As a veteran of China's press, a deep participant in Hong Kong's work, and a lover and promoter of the film industry, the author systematically reviews his indissoluble and wonderful love affair with film through this long article. Although this article is long, it is eloquent, and it is pleasant to read, like sitting in the spring breeze. Through this article, readers can not only recall the historical light and shadow of Chinese films from the perspective of individual narrative and in the span of decades of time, but also appreciate the bits and pieces of Hong Kong films and film celebrities in a novel context with the help of the author's unique work experience and novel context, and can also feel the life experience, work enthusiasm and family warmth in many daily details about movies. The article is artistic, informative, interesting, philosophical, emotional and beautiful, and it is a masterpiece of commensurate literary quality. This article was published in The Essay Magazine Issue 5 of 2021 and is hereby reproduced on this channel for the benefit of readers.
— Editor's Note
"Putting a person in a constantly changing environment, letting him pass by countless characters far and near, and putting him in touch with the whole world: that's what cinema is all about."
This article was published in Essays, No. 5, 2021
Watching movies is the main way for most Chinese to leisure and entertainment, and everyone has a strong film love and a soft movie dream in their hearts...
Childhood movie dreams
I had a dream. My dreams were on the valley plains of my childhood countryside, in the hot summer breeze, in the sound of cicadas on Saturday evenings.
Saturday was the day my friends and I were looking forward to as a child. On that day, when the sun began to set in the west, we were excited and carried the bench early to the huge sunbathing valley in the north of the village. There, a white movie screen has long been hung high on two erect wooden poles, and a weekly open-air film screening will be held here. We are always the first spectators to occupy seats, and the positions in the first three rows are always "occupied" by us.
We don't miss the slides that started to be released as soon as it got dark, even though they were just slogans or anmin notices; we didn't miss the new studio documentary "Press Briefing", which was often seen where Chairman Mao received foreign guests; what we were most looking forward to was the feature films that finally appeared, some of which were watched three or four times, and the plot and dialogue were already ripe. Of course, the most exciting thing is to watch the films of the Bayi Film Studio, and whenever we see the starry five-star factory title that appears on the screen with the majestic March of the People's Liberation Army, we can't help but be thrilled and boiling with blood.
Movies are my childhood dreams. During those childish years, we watched countless open-air movies, the most of which were two categories: one was the domestic real estate war films, "Tunnel War", "Mine Warfare", "Shangganling", "Southern Expedition to the North", etc.; the other was Hong Kong literary and art films and opera films, "Absolute Beauty", "Joyful Enemy", "Wang Lao Wu Tian Ding", "Wang Tiger Robbing Relatives", etc., thus remembering the names of Mainland film stars such as Feng Zhe, Guo Zhenqing, zhang Liang, and Hong Kong's "Three Princesses of the Great Wall" Xia Meng, Shi Hui and Chen Sisi.
Movie "Wang Lao Wu Tian Ding"
In the third grade of primary school, the Chinese teacher asked us to write essays on the theme of "dreams". Without hesitation, I wrote down five words: "My Movie Dream". I still remember one of the childish words: "Movies are my dreams, and I hope to work in movies when I grow up, because movies are very magical, movies are full of excitement, movies make people look forward to it, and movies make people happy." ”
Every winter and spring, the weather is cold and frozen, the wind and rain are miserable, and the sunshine valley is no longer playing movies. My friends and I have less weekly expectations, and our hearts are empty and we can't lift our spirits.
One day, his companion Bingsheng discovers the "secret" of the movie. He told us: write a word or a picture on the glass and put it on the screen with a spotlight.
We were immediately excited and eager to make our own films.
At that time, the supply and marketing cooperatives were buying herbs, honeysuckle, plantain, half summer and so on. Our five good friends went up the hill to dig dozens of pounds, sold more than four dollars, used the money to go to the mall to buy a large flashlight and four batteries more than a foot long, and then bought a box of their favorite wick cakes for each of the remaining pieces of money.
In the days that followed, we found dozens of pieces of discarded glass, and divided the work slightly, some writing with brushes and drawing with colored pens, and each of them was arranged. When it was done, I found a Saturday night, called out more than a dozen primary school students of the same age in the same village, and officially put slides in a broken house with bricks and tiles in the village. When the first line of crooked characters clearly appeared on the white wall under the illumination of the large flashlight, the friends could not help but cheer. This is our homemade slideshow! In less than half an hour, dozens of pieces of glass were released, and everyone scattered one after another, and a few of us talked about it with great interest until late. The next day we washed off the paintings on the glass and drew new things, but only six or seven people came that night. On the evening of the third day, when we went to invite the children again, they all said that they could not come, saying that it was too monotonous and boring, and it was not interesting. The five of us looked at each other inside the broken house and were momentarily discouraged.
