movie "This Summer" (2001) English DVD version envelope
Li Yu's "This Summer" (2001) is different from Lin Zhengsheng's "Beauty is Singing" (1997), Zhang Zhiliang's " Self-combed " (1997), Chen Guofu's " Marriage Notice " (1998) and Yang Fan's " Garden Dreams " (2001).
"Self-combing" is the bumpy fate of modern oriental women. "Beautiful Singing" is a different life experience called Chen Meili and Lin Meili. "Marriage Notice" is the way modern women look for when trying to get rid of a painful relationship. Although "A Dream of Visiting a Garden" does not seem to be arrogant, it reflects its concern and greed for Daniel Wu everywhere except Miyazawa Rie.
movie "Self-comb" (1997) Hong Kong DVD version envelope
. In "Marriage Notice", Dr. Du ( Rene Liu ) is not homosexual at all. He just didn't expect that there would be lesbians to apply for the marriage notice. Perhaps the director believed that Dr. Du, who needed to marry, was hurt by men and needed women to heal the scars.
If lesbians are like her, it will be a bit offensive, even a bit ridiculous and pathetic.
Her state may be the real situation of lesbians in today's society. She maintains an awkward image in awkward situation and finds a way out that is almost impossible to achieve results.
Movie "Beauty Singing" (1997) Taiwan DVD Version Envelope
Regarding the movie "This Summer", Li Yu once explained that she did not want to show her homosexual life to people, she just wanted to make a movie about the relationship between women, but these stories happened to happen to lesbians.
"This Summer" is Li Yu's first independent film directed by him. She believes that "the process of shooting this movie is a precious experiment to explore the true views of lesbians in modern society."
movie "A Dream in the Garden" (2001) Japanese version poster
This 16mm movie filmed in a simple studio in Beijing tells the love story between two girls. There is a theme of betrayal and a theme of family in the middle, and there is also a plot of female crimes involving women, exploring the situation of women in society and the relationship between women and women: the two female protagonists of the movie are also a couple in real life.
They play their own stories in front of the camera, pouring them into the various pressures encountered in a society that advocates Confucianism theory and education and emphasizes the concept of marriage. At the same time, there are mothers who are determined to marry their daughter out, a father who is idle and has a job, a murder charge, an ex-girlfriend who is fleeing and a group of anxious single men.
movie "This Summer" (2001) stills, Pan Yi and Shi Tou
In order to truly reproduce the lesbians in Chinese society, the director "puts some effort" when choosing actors and scripts.
Specifically, all the main actors of the show are not professional actors, and they did not undergo any rehearsal before filming. The framework of the script comes from the protagonist's own real experience. The main clips in the film do not have pre-set scripts and lines. How to act and what to say often depends on the actor's on-the-spot performance at the time.
So, when the male actor who played the blind date heard the heroine Xiaojun say that he "likes girls", he blurted out, "How can that be done?", his tone was full of incredible.
movie "This Summer" (2001) stills, Zhang Qianqian
Then, the man looked at the face of fear and searched for the right words in his mind. Finally, he finally put on a stupid sentence: "Then, then, what kind of blood type are you?" Afterwards, the shocked and angry actor found director Li Yu, and he said: "How can I participate in a lesbian movie?"
In fact, this is exactly the real reaction director Li Yu needs in front of the camera.
Because before filming the actor in this blind date scene, he did not tell him that the heroine of the play, that is, the girl who played opposite him was a homosexual.
movie "This Summer" (2001) stills, Pan Yi
Li Yu just said to him: "There is a girl waiting for you, you can communicate casually."
When the male actor first heard about the girl's sexual orientation in front of the camera, the camera completely captured his first reaction, that is, the most realistic and intuitive reaction.
Compared with gay men, Chinese lesbians are relatively more concentrated. Most of them have fixed lovers, and most of them will not reveal their sexual orientation to the people around them.
Director Li Yu
In fact, this can be found on the current Douyin . On the contrary, men often "show their faces" and show off their "partners" or tell the public about this aspect; while women rarely make public or state this way in this aspect, even if there is, they are more "cautious" in this aspect.
director Li Yu once said: "Lesbians rarely enter people's sight."
There are experts in this regard who also feel the same: "People can easily mistakenly think that there are no lesbians around them at all."
"This Summer" director Li Yu once worked as a documentary producer on CCTV.
movie "This Summer" (2001) stills, Shi Tou
Once when she was shooting a documentary in Shanghai, she unexpectedly met a pair of female companions, that is, the two heroines of this film. One is the straightforward surrealist painter Shi Tou, and the other is the female tailor Pan Yi who is not in harmony with her husband. After learning about the story of the two, Li Yu had the idea of shooting a lesbian movie.
The two girls are not very similar to the homosexuals people imagine. They are the kind of girls people can meet on the street every day.
In her camera, we can see the living conditions of this group of marginal people. How they love each other hard, how they keep their lives balanced, and how they tell their families a kind lie.
