
03, director Xie Tieli has passed away
After watching "Tomb Desolation" many years later, we will find that even if it is such a ghostly and strange entertainment film, Xie Tieli has not given up his artistic pursuit.
In the inner meaning of the film, Xie Tieli captured the essence of Pu Songling's original work and satirized the social reality at that time.
For example, in the fragment of Yang Yuwei's examination, Nie Xiaoqian exchanged the eight strands of the other candidate's "bullshit" and Yang Yuwei's talented article, and finally Yang Yuwei relied on this eight-strand examination to gain fame, so the result of such a ridiculous is the ruthless criticism of the imperial examination system.
Photography can see Xie Tieli's consistent aesthetic characteristics, the quiet dilapidated mansion, the four-corner pavilion in the morning light, and the bright and rich colors, all of which make people feel a classical beauty originating from traditional China.
It can be said that "Ancient Tomb Desert" can be regarded as a representative work of Xie Tieli in his later years, and in 2000, he filmed the film "Xi Fangping" based on "Liaozhai Zhiyi", starring Sha Yi, and also received good evaluation from the audience.
In 2015, the 90-year-old Xie Tieli died, more than half a century of directing career, creating so many popular classic works, director Xie Tieli is destined to leave a brilliant mark in the history of film.
Now that Slovak has passed away, it is fortunate that we can still remember the film "imprint" he left for future generations through the works he directed. (Author: Pippi Shrimp)