In the fourth grade, I left liufang village in Jintian Commune, Anfu County, Jiangxi Province, where I grew up, and moved with my parents to the county seat to go to school. It was one day in September 1969, when our four brothers and sisters sat in a large truck full of furniture, watching the car drive through the rolling dust on the gravel road, leaving the village of childhood farther and farther away, and the hope of open-air movies in the summer countryside faded from that day...
Chang Si Film asked
There is an old well called the Iron Hoop Well in the county town, and there is a dilapidated movie theater not far from the well, and the lime on the wall has been mottled and peeled off, and movies are played there every day.
My mother knew that my brother and sister loved to watch movies, and gave each person five cents a month to buy student tickets, allowed us to watch a movie, and repeatedly told me that my cousin was responsible for checking tickets at the movie theater, and you must buy tickets to enter, and you are not allowed to go through the back door. In the years that followed, our brother and sister followed my mother's instructions and bought a ticket to watch a movie every month. Unfortunately, there were not many movies to watch at that time, and the most I watched were eight model drama movies and movies such as "Sunny Days" and "Cotai Strip".
In the early 1970s, a number of films from socialist countries entered the Chinese mainland. Around 1977, the County Cinema released the Yugoslav film "The Bridge", which was only for two days. I had never seen a Yugoslav movie, and I thought it was mysterious and wanted to see it, but when I ran out of five cents that month, I ran to the cinema alone to find a chance. I saw my cousin Liu Sheng standing at the door checking the ticket in the distance, and I was embarrassed to call him, so I walked around the neighborhood, pretending to look for something missing, trying to get his attention. My cousin focused on checking the tickets and didn't look at me at all, and I was a little disappointed. Until all the audience members finished entering the scene, I suddenly heard my cousin calling me: "I saw you earlier, do you want to watch a movie?" I nodded shyly, and he beckoned me in and said, "There's no more space, just stand back and watch." I said "Okay" and went in cheerfully. A few days later, I still let my mother know about it, and she beat me up fiercely and punished me for not being allowed to watch movies for two months. But I don't regret it, every day I hum the beautiful theme song from the movie "Bridge": "That morning, I woke up from my dream, ah friends goodbye, goodbye, goodbye ..."
When I went to college, due to the teaching needs of Chinese departments, I had the privilege of seeing a number of Soviet films, one of which was "Here the Dawn Is Quiet", which I watched twice. Through vivid stories and vivid characters, this film made me feel the Romantic feelings and heroic spirit of the Russian style, and in the strong contrast between beauty and cruelty, it brought me great shock and profound enlightenment of the destruction of life.
After graduating from college, I didn't enter the film industry, but became a journalist. Because of the news report, the first filmmaker I met was the famous comedy film director Zhang Gang, who has filmed 25 "Aman" series of comedy films, and he is also known as the "Father of Aman".
In the 16 years of working in Nanchang, because the news work is very busy, almost from morning to night to interview, writing, I rarely enter the cinema, the deepest impression is in the early nineties to Lushan interview, in the East Valley Cinema to see a "Lushan Love". This cinema only shows "Lushan Love" every day from morning to night. TourIng Lushan and watching "Lushan Love" has become a fixed tourism project in Lushan. Later, I saw the report that on the twentieth anniversary of the screening of "Lushan Love", the headquarters of "Great World Guinness" in Shanghai awarded the film the title of "the single film that was screened the most times in the same theater". The film has set a number of world records such as "the most screenings", "the most bad copies", and "the longest single film screening time". In the same year, the cinema was renovated and officially renamed "Lushan Love Cinema".
Stills from the movie "Lushan Love"
In 2000, I was transferred to Guangzhou for work. The next time I walked into the cinema was in 2004. My colleague recommended me to go to The Flying Cinema in Tianhe City to watch a movie, and he said to me in very exaggerated language: "Too advanced, too shocking, too enjoyable!" "It tickles my heart.