Director Li Yu
In the play, Shi Tou plays Xiaoqun as a zoo administrator, while Pan Yi plays Xiaoqun’s ex-girlfriend Xiaoling.
When Li Yu was filming this movie, she only recorded the life of Xiaoqun.
, who debuted in a movie for the first time, said that she had refused to play other similar movie roles, and "This Summer" is different from those in the past. It is a media carrier that truly conveys the voice of Chinese lesbians.
Movie "This Summer" (2001) Stills
"We cannot tell our own stories, and we cannot express our feelings. There are many people around us who are actually homosexuals but do not know themselves," Pan Yi said: "They live in trouble all day long."
And this movie does not explain how Xiaoqun and Xiaoling's relationship began, nor does it mention the ending of this relationship, because under traditional morality, this relationship is destined to end without success.
Li Yu doesn't want to comment on this kind of relationship from the moral high ground, she just records it.
Stills from the movie "This Summer" (2001), Shi Tou
Director Li Yu was only 27 years old when she was looking for investors to invest in the movie. In addition to listening to the summary of the story for several minutes, all investors either started looking for cigarettes or called back - no one believed that she could make a movie.
So after she discussed with her boyfriend at that time, they sold a house in Liangxiang, Beijing, took out each other's savings, borrowed all the money they could borrow, and raised 400,000 yuan in shooting funds.
After shutting down the phone in Jinan, after buying tickets for everyone in the crew, she was penniless and evaded the ticket with her boyfriend and climbed onto the train back to Beijing.
Director Li Yu
When interviewing an actress, Li Yu clearly remembered that she suddenly had a period of time that day. As soon as she got up embarrassed, a girl who was interviewing immediately stuffed her something, which was a sanitary napkin.
"So you see, this sensitivity between homosexuals is so different from that between men and women."
Later in the memory text, Li Yu wrote: "What I want to express is the real pain and helplessness of women."
"In the eyes of the protagonist Xiaoqun, society is like a wall, and her wishes and desires are separated by this wall.Her silence brought her more pain and stress. "
movie "This Summer" (2001) stills, Pan Yi
" In this movie, the two heroines are also lovers in real life, but they broke up after filming this movie. My movie makes their lost emotions eternal. "
" Perhaps this movie allows this lover in life to constantly examine themselves and at the same time examine each other - can they reach the end? "
The fatal blow sometimes does not come from external factors, but from the inner "judgment". Of course, the "loving the new and bored with the old" flashes in my mind will exist in everyone, but some people "are calm in the clouds and winds" to settle the city, and some people have not "put to their arms", but they have begun to commit "betrayal". Stills from the movie "This Summer" (2001), Zhang Qianqian
Ni Zhen said that female directors more consciously save women from the gender sense, and expressing the feeling of women's independence from the independence of image to the particularity of film language has reached an urgent point.
The female images created by Li Yu in the movie have similar fates. They are almost all vulnerable groups. After being hurt, they choose to get warmth through the same sex.
The lack of males, and women became her only protagonist in the early movies. The "physical dilemma" that is opposite to the mental of females, naturally became the highlight of Li Yu's movies. Stills from the movie "This Summer" (2001), Pan Yi and Shi Tou
She is one of the few who are uncovered in the movie The female director who expresses female desires, fierce, fiery and pure lust appeared in her movies.
If it were in the first five years before the filming of "This Summer", it would be hard to imagine that such a movie would appear. After all, the film also contains many very bold love scenes.
But Li Yu, who had never made a movie, didn't know that there was still a movie review level at that time, just buried her head in the filming, "As a result, I encountered some problems after the filming. ”
But "This Summer" won Li Yu the first time he won the film award.
Director Li Yu
In 2001, "This Summer" won the "Alvilla Natali Award" at the Venice International Film Festival - Previously, Zhang Yimou 's " Big Red Lantern Hanging High 》 (1991) is the only Chinese film to win this award.
This also kicked off the prelude to the continuous recognition of Li Yu's films in international film festivals, but it has repeatedly caused controversy in China.
Although "This Summer" finally lost money, Li Yu became famous and was named "feminist director of art films".
movie "This Summer" (2001) Stills, Zhang Qianqian is Zhang Qianqian
After filming this movie, Li Yu has a deeper understanding of the relationship between women and women. Women can communicate thoroughly, but women and men cannot.
Because many things cannot be empathized with.
Moreover, women experience feelings whether they are happy or painful, whether they live easily or difficult. Always treat your feelings firmly according to your inner wishes.
Movie "This Summer" (2001) Stills
Li Yu has always liked Wang Anyi 's sentence: Don't rush to adapt to society, adapt to yourself first.
"Everyone is talking about struggle now, I think struggle is a word that requires particular caution. In this struggle to follow everyone, many people can no longer find themselves. ”
The same is true for feelings - no matter between men and women, men or women, there is only one life, and happiness can only be experienced by oneself and has nothing to do with others.
Movie "This Summer" (2001) Chinese DVD version envelope
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