The first time I met Sheng Zhimin was in the summer of 2019. He was wearing a black T-shirt and black-framed glasses, and his hair was gray, but he didn't feel a little old. On the road, he may be mistakenly recognized by others as Sakamoto Ryuichi . At the post-screening sharing session of the Chinese rock music documentary "Goodbye Utopia" re-released for ten years, he and film critic Wei Xidi reviewed the history of changes in Chinese rock music. As the title says, "Goodbye Utopia" records the first generation of Chinese rock people around the millennium, such as Dou Wei , Zhang Chu and He Yong . They are confused and helpless under the impact of the tide of business and the Internet.
On December 21 this year, "Collision" was screened in the "Movie Tan" unit of the 16th China Changchun Film Festival. During the post-screening symposium, director Sheng Zhimin and Wei Xidi had another dialogue. This time, Sheng Zhimin pointed the camera at the young people today. As the title says, the drama "Collision" depicts the "Collision" of two ice hockey boys - this is the "Collision" of class, region, concept and ideal. From recording the hesitation of rock youths born in the 1960s and 1970s, to the analysis of the independent sexual consciousness of young women born in the 1980s, to the mental status of young people born in the 1980s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 1990s and 199
Director Sheng Zhimin
Sheng Zhimin's new film "Collision" is a youth film set in Chinese ice hockey. It is different from the sports inspirational films that many people imagine. There is no "fighting monsters and upgrading" style of pleasure film routines, nor does it constantly sensational "super-burning" counterattack, and there is no "carp jumping over the dragon gate" style fantasy ending. This is a movie about growth. Xiaobo, who practiced ice hockey in the Northeast Traditional Sports School, came to the Beijing ice hockey club to play and collided with his "rich second-generation" teammates. Xiaobo is incompatible with his teammates in terms of concepts, ideals and worldview. At this time, Xiao Bo met Zi Zhao, who also loved ice hockey in the team, and became a good friend. Their "collision" in friendship and values constitutes the greatest tension in the film.
"Collision" stills.
As the saying goes, "Reality has the power of thunder." The real texture revealed in the drama "Collision" makes this tension stronger and makes the characters more infectious. In my personal impression of Chinese-language movies, this is perhaps the most realistic film that depicts the so-called "rich second generation" group image. There are no unrealistic fantasy and stereotypes for the wealthy class in many domestic films. In the interview, Sheng Zhimin mentioned that after the screening of Anaya, Hebei, a girl from Shunyi, Beijing thanked him because she felt that there was finally a movie that could bring their group to the screen without bias.
This time when he met Sheng Zhimin, he was still dressed in plain colors. Although he was over fifty years old, he was still a passionate rock young man in his heart. "Funny" is the most common word he mentioned. Born in 1969, he played rock in his early years, played a pioneer drama with Meng Jinghui , and made movies with Jia Zhangke and Chen Guo. In 2002, he made his film debut "Heart·Heart". In 2006, his film " Floating Life " was shortlisted for the Locarno International Film Festival . He filmed the rock documentary "Goodbye Utopia" in 2008. Later, he and Ning Hao jointly launched the Bad Monkey Seventy-Two Changes Plan, became the core producer of the 72 Changes Plan, and discovered outstanding young directors such as Wen Muye , and launched the familiar " I am not a medicine god ".
As a "post-60s generation", how did Sheng Zhimin cross such a big generation gap to understand the current world of young people? In his observations of young people of all generations, what changes have occurred in the mental state of young people born in the 2000s? What kind of young directors do we need for the Chinese film market? Taking advantage of the screening of "Collision", we talked with Sheng Zhimin about youth and movies.
"Collision" stills.
Behind the two values of "win vs. team collaboration at all costs" is the collision of two worlds
Beijing News: Why did you choose to shoot a movie about sports youth this time? Why consider the subject of ice hockey shooting? How did you understand the lives of these hockey kids?
Sheng Zhimin: This starts with the plan of the bad monkey’s seventy-two transformations. Wen Muye, bid for the Olympics , Wang Zizhao , once gave , and I found the desert for the bad monkey. In 2015, I went to , Beijing Film Academy, to be a judge at the Golden Palm Awards, and I watched some short films of young screenwriters and directors there. I found that there were several young directors who did very well filming. At that time, they recommended it to the boss of a film company and said, "Let's do some new director projects." At that time, it was the era when IP was popular. At the internal meeting of the company, I gave them Fumio's Battle and I'm Not Brave to bid for the Olympics, but they did not respond much. Two or three days later, I watched these short videos for Ning Hao, and we hit it off and decided to make a plan for the bad monkey seventy-two transformations.
