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The last time Wu Tianming entered the public eye and became the focus of discussion, it was in 2016 because the posthumous work "Birds and Phoenix" dropped to less than 1% of the schedule, and producer Fang Li went to his knees, thus setting off a wave of movie watching.
Wu Tianming, this name may not be heard of by many young people today.
In fact, in the history of Chinese cinema in the new era, Wu Tianming was once a myth.
In the mainland, Wu Tianming represents a kind of "charm"; in Hong Kong, Wu Tianming symbolizes a kind of "miracle"; Taiwanese filmmakers sigh because "the mainland has Wu Tianming, but Taiwan does not".
"At that time, Taiwan's film industry was like a scattered sand, lacking the strength and vision of the production of the talent, Wu Tianming's image just filled this gap."
During his six years as director from 1983 to 1989, he made Xi'an Film Studio, which had the highest number of copies distributed in the country, leap to the top of the positive number and was once known as the holy land of Chinese cinema.
It can be said that in the 1980s, the films of the Western Film Studio basically represented the level of Chinese films, so that the whole country issued a "west look at Chang'an" amazement.
At the same time, he boldly used Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, He Ping, Zhou Xiaowen, Huang Jianxin and other young people with artistic innovation ability, and cultivated a group of young people who were later known as "China's fifth generation directors", Wu Tianming was also revered as "the godfather of China's fifth generation of directors", and was respected as a father by Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and other generation directors, and it was precisely because of their brothers that they understood the film world of Wu Director.
In terms of director status, there are not many films directed by Wu Tianming, in the 75 years of life, there are only eight: "Kinship", "River Without Navigation", "Life", "Old Well", "Change of Face", "Very Love", "CEO", "Birds and Phoenix".
What we are going to talk about today is his "Life" in 1984.
01
Ma Yun once said: The person who had the greatest influence on me was Lu Yao, "When I was 18 years old, I failed the college entrance examination again, I applied for five or six jobs and no one wanted it, I could only go to be a casual worker who delivered magazines, it was "Life" that changed me, making me realize that there is always a chance not to give up, otherwise I am still stepping on a tricycle." ”
Although it is not known how "Papa Ma" saw the truth of "not giving up always have a chance" from "Life", Lu Yao's work did become one of the hot topics in China in 1984 after it was adapted into a movie by Wu Tianming.
Since the film, Wu Tianming has always had a clear direction, that is, "to explore the true road".
After the "wandering" of the two films "Kinship" and "The River Without Navigation", he finally clearly realized that what he was pursuing was at the beginning of his life - that is, the countryside of Shaanxi province where he was born and raised.
This film can be seen as a molding of Wu Tianming's style.
Gao Garin, the protagonist of "Life", looks at him as a complete "scumbag" from today's eyes.
After failing the college entrance examination, he became a primary school teacher in the village, although it can not be regarded as a shining lintel, but compared with his parents who have been waving a hoe all their lives, they can already be regarded as surviving.
However, the first scene of the film is when Gao Garin and his parents are sad in an earthen house lit with kerosene lamps.
The son of Gao Minglou, the secretary of the brigade, graduated from high school and squeezed the farmer's son Gao Garin from his position as a primary school teacher.
Therefore, there was no way, he could only "abandon the literature and follow the martial arts" and wave a hoe to become a farmer.
At this time, Qiaozhen, a "flower in the village", a beautiful woman who was shaped by Wu Tianming into a "perfect person", took the initiative to express her love for Gao Garin.
Seeing that the two were about to get married, Gaugarin got a chance to work as a reporter in the city with the uncle of the head of the authority.
Thinking that he could "jump the dragon gate", he was pursued by Yaping, a cadre's son, after arriving in the city, so he changed his heart and abandoned QiaoZhen.
For Gao Garin, Yaping represents not love, but "city", an opportunity to break free from the shackles of the land.
On the surface, this is another story of a "deeply affectionate woman", but in fact, "Life", as the title foreshadows, is about "life".
In the movie, it seems that everyone is "waiting for the price to sell".
Qiao Zhen took the initiative to pursue Garin, which occurred after he became a farmer, because before this, Qiao Zhen felt that she was a village woman who could not read a large character, and was not worthy of gao Garin, a primary school teacher.
Only when he also became a peasant, the two men had equal status.
At first, Qiao Zhen's father strongly opposed the affair and shouted to break Garin's leg. But after Garin went to town to work as a journalist, he acquiesced to his daughter's choice.
Garin's "high promotion" was because his uncle was transferred from Xinjiang to be the head of the authorities.
When Garin abandoned Qiaozhen, Qiaozhen's resentment was partly because the relationship between the two became disparity again, and she was once again "unworthy" of him.
