Just a few days ago, director Xu Anhua won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Venice International Film Festival, becoming the "first" female director in the world to receive this honor. The reasons for this are obvious:
Hong Kong films pay attention to commerciality, only "commercial interests" are foresight, and art is a means, not an end, for a considerable number of Hong Kong film practitioners. Xu Anhua's films not only have a sense of responsibility from the perspective of the intellectual elite, but also have the delicacy and gentleness of women. With deep social awareness and humanistic care, it has been appreciated by the industry and the audience.
After that, the film "First Burning Incense" (adapted from Zhang Ailing's novel of the same name) by its director, written by Wang Anyi, starring Peng Yuyan and Ma Sichun, du Kefeng photography, Iemi Wada styling, and Ryuichi Sakamoto's soundtrack, unexpectedly failed to be selected as the "main competition unit", which is undoubtedly incomprehensible.
When we look back at the work system of this female director with honors, we will find that although the quality of the works of the rather prolific director Xu Anhua is maintained at a relatively stable level, there is still a certain degree of fluctuation. If "Woman Forty", "Day and Night in Tin Shui Wai", "Sister Peach" and so on are his elegant and popular works that perfectly integrate artistry and commerciality, then "Tonight's Starry Night" is one of his controversial works.
The film starred Three charismatic actors, Lin Qingxia, Lin Zixiang and Wu Dawei (although many people can't call Wu Dawei's name, his stunning appearance in "Farewell to the King" is still fresh in the audience's memory), but it won very little at the box office and awards at the time.
Although the film is not satisfactory in terms of creative effect, it adheres to Xu Anhua's consistent creative theme: anxiety about the fate of individuals, rootless sense of wandering and psychological dilemma. What is even more worth pondering is that when mainstream commercial films began to use "madness" and "overheating" to create spiritual anesthetics for the audience, Hui Anhua's films refocused on reality and asked: What exactly are Hong Kong films (and filmmakers) escaping?
The gap between concept and execution is the main reason why the film is not understood by the public. The film involves the moral taboos in traditional concepts - teacher-student love, extramarital affairs, yearless love and other "unrequited love". But for several of the film's creators, this "moral taboo" also echoes their other masterpieces.
Du Caiwei, a female college student played by Lin Qingxia, fell in love with Zhang Yingquan, a professor played by Lin Zixiang, but became a scar between the two because of the shackles of gossip and worldly shackles. Du Caiwei, who tried to release her scars through her work as a social worker, fell in love with Zhang Tian'an, a troubled youth played by Wu Dawei, but finally found herself in love with a father and son for 20 years.
Note: The story of the film can be glimpsed in the plot of Xu Anhua's masterpiece "Men Forty" (Mui Yanfang, Jacky Cheung, Lin Jiaxin). From this, it is not difficult for us to find that the film also contains some subtle personal complexes in Xu Anhua's life experience.
Xu Anhua's intention is obvious, through 20 years of changes in the times and social issues, to think about some identity and future concerns. The most direct is that the love between Du Cewei and Zhang Tian'an has fallen into a morally embarrassing situation, and Du Cewei has "misplaced" under the overlap of her social position as a "social worker", "her father's lover" and "her own girlfriend".
Although, the use of dramatic, spectacle "love stories" to present the dislocation of identities and worries about the future is slightly far-fetched. But Hui Anhua's use of the character's mouth (a university professor played by Er Dongsheng) reveals that the questioning of herself and other Hong Kong filmmakers is thought-provoking (the heroine of the film, Du Caiwei, has also been running away from her love).
Hong Kong films and creators have many factors in "escaping" from real problems.
On the one hand, the law of the commercial market determines that pleasing and pleasing the audience is the simplest and most direct way to obtain the box office, and the films that are too harsh and deep and detached from the audience's aesthetics are to some extent "thankless"; On the other hand, pragmatism has become a small intellectual's way of protecting himself and being moderate and conservative (see the role of Lin Zixiang in the film), although he has ideals, he can only make the most practical choice at the realistic level, and many directors "dare not say" and "do not want to say" many harsh topics.
Xu Anhua's line from the role also shows a creative attitude: "Since you have chosen your own ideal, you must devote yourself to it and stick to the end, and there must always be someone in this world to do something meaningful but fruitless." ”
From the folk elements and cultural reflections in "Crazy Robbery" and "Bumping into the Right", to the grand narrative of the dream of the homeland in "Running to the Fury Sea" and "Ketu Autumn Hate", to the perception of life and old age and death and the philosophy of life in "Woman Forty" and "Sister Tao", although Xu Anhua's works are not as strong as Wong Kar-wai's authorship personal style, nor are they as popular as Jackie Chan's films in mass communication.
But in the end, there is a good balance in taking into account the scale of creation, public preferences and personal style, "Running to the Fury Sea", "Forty Women", "The Day and Night of Tin Shui Wai", "Sister Tao", "Golden Age", "When is the Bright Moon", and has won the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Female Director six times, becoming a record holder.
What kind of movie experience will "First Incense" bring to the audience? See.