At that time, there was a very similar "Good! "Boy" movie project. In , Beijing Nancheng , a baseball coach recruited some migrant children to form a baseball team, and their baseball team played all the way to the United States. At that time, the project was in the hands of a film company. I told them that the best sports films come from "true story", and many sports films in the United States are adapted from real events. Later, the project failed to continue to cooperate, and we could not shoot the baseball theme.
You can’t catch a baseball baseball, we can shoot ice hockey. The ice hockey is fast and has collisions, and the rules also allow direct fights. How beautiful it is! I gave the concept of ice hockey to a young director. After the director came back from a research in Northeast China, he wrote an outline of the story. His story is inspirational, and I always feel something is wrong. Later, the young director gave up on the project, but I was obsessed with it. This may be because I am a sports fan, I have been to a sports school, and I am a fan of Guoan team. In 2017 and 2018, I caught up with the tail of Chinese movie hot money and got an investment.
Before I got the investment, I went to the Northeast for research. I know almost all the kids of the Northeast ice hockey team. At that time, there were only three ice hockey teams in China: Harbin, Qiqihar , and Jiamusi . These three teams belong to the standard national system. At that time, hockey clubs began to appear in Beijing. Several clubs were established at that time, hoping to use this reform to promote the development of Chinese ice hockey. Before
, under the traditional national system, children who practiced football could be selected from the youth team and the youth team to the national team one by one. After obtaining the sporting general certificate, he can be admitted to college and assigned a work package after going to college. After marketization, you can choose to be a professional athlete, and maybe you can still play in the NHL (National Hockey League in North America), which directly breaks down the original system and changes the ice hockey business format.
"Collision" stills, the protagonist Xiaobo.
In the 2016-2017 ice hockey championship, Harbin, Qiqihar, Jiamusi and the market-oriented Beijing team played. In the game between Beijing and a team in Northeast China, the parents of Beijing team members cheered loudly on the spot, just like in the NHL scene, and the group of Northeast China parents were watching the game silently. This scene made me very happy. In that game, a member of the Beijing team was beaten. Of course, ice hockey is allowed to fight according to the rules, but they must have beaten with anger. This scene made me decide to make the movie "Crash". I spent a year chatting with parents of Beijing Ice Hockey Club and chatting with children. I basically recognized all the Beijing kids who played ice hockey. After that, I came back to write the script. So, a lot of things in "Collision" have actually happened.
The things that happened at the Northeast Sports School in "Collision" have real prototypes. In "Collision", a grassroots coach in Northeast China told Xiaobo that the world only remembers the people who score goals, not the people who pass the ball. This is the last truth that the coach understands in his life, and this is also the reason why he became a grassroots coach.He thinks Xiaobo is a good seedling, so he should tell him that he must seize every opportunity to shoot and not make wedding clothes for others. Only in this way can you have a chance to win in your life. Only by winning at all costs can Xiaobo have a chance to win the whole world. This is the underlying view of the world and their success theory. If they can't win the ball, they're nothing.
Beijing News : Their worldview is survival of the fittest, and we must use all means to climb up.
Sheng Zhimin: pair. Xiao Bo came to his new world with the coach's words - Beijing. As a result, he found that the logic of these "rich second generations" was completely different from that of him. Beijing’s ice hockey clubs talk about “teamwork” very much, and everyone should know how to share the ball. There are two chains of contempt buried in this: the club's foreign coach told Zi Zhao's mother that playing ice hockey requires "follow your heart". Zizhao's mother thinks that foreigners' ideas are too simple - we have the rules of our wild growth, so don't tell me the "white left" set of rhetoric. The value of "only success has a chance" conflicts with the universal values of teamwork, which makes Xiao Bo live a very twisted life. In fact, Xiaobo didn’t know that these two beliefs were completely rules from different worlds.
Beijing News: I don’t know if I can understand this way. Although the second male lead Zi Zhao is rich, he truly loves ice hockey.
Sheng Zhimin: In reality, there are many children who play ice hockey in clubs who like to play ice hockey, but they know very well that they cannot continue to play ice hockey when they grow up. In "Crash", the kids who play ice hockey in the club must love ice hockey, but they decided not to play. There is a boy named Daniel in the film, wearing famous brands all over his body. He said that they all want to become professional hockey players, but he knew that this was impossible. He played so that he could add points to studying abroad in the future.
