At present, "Wolf Warrior 2" is impacting the box office peak of domestic films with a rapid trend, and another "phenomenon-level" movie that cannot be ignored in the domestic film market is "Kailash".
Although the latter has not yet broken through the 100 million yuan mark, the box office of more than 99 million yuan is a "box office miracle" for a documentary-style film with Tibetan themes.
The box office of "Kailash" even surpassed the previous "Birds and Phoenix" that was super hot on social networks because of Fang Li's shocking kneeling.
Stills from Souls on a Leather Rope. The film was originally scheduled to be released on August 4, but it is now adjusted to August 18.
Thanks to the success of "Kailash", Zhang Yang's other "Soul on the Leather Rope", which was filmed in the same period and in the same region, will be screened nationwide on August 4 and officially released on August 18.
If "Kailash" is an ethereal, fraternal, simplified pilgrimage of the soul, then "Soul on the Leather Rope" will be the absolute opposite of it — a magical realism blockbuster full of western colors.
Zhang Yang said, "Making a movie is like a practice, and I want to try to create in two very different ways at the same time, they should be the two extremes of the film, and I am hoping to explore between these two poles." ”
On July 31, "Soul on a Leather Rope" was screened in Shanghai. The film's director Zhang Yang, actor Solang Nyima and investor Lovells Attended the post-screening exchange activities, and publisher Lu Jinbo also came to the scene to have in-depth interaction with the main creator.
Shanghai Station roadshow scene, from left: actor Solange Nyima, director Zhang Yang and publisher Lu Jinbo.
"Find Yourself" with the theme of Tibetan magic realism
Adapted from two short stories by Tibetan writer Tashi Dawa, "Tibet, the Soul Tied to the Knot of the Leather Rope" and "The Way to Lhasa", the film is quite magical and realistic, telling the story of a hunter who bears the original sin and the world's vendetta, and is revived from the dead, who is dialed by the living Buddha, surrenders all the way to the heart demon, and finally escorts the holy relic Dzi into the palm of Master Lotus.
The suspenseful story of the multi-line narrative and the looming plot, the reincarnation dialectic of the virtual and the real, are really a bit "brain-burning" for the audience. Director Zhang Yang said: "When Teacher Tashi Dawa wrote the novel, she didn't think about the theme at all, but suddenly had an idea about this content and immediately started writing. Movies are pretty much the same way, and there are a lot of things that grow naturally when they are created. It's an adaptation of two novels, but unlike both novels, it produces something special about cinema. ”
Most of "Soul on the Rope" is filmed in the no-man's land of Tibet: forests, grasslands, deserts, swamps, white snow, bright red Danxia landforms, endless sacred mountains and holy lakes, and the palm prints of the legendary "Peanut Master"... Coupled with the coldness of the knife, the heat of blood, the torture of life and death, the entanglement of love and hate, the mysterious and gorgeous exotic style and the full and sexy performance of the actors make it have both "Western Highway" and "Magic Realism" temperament, "Soul on the Leather Rope", which won the Best Cinematography Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival, is indeed full of ingenuity on the screen.
Director Zhang Yang introduced: "'Kailash' and 'Soul on the Leather Rope', the 8 months of filming 'Kailash' on the pilgrimage road, are actually making a lot of preparations for 'Soul on the Leather Rope'. The photographer has experience in the selection of scenes and the methods of shooting creation. ”
The scale of "Leather Rope" is 2.35:1, and "Kailash" is 1.85:1. "'Kailash' we wanted to make as much documentary simplicity as possible, 'Leather Rope' tried to saturate the colors, and the magical gorgeous scenery became a very important role in the film."
Some viewers compared Zhang Yang's method of shooting two films at the same time with Wong Kar-wai's practice of shooting "East Evil and West Poison" and "East into West" in the same period, and asked the director about his faith.
