According to Hong Kong media reports, the famous Hong Kong director Luo Qirui passed away yesterday at the age of 70. According to the website of Ming Pao Weekly. Luo Qirui was born in 1952, and his wife is the famous Hong Kong female director Wanting Cheung. They are not only a

According to Hong Kong media reports, the famous Hong Kong director Luo Qirui passed away yesterday at the age of 70.

■According to the website of "Ming Pao Weekly"

Luo Qirui was born in 1952, and his wife is the famous Hong Kong female director Zhang Wanting . They are not only a rare couple in the Hong Kong film industry, but also a rare couple in Hong Kong who are good at making literary films. director.

■Luo Qirui and his wife Zhang Wanting

Together they created many immortal classics in the history of Hong Kong films:

" Autumn Fairy Tale " (1987), " Seven Little Fortunes " (1988), " Eight Liang Gold " (1989) , " Song Dynasty " (1997), " City of Glass " (1998), " Thief of Time " (2009)...

Luo Qirui won the Golden Horse Award for Best Director ("Seven Little Fortunes", 1988 ), and even won the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Screenplay for "Autumn Fairy Tale". In 2010, he won the Crystal Bear Award for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival for "The Thief of Time," which he wrote and directed.

■The filming scene of "The Thieves"

In 1985, he and Zhang Wanting received funding from Shaw Brothers . Zhang Wanting directed and Luo Qirui screenwriter planned and filmed their first feature film "Illegal Immigration". As a result, this debut film won the Academy Awards Best Director Award.

Later, the two continued to cooperate, so they are known as the "male and female directors". They have been making movies as partners. Luo Qirui screenwriter and Zhang Wanting directed, which is a good story in the history of Hong Kong films.

One of their most classic "Immigration Trilogy": Whether it is the exotic New York in "Illegal Immigration" and "Autumn Fairy Tale", or the hometown of Taishan in "Eight Liang Gold", what lingers is the creator Deep feelings.

The Hong Kong before and after the handover in 1998's "City of Glass" and the memories of Hong Kong's long years in 2010's "Thieves of Time" fully demonstrate the most sincere feelings of the couple directors towards Hong Kong.

Director Luo Qirui, have a good journey.

Exclusive interview with "Morning News"

Luo Qirui: First love in "Thieves of Time" Returning to the frivolous years

(This interview was published in "Morning News" on October 17, 2011)

Morning News reporter Xu Ying

"In a changing life, Time turns out to be the biggest thief. "The nostalgic film "The Thief of Time" directed by Hong Kong director Luo Qirui made many people lament the passing of beauty. A few days ago, Luo Qirui came to Shanghai with the book of the same name of the movie "Thieves of Time".

Luo Qirui made no secret of his almost obsessive preference for the name "Thief of Time", "What did the thief steal from us? This needs everyone to sort out and recall carefully." This book collects Luo Qirui's essays from the 1960s and 1970s. Reading his words is like watching his movies, and you can feel the sadness in his bones.

"In my ideal country, everyone can have a tree in their home, or in front of the gate, or in the courtyard, or outside the balcony, where the owner can enjoy the shade, the father tells stories, and the children spend their childhood."; walked through Looking at cemeteries, I suddenly felt that "most cemeteries are actually mysterious and beautiful"; listening to music, "can make a house elegant, lively, worldly and even sexy". These words are like scenes from the movie "The Thief of Time".

In the article "The Thief of Hong Kong University", Luo Qirui wrote that he stole a school flag at Hong Kong University , and it was exactly the same as the big-eared cow in the film. "It turns out that I am the big-eared cow in the film." Sitting in the Anting Villa In his old bungalow, Luo Qirui recalled the "frivolous years" with infinite nostalgia. He said that 90% of the movie is his autobiography, while the collection of essays is a commemoration of his adolescence.

Looking back at youth: wandering around in the dark night of youth

Reporter: What is the relationship between the essay collection "The Thief of Time" and the movie "The Thief of Time"?

Luo Qirui: The book comes first, the movie comes later. This book is a collection of semi-autobiographical essays based on my own experiences. It is a commemoration of my adolescence, and it is also the origin of the title of the movie "Thieves of Time".After the book was published in Hong Kong, a friend suggested that some of the chapters should be turned into a movie. Reporter

: You used "The Thief of Time" to name your movie and book at the same time. Why do you prefer these four words so much? What kind of feelings do they represent?

Luo Qirui: When I look back on the past, I find that many beautiful things are gone and disappeared without a trace, including the departure of my brother and the departure of my first girlfriend. Are they leaving on their own? No, it’s the years that have stolen away a lot of my past feelings, family ties and love. Reporter

: If you were asked to summarize, what are the key words of your adolescence?

Luo Qirui: I wrote the lyrics of the theme song "The Years Are Frivolous" in "Thieves of Time", which roughly focused on the keywords of my adolescence. "Wandering in the dark night of youth/Youth's love doesn't look back/If you don't recall, you don't answer/If you don't recall, you don't look back/Anyway, I don't look back/The echoes in the sky/Looking at the frivolity of the years." Indeed, at that time, I felt a little frivolous and confused. Falling in love with movies is also a kind of frivolity. I take the classes I like very seriously and the teacher likes me very much, but the classes I don’t like are terrible, just like the big-eared cow in the movie. Reporter

: There is an article in the book "The Thief of the University of Hong Kong" about your petty thefts when you were a student. For example, you stole a school flag on the campus of the University of Hong Kong, which was exactly the same as the big-eared cow in the movie.