Some parents send their children to play ice hockey to exercise their personality. Those rich people know that the world is cruel and they have to let their children have the energy to fight with people from a young age. This was said to me by a parent of an ice hockey team himself.
Beijing News: Practicing ice hockey is also considered a kind of quality education for the wealthy class.
Sheng Zhimin: daily ice hockey training is very expensive. For Zi Zhao, he has many ways to choose, but for Xiao Bo, if he wants to get rid of his fate, he can only become an ice hockey star. Zi Zhao also wanted to become an ice hockey star. He fought against the choices his family made for him, but in the end he couldn't resist his family.
So, the friendship between Xiaobo and Zizhao is vague, and Xiaobo seems to be able to fulfill his dream instead of Zizhao. But this is actually quite cruel. In a sense, is Xiao Bo a horse from Zi Zhao? (Editor's note: In "Collision", Zizhao said that his best friend was a horse in the equestrian class)
Stills from "Collision", Zizhao and his horse.
When Zi Zhao decided to give up ice hockey, his innocent dream moved to Xiao Bo. Although Xiao Bo resisted, he still accepted Zi Zhao's gift (Editor's note: In order for Xiao Bo to play the starting lineup, Zi Zhao helped him change his coach and helped him go abroad to train). After all, Xiao Bo still "kneels" because he doesn't "kneel", and his dream is hopeless. This "kneeling" also allowed the two boys to complete their growth from teenagers to young people - they accepted this social rule. Xiaobo’s friends are already very familiar with business rules and know how to make money by ice hockey. Zizhao's education since childhood also made him understand the rules of this world early on. Children will ask, don’t you know what your parents send you here for? Do you think you can really go to the NHL? These children are actually very sober about reality. Through this movie, I hope to film the survival status of this generation of "post-00s" teenagers.
"Post-00s" have recognized the rules of this world very early, but they often don't know what to do
Beijing News: In "Heart·Heart", you may be filming the life state of the "Post-0s" and "Goodbye Utopia" filming the life state of the "Post-0s" and now filming the life state of the "Post-00s" filming the life state of the "Post-00s" filming the life state of the "Post-00s" filming. What do you think are the similarities and differences of the lifestyles and concepts of these generations? How did you cross such a big generation gap to understand the spiritual world of the current teenagers?
Sheng Zhimin: I found that the generation of children born in the 2000s have recognized the rules of this world for a long time, but they often don’t know what to do. They are like trapped beasts rushing around in cages. For our generation born after the 1960s, we had many emotional outlets at that time, such as rock music and experimental dramas, independent films, and there were many possibilities in society.
I think the title of "Crash" itself is very rock-speaking. Our generation was hit by rock music, and rock can't deceive people. I don’t know why I always photograph children. Maybe there is always something in the eyes of a boy that can touch me. I filmed "Heart·Heart" because the "post-80s" girls in that era were particularly shocked by the free control of their bodies. They can choose to sleep with you, but their sleep with you does not mean that they have been abused, but their own choice.
When I was filming "Goodbye Utopia", I reviewed the youth of the "post-60s" and "post-70s". At that time, we were still pursuing utopia, and later business and market changed our destiny. He Yong is still in a mental hospital. In 2009, He Yong patted his chest and said, "I can't get out of the things here." At that time, He Yong often said that I wanted to sell Cailing, but the money was not given to me. A child in "Goodbye Utopia" said, "I want to sell Cailing too, so I signed an exclusive agency, but the company did not promote it." The record business logic that He Yong and the others do not understand can be easily spoken in the mouth of a child.
"Goodbye Utopia", He Yong.
After I finished "Crash", I always felt that I was still a breath away, so I returned to reality from a fictional story. Observation alone is not enough. At the end of the film, I put up interviews with the actors. The real situation of these actors in real life expresses my attitude towards reality. I found a photographer to take pictures of them and asked them to describe their youth. The structure of this video is unconventional, maybe because I still have the bastard spirit of this generation of rock people in my body!
"Collision" stills, Xiaobo.
Beijing News: The "post-60s" you just mentioned grew up in the 1980s and may have a relatively simple environment, so it is relatively simple.
Sheng Zhimin: is not just simple, we were not that simple at that time. The main reason is that children are too crammed now and have more things to resist than we did at that time. At that time, we, the group of people, felt that money was not important, just live freely. In fact, youth is always simple, but the pressure and constraints that children nowadays have to face are too great.