A few days later, my family and I went to Feiyang Cinema for the first time to see Zhang Yimou's feature film "Ten Faces Ambush". Walking into the studio, I, a movie fan who has not entered the theater in 1980 or 9 years, seems to have entered the Grand View Garden, and my eyes are full of surprise and surprise: the open ticket hall, the comfortable seating area, the huge screen of rolling film flowers, a variety of seasonal drinks and special snacks. Entering the viewing hall, the eyes are even brighter: elegant and warm indoor environment, curved giant screen standing on top of the sky, international advanced digital ring sound system, high slope, wide row spacing, low viewpoint, no obstruction of humanized design. This movie brought me a thrill that I had never experienced before watching DVDs at home, and enjoyed an audiovisual feast of ups and downs. Since then, I have walked into this five-star cinema many times and experienced a thrilling blockbuster magical journey.
During this period, the mainland film industry began to quietly change: filmmaking changed from film to digital, built cinemas from single halls to multiple halls, and entered the cinema from watching movies to enjoying movies. I also went to the theater to see movies more and more often.
I often think about the question, why is film such an art form so fascinating and popular? I think one of the main reasons is because cinema is the richest and most vivid of all the art genres. It can be said that no art form uses so many language elements: performance, dialogue, music, sound, scenes, lighting, colors, costumes, special effects, etc., and a variety of film vocabulary plays an important role in creating screen images at the same time. A refreshing and excellent film, often within a few minutes, will firmly grasp the audience's attention with its unpredictable film language and intuitive, specific, vivid and distinct images, bringing people a strong audiovisual impact and endless ease, pleasure, tension, excitement and excitement.
As the former Soviet film director Andrei Arsenievich Tarkovsky said: "Putting a man in a constantly changing environment, letting him pass by countless characters far or near, making him relate to the whole world: this is the meaning of cinema." ”
My movie edge
Lingnan spring is early, and the smoke breeze blows the noodles. In March 2007, I was interviewing in a mountainous county in northern Guangdong. When I was free that night, I said to two reporters in my company: "Go to a movie!" They readily agreed.
Surprisingly, we walked a few streets and didn't find a theater, stopped to ask the clerk of the street mall, she waved her hand and said: "The cinema is long gone!" ”
"Is it off?"
"Dismantled, built a commercial house."
We were stunned.
Life always changes roles in unexpected encounters, and viewers, admirers, and outsiders may become participants, practitioners, and insiders in the blink of an eye. In October of that year, my work was really related to film for the first time: I was transferred to the Guangdong Provincial Radio, Film and Television Bureau. I'm relieved that I can finally do something for the movie.
At a conference in Beijing in early 2008, I heard a set of surprising figures: in 2007, the number of American film screens was nearly 40,000, while the number of Chinese film screens was 3527, less than 1/10 of that in the United States; Americans walked into theaters an average of 5 times a year, while Chinese entered theaters once in 5 years on average, 1/25 of the United States.
What is the situation in Southern Guangdong? After returning to Sui, we did a survey, and the data showed that there were only 89 theaters left in Guangdong Province, most of which were concentrated in the Pearl River Delta cities; most of the original theaters in most counties and districts were diverted for other purposes or demolished and developed into real estate; there were less than 10 county-level cinemas in eastern Guangdong and western Guangdong, and the buildings were outdated and the equipment was backward and aging... Building county-level cinemas and developing the film industry have become the consensus of my colleagues and me.
We formulate theater development plans, sign a letter of responsibility for theater construction, and introduce an incentive policy of "giving awards and making up for them"... With the rapid development of the work, by the end of 2016, the total number of theaters in the province surged from 89 to 930, with the number of screens 5,065, an increase of more than 10 times over 2007; the provincial film box office increased by nearly 16 times; and the number of rural public welfare film screenings also increased from 32,000 in 2007 to 281,700. Behind this report card, there is the blood and sweat of countless filmmakers.
"Pearl of the Orient, my lover, is your style still romantic..." This song by Lo Tai Yo has sounded in my ears countless times, but I never expected that in May 2013, I had the opportunity to come to Hong Kong to work. This is another film relationship that allows me to get close to Hong Kong movies and Hong Kong filmmakers.
Hong Kong was once known as the "Hollywood of the East", and in the 1980s, it produced 400 to 500 films a year, surpassing Bollywood, an Asian film powerhouse, and leaping to the second place in the world. "Where there are Chinese, there are Hong Kong movies", Hong Kong films have swept the world and become a major symbol of Chinese culture. However, in the past decade, the Hong Kong film industry has begun to decline, and in recent years, only 40 or 50 Hong Kong-made films have been released in Hong Kong every year. This depression did not last long. After the introduction of a series of national incentive policies such as "co-production films", Hong Kong filmmakers have entered the mainland to start a business, and Hong Kong films have ushered in another big opportunity for development.