Luo Qirui: When I was young, I was very naughty and rebellious. I loved stealing things. When my parents found out, they would beat me. Later, they found out that the things I stole were not valuable, so they left me alone. It was fun once. I stole a book from a bookstore. When I got home and opened it, a page was missing. It turned out that someone had torn a page. That person must have liked that page so much that he tore it out. There are people doing the same thing as me.

Looking back on love: My failed first love made me become a director

Reporter: Many people couldn't help but cry when they watched "Thieves of Time". When you were writing this movie, you touched on those sad things over and over again. Did you shed any tears? What parts of the film made you most uncomfortable?

Luo Qirui: When I was writing, I was very jealous. When I was filming the movie, especially when I saw the reaction of the big-eared cow, I shed tears on the set, but no one dared to tell me. Sometimes I even forgot to say "stuck". I kept watching and forgot about it. The most uncomfortable part is the scene when the heavy rain comes. The brother is listening to the song "I Long for Freedom" requested by his girlfriend on the radio. However, the music stops suddenly due to the strong wind; there is also the big-eared cow who wants to eat a whole box of lotus paste mooncakes but fails. I can't eat; and my brother said that nothing lasts forever, which is very sad. Reporter

: It is said that the innocent first love story of your brother in the movie is actually yours. Did you include your own first love in it?

Luo Qirui: Yes. It was a very, very failed first love, but because of this first love, I later became a director. After she went to the United States, we didn't contact each other for a long time. But after the movie was released, one day I received an email from my first love. She accidentally saw the movie and said, why didn't you tell me earlier? Why didn't you tell me that you liked me so much? I didn’t even know how to answer her. If I told her, today’s work and today’s experience would not be possible. I said thank you very much. Therefore, one never knows what will be waiting for you when you turn a corner.

Looking back at Hong Kong: In an era of poverty, everyone is full of hope

Reporter: To what extent is the movie your autobiography?

Luo Qirui: Almost 90% is true, and the remaining 10% is actually true. Some things really happened, and the movie just made some changes in time and space. The big-eared cow in the movie is me, and big-eared cow is my nickname. After my brother got sick, Western medicine thought it was incurable and there was no hope. My mother said, go back to the mainland and give it a try. At that time, I was very worried. Pi, my dad said to take me with him.It turns out that someone told me that you don’t need to buy a ticket to take the train in the Mainland, so I told my mother, my mother said, the Mainland is not Hong Kong, you have to buy a ticket, and I don’t know the conductor, how can I take you there? I said, isn’t it okay to bring 8 children with 5 child tickets? Is it not allowed for one adult to take care of two children? I was really naughty when I was little. Reporter

: What do people miss most about Hong Kong in the 1960s?

Luo Qirui: In Hong Kong at that time, people had strong feelings between each other. Whether they are husband and wife, brothers, father and son, friends, or neighbors, everyone has a strong relationship and trusts each other. I like this kind of deep emotion very much. When I was a child, I lived in Sham Shui Po. When I ate at night, it was really a poor man’s banquet. There were more than ten tables set up at the same time, which was very fun. But now it's gone. Everyone closes the door when they go home, and there's more than one door. When opening the door, I also look through the peephole first, which feels very bad. When I was a child, I would come home from school and there would be no one at home. My mother and father didn’t worry about me at all. I would run to the neighbor’s house and sit down to eat. It was natural. Reporter

: "The word "shoes" is half difficult, half good. One step is difficult, one step is good." Who said this classic sentence in the film?

Luo Qirui: This is what my dad said. In life, he was also a shoemaker. He didn't read many books, and he didn't finish the first grade, so he read newspapers very slowly and didn't understand many words. By the time I was in the second grade, he could no longer teach me. Reporter

: What was the spirit of Hong Kong at that time?

Luo Qirui: It was a very poor era, but it was also an era full of hope. Everyone felt that they had their own ideal future. Because we are very poor, we have nothing, and there are no barriers. We can develop in any way. However, now everyone has become a little confused and doesn’t know how to move forward. I hope that after these few years, we can see clearly the past and the future, and how to move forward. This is why there has been a lot of talk recently about the emergence of Hong Kong movies in the past. We are all looking back and wondering how to move forward. Reporter

: "As a human being, you must always believe." This is what Mrs. Luo said repeatedly in the film. Is this also your creed? What does your letter refer to?

Luo Qirui: Faith means believing in oneself, believing in life, and more importantly, believing in the future. Without faith, it is easy to give up. When I was young, I told myself that if you have confidence and are willing to give it a try, you will feel no regrets if you fail. There is at least a 50% chance, if you don’t believe it, it’s zero. This is a very important outlook on life.

Reporter: Compared with when you were young, how are your letters different now?

Luo Qirui: When I was a child, it was a kind of simple faith, optimism, and complete belief, just like a big-eared cow. It won’t be that 100 percent now. For example, if there is a difficulty ahead, when I was a child, I would definitely jump over it without thinking about it, but now I will definitely think about it first. Reporter

: Is it lonely to be a director and screenwriter of art films in Hong Kong?

Luo Qirui: There must be loneliness, because there are not many same screenwriters. You must have a certain feeling before you can write. But I will keep walking, it is quite good and quite satisfying.

reporter: In your personal opinion, what are the cultural characteristics of Hong Kong?

Luo Qirui: If you say Hong Kong is a cultural desert, I am opposed to it. I think Hong Kong still has its own culture, but its culture is very different from other places. It has a very unique culture, a very unique language, and a very unique direction of development. Only when you have a deeper understanding of Hong Kong can you understand what its culture is like.