The more "middle" films that take into account innovation and commerciality, the better, the
Beijing News: According to your observations on current Chinese youth films, what kind of appearance and temperament do you think the works of Chinese young filmmakers generally present? What kind of movies would you like to appear?
Sheng Zhimin: The biggest problem in the film industry today is that it is becoming less and less diversified. There are very few authors who truly have their own worldview and aesthetic views. Back then, Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye , and Wang Xiaoshuai all had their own independent worldview and aesthetic views. Now, a young director is either taking the path of a film festival or signing contracts with a large company. In the film festival, a large number of young directors create for utilitarian purposes, and truly self-aware creation is rare. The movie that is most lacking nowadays is actually genre films. The box office of such genres such as " becomes famous ", " kills ", " Lion Boy ", " Love Myth " is because we lack such standard genres.
I hope young directors can choose their own path in this environment, which can enrich the diversified creations of the Chinese film market. The Chinese film market is big enough, and there is no "iron" yet, so young directors still have a chance.
Movies like "Collision" must not be mainstream. Real mainstream movies should be created under the framework of standard genre films, and also have a certain degree of innovation. I think "The Lion Boy" is particularly interesting. It is a movie with a very routine story, but it has very novel aspects - in Chinese comics, we rarely see that it focuses on the bottom layer, and it is a realist theme in Guangdong. I hope there will be more and more middle-level films like "The Lion Boy".
Stills of "The Lion Boy".
Beijing News: What you mean by "middle" refers to taking into account both commerciality and innovation?
Sheng Zhimin: For example, "The Story of Fame" has innovative script killing, which is also in line with the movie viewing habits of ordinary audiences. Therefore, "Make a Fame" has achieved success in the market box office. Of course, it is best to have a unique movie space in the film market, but the middle layer is the mainstay. At present, the Chinese film market is not in the best structure. But over the years, I have seen some changes. With middle-level movies such as "Make a Fame", "Manslaughter", " My Sister ", " You, ", and "The Lion Boy", the young director has slowly found a development path that suits him. Following this trend, with more and more such movies, the film market can be maintained. Only after the film market is maintained can some unique films be guaranteed.
Nowadays, capital has become sober. Movie audiences vote with their feet, box office cannot be controlled, and the market environment is fair. One of the most amazing things in China is that the reputation came out on the first day of the movie’s release and the audience has their own judgment. If a movie doesn't sell well at the box office, it either has a niche taste or is not well filmed. Nowadays, the author's movies are too concise. I think many author's movies themselves do not meet the standards, and the camera will not lie. In recent years, I prefer " Xiaowei ", and I think the director is very sincere.
"Director Please Give Advice" Even at least the advice to the director is a little difficult
Beijing News: When I interviewed the director of "Xiaowei", he once told me that he envied French directors because there are many such sketches in France.
Sheng Zhimin: In France, the average interval between a young director from his first short film to his first long film is ten years. A young director is about to debut and basically has to make three short films. Moreover, all three movies must be recognized by International Class A Film Festival . At the same time, they must continue to improve the feature film scripts so that they can get investment.
Our director is so happy. In fact, no one watches art films around the world, and the same is true for France, but the French government pays to build art films. I don't think they have anything to envy. However, there will be some cinemas in France, which will be used to display some art films on a long-term basis.
Beijing News: Have you read "Director Please Advice"? How do you evaluate this controversial variety show?
Sheng Zhimin: I can say publicly that no matter whether the director shoots well or not, he must be respected. Movies are diverse and should be respected. You can't disrespect the director for the sake of ratings gimmicks. This variety show is even a little difficult to even have the minimum advice. Now, some children call themselves "airport" - this is the name of Bi Zhifei's fans. The reason why they support Bi Zhifei is to resist the hegemony that everyone labels Bi Zhifei in the show.
Bi Zhifei in the variety show "Director Please Advice".
The biggest problem in the film industry is that it does not act according to the rules. Every director has his own growth rules. Directors should grow naturally, rather than being intervened by strange external forces such as institutions, capital, variety shows, and forcibly change their development path. These external forces are actually for their own interests. Of course, some directors have formed a common relationship with these external forces.This collusion relationship has changed a director's growth path and also changed the industry ecology. I hope that this pure external force can be reduced. The director must obtain resources little by little through his own creation and then obtain new creative opportunities, rather than gaining development in a sports manner.
editing｜Xu Yuedong
editing｜Zouzou
proofreading｜Liu Jun
