The Paper's reporter Chen Chen
When director Pengfei received the film list released at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, his new film "See Nara Again" was still in the post-production, and the dimming and mixing work was completed overtime in the following week. "My team and I went to bed at dawn and started work again at noon." Pengfei talked about the "prelude" before the Shanghai Film Festival, and the proud result was to lose four kilograms of meat in a week.
The crew of "See You Again Nara" showed the finalist certificate of the Golden Jue unit on the spot. From left: Yingze, Wu Yanshu, Pengfei
On July 31st, the film "See You Nara" in the Golden Jue Section of this year's Shanghai International Film Festival held its premiere ceremony at Shanghai Cinema. The film was co-produced by Naomi Kawase and Jia Zhangke, two major Directors of China and Japan. Director Pengfei attended with the lead actors Wu Yanshu and Yingze to share with the audience the glory of humanity in a heavy history.
"See Nara Again" is a new work by young director Peng Fei who has joined hands with the lead actor Hidezawa again after "The Taste of Rice Blossoms", telling the story of Chen Huiming, an old woman who is nearly eighty years old, who went to Nara to find the post-war orphans of Japan who had been adopted when she was studying in Japan. With a soothing and fresh rhythm of road movies, the film combines the kindness and beautiful customs of Nara with the story of finding relatives, creating a great love between people.
Unearth forgotten history The journey of family-seeking connects the great love of the world
"See You Again Nara" cuts into a well-known painful memory from a perspective that is not known to too many people - Japan's post-war orphans. After the "918" incident, Japanese armed forces occupied all of northeast China. In May 1936, the Japanese government formulated the Manchurian Agricultural Migration Plan for One Million Households, which envisaged that from 1937 onwards, 1 million households would be resettled to northeast China in 20 years, totaling 5 million people. It is estimated that the population of Tohoku will increase from 35 million to 50 million, while Japan will account for one-tenth of the population. This plan was regarded by the Hirota Hiroshi cabinet as one of the "Seven National Policies" and called the "Pioneer Group". After Japan's defeat, Tohoku left many abandoned Japanese orphans. According to statistics, there are about 5,000 orphans left in China. They were adopted by the Chinese, and most of them returned to Japan after the reform and opening up.
Wu Yanshu, an old actress who experienced the war years, was very emotional about the shock brought to her by this history: "At that time, everyone hated the Japanese! But these people did not write down hatred, but chose life, and there are many fathers and mothers in China who raise Japanese orphans, which is shocking and touching. ”
In the film, Grandma Chen, played by Wu Yanshu, at the age of 76, went to Japan to find her adopted daughter who had lost contact, although she did not find her daughter, her family search trip connected the group portraits of different orphans scattered in Nara, Japan. "This process of searching, the process of embodying the great love of the mother, embodying the love between the two peoples, this is a journey of love." Wu Yanshu was moved to tears on the spot after watching the film.
Wu Yanshu
Director Peng Fei revealed that most of the orphans shown in the film have prototypes, and he has lived in Nara almost all the past year, visiting local post-war orphans and their families. "It's hard to imagine a farmer in a deep mountain in Japan who turns around and speaks with a thick Tohoku accent." After the screening, Pengfei talked about his impressive experience in collecting materials, and a seventy-year-old uncle burst into tears when he heard that he was from Beijing, saying, "Finally someone remembers us." During the visit, many of the orphans of a generation are no longer there, and many of their children have still not been able to get out of the shadow of the special identity of their parents, whether it is cultural identity and identity, they still have a special affinity for China.
Director Peng Fei
At the scene, director Pengfei sincerely thanked everyone for their love and shared the original intention of creation: at the beginning, he decided to shoot anti-war themes to show the glory of human nature. In order to prepare for the shooting, Pengfei bought all the books on the market about post-war orphans, consulted countless materials, and learned that many orphaned mothers' wishes were to go to Japan to see their children again and see their hometowns, "but most mothers have never had this opportunity in their lives, so making this movie can also help them realize their dreams." ”
Heavy subject matter is shot briskly
Behind "See You Again nara" is a heavy history, and the scars left by history are long. Producer Jia Zhangke said that the film shows how the pain in history affects the emotions of contemporary people, transcending national boundaries and transcending history and culture.
In the film, whether it is the mother who adopted the post-war orphans played by Wu Yanshu, or the children of the orphans who remained in China played by Yingze, they all suffered the impact and pain of that war. "The pain of war does not end immediately, it will last a long time." This is the reason why Pengfei set up three generations of grandchildren to participate in this search journey.
However, all the hardships and hardships are brushed over in the words in an understated tone in the film. Including the picture and music, all the messages are bright and warm. Speaking about the choice of performance, Pengfei said: "Heavy subjects may be relatively simple to shoot sensational or sad, but I hope to be light and humorous, so that the audience can watch without burden and can feel the heaviness behind it." ”
The performances of 82-year-old Wu Yanshu and 65-year-old famous Japanese film star Kunimura Hayabusa are the most moving driving force of the film's story. Pengfei designed a large number of small details for them in the film that were not noticed, so that the audience could feel the skills and charm of the two performance artists, and many details the director even provided small props and scenes, and the two old drama bones revealed the pain marks experienced by the characters in the improvisational "competition".
Stills from "See You Again nara", Hidezawa, Wu Yanshu, And Kunimura Hayabusa
Naomi Kawase and Jia Zhangke, who failed to come to the scene, recorded VCR respectively to send blessings for the premiere of the film. Naomi Kawase first expressed regret that she was unable to make the trip because of the epidemic. Speaking about the film's thrust, she said: "Humanity itself has no borders, and this work looks at the history of the past and hopes to light up a common future." I want to share it with you and feel the emotion it brings. In order to show her love and support, Naomi Kawase also specially inscribed the title of the film "See You Nara Again". Jia Zhangke, who worked with director Naomi Kawase for the first time, said that he was deeply touched by the first time he saw the script, "The facts have proved to transcend national boundaries and history and culture, and I think everyone will be deeply infected by this story."
The film "See You Nara Again" is produced by Fujian Hengye Film Co., Ltd., Nara International Film Festival and Beijing Xihe Xinghui Film Co., Ltd., and co-produced by Kenuo Film and Television Media (Beijing) Co., Ltd. The film also invited the famous Taiwanese photographer Liao Benrong as the director of photography, Taiwan's editor Chen Bowen as the editor, and Keiichi Suzuki as the original music of the film.
Poster of "See You Again Nara"
Editor-in-charge: Cheng Yu
Proofreader: Yan Zhang