As another masterpiece of word-of-mouth director Cao Baoping, the recently released film "Dog Thirteen" scored 8.3 points on Douban, and won the Special Recommendation Award of the International Jury of the Crystal Bear Unit of the New Generation Unit of the 64th Berlin Film Festival, as well as the Best Film Award of the 21st Beijing University Student Film Festival.
The film was completed in 2013, before Cao Baoping's films such as "Burning Heart of the Sun" and "The Pursuer", but they have not been released for a long time, and have only been screened on some occasions. Many fans wonder why "Dog Thirteen" was released after five years? What's behind the scenes during filming? Recently, the Red Star News reporter interviewed director Cao Baoping.
↑ Lee plays with father
About Dog Thirteen:
The film tells the story of Li Play (Zhang Xueying), a 13-year-old girl living in Xi'an, whose parents divorced and lived with her grandparents, and Li Play's father (Guo Jinglin) remarried and gave birth to a boy with his wife, but he has been hiding from Li Play. In order to make Lee play less lonely, his father sent Lee to play with a puppy, and Li Play, who likes physics, named the puppy "Einstein", which led to a series of stories.
The film was officially released on December 7 this year, and with the continuous fermentation of word-of-mouth, the box office has gradually increased, and as of now, the film has grossed nearly 50 million.
↑ Director Cao Baoping
About the movie
"I hope that after reading it, everyone can look back and reflect on the road we have taken to grow up."
Red Star News: Why did you choose to bring this movie to the big screen five years later? What's the most tangled part of this shelving process?
Cao Baoping: In fact, now is a good time for this movie. This film is actually a "not outdated" film, although it has been sealed for five years, but the life in the film is still everywhere in the current life situation, it still has its value and meaning. The tangled part may be that piracy has always existed, many people have seen the film through piracy, but it is gratifying that they have also passed on a good reputation because they have seen it, and some people have said that they have seen piracy and have to return a movie ticket, which is very touching.
Red Star News: Some film critics say that "Dog Thirteen" is filmed about events caused by the loss of dogs, but filming is a normal way of growing up, in the film, there is an English word "hypocritical", does this refer to the rules of getting along in the adult world? In your opinion, what does a real adult look like?
Cao Baoping: "hypocritical" is actually a kind of confusion that Li plays, confused by the inconsistency of the rules of the adult world: let her accept the new puppy is the lost Einstein; not let her drink, but let Li play at the wine table to toast to the elders and so on. It is difficult for a child to think about these things, but she can learn to restrain herself and learn to "understand things". This is not to say that "growing up" itself is a very bad thing, but to say that in the environment of our traditional family education and family order, it is a pity that children's innocence has been prematurely deprived. The real adult should be able to try not to let these things happen again in the future, in the next generation, which is a kind of progress.
Red Star News: "The things at the bottom are the same, it's introspective complexity" This is what you said in an interview, do you think growing up means compromise?
Cao Baoping: In fact, growing up means that we all need to experience bittersweet and bittersweet, and then we can really grow up. It's just that the movie "Dog Thirteen" is to hope that after watching it, everyone can look back and reflect on the road we have grown up, to find the crux of the problem, to seek ways to make the status quo better, rather than numbly choosing to forget. "Introspection" is very important.
Red Star News: In this movie, in addition to talking about "growth", have you also made your own statement on human nature, society, and education itself?
Cao Baoping: This film does not actually give an answer, but I hope to think about our lives, the family education we have experienced, the parent-child relationship and so on. In fact, the long-term social structure has led to the essence of people getting along with each other has not changed much, and there is a lot less accommodation and ease. This also leads to a state of aphasia in many parent-child relationships. I think everyone who has seen the movie will have their own attitude and understanding, which is also a very open point of the movie.
Regarding disputes
"This film is not strictly a youth film."
Red Star News: In your previous interview, you talked about making your work balanced in art and business, and in "Dog Thirteen", what changes and trade-offs did you make to your original vision and expectations in order to achieve a balance between art and business?
