On April 18, Beijing time, the French Cannes Film Festival officially announced the 72nd finalist list, directed by Diao Yinan, starring Hu Ge, Gui Lunmeng, Liao Fan and Wan Qian, the film "The Party at the South Station" was shortlisted for the main competition unit of this film festival.
The Party at South Station
Just looking at the shortlisted films that have been exposed, I really have to sigh that this year is really the "Year of Cannes", and the films competing for this year's Palme d'Or have a big future.
There are two Palme d'Or-winning Dane brothers brought "Young Ahmed", Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's "Pain and Glory", Canadian director Javier Dolan's new French film "Matthias and Maxim", and South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's new work "Parasite", which is also from Asia, each of which is extremely competitive.
《Parasite》
But as the only Chinese-language film to be selected for the main competition unit, director Diao Yinan really surprised us once again.
Speaking of director Diao Yinan, his film output is not high, basically maintaining the rhythm of a film in 5 years, but the quality of each film is extremely high.
In 2003, his screenwriting and directing debut,"Uniform," won the Dragon tiger award for best film at the 22nd Vancouver International Film Festival.
In 2007, he wrote and directed the second film "Night Train", which was shortlisted for the 60th Cannes "A Kind of Attention" competition and won the New Director and New Film Award at the 23rd Warsaw International Film Festival;
In 2013, he wrote and directed his third film, Daytime Fireworks, which won the 64th Golden Bear Awards;
In 2018, he wrote and directed his fourth film, The Party at the Gare du Nord, which was shortlisted for the main competition section in Cannes.
(Liao Fan as Captain of the Serious Case)
His new work, "The Party at South Station," is another dedication after "Daytime Fireworks," inspired by real news events that tell the story of a thief desperately seeking redemption in the process of being chased.
Doubt, betrayal, lust, loyalty, conscience, both complex emotional temptations and ups and downs of escape.
The film was prepared for four years, and the choice of the protagonist alone lasted for one year, and it was finally confirmed that Hu Ge would be the main actor.
For the post-90s, Hu Ge is the white moonlight in our hearts, and even some netizens jokingly call him the painting style of Shuangwen Jack Su.
If you look at his achievements alone, this is indeed the case.
The idol star starred in 2005 as the Legend of the Paladin Sword, that is, he was named the Prince of Costume, encountered an accident in 2006, came back a year later, and returned to the top spot in costume in 2009 when he starred in "Immortal Sword III", and then won three Emperor Trophies at the same time.
He then began to work on the drama stage, winning two awards in his first year.
In 15 years, the transformation of the main drama, "The Pretender", "Langya List" and "Good Time" three dramas simulcast, 16 years again won three TV Emperor trophies.
But at its peak, I decided to stop work, did not shoot for 3 years, spent time to enrich myself, and participated in movies for 18 years, with the configuration of Chen Kexin and Iwai Shunji.
Throughout Hu Ge's acting career, he has been constantly trying, and after the first popularity, he was limited to the narrow drama path of costume actors, and he could not even receive scripts for other themes.
So he chose the stage play, first jumped out of the scope of film and television dramas, proving that he could play other roles in addition to costume dramas, which led to the subsequent drama.
It can be said that each of his transformations can give us new surprises. In 18 years, his first exposure to the big screen gave us a subversive role.
In the movie "Hello, Zhihua" directed by Chen Kexin and directed by Shunji Iwai, Zhang Chao, who plays Nan's boyfriend, is a scumbag or a hateful scumbag. This is very different from the screen image he brought us before, and even Chen Kexin said that he did not think of looking for Hu Ge to play this role, because it was too incompatible with him.
This role was won by Hu Ge after reading the script, he was very interested in the role, and he also wanted to try different roles, rather than being limited to the stereotype of the public.
So he did his own styling, prepared everything about the role, and played the role of Zhang Chao, not the film party persuaded him to play the scumbag, but he persuaded the director to supervise him to act.
It can be said that for this role that appeared less than 5 minutes, Hu Ge played it very well, and even some people did not find out after reading it that the bearded and dirty man in front of him was actually Hu Ge.
And this time, he single-handedly starred in the movie "The Party at South Station" for the first time, and from the information revealed by the official blog, this is a role that is constantly fleeing, and his life is very far away, and it is a new challenge.
In order to better understand the role and perform the feeling that best fits the role, Hu Ge is willing to take the time to specialize in the role, because he wants to break through himself. To this end, he entered the group experience in advance, and in order to fit the script role, he prepared for slimming and tanning, and was also jokingly called pepper by netizens.
Not only the lead actor Hu Ge has attracted much attention, but the other leading actors of the film are also worth looking forward to, with Liao Fan, Gui Lunmeng and Wan Qian, who have cooperated with director Diao Yinan again, and Wan Qian, who is extremely malleable, and their interpretations will definitely bring different chemical reactions to the film.
Judging from the material of the official Bofang, the protagonist went all the way to the south for five years, and the people and things encountered during the period must be extremely rich.
It is also because of the rich role settings that it has also attracted the strength of male actors such as Qi Dao, Huang Jue, Zhang Yicong, Chen Yongzhong, etc., and Zeng Meihuizi, who has just won the "Queen of the Academy Award", also has a special appearance.
Not only is the director and creative team highly anticipated, but the creative team behind the film is also shining.
Dong Jinsong, director of photography at "The Party at South Station", is the second collaboration with director Diao Yinan after "Daytime Fireworks", he was a judge of last year's Asian Newcomer Awards, and in 2018, he also won the Golden Horse Award for Best Cinematography for "The Last Night of the Earth".
Judging from the four stills released by the filmmakers this time, the use of light and shadow is extremely poetic and emotional, so that the photos reveal a strong sense of story.
In addition, Hong Kong senior lighting director Huang Zhiming, art director Liu Qiang, and recording director Zhang Yang, who have participated in films such as "Fancy Years", "2046", and "Ah Fei Zheng Biography", also joined the film.
Finally, this year's film festival will be held in Cannes from May 14 to 25, when the competition and screening activities will be carried out at the same time, looking forward to "The Party at the South Station", looking forward to Diao Yinan, looking forward to Hu Ge!