Text │ Flying Fish
There are still 4 days before the official release of the movie "Everything About My Mother", before director Zhao Tianyu has been busy with roadshows.
Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenyang... Almost every time he went to a hall, he felt that there was not enough time, and he was eager to listen to the audience's evaluation, so starting from the third roadshow, the creators decided to talk as little as possible and give time to the audience. For this movie, the audience wants to say a lot, and what impresses Zhao Tianyu is that there is a group of girls in their 20s who are composed of mothers and grandmothers.
The film isn't a women's film, but it touches on a lot of women. In addition to Ji Peizhen, the mother played by Xu Fan, there are also roles such as Li Xiaomei, the daughter Li Xiaomei, played by Zhang Jingyi, the patient Liu Mei played by Zhang Xinyi, the grandmother played by Wu Yanshu, and the aunt played by Han Yunyun. If Zhao Tianyu's past films such as "Double Food" and "A Slight Smile is Falling City" show the love relationship between male and female protagonists, there is no doubt that the focus of Zhao Tianyu's creation this time is completely on women and families.
The changes in life are always unexpected but sudden. Just like the former literary and artistic male god Huang Lei, rock and roll old cannon Zheng Jun, and the wild male Du Dewei have incarnated as "gentle old fathers" because of the birth of their children, the birth of their daughters has also made Zhao Tianyu, who is "not home", become focused on emotions. In the process of accompanying his daughter, he saw how his wife had changed from an independent and free woman to a particularly good mother, and he was ashamed of the "bits and pieces of what his mother did" that he had forgotten for 20 years. So he felt he should make such a movie.
In the process of watching the movie, many viewers can't help but cry, and the market often puts the film "ending with a terminal illness countdown" into the category of "crying film". But Zhao Tianyu did not want to make a crying and crying terminal illness film, although he could not stop the tears several times during the filming process. "I want to find faith about home. In addition to the responsibility attributes brought about by the identity of the mother, I also want to find the life before Ji Peizhen became a mother in the movie, leaving the most beautiful part and the most flying youth to Xiaomei, with such parents, Xiaomei's future life will definitely be bad. ”
For Zhao Tianyu, who came from a commercial film background, this creative process can be said to be the most simple one, but whether it is collecting materials in the early stage, or finding actors and shooting, Zhao Tianyu feels very beautiful and he cherishes it. At the same time, this film also contains his great curiosity about family and emotions, "Curiosity is very important to the creator, so making this film is also a creative process for me to go home." 」 ”
The following is his statement:
Chinese soaked in emotion
Solve everything by eating
In 2019, one of the biggest changes in my life was that I became a dad. With the arrival of her daughter, everything in life changed. I found that when a woman undergoes an identity transformation, her natural energy pool is activated, and I see the transformation of my wife, and in the process of accompanying my daughter, I slowly remember the bits and pieces that my mother did to me. Frankly speaking, I am ashamed, because my mother is a very strong, professionally strong person, and I have forgotten her gentle parts for a long time, how can I forget. With that mindset, I want to make a movie like this.
The beginning of All About My Mother is very personal, but we did a lot of desk work before writing. In addition to my own life and the lives of my friends around me, we have done a lot of one-on-one mother-daughter interviews, and at the same time, we have also joined a lot of anti-cancer teams in Zhihu and Douban, which has helped us a lot. Among the interviewees were bank clerks, elementary school teachers, salesmen, models... But in the end, the appearance of the mother is very unified, her power is infinite, and many details in the movie are true.
Ji Peizhen likes to make garlic eggplant, which is based on her own mother. I'm from the northeast and put the story in Qingdao to tell, but I didn't think it looked good enough to make hoisin sauce, so I still photographed the process of making garlic eggplant. Maybe after graduation, I made a lot of commercials and filmed a lot of food relationships, and later I found that as long as it is a movie of contemporary life, I will use a meal to solve the problem.
"Two Eclipses" is my Virgo, and it tells a story about desire. When I first saw the novel, I felt that the core of the story was particularly strong, the contest between a man and two women, the mutual rivalry of food, these two points were enough to launch a movie, and then I rewrote the script with these two points. In fact Chinese immersed in emotions for many years, especially like to see emotional themes, but are ashamed to express and face emotions, so they will adopt an attitude of avoidance and detour. "Double Eclipse" offers the power to confront emotions, coupled with revenge and a suspense narrative with a little horror, which feels particularly energetic when doing it.
In "Everything About My Mother", the line of eating also continued. For example, Liu Mei and Ji Peizhen, two patients, ran to eat hot pot and drink late at night, Liu Mei's setting is a rich person, I hope she has more fireworks, I think she should be a restaurant. When Zhang Xinyi decided to star, because Xinyi was from Sichuan, he tailored a hot pot restaurant for her. Liu Mei's life is from a spoonful of hot pot base and a stall battle, this battle will continue. I've found that a lot of male audiences also really like the character, probably because she's handsome.
The film ends with a scene in which Ji Peiqi comes to her sister's house to eat dumplings. At first, the prop deliberately made the dumplings cold, and then Chen Minghao lost his temper and said: "I must be hot, I must be hot enough", that look is particularly cute, the prop said: "Teacher Chen, eating such hot dumplings will hurt," and then Chen Minghao said that he was going to be hurt. At that time, Ji Peiqi was too complicated in his heart when he faced his sister's imminent death, but he would not cry and need a little pain, and that thing was the dumplings that his sister cooked for him, because he had eaten it since he was a child.
