"No way, horizontal and vertical"

Sunday Weekly reporter Zhou Yiming

It's an ordinary story.

The three grandfathers were laid off and cooperated to open a decoration company.

It's a microcosm of an era.

They have suffered from debts, cheating and other bad luck, and they have also had the luck of winning the welfare lottery, and finally opened up a way of life in the difficulties of life.

Director Wang Guangli learned of their story and invited them to participate in the filming of the Shanghainese film "Horizontal and Vertical" with their real names and identities, and the story of the performance was all adapted from their entrepreneurial experience. Because he felt: "This story is an ordinary legend." ”

Always find a way to get some life (work) to do

"Move the fifth floor, move the fifth floor, to the end." Trucks transporting construction timber are parked in front of residential buildings.

At both ends of the long wooden strip, one is Gu Longxiang standing on the truck, and the other is Zhao Yongsheng and Zhong Ling, who are walking towards the residential building, who are also in the middle. They oversee the renovation of a family.

"One in five pieces."

"Five pieces, it's expensive, if you want to move two pieces, you have to move one piece."

They quarreled with migrant workers over the cost of transporting timber upstairs.

"Forget it, forget it, move it yourself, move it yourself!" Zhang Baozhong, the person in charge of the decoration company, immediately made a decision.

However, Zhao Yongsheng, who transported a piece of wood to the second floor through the stairs, found that the wood was too long to turn upstairs.

"Little Dragon, look, what a good hanging outside?" Zhang Baozhong saw the situation and said to Gu Longxiang.

Several people immediately erected the wood at the door, Zhong Lingjun jumped up to the top of the door and handed the wood up, and Zhao Yongsheng reached out from the second floor window to relay his body, and so on, until the fifth floor.

By the time they had all the wood in place, it was almost dark. "The strenuous effort is quite strenuous, and I didn't lose to the migrant workers and fought for myself." Zhong Lingjun said.

This is a scene in the movie "Horizontal and Vertical", after nearly twenty years, director Wang Guangli and actor Zhao Yongsheng still remember it vividly.

"It's a lot of hard work to run up and down." Mr. Zhao said he was 49 years old at the time.

Wang Guangli recalled: "This is a stroke of God, and the true feelings are revealed. After we arrived at the scene, we discussed it with them (the actors), and finally it was all in one go. The scene is simple, and the visual effects that appear have a sense of humor. ”

The film is based on the real life of these actors. In December 1999, they participated in the filming of this Shanghainese film with their real names and identities, and the story of the performance was all adapted from their entrepreneurial experience.

Starting a business was originally Zhang Baozhong's idea. As early as 1993, the director of the Jiangnan Shipyard was looking forward to the work, and he saw the tide of layoffs coming and decided to set up his own portal. He was 33 years old.

At that time, Pudong was the peak of the relocation, so Zhang Baozhong engaged in the decoration industry.

Gu Longxiang and Zhao Yongsheng, who were laid off in 1994 and 1998, also joined the team formed by Zhang Baozhong, responsible for buying and selling building materials and supervising renovations.

Gu Longxiang, born in 1953, said: "Both my wife and I are laid off, and the children are in high school. The factory subsidized me 220 yuan, and my wife took 190 yuan. Do business, one more income. My wife is also out looking for something to do so that life can last. ”

Zhao Yongsheng said: "As a man laid off, eat women, slashing? Always find a way to get some life (work) to do. It just so happened that two friends got together and talked about starting a company. I think it's pretty good, even if I make 10 yuan a day, it's better to live. ”

Three people who are also struggling in the predicament of life are unconsciously pulled together by fate.

In fact, their lives are a microcosm of the times.

According to Guangming Daily, by the end of 1999, a total of 6.52 million laid-off workers in state-owned enterprises nationwide had been laid off.

"I think that in Shanghai at the turn of the century, this was a common phenomenon, and layoffs were large-scale." Director Wang Guangli said.

This story is an ordinary legend

At that time, CCTV's "Oriental Time and Space" had a "living space" column, which was dedicated to "telling the stories of the people themselves". The column reported the story of Zhang Baozhong and others:

Zhang Baozhong borrowed money to create a decoration company, he and his team suffered from debt, cheating and other bad luck, but also had the luck of winning the welfare lottery, and finally opened up a way of life in the difficulties of life.

Wang Guangli happened to see this episode.