Zhang Yang responded: "I don't have specific religious beliefs, but not having religious beliefs is not necessarily no faith, I think faith is broader." From my own point of view, what is that thing? Very vain, I don't know where it is myself. I've been looking for it, maybe not necessarily in this lifetime. It's hard for me to have a moment to say that I've had an epiphany, and I find it hard, maybe on the way to it for the rest of my life. ”
There is a writer in the movie, Zhang Yang said that he is actually that writer, "He has been in this process, looking for the characters in his novels, in fact, looking for himself." Tabet is his other self, a projection. Including in the process, he is in the state of 'going in' and 'coming out' between reality and fiction for a while. I was more like this writer when I made the film, and I always wanted to use the film to try to be real and fictional. ”
Such a structure of time and space and narrative interlacing, Zhang Yang grinded for many years, "in 2007, the script was written, and it was such a structure. Including some previous films "Yesterday" and "Love Spicy hot", they all hope that there will be something different in the film narrative. This kind of storytelling makes me feel very enjoyable and comfortable, "Leather Rope" you have to see the last minute, you can read everything in the movie, read through. Many movies see here, the audience can imagine the plot behind, but watching "Leather Rope" will not be like this, will break this routine. This in itself is a very interesting way to read the story. ”
Is the box office success of "Kailash" an example?
Zhang Yang once admitted that he was once lost in the wave of film industry and commercialization, and he tried his best to balance the relationship between commercial demands and personal expressions in films such as "Falling Leaves Returning to the Roots" and "Flying Over the Old People's Home", but the results were not satisfactory. So later he thought clearly, simply followed his own heart, and made a Tibetan theme literary and art film that did not have any commercial ambitions at first. "Unintentionally planting willows into the shade", "Kailash" gave Zhang Yang and the producer an unexpected surprise.
As a representative of the producer, investor Lovells shared some experiences of investing in art films at the post-screening meeting. "When 'Kailash' passed 10 million (at the box office), a director sent a circle of friends saying that the 10 million of 'Kailash' may be more important than the 2 billion of some commercial films. Another director said that every director has an art film in his heart. Investors too, when a film can make money, investors will definitely come in. ”
Lovells revealed on the spot that the two films "Kailash" and "Soul on the Leather Rope" invested a total of 30 million yuan, "I felt that I had picked up a piece of gold on the road." After that, I was very curious, so I asked director Zhang Yang that such a film is normal to shoot 60 million to 70 million in a general sense. The film "Soul on the Leather Rope", 8 places in Tibet, traveled more than 2,000 kilometers, and later he said that the real core came down, and it only cost 18 million. I think it's a bit incredible, "Kailash" is 12 million, and the box office is almost 100 million. ”
However, Zhang Yang himself does not seem to be particularly optimistic about the box office of "Soul on the Leather Rope", "I think the current audience level is particularly high." But like Kailash, it's a case, a special case. From my own real feeling, Chinese art films may have a box office of 30 or 40 million. Kailash opened up audiences in many other areas. ”
Zhang Yang now hopes to maintain his creative state of self-freedom, "The two films I made below, the cost is lower than these two films, and the director obtains creative freedom by controlling the cost." That is, investors should not interfere with me, do not use the concept of the market, and ask for what kind of a movie in a special way. It is to respect the director and respect his own creation. Conversely, when a director can be particularly relaxed in his work, I think something particularly good is brewing. Because my concept now is to pull the time very long, slowly sink into such a life, and slowly discover and shoot from it. The team has also become particularly small, a particularly free creative concept, much more relaxed than before in the large-scale crew, people's creative mentality, the process, will be very relaxed. ”
Filming "Kailash" gave Zhang Yang greater confidence and confidence to do more unique works, "I myself hope to go out of my own way." The more such a concept as an art film, the more unique it is, and the director and director are completely different. Commercial films, in a sense, need something homogeneous, something that conforms to the basic principles of public aesthetics and the heart. But art films are to completely open your heart and mind, and each thing must be particularly different to have its vitality. ”