In September 2017, I accompanied the Hong Kong film delegation to the 26th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival in Hohhot, and we were particularly happy that the film "Operation Mekong" directed by Hong Kong director Lam Chao-yin was awarded best feature film.
Stills from the movie Operation Mekong
Coincidentally. During the Spring Festival of 2018, Hong Kong director Lam Chao-yin's film Operation Red Sea set off a movie boom in the mainland. I watched this movie, and it's really a good movie. This film has achieved a total box office of nearly 3.6 billion yuan in the mainland, which is another masterpiece created by Hong Kong filmmakers and mainland filmmakers!
To be honest, I have not watched movies less over the years, movies are the on-site meetings where I report to my superiors, movies are regular items of my and my colleagues' union activities, movies are my new link with the Hong Kong industry, and movies are the common denominator of leisure and entertainment for me and my family.
I watched a lot of Hollywood blockbusters, but I watched more domestic movies. Although the story of Hollywood blockbusters is more suspenseful, the visual impact is greater, and it is more tense, exciting and exciting, it has to be said that domestic movies bring people a longer aftertaste, trigger more people's thinking, touch people's hearts deeper, and leave people with longer memories. Perhaps this is the nationality, regionality, and closeness of aesthetic culture.
It can be said that the film is a national cultural memory that will never fade. The domestic film presents the magnificent national history of the Chinese nation, the ups and downs of the national destiny, the indomitable national spirit, and the rich and delicate national feelings with extraordinary sound and light. The audience can find the projection of life, find the catharsis of emotions, and obtain the memory of history from the film. Those values and spiritual pursuits shaped by domestic films have become the cultural chromosomes of the Chinese nation, flowing endlessly in the blood of Chinese.
Respectable filmmaker
In Hong Kong, I had the opportunity to meet many well-known people and movie stars in the film industry. They sleep at night for the movie, work hard, and struggle tirelessly, and they are all people I respect.
Five years ago, one summer day, I attended an acting event in Wan Chai and met Jackie Chan, Wong Ming-tsuen, Tsang Chi Wai, Tam Wing Lin and others, all of whom were some of the most influential Hong Kong artists among mainland film fans.
Jackie Chan wore a casual sweatshirt, his hair was a little messy, he looked a little haggard, and when he met, he quickly said: "I am shooting movies in Australia, and I just returned to Hong Kong." ”
As I sat down for tea and chatted, I asked Jackie Chan what movie he had been making lately. He said he was working on and was working on five films, and then stretched out his fingers: "Flying Tiger", "Kung Fu Yoga", "Blood of the Machine", "Chinese" (later renamed "British Showdown") and "Baghdad" (later renamed "Raging Sandstorm").
I was very surprised: "Is it so prolific and busy?" Zeng Zhiwei replied for him: "He is too involved, the movie is his everything!" He said with emotion, "For the sake of the movie, he completely disregarded his own safety, and since his debut, he does not know how many injuries he has suffered and how many bones he has broken, and it is a miracle that he can live to this day!" ”
I have seen a report that Jackie Chan has made more than 200 movies since the film, from stunt actors to kung fu superstars, climbing, jumping, hanging, beating, he has done it himself, so that his head is broken and bleeding, his hands and feet are broken, there are countless adventures, countless serious injuries, including more than 20 serious injuries.
Tan Yonglin recalled: "I remember that in 1986, in Yugoslavia, "Brother Dragon and Tiger Brother", Jackie Chan fell from a height, was seriously injured, his skull and ear bones were broken, and underwent major surgery, I went to the hospital with Zhiwei to see him, through the glass of the ward, I saw him sleeping on the bed, screamed a few times and did not agree, I had the opportunity to blow a whistle, playing the episode "Friend" that I sang for this movie, he did wake up, but he looked at us and passed out. ”
Tan Yonglin couldn't help but whistle again to blow that piece of music, the sound was like a warbler crying, the yang was full of ears, soothing and melodious, and the emotion was deep and moving. The scene was silent, everyone was attracted, as if through the whistle to hear the touching lyrics: "You for me / I for you / go to the tribulation and despair together / hold your hand / friend", and saw the shocking picture of Jackie Chan leaping over the high wall and accidentally falling more than ten meters of broken head and blood flowing on the ground in the ending tidbit.
