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Journal No.3260 on September 1, 2022
In recent years, Chinese art films have shined brilliantly in international film festivals. The film "Hometown Alien" won the amazing FIRST film in the 15th FIRST Youth Film Exhibition, the film specially mentioned by the jury in the 12th Beijing International Film Festival, the best screenwriter in the 8th Chongqing Youth Film Festival, and the special mention of the new honor of the year in the 16th Chinese Youth Film Week, and was selected into the 26th Capri Hollywood International Film Festival and the 6th New era Youth Film Season-New Force Film Project.
(At the premiere of the 15th FIRST Youth Film Exhibition)
Art film is of great significance for developing film art innovation and frontier exploration, and improving audience appreciation level. Here, the first producer talked to Li Songming, the director of Hometown Stranger, and felt the charm of art films.
Fantasy journey of love and growth, ingenious reconstruction of illusion and reality
The chairman of the jury of Beijing International Film Festival commented on "Hometown Stranger" in this way: the film uses a rare gaze to make the spectacular scenery of Guizhou’s deep mountains and rivers become the fulcrum of the whole film. Man’s existence is like a stone and a tree in nature, which gives birth to interest. Comparing with the claustrophobic space of urban life, it causes people to think philosophically about existence and memory.
(The 12th Beijing International Film Festival pays attention to the future unit award ceremony)
As the first feature film, the film Hometown Alien is based on the personal experience of screenwriter and director Li Yuming, which has a strong personal life color. The film tells the story of Xing Gui, a screenwriter who is sick in bed and hemiplegia, and conflicts with his girlfriend Xiao Jie who takes good care of him and his mother, and then falls into the trough of his life. After recovery, he returned to his hometown to write a script, and together with his elderly grandmother, his girlfriend and his mother who came later, he embarked on a fantastic journey of love and growth in a confused and different memory puzzle …
"Hometown Stranger" adopts a two-stage structure of alternating reality and reality, juxtaposes the life of big cities and villages, and shows the multifaceted nature of family life. There are conflicts between different family members’ narratives of the same thing, and even the different narratives of the same person will be inconsistent. This very common but easily overlooked point is well presented in this film.
Li yuming analyzed the narrative structure. "in the movie, the same thing, grandma told xiaojie in bad weather is a good side, but in good weather it told xinggui is a bad side." Does it look like a Tai Chi map? There is white in black and black in white. Does it look like our closest relatives? Those heartfelt words can often be blurted out to the closest relatives. In the face of outsiders, they can take care of each other’s feelings and even tell some white lies! For example, Xing Gui speaks directly to his mother and girlfriend, and sometimes even expresses his love in a harsh tone. But the way he talks to his ex-girlfriend is softer, and he will take care of each other’s feelings … "
"Fish raft" and "old house" contain a lot of symbols and metaphors.
A stranger in my hometown skillfully reconstructs illusion and reality with the structure of "play in play" The highlight "Hometown" was filmed in Bijie, Guizhou, the director’s hometown. In the film, there are many romantic and poetic scenes. Li Yuming shared that "I am from Guizhou, and the Guizhou described in the script is the Guizhou in my memory." Guizhou is a place where there is no sunny day for three days and the ground is not three feet flat. Guizhou itself has a romantic temperament, especially in winter and spring communication. Just like the two comparisons in our movie, it is uncertain, but attractive and thought-provoking. "
The filming and scenery making of Hometown Stranger are meticulous, and a lot of symbols and metaphors are buried. "Mom’s home is arranged on a fish raft, which is my feeling about my hometown and my mother’s home: I am a stranger in my hometown, wandering and have no sense of belonging. Grandma’s home is an abandoned old house we found. This old house didn’t even have doors and windows at first, and all the old things in it were bought or borrowed from the village. We chose this old house because it has a mountain on its back, a path in front and bamboo forests on its side. It has a good sense of space and layering, and it is very landing. This is also my feeling about my grandmother’s home: stable and belonging. "
It is not difficult to see that there is only one shot in each scene of "Hometown Stranger", and they are all fixed seats and large depth of field. The director canceled the scheduling of the camera and the cutting of the lens, which not only reduced the creative burden of non-professional actors, but also made the picture look realistic.
Grandma in her eighties,Contribute the most touching performance to the film
In recent years, more and more directors have begun to boldly use amateur actors to play the leading role. The 79-year-old Yang Taiyi was shortlisted as the best actor for "Crossing Zhao Guan", competing with famous actors such as Wang Jingchun, Xú Zhēng and Duan Long. In addition, in recent years, Toshitabe’s highly acclaimed "Dark Horse" literary films, such as Roadside Picnic, Heart Labyrinth, Gangrenboqi, Red Flowers and Green Leaves, have almost all starring amateurs.
