Instead of replicating the reality, it is better to refine the experiences and feelings of the most ordinary people and present them in an image way.
Murakami Haruki 's short story collection "The God's Children Dance" has always been a work that I like very much. The novel collection is set in Hanshin Earthquake . The protagonists in each novel may not have experienced the disaster personally, but they are more or less affected by earthquake events mentally and psychologically.
Some people began to re-examine themselves and their lives, some discovered their potential energy, and some people let go of their obsessions and regain their freedom... Murakami Haruki did not directly describe the cruelty of the earthquake and the tragic and greatness of post-earth disaster relief, nor did he face those witnesses, but stood in a somewhat alienated position, penetrated into the individual's spiritual world and real dilemma, and told the impact of major public events on the individual.
Under such aesthetic choices, the conflicts in the story are presented more subtle, but the situation of the characters is more universal, and the individual and social emotions captured are more likely to empathize with .
If the positive story of a big event is spectacular, and the emotions of emotion of emotion come more from physiological stress reactions, then jumping a certain distance and going deep into the story of individual stories mobilize more daily emotions and thinking. It is not intense, but long.
Since the outbreak, some movies that positively tell this experience have been released one after another. I have always been looking forward to someone telling stories from a more individual perspective to enrich the subject matter. In front of you, such a work seems to have appeared. It weakens the epidemic as a general background, takes people's feelings and more daily difficulties as the core, and even more extreme from the perspective - it tells the story of several women during the epidemic.
In 2020, the entire film industry once fell into a trough. Li Shaohong , Chen Chong , Zhang Aijia , three most representative female directors in the Chinese film industry chose to jointly "resuming work and production" with " There is Her in the World ".
"There is Her in the World" is to some extent a female movie. Undercurrent conflicts and generational differences in life, the daily life of young couples in calm conditions, and the balance between women's family and career in urban life...
These are all issues that women will not avoid. However, in extreme situations like the epidemic, all experiences and emotions in daily life have been amplified, and there is a more dramatic tension.
People who have experience in isolation and home must have a deep understanding. During the epidemic, they are locked up at home and get along with the people they are closest to 24 hours a day. People seem to have temporarily lost their specific social identities, and family relationships have become more important and more specific.
Everyone returns to mother, father, wife, husband, mother-in-law, son... Social roles are clear and have a sense of boundaries because of specific rules, but in the family, every self has faded its protection, and the good and the bad have become more real.
conflicts and differences are also more prominent because of this "reality". What Li Shaohong captured is the different understandings of the two generations of women in this family relationship.
Hu Di plays a typical "previous generation". She works hard and worrys about her life, and only has her son and grandson in her eyes. She is not only bad for Shen Yue, the daughter-in-law played by Zhou Xun , but she is not good for herself. Like her, what Shen Yue is most sad is not being ignored by her mother-in-law, but why can’t you care more about yourself, and me who is also a woman?
mother-in-law like Xu Di is too common. Her daughter-in-law is suspected to have COVID-19. She wants the other party to move out, not because she is afraid, but because she is afraid of spreading it to her son and grandson.
daughter-in-law felt sorry for her and made her fried rice with milk and eggs, but she had no intention of eating it, and her mind was full of her son and grandson who had not eaten hairtail. What she cares about every day is not whether her daughter-in-law is better for herself, but why is the same woman, but the other party cannot give everything to her family like her?
Similarly, a new generation of daughters-in-law and wife like Shen Yue are also very common nowadays. They love their families and their children, but at the same time they also need to find their own way of existence outside of family life. Her love is based on independence and understanding of each other, and she can give, but she cannot ignore her own feelings.
In the plain and comfortable past life, the conflict between the two generations of women was diluted in trivial details, and there must be trivial disputes, but none of them touched the principles.
The epidemic has made the conflict between ideas concentrated and severe, so that several hairpins have completely erupted the conflict between the two. Shen Yue, who was so depressed that she snatched the door and took the hairtail that her mother-in-law must give her son.
Two generations of women, one's "self" is confirmed in the relationship, the other's "self" is completely independent, and strives to find a balance in various relationships. It was not until the real life and death that the gap between the two concepts was shattered by family affection and kindness.
The female problems presented by Li Shaohong are very common. She just makes this daily problem that plagues every woman like a volcano in the extreme context.
Chen Chong told a love story of a young man in the background of the same question. The heroine Xiaolu, played by Huang Miyi, , looks like a college student, and is an ordinary girl in daily life. It was the Spring Festival that the girl returned to Beijing for the New Year and stayed with her boyfriend Zhaohua, played by Yi Yang Qianxi, in Wuhan to prepare for the IELTS exam.
Director uses documentary lens language to present the love life of this young couple. Almost all the rivalry between couples are completed through the screen of their mobile phones.
He strodes her cat, and she eats a few more bites of the food made by her grandma for him; they lie on the bed in vests, opening video all night; they are in a lively gathering of relatives and friends, but their mobile phones are a secret channel connecting each other; they imagine the future, as if the sweetness of the moment will continue... All the presentation of love is real but as illusory as a dream, vaguely suggesting the ending of the story.