Glowing Ji Peizhen
And the people around her
Before this movie, I didn't know Xu Fan, but I just sent her the script, and she read it quickly, and called me on the third day to say I would meet. She really liked the script, and then she was going to act, and we hit it off.
In fact, from "Tangshan Earthquake" to the present, she has been waiting for a new mother image, when filming "Tangshan Earthquake", her daughter was just one year old, and then now her daughter is 15 years old, this role can release her daily life experience of her daughter and her own life.
Ji Peizhen and Liu Mei represent two choices for women. In my opinion, they are like the front and back of the coin, Liu Mei has always chosen the self, Ji Peizhen has chosen responsibility, whether it is self or responsibility, there is love and principle in it, all sparkling.
Zhang Xinyi rejected me at first, she is also a new mother, has been working out, we both know each other. She felt that since playing a stage 4 cancer patient, she felt that she was not thin enough. I told her what kind of person Liu Mei is, she is self-sufficient, powerful, and lonely, choosing to live such a life, lonely when alone... So she decided to go back and read the script, and that night she sent a circle of friends saying that she was ready to start fighting, accompanied by a picture of the script mosaicming.
I think there is a "Ti Peiqi" in every family, and he may constantly cause trouble and toss at home, but often a family with a special sense of faith will become stronger because of this destruction.
Chen Minghao plays such a person, and everyone knows that Chen Minghao is a "drama prince" and a stage director. I looked for Chen Minghao because I liked the "destructive power" on him, his appearance was like a lion like a tiger, especially energetic, but inside he had a childish side, that kind of shyness and softness was very moving. His affectionate expression was revealed in an instant, and that thing, if I could catch it, was the perfect Ti Pepach. In the scene of eating dumplings at the end, as a supporting role, he maximizes emotions in a limited space, and I think his energy is so powerful.
And Ji Peizhen's husband Li Wenfang is a silent man, ordinary and boring, living a hard life. He has his own midlife crisis, the whole person has shrunk up, the sense of existence in the family is low, which is also a portrayal of the father in most Chinese families; when I learn that his wife's illness is coming, I want to see his emotional release and take on family responsibilities when "people talk a lot"; at the end, he must give his wife enough love and warmth, in the process of sending his wife away, I hope he is romantic enough to return to youth, because Ji Peizhen was very infatuated with him when he was young.
Looking for Xu Yajun to play Li Wenfang because he was my childhood idol, he debuted very early, acted in a play called "Finding the World Back", which was particularly popular at that time, that character was called the Earl, Li Wenfang should be like him when he was young, very handsome and charming. Ji Peizhen and Li Wenfang's love has always been there, but for many years, their love has sunk to the bottom of life, covered by other things, and I want to dig it out at the last moment. Because Xu Yajun's personal charm is too strong, he needs to lower himself to dust in the early stage, and in the end, he only needs to release a little charming look, and I hope that Li Wenfang is a natural and warm man.
"Take off" beyond the chicken and garlic skin
Gave Ji Peizhen the power to open up
Although life is made up of chicken and garlic skin, I think it is not just a chicken feather. The everyday consists of a large number of metaphysicals, but also a part of the metaphysical, and together the two constitute a truly complete daily life.
"Everything About My Mother" has a very realistic side, there are also spiritual, fun things in it, I hope to make the emotions rich enough to let the audience enter the world of mothers.
For example, in this movie, the balloon provides an image of taking off in reality, and also provides a sense of fate in the underworld. From the beginning of the chapter, a lost balloon comes to Ji Peizhen, doomed to die soon.
From Ji Peizhen lecturing on geography in class to seeing the Antarctic scientific expedition news on TV when she quarreled with people at the retirement banquet, she turned around and gained a strength. Why is she in a trivial life, but not hit by the sudden reality? Because she's energetic, that's the dark line of the movie.
For Ji Peizhen, the daily life of the chicken and garlic is too snailed, and I need to find an outlet for her to breathe. Qingdao has a vast sea, and if the character has faith, that belief should come from a more open place.
I've been to the North Pole myself, and my wife is an ocean reporter, so we know a lot about balloons and mappers. Balloons, oceans, maps, Antarctica, penguins in the film, I call these things: the off-site factors within the soul, in addition to the specific visible balloons, there are inexplicable news and penguin cries, which will affect the overall viewing experience of the audience.
And Liu Mei's strength is the yoga mat, "life is endless, the movement is not stopped." When Liu Mei died, Ji Peizhen held the yoga mat, just like holding Liu Mei, she wanted to do yoga again. Although death will inevitably come, I don't want to make a crying and crying terminal illness film, so Xiaomei can see the young mother, and at the end of the film, I want to let the current Ji Peizhen and Li Wenfang dance the dance steps of youth.
The actors we selected were post-60s generations, and when they were young, they all heard a tape called "87 Fever", which was published by Guangzhou Audio-visual Publishing House. When the melody of the song "Misunderstanding" sounded, Xu Yajun was directly confused. In fact, Ji Peizhen has no strength in a wheelchair in the end, but I think that when the dance music of youth sounds, I must finish this dance and leave the most beautiful things for the next generation, leaving love and courage.