On July 30, 2017, the grand premiere of "The Great Undertaking of Building an Army" was held at the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition Centre, and one of the producers, Huanya Film Company boss Lin Jianyue, invited me to attend the premiere. This is another blockbuster film work cooperated by Huanya Film with China Film Group after "The Great Undertaking of Founding the Nation".
Lin Jianyue became a major shareholder in Huanya Film Company in 2000. In the past 20 years, he has promoted Huanya Films to produce more than 100 Chinese films with good box office, such as "Infernal Affairs" in 2002, "Head Text D" in 2005, "Cast Name" in 2007, "Firefighting Heroes" in 2014, "Rushing into the Sky" in 2015, "Casino Storm III" in 2016, etc., committed to maintaining a leading position in Asian film production and Chinese film distribution, providing a diversified movie viewing experience for global audiences. Great efforts have been made to revitalize Hong Kong cinema.
In recent years, as a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Council (now the Chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council), he has vigorously promoted the "Cinema in All Areas" plan in the face of the decline of Hong Kong cinemas year by year, and has taken the lead in investing in new cinemas and renovating old cinemas. At present, MCL, a subsidiary of Huanya Group, has 14 theaters throughout Hong Kong, with 74 large screens, and its box office share is rising.
I must attend the annual National Day dinner of the Hong Kong film and television industry, where I met many Hong Kong filmmakers and also met Gu Tianle, who was called "Charity Superman" by netizens. Gu Tianle's films are remarkable, but what is more commendable is his philanthropic dedication. In 2009, Gu Tianle set up a charitable fund and began to donate schools, medical clinics and water cellars in Xishui, Zunyi and other places in Guizhou, and by 2021, a total of 135 schools, more than 20 medical institutions and more than 50 love water cellars were donated. What is remarkable is that he does good deeds without publicity, does good deeds in a low-key manner, and is praised as "a star among stars and a role model among idols". On 16 March 2021, the Hong Kong Filmmakers Association announced Koo Tin Lok as the new President of the Federation.
During my time in Hong Kong, I watched "Wolf Warrior 2", which set a record for the highest box office in the history of domestic films and the highest box office record for a single film in the global single market, and met Wu Jing, Lu Jingshan and other members of the main creative team before the premiere.
I praised Wu Jing: "This film integrates the film industry with the Chinese spirit of Chinese culture, and successfully shapes a Chinese-style hero with family and country feelings, which makes people see a Chinese spirit of never accepting defeat, never saying defeat, and never lying down." The film speaks out the voice of Chinese, performs the temperament of Chinese, and shoots the backbone of Chinese! Wu Jing narrowed his eyes and smiled.
I smiled and shared an online post again, praising Hong Kong actor Lu Jingshan: "Not long ago, I saw an interesting follow-up post on the Internet, saying that why we have only seen such a great domestic blockbuster to this day, it is because 'Shanshan' is late. Everyone laughed happily. I said to Lu Jingshan: "This funny evaluation of netizens may not prove your influence, but it is enough to show that you have gained a lot of fans in the mainland, and I hope you will continue to improve!" She immediately looked at Wu Jing and said, "Thank you Brother Jing!" ”
After this film, Lu Jingshan was invited to participate in the 74th Venice Film Festival and won the Kineo Anica International Artist Award, and successively participated in films and variety shows in the mainland, and indeed became more and more popular.
Make a movie with your child
My entertainment in Hong Kong is mainly to watch movies, which is also a window to understand hong Kong's social conditions and public opinion and youth cultural life. Most of the movies I watched were with my son. When my son grew up, he had his own circle of friends and communicated less with his parents, but we both had a common hobby of watching movies. We see at least one movie every month on average, Hollywood science fiction films, disaster movies, domestic real estate spy movies, comedies, Hong Kong gunfight movies, kung fu movies are our favorite.
There are more than 60 cinemas in Hong Kong, and the most we went to was the UA Cinema on the 12th to 14th floors of Times Square in Causeway Bay, which is the flagship cinema of UA. UA's auditoriums are equipped with ultra-high resolution Sony 4K projection systems, with excellent sound and picture effects. The ceiling of the auditorium is covered with black LED spotlights, and the direction and angle of each spotlight are different, creating multiple combinations of light and shadow, so that the audience is drawn into the plot of the movie as if they are in the studio, and become the characters in the film. This is the magical effect of the UA Cinema Hall.