"This story is an ordinary legend." "In those days, it was hard to win the lottery," he said. As soon as I looked, these six people were very vivid in the shot, very talented in acting, and better than many actors. ”

Inspired by film genres such as the French New Wave and Italian Neorealism, Wang Guangli has always had a concern for the real life of small people.

At the time, he was not satisfied with the stable life of teaching at Beijing universities, and was determined to leave, shooting commercials and TV shows.

"I was in the same state as they were at that time, in a state of transfer." He said, "What exactly will the new era bring us?" I'm not sure. I empathize with their experiences. ”

Wang Guangli rushed from Beijing to Shanghai and interviewed the protagonist, thinking that it was a good movie theme.

Making this story into a movie is timely. At that time, making movies was a loss-making business, and the Shanghai Film Studio offered to make some low-cost films. Wang Guangli has this theme at hand, which can control the cost of the film below 1 million, which has been supported by the Shanghai Film Studio.

"Actors they're very realistic. I went to ask them how much money they could make in a month, and they said twenty or thirty thousand yuan, and I said to give you twice the price, and you should make time for us to shoot a scene. Wang Guangli said.

In this regard, the actor's attitude is curious, doubtful, and timid.

Zhang Baozhong said: "At the beginning, I thought that a person like Allah could make a movie, afraid of foreign appearances. Later, he (Wang Guangli) said that it was more convenient for Nong to play himself. I said, "Well, you can try it." ”

Zhao Yongsheng did not tell his family that he was going to make a movie. "If I say, 'I'm going to make a movie,' someone is going to bring out the question mark, and Ira doesn't believe it." He said.

Wang Guangli intends to make this film a real movie

(meaning "the main event of this story really happened") style.

He believes that Shanghai can accommodate such a volume of pure Shanghainese films. "I chose this subject because I chose their very real state, including their language." He said.

"I basically want to do it in a documentary way. To show the realism of the documentary, the most important thing is to let these subjects relax, let them forget that they are performing, forget the presence of cameras and staff. ”

"So I tried to minimize the staffing, a total of just a dozen people. There are only three main creators, directing, cinematography and recording. We don't seal the road, but hide the camera to shoot, the costumes, the props are their own. He said.

On the basis of the interview, Wang Guangli and the screenwriter reconstructed a story, and many of the lines were completed by the actors.

"Every scene in the script is designed, strictly speaking, a script without lines, only the approximate starting point and twist of each scene. The actor then colloquially speaks the lines on this basis. Wang Guangli explained.

"They unreservedly argue over what things they have, even the passages of their lives. This film should be a collective creation. He said.

The name of the film is improvised.

"Horizontal and vertical horizontal" means horizontal in the Shanghainese dialect.

"Originally this movie was called 'Shanghai Good People.'" Zhang Baozhong said, "Ala usually talks about Turimi and says, 'There is no way, horizontal and vertical. Wang Guangli asked what it meant to be horizontal and vertical. Allah explained to him. He said that the movie is called 'horizontal and vertical'. ”

On the first day of shooting, the actors were the most nervous. "I just shoot them arguing, and that's exactly what I need to be nervous." Wang Guangli said.

As the shooting and communication deepened, the tension of the actors continued to ease. "The further back you get, the less nervous you feel, like at home, very casual." Zhao Yongsheng said, "When Allah was eating and resting, the director saw the stitch and told Allah which section could be filmed, and it would not be a serious book." ”

In 2000, the premiere of the film "Horizontal and Vertical" was held at the Daguang Cinema, followed by its release in Shanghai in 2002 and 2016. The film rights were purchased by Tokuma Shoten in Japan. And participated in a number of foreign film festivals.

Relying on selling copies, "Horizontal and Vertical" became one of the few films that recovered the investment cost that year.

On December 2 this year, the film was released again at the Tianshan Cinema. Wang Guangli believes that this film fulfilled his original intention of that year. "I hope to record and warm up our feelings at that time, so that future generations can still see what the vegetable market and Pudong looked like back then."

"At the turn of the century, There were already many high-rise buildings in Shanghai Pudong, and the Oriental Pearl was also built. But for many ordinary people, there are still difficult parts of life. The film reflects a cross-section of life in Shanghai at the time. He said.

"Taste of Shanghai" in the movie

In the film "Horizontal and Vertical", Zhang Baozhong has the heaviest role and is the absolute protagonist.

The story begins when he prepares to leave the Jiangnan Shipyard.