And garin and the city woman Yaping's "love", after he was reported to take the back door, naturally shattered, Yaping only symbolically struggled a little, and accepted this reality.
Gaugarin didn't even struggle.
In "Life", in that yellow land, there has never been the word "justice". As if to tell us: life is originally like this, life can only be like this.
To this day, this "philosophy of life" that penetrates deep into the marrow of the world still plays a role all the time: the privileges of the descendants of the rich and the official, the marriage of the door to the door, the back door...
Some people say that Lu Yao's "Life" refers to the works of Stendhal, and Gao Garin is The Chinese Yulian.
But Wu Tianming said: "Gao Garin is neither Paul Kochakin nor Jullien Sohair, but a typical young man who seems to be wandering at the crossroads of life and has not yet found the right direction and firm faith." ”
Professor Wang Furen also said: "In the figure of Gao Garin, there are 'complex contradictions in contemporary Chinese rural areas'. He is a typical image of contemporary Chinese rural areas in the transition of old and new. ”
In Pigo's view, Gaugarin is a typical "social specimen" character.
He was the son of a peasant, a failed student in the college entrance examination, a literary youth who published poetry in the press in his spare time, and a young man who longed for urban life.
He is being struck, rubbed and shaped between the city and the countryside, the new and the old, the ideal and the reality.
It is worth noting that Both of Gao Garin's loves were passive. Whether it is Qiao Zhen or Ya Ping, they are in an unusually active position.
The countryside represented by Qiao Zhen and the city represented by Ya Ping, both of which extended an olive branch to Garin. But at the same time, none of them were able to save Garin's ego.
In the dualistic opposition between the city and the countryside, Gao Garin, an intellectual from the countryside, is in a dilemma.
Being with Qiao Zhen means that he will live his life with an illiterate woman, which means that he will be bound by the land like his ancestors;
Being with YaPing means that he has lost his love and becomes a betrayer, an unfaithful and unrighteous person.
In this way, neither Lu Yao nor Wu Tianming has any intention of creating a "Chen Shimei" or "Yu Lian".
Gao Garin can only be Gao Garin, and the contradiction he carries is the contradiction of Chinese society.
Since the reform and opening up, the rapid development of China's economy has not given young people in small cities a breather, or time to fully examine themselves.
Growing up in the countryside, they came to the city with a yearning for the city and modernization, but they were still intolerable and rejected by the city.
In the staggered mirror image of the city/village, they have received a certain education on the one hand, and on the other hand, they cannot wash away the earthy smell on their bodies, so they can only have an awkward and ambiguous identity.
Like Gaugarin, there are still a large number of small-town youths who are wrapped up in the flow of materialism and lose their way and lose themselves.
To a certain extent, this is a huge contradiction in China's social development that cannot be ignored and seems to be deliberately ignored.
Wu Tianming can dig this out of "Life", which is commendable. But in "Life", Wu Tianming also had failures.
Qiaozhen's image is too beautiful.
This sets off the male protagonist Gao Garin's increasing disloyalty and injustice, and also makes the contradiction between "village and city" unevenly used, and obviously prefers the countryside.
Ya Ping's image is a little thin.
This character, like Qiao Ying in "Lao Jing" after Wu Tianming, is an "intellectual-style woman" and a character beyond Wu Tianming's cognitive experience.
Therefore, he suffered the same failure in grasping these two characters.
03
In "Life", Wu Tianming not only began to face life directly, directly facing the yellow land that gave birth to him and raised him, but also consciously associated life with the yellow land, and linked life with nature, making it an artistic whole.
Therefore, some commentators said: "For the first time, "Life" integrates the majestic beauty of nature in the Northwest Loess Plateau with the kind, simple and broad beauty of the people of Northwest China, and is the first 'Western film' of Western Film." ”
I believe that every audience who has seen this movie can feel the director's deep and incomparable love for this land from the large-scale visions, panoramic shots, and empty shots.
When other directors of the same period were still indulging in fancy new technologies, Wu Tianming calmed down for the first time and found his own "real way".
And this road is pushed to a deeper and grander level in the next "Old Well".
Unfortunately, the difference in concepts made Wu Tianming, who has always been straightforward, stay in the United States for five years. When he returned to China five years later, the film industry changed again.
Although Wu Tianming always believes that his original intention has not changed, the "truth" of that strand has obviously been influenced to a certain extent in the latter works, and he has not been able to surpass "Life" and "Old Well".
Perhaps, Wu Tianming's experience also confirms the dilemma in "Life" from another angle.
This time, however, it is no longer a city/country antagonism, but a paradox of politics and art.
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Tong Yunxi
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