Watching movies at UA, before watching movies, we always like to go to starbucks on the 9th floor to sit for a while, drink a cup of coffee, chat, and then go to the 13th floor commissary to queue up to buy 2 packs of popcorn and water, when watching the movie, enjoy a snack while watching the movie, at this time the feeling is relaxed, comfortable and refreshing! After the night, take the elevator down to the street, there are often different street bands playing in the square, we often stand for a moment, quietly listen to one or two beautiful Cantonese songs and then take the subway or bus to leave.
Among the movies I've seen at UA, Blade Runner 2049 is still fresh in my mind. To be honest, I like to watch science fiction movies, but I am not a good at my age, this kind of film knowledge is new, suspenseful, fast conversion, often the logical relationship has not yet figured out has jumped to other scenes.
Fortunately, when my son was by his side that day, he whispered to him every time. He replied in a whisper, "The reason for K's shock was that I never expected that secret to have an unusual connection with him." After a while, he turned to me and bit my ear: "The man K tracks down and meets is the former Blade Runner Rick Decker, who has been missing for thirty years, the key person who has found all the truth." "But I still have a lot of unknowns, pestering him to ask a lot, he saw that he asked a lot, so he used his eyes to slant the audience, signaling not to affect people's viewing, I looked left and right, and had no choice but to give up."
On the way home, the top floor of the 23 double-decker bus was empty, and we discussed all the way to sci-fi and Hollywood movies.
The Broadway Theater is also a frequented place for both of us. Broadway is the largest theater line in Hong Kong, managing four theatre brands of Broadway, PALACE, AMC and My Cinema, with a total of 12 cinemas and 63 screens spread across Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.
The initial attention to Broadway was a chat with the famous screenwriter He Jiping. When I attended the 26th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards ceremony in Hohhot, I went to the award ceremony with Mr. He and talked about the movies I had seen along the way. She said she often went to the Broadway Film Center in Yau Ma Tei, where she could see some European and American films and niche foreign literary films. Asked if she lived nearby, she said no, so she went to see two shows every time. Her words piqued my interest.
One weekend evening, I took the subway with my son to Yau Ma Tei. Out of the subway station asked many people to find the Broadway Film Center located in Zhongfang Street Junfa Garden.
The cinema is one of the few commercial theatres in Hong Kong that broadcasts niche films, and regularly holds special screenings, film festivals, film festivals and more. On the right side of the G floor of the theater is a small DVD shop, selling or renting movies and DVDs from various countries, the small shop implements a membership system, members can pay 120 yuan to rent DVDs for free for a year, 2 pieces at a time, limited to 7 days to return. On the left is a bookstore named after the famous American director, screenwriter and producer Stanley Kubrick. The bookstore sells movies, cultural books and serves coffee food.
The movies that were being released in the theater that night included the Korean movie "Reverse Power Driver", the American movie "Ice Peak Escape" and "Wind River Valley Murder". When I bought the ticket, I asked my son which one to watch, and he chose "Murder in the Valley of the Wind" at 8:10, and I smiled and said, "Okay, you pay anyway!" He swiped the card without saying a word. The film focuses on the fate of indigenous Indians. The director tries to make the public pay attention to the rights and interests of vulnerable groups through films and reduce the occurrence of unjust cases. When he walked out of the movie theater, his son said with emotion: "After watching it, it is quite depressing, the United States itself is unfair everywhere, and it still manages other people's affairs all day long." ”
We've also been to another Broadway theater on Watercress Street in Mong Kok and seen an American film, League of Spies. It's not easy to watch this movie, so take the elevator up to the 5th floor and walk to the 9th floor layer by layer. The auditorium was small, narrow and short, but the audience was full. After watching the movie, it is nearly 11 midnight, and the watercress street is still brightly lit and bright as day, and the flow of people is continuous and bustling, which makes people truly appreciate the prosperity of Mong Kok.
Of the films my son and I watched in Hong Kong, I was most impressed by Ang Lee's new film "Billy Lynn's Halftime War." This new work that was not released before it was released, Ang Lee used the new technology of 120 Zhen 3D to shoot, and only 5 theaters in the world can reach the highest standard of screening. Although Hong Kong cinemas only have a maximum screening specification of 60 Zhen, there is still a big wave of movie viewing. Put on 3D glasses, a picture with a strong depth of field, a brilliant sunlight like a flame, a soldier standing in front of you, a clear face, as well as the blood-red eyes on the battlefield, the frightened eyes, the close-up of dying, the clarity and realism of the film give people an unprecedented visual impact!