Coming out of the workers' bathroom, he wore a straight suit, tied a tie, and carefully combed his wet hair in the mirror. Then he put away all his cups and miscellaneous items one by one with sacks, passed the still functioning factory building, and walked out of the gate.

This heralded the end of his working life.

Wang Guangli said: "Although I am not from Shanghai, I am studying at The University of China Normal University. I feel that this story has a special Shanghai flavor. Shanghainese are actually more Westernized and independent, and will not give up on themselves. When he was laid off, he still wore a suit, tie, and combed his hair very brightly. He has a good face and doesn't want others to look down on him. In other cities, workers may not be in this way. ”

Wang Guangli's "taste of Shanghai" is also reflected elsewhere.

When Zhang Baozhong first started to form a company, he asked Zhong Lingjun, a taxi driver, to join him. Unexpectedly, he was unfavorable and deceived, so that he was in debt.

At this time, the financial Zhou Yuhua took the money out to help him. Zhang Baozhong accepted the money and immediately said" I will compensate for the interest.

"Shanghainese people are very realistic, and their brothers are clearly calculating. This is unique to Shanghainese. Wang Guangli said.

In the second half of the film, Zhang Baozhong has done a big thing: he proposes to buy 10 welfare lottery tickets collectively, spending 1500 yuan.

It was in 1998, during the most difficult period of business, that he saw a banner about welfare lottery at the Industrial and Commercial Bank on Dongchang Road in Pudong.

According to the Xinmin Evening News, that year, the welfare lottery was planned to sell 240 million yuan in Shanghai, and the welfare funds raised would be used for disaster relief activities to restore production and rebuild homes in flood-stricken areas. Many citizens have enthusiastically subscribed to lottery tickets with the enthusiasm of "buying a set of lottery tickets and dedicating a love", and the daily sales volume of lottery tickets has reached 20,000 sets.

Zhang Baozhong also had the same idea.

"I bought the lottery ticket originally in white, not necessarily to win the lottery. In this way, if you don't win the lottery, I will buy it. In the film, Zhang Baozhong said to everyone.

Unexpectedly, they won 400,000 yuan, which suddenly solved the urgent need for poor capital turnover.

Zhang Baozhong sent 30,000 yuan to each partner, recruited 3 employees, and opened a restaurant with the rest of the money.

This incident also attracted the attention of the street, and cooperated with them to hold a birthday feast of respect for the elderly.

"They went out to do it, met all kinds of bad guys, scammers, and no one helped them. Occasionally they won the lottery, and immediately someone came to them and asked them to donate money to help others. Soon the money was gone again. Wang Guangli said.

At the end of the film, the partners finally parted ways with Zhang Baozhong. Financial Zhou Yuhua and driver Zhong Ling both resigned one after another.

"Zhang Baozhong has a fantasy that is beyond his own ability." Wang Guangli said, "He is just an ordinary worker, but he always thinks he can make a fortune." This is a tragedy in the face of a cruel market economy. Our film is limited in space, just on the tail, seeing them separate, leaving such a thought. ”

Back to the original rhythm of life

After the release of the film, the actors' lives have somewhat made waves.

"When I ran out, I met someone on the road who said, 'Oh, this guy made a movie.'" Zhao Yongsheng said.

"Ira said: Zhang Baozhong, where can Nong go to make a movie? I laughed and said yes or bad. Zhang Baozhong said.

He was also offered by some foreign film and television companies to star in documentaries, but he did not want to continue to be involved in the industry.

They quickly returned to the original rhythm of life.

Zhang Baozhong and Gu Longxiang continued to engage in the decoration business until now. With the efforts of bare hands, their lives have gradually improved.

Around 2004, seeing that the business was getting lighter and lighter, Zhao Yongsheng left the decoration company and was introduced by a friend to work as an electrician at a Haode convenience store until he retired at the age of 66.

"I'm 68 years old." He said, "I want to eat Tatsumitsu, exactly three years of natural disasters, no food." It was hard to work, so I went up the mountain and went to the countryside. Finally came back to work for the old man, and was laid off again. I do evil deeds? Finally I raised my daughter, I am quite happy, and now the retirement salary is more than five thousand yuan, which is also quite good. ”

On December 2, 2018, the three of them were reunited after a long absence.

"Thinking that Allah was bitter, it was not easy, and everything was done by yourself." Zhang Baozhong sighed heartily at the dinner table.

Source: Morning News Author: Zhou Yiming