Cao Baoping: In terms of film shooting methods and lens composition, we gave up the "non-interventional" bystander angle, but used an "interventional" shooting of "breathing with the actors" to tell the story from the feelings of Li Play. This will make it easier for the audience to empathize with the experience of the character.
In terms of content, in fact, this script is just not perfect, there are a lot of branches, you can actually cut these branches, but each branch is very vivid, especially vital, which is also the appeal of reality. Therefore, we have retained a lot of "raw edges" to make the film more abundant and have its own unique colors.
Red Star News: Some people say that this movie is a youth genre film in the true sense of China, for Li Play in the play, is life restless and shallow, and is it not the same concept as the "life" undertaken by the father? Is this cognitive difference one of the contradictions between the two people? Youth always has regrets, but in your opinion, this regret is unavoidable in youth?
Cao Baoping: This film is not just a youth film in the strict sense, it is through the depiction of a girl's growth process, it presents Chinese-style family education, family authority and order and so on. As a child, Li Play is very confused when she faces the rules of the adult world, but she needs to accept these, so she puts away her edges and corners and strives to become a "sensible" person. This difference in cognition is indeed the key contradiction between father and daughter.
In fact, when it comes to regrets, for many people, the phenomenon of "being forced to understand things" abounds, which is probably a regret. It's hard to define right and wrong, but we can think about it and improve.
Red Star News: Have you encountered the choices and helplessness that Li played with his father in real life? Will your selection criteria coincide with his?
Cao Baoping: Every middle-aged man should have encountered similar helplessness. In fact, Li Play's father is a very typical image of a Chinese father: a tired and anxious middle-aged man bound by family and social relations. And by watching Li Play's grandfather, we can actually feel that this father also grew up under this traditional family order.
But I still think that parents are also the first time to be parents, in fact, people are not so desperate, we can learn to communicate, to understand, a lot of things may change.
About the actors
In the film, the father beats his daughter is "really beaten"
Red Star News: Zhou Xun said that your requirements for actors are very deep, and you are very happy to shoot with you, so in the filming process of "Dog Thirteen", in order to achieve the effect you want to present, how do you ask for actors? What do you think your style of working on set is?
Cao Baoping: It should still be a very "strict" person for actors, and I think the potential in the actor's body needs to be stimulated and awakened in an extreme situation. I also care a lot about detail and realism, because for a good work, "authenticity is fundamental." For example, in the "family farce" of "Dog Thirteen", the father beats his daughter, and the lead actor Guo Jinglin is "really fighting". Because only when the audience has a strong physiological impact, he will feel more empathy.
Red Star News: What kind of actor is Zhang Xueying, in addition to her age, what qualities does she have that are in line with the role of "Li Play"? Did you choose her as the heroine?
Cao Baoping: Zhang Xueying was only 14 years old at the time, and her appearance and temperament were very similar to Li Play. In fact, the 14-year-old actor, who has no professional training, does not have a very professional understanding of acting, but she has a kind of actor's spirituality, and finally presents this role well.
Red Star News: The last scene of the movie is given to Li Play's younger brother (learning to skate, crying and getting up after falling down to continue learning), is there any special purpose in this shot arrangement?
Cao Baoping: My sister couldn't drink milk but was constantly handed milk, and my younger brother didn't like skating but was sent to the ice rink to learn. The younger brother was not immune to the influence of this Chinese family's internal order on growth because the whole family loved him more, and this education model is actually a kind of reincarnation. It's a wake-up call that forgetting means that everything we experience will be imposed on the next generation in the same way. So we have to look back and reflect.
Red Star News: Your films always focus on the real society, dissecting human nature, have you ever thought about trying different types of movies?
Cao Baoping: I pay more attention to the appeal of the script to me than to the genre. A good film, no matter what genre and theme, can really care about reality and human nature, and has an emotional connection with the audience. So as long as it is a good story that can impress me, I am willing to try.
Stills from the movie "Dog Thirteen" are provided by the filmmakers
Red Star News reporter Zhang Shihao Intern Chen Yahui
Edited by Tang Huan