Today, we are talking about the "female perspective", which is emphasizing women on the one hand, and on the other hand, we are also looking for a grand narrative and traditional way of telling stories beyond the grand narrative of heroes.
In this part of the story directed by Chen Chong, the epidemic, the helpless city and the society that is in panic are just big backgrounds. For young couples, these backgrounds seem to not exist. The clothes are dried, the takeaway is not called, and some wishes are made on their birthday... A pair of the most ordinary young people are experiencing the most extraordinary historical moment, and their love is still only placed in the most ordinary and trivial places. This is the most real way for small people to face the big era.
It can be said that director Chen Chong's story is the most contemporary in terms of form and narrative method. The male and female protagonists in the movie
are in a different place, and a large number of stories and emotional expressions are promoted through mobile videos, social software and other methods. In order to reflect the current nature, many movies will incorporate these elements into it, but they are used so naturally like Chen Chong, which accurately grasps the love status of young people and can use it to advance stories and emotions.
Finally, Xiaolu's emotional outburst was also completed against her mobile phone. Under the framework of the big thematic, Chen Chong essentially wants to talk about how a young girl faces the theme of "love and loss". The film highly condenses time and presents this process to the audience.
Director Li Shaohong said that the three directors of "There is Her in the World" were filmed in three places and at different times. There was not much communication during the process, but the perspectives everyone chose were very consistent, which was probably a tacit understanding.
The story of director Zhang Aijia takes place in Hong Kong during the epidemic. It also tells about family and love. Sammi Cheng's "Hong Kong girl" image stood up as soon as she appeared: Liang Jingsi was wearing a shirt and a mask, and was holding a large camera and squeezing among a group of men to grab the news. She is a mother of two children and a strong working woman.
What makes people feel comfortable is that the working women in the lens of Zhang Aijia do not have professional suits, brand-name bags, and ten-centimeter high heels. She is an ordinary person in daily life - she also has physical strength, and she is inevitably in a mess when she does work. Occasionally, I have to play the tricks of old-fashioned workplaces. For example, put the last dozen toilet paper on the shelf of supermarket, wait for the grandma to take it away, and record the moment of "rush to buy".
Such a woman who is strong at work is also a mess when she returns home, and she faces the most realistic questions: what to do if the toilet paper and masks are gone, who will take care of the children, is the Philippine maid reliable, and is there any need to continue her marriage?
Liang Jingsi focused on many issues of women that are currently highly concerned: second child, marriage and career, the emotional relationship between middle-aged couples, and the life difficulties of middle-aged families... These issues are naturally exposed to this family of four in Hong Kong.
Many times, when we talk about "female theme", we seem to be on the opposite side of "male". But in the story of Chang Aijia, her husband He Daren, played by , , did not make any big mistakes. He is good to his children and is well rated with his wife who is having a divorce. He just like most men, thinking that his wife should be more family-oriented than himself.
If, the story of director Li Shaohong discusses the contradiction between losing oneself and defending oneself, then Zhang Aijia's story tells how two people who are independent and have personality give up part of themselves in their family.
This special period of the epidemic will make some cracks in relationships clearer, and in the same way, it will also make people see clearly what they really care about in times of crisis. There is an easter egg in the movie
. In 2003, a couple who experienced " SARS " together are now facing an epidemic together again, and seventeen years have passed in a flash.
Seventeen years, the great changes in the times, what have we experienced? What have you lost again?
Finally, let’s talk about the actors.
The cast of "There is Her in the World" has been discussed and is a big highlight of the movie. This is another collaboration between Zhou Xun and Li Shaohong after 15 years after the 2005 " Life and Death Tribulation ". In recent years, the screen image has also entered a new stage.
Zhou Xunyan's mother is still very distinctive, a little fragile and a little stubborn. There is a scene in the movie
. She stood by the window and answered her mother's phone call. On the side was her mother who was quarreling with her just now. The phone was about her mother who cared about her. The complex emotions at that moment. Zhou Xun used a few simple lines, and forced smile and a little at a loss, which made people empathetic. This is probably talent.
The performance of Yi Yang Qianxi and Huang Miyi is actually very difficult, because the story setting in another place is set, during the actual shooting, they have almost no real rival scenes. But the two present the natural state of young people's love in a natural way. Most importantly, at the moment of watching the movie, you really believe that these are two young people who do not know the direction of life and the ending of the story. You are willing to experience this short but important life with them.
As for Sammi Cheng, her life and performance experience over the past 30 years have long classicized her personal image. As one of the representative figures of the image of "Hong Kong girl", she can act no matter how she acts. As long as she is willing to act, it's fine.
From the preparations for filming to the final release, "There is Her in the World" has been going on for more than two years. In the past two years, everyone has not been easy. In an interview with
, Zhang Aijia said that at the beginning, the planning of the movie also turned his attention to those highlights who have been widely reported in the epidemic. Of course they are all good stories, but they are so wonderful and touching that in the face of reality, sometimes the movies look pale. Instead of replicating the truth, it is better to refine the experiences and feelings of the most ordinary people and present them in an image way. It is not a story of anyone, but it also belongs to everyone.
This may be something that movies can do and should do now.
producer/Ning Li Sherry
edit/Timmy
edited/Timmy
written by/Stef
written by/Stef