Movie "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle"
After watching this movie, I suddenly understood the real reason why the art form of film dominates and has been prosperous for a long time, because film is an art form that has never stopped the pace of technological change and has never interrupted the process of seeking innovation and change. Over the past 100 years, the development of film technology has changed from silent to audible, from black and white to color, from film to digital, from wide screen to giant screen, from 2D to 3D, from 24 frames to 120 frames, from ring screen movies to holographic films... The birth of every new technology and new material related to film brings new breakthroughs, new developments, and new magic to the film, so that the audience enters a new world of extreme shock and enjoyment.
Dream clear water bay
There is a beautiful place in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, which covers an area of about 60 acres, which is far from the city and surrounded by mountains, lush trees, elegant and quiet. This is where the Yindu institution is located. Its predecessor is the Great Wall, Phoenix, Xinlian three film studios, most of the Hong Kong films watched as a child are from these three studios.
What kind of studios have made a series of lively, interesting, healthy and beneficial films? What kind of filmmakers created the glory of Hong Kong films in that year? With my childhood dreams and the questions that have haunted me for decades, I came to Clearwater Bay, as if I had walked into the mysterious screen hanging high at the head of the village as a child.
Chen Yiqi, general manager of Yindu Institution, and Ren Yue, then deputy general manager, introduced to me the past and present lives of Yindu Institution.
In the 1930s, film directors Cai Chusheng and Situ Huimin came to Hong Kong from Shanghai to start a business, opening the prelude to the development of left-wing films.
In 1950, Great Wall Film Production Co., Ltd. was established, marking the official establishment of the first patriotic film company in Hong Kong after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and in 1952, the emerging Cantonese film company Xinlian Film Company and Phoenix Film Company were successively announced. So far, Hong Kong's patriotic film production system, the "Changfeng New" film system, has been formed in Hong Kong.
At the beginning of the Great Wall, yuan Yang'an, the head of the company, published a signed article in the inaugural issue of the "Great Wall Pictorial" edited by him: The so-called progressive film must first have a correct position, stand firm, and then seek progress in content and form; it is necessary to avoid the gods, martial arts, pornography, and superstitions that flooded the screen in the past, and reduce the blind imitation of Hollywood (Hollywood)'s low-level fun and nonsense style. This policy and philosophy was later adopted by Phoenix and Xinlian. In order to get a good story, Phoenix created the screenwriting method of "satellite around the earth", that is, a certain choreographer proposed a story synopsis, everyone thought it was good, sat down to express their opinions, added branches and leaves, and even played arbitrarily.
It is in this kind of brainstorming and collision that good films are produced and become box office guarantees. The great wall's pioneering work and Li Pingqian's satirical comedy "The World of Lying" was very popular after its launch, and was released for 82 consecutive times; the attendance rate of "Blood Sea Feud" produced in 1951 overwhelmed the Western films released at the same time; Xia Meng's "Forbidden Marriage Match" (1951), which became the first hong Kong-made Chinese film to become the first selling champion of Hong Kong films throughout the year. From 1950 to 1966, the three film companies produced a total of 262 films.
Since the 1950s, a large number of new films of Chang Feng have been imported into the mainland. These films are rich in themes, either realistic literary and art films that reflect the family life of small people, or comedies full of entertainment and satire, or costume opera films that promote excellent traditional culture and moral concepts, such as "The Absolute Beauty" in 1953, "One Year's Plan" in 1955, "New Widow" in 1956, "When men get married" in 1957, "Willow Dark Flowers and Bright Flowers" in 1958, "Wang Lao Wu Tian Ding" in 1959, "Wang Tiger Robs Relatives" in 1960, "Thunderstorm" in 1961. wait.