In Hometown Stranger, apart from young actors Ye Linsheng and Ci Wantong, what impressed the audience the most was the performance of my grandmother. My grandmother had two scenes when talking about her childhood. She performed in two different States: sadness and freedom. She contributed to the performance of not losing professional actors in the film, which made the audience shine.
The grandmother in "Hometown Stranger" is over 80 years old and can’t read. All the lines are read to her by others. Director Li Yuming was also playing drums in his heart before filming. "I took out two plays that were difficult to complete. If grandma’s performance fell below the passing line, we would have to change people, even if she was my own grandmother. Producer Xiao Xiao found two retired old professors in Guiyang and Zunyi as alternatives. If grandma can’t control this role, she will adjust it as soon as possible. But my grandmother did a very good job, and she won the trust and respect of her crew members by her own talent. "
Realism is the natural advantage of an amateur actor. Li Yuming shared, "There is a scene to teach my grandmother to do Tai Chi exercises. I learned to teach my grandmother in advance. After she learned it several times, she slipped away. I’ caught’ her back. I said, Grandma, you have to do it with me. Life lies in exercise. Grandma said, nonsense, life lies in labor. Say that finish, grandma walked towards the field with a hoe. At that moment, I began to question my inherent ideas and education. Grandma is an old man who has never read a book. What she said is completely based on her life experience, but it is closer to the essence of life. "
Interpretation of intimate relationship from different perspectives,
Trade-offs and choices are given to the audience
In "Hometown Stranger", both the feelings before men and women, and the emotional descriptions between mothers and children, grandparents and grandchildren are all very real. The feelings between characters spill over the screen, directly hitting the audience’s hearts and making emotional connections with them. The audience can interpret from different perspectives according to their own emotional experience.
In the creation of "Hometown Stranger", it also brought new cognition to the director. "I always thought that my grandmother missed her late grandfather very much. When collecting folk songs, I asked her, do you miss grandpa? She replied that she didn’t want to. The dead old man always quarreled with me when he was alive. I was happier when he died. That moment was hard for me to accept. After speaking, grandma picked up scissors and went to grandpa’s grave 30 meters away from home, and began to repair the weeds in the grave. I said, why did you start mowing the grass before Tomb-Sweeping Day arrived? Grandma said that when your grandfather was alive, his hair was a little long and he clamored for it to be cut. I don’t think he would like the grass on the grave to be too long. At that moment, I was touched. It is true that grandma hates grandpa, and it is also true that she loves grandpa. What kind of intimate relationship is not like this? Mixed with love and hate, swing back and forth between the two! Therefore, most of the plots in Hometown Stranger are ambiguous, and there are many possibilities. The choice depends on the audience themselves.
In Hometown Stranger, there are still some memories about family of origin and intimate relationship. The director tried hard to find the truth, but he could not find it. So, he wrote the memory gap and thinking into the script and made it into a movie, about love and hate, about gain and loss. ……
Choose feelings and accept commercial loss.
Art films pay attention to the director’s personal artistic expression, and director Li Yuming does not deny that "Hometown Stranger" is a bit emotional. "At the beginning of creation, we thought very clearly that we should be emotional, and we can accept the bite of commercial loss caused by excessive feelings. At the same time, excessive commerce will also destroy the quality of the film. For producers or directors, it is necessary to balance the relationship between feelings and business. Movies that are both creative and commercial can often achieve greater success. "
In the face of the current literary film market, Li Yuming also has his own views. "As we all know, the market return rate of literary films is not high, but with the success of literary films such as" Into the Dust ",it can be seen that the audience’s film aesthetics are also improving. A benign film market must be both commercial and artistic. Our film market is very huge, so the evaluation system and the needs of the audience should not and will not always be so single, right? Even if there will be temporary failure due to some uncontrollable factors in the process, we filmmakers should keep looking forward to the future and try to change the parts that can be changed! "
At present, in the art cinema market, literary films are still generally applauded but not popular, but as the director of literary films, Li Yuming doesn’t want to give up the creation of literary films. "Will I make literary films in the future? Of course it will! But I will shoot two genre films first, and then come back to shoot literary films when I have a surplus. I don’t want to put myself or my partners in a dilemma because of my personal feelings. I would like to expect China’s future literary films to perform better and better in the market. Both the author and the audience need to grow up. Although the road is far away, the trip will come. "
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