On the basis of "edutainment, upward guidance, and goodness", these films show the real life of the city, play an inspirational and exhortatory role, and are welcomed by mainland audiences, and some films have also triggered a frenzied wave of movie watching. The first Hong Kong film to be introduced was Yuan Yang'an's "Flowers of the Sea of Evil" (1952), which was screened 16,347 times by the end of 1960. In the early 1960s, there was a popular saying on the streets of Shanghai: "Every strategy is a plan ("Beauty Count"), and three days and three nights are one night ("The First Night of Marriage")," and the scene of queuing up day and night for several days and nights to buy tickets shows that shanghai citizens were crazy about Changfeng's new film. In 1957, five outstanding Hong Kong films, including "The Beauty of the Generation", "The Gap Between one board" and "Home", were awarded the Honorary Award for Outstanding Film from 1949 to 1955 by the Ministry of Culture.
Chen Yiqi told me that due to historical reasons, in the 1960s, the cooperation model of Chang Feng's new films imported into the mainland was interrupted, and it was not until 15 years later, in 1978, that it began to recover. In November 1982, the three established film companies of Great Wall, Phoenix and Xinlian merged to form Yindu Institution, and the new system of Changfeng entered a new stage of development.
I strolled around the yindu institution's campus, which has no modern high-rise buildings, only a low, old office building and five large sound studios. At that time, this was a famous dream factory in Hong Kong, with bright lights and people flowing through every day; a large number of movie stars were born here, xia meng, Shi Hui, Chen Sisi, Bai Yin, Zhu Hong, Gao Yuan, Fu Qi, Jiang Han, Zhou Biao and so on. Today, it is still an important film production base in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, I met many famous artists of Chang Fengxin, such as Zhou Biao, Li Yan, Zhu Hong, Bai Yin, etc. One of the happiest was meeting her childhood idol, Ms. Xia Meng.
Summer Dreams
It was the eve of the Spring Festival in 2015, and I went with my colleagues to Xia Meng's house to visit and greet the festival. On the way, I told my colleagues that when I was a child watching open-air movies, I watched a lot of Xia Meng's movies, and at that time I thought she was so beautiful, her figure was as feminine as a willow branch by the pond, her face was beautiful like Chang'e in the Moon Palace, and her eyes were clear and bright like the stars in the sky. The colleague laughed and said that he didn't expect me to have an idol so young.
In fact, Xia Meng is an idol of many people of different ages, because the beauty of Xia Meng is not only beautiful in the appearance of sinking fish and falling geese, but also in the quality of her heart, and the beauty in her rigorous attitude towards work, life and family. Xia Meng has always been clean and self-righteous since her debut, giving herself three chapters of the Law: not cutting ribbons for people, not being invited to eat, and not shooting scenes with unhealthy content. She had a clear boundary between the outside and the scene, did not hang a single still at home, and concentrated on being a good wife and mother, which was a rare "standard woman" in the film industry at that time.
Xia Meng's home is very elegant and warm. She is 82 years old, although her youth has gone and her beauty is gone, but her elegance is as good as ever, and her temperament is still there. She was very happy that we went to visit her, and the day before yesterday, she asked her sister, who had taken care of her for decades, to make tea eggs. Xia Meng gave me and my colleagues a bowl of a golden shelled tea egg and said, "This is called Jin Yuanbao in our hometown of Shanghai, and eating it means that the next year will be great and the wealth will be rolling in!" I took over her words and said, "I wish mainland movies and Hong Kong movies a lot of money!" She smiled happily. That day, we ate and talked, and we talked very happily.
At the beginning of November 2016, when I was planning to take time to visit Ms. Xia Meng again, the news of her death due to illness came out, which made people sigh.
On November 20, I attended the Summer Dream Memorial Service in Stanley, Hong Kong. Low music, white flowers, beautiful photos, rolling images, all make people sigh, sighing that red faces are easy to grow old, and life is short. Suddenly, I looked up and saw a huge portrait of Xia Mengtao and Li Nian projected on the screen in front of me, with a gorgeous and beautiful Zhuo Lun, especially the black pearl-like eyes shining, as if to tell you something. I suddenly remembered a sentence that Xia Meng said to me: "My life has fulfilled my dream of film, and I am proud to have been a member of Chinese films!" ”
Life is like a dream, dreams are like life. Xia Meng is happy because she has fulfilled her dream; Xia Meng is proud because she has been persevering and down-to-earth for the movie dream.
Sometimes I think that although I am not directly engaged in film production, as a film appreciator and lover, as a participant and service provider of the film industry and the film industry, I have formed an indissoluble relationship with the film, I have made a small contribution to the film, in this sense, I am also gradually realizing the film dream of my childhood. For this, I am a little happy.
Written in July 2021
(The pictures in the text are from the Internet)
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor Liu Ranran