"Long Time" is a history of the exile of a Chinese working family and a history of changes in China in the past 30 years. As Wang Xiaoshuai said, Berlin has hardly changed for more than ten years, while China has turned upside down in the past 30 years. China's "change" is unique in the world. Only by looking back properly can we move forward better and stop taking the historical detours of the past.
The sixth-generation directors grew up after the reform and opening up, and have a strong sense of the changes of the times. Wang Xiaoshuai, who has experienced the exploration of pure art films and swayed between art and business, is not surprised to shoot such a work as "Long Time" at this time. Just like Jia Zhangke's "Old Man in Mountains and Rivers", Wang Xiaoshuai also set his sights on the places he was familiar with, from the 1980s to the present, showing the forbearance and strength of the bottom Chinese in the face of tragic fate.
wandering and changing
Wang Xiaoshuai was born in Shanghai in 1966. When he was two months old, he moved to Guizhou with his parents. He is a typical family supporting "third-tier" construction. When he was a teenager, Wang Xiaoshuai moved his family to Wuhan and lived a better life. He was also admitted to the Beijing Film Academy through his own efforts. After graduating, he was assigned to a remote Fujian studio, where he spent a period of indecision before finally deciding to return to Beijing to start from scratch and become an independent director.
It can be seen that Wang Xiaoshuai has been wandering since birth. Because he was fortunate enough to leave the "third-line" life early, he has close care and compassion for the people who are still struggling there. In his early works such as "Girl with a Pole Pole" and "Seventeen-Year-Old Bicycle", the little people at the bottom also showed their yearning for the big city.
The same is true in "Long Time". Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei were workers in a factory in the 1980s. After losing their eldest son due to an accident and losing their second child through forced family planning, the couple moved to Hainan, and later lived in seclusion in a fishing village in Fujian, where they raised their children. had an adopted child. After more than 20 years, they returned to their hometown again, and the past resurfaced, and everyone was responsible for the consequences of the year.
The side of the film shows a series of great changes in the times:
In the crackdown, a worker was convicted and sentenced to prison for listening to the "Voice of Extravagance" from the West;
Family planning, Wang Jingchun Yongmei and his wife lost their second child;
System reform, the wave of layoffs in factories, the hard and happy collective time of the past is gone forever;
The tide of moving to the south: Guangzhou is the first area to open up;
Real estate fever: Some people get rich because of this, and the gap between the rich and the poor quickly appears;
Going abroad fever: Some people have completely bid farewell to the past by going abroad.
Complexity and white space
The story centers on the couple played by Wang Jingchun Yongmei, and radiates to the changes of the families of the three factory children. The English film is called "Goodbye, My Son". In the film, Wang Jingchun bids farewell to his three "sons" successively - his dead biological son Liu Xing, his adopted son Liu Xing (not his real name), and another who never lived. The mysterious child who appeared. The fate of the two families is also implicated by the children.
There are many characters and scenes in the film, and the branch lines are complex, coupled with the processing of non-linear narrative - sometimes even switching to different eras in the same scene, only after seeing half of it can you fully sort out the identities and interrelationships of all characters. There are no obvious time and year hints in the film, and foreign audiences may need to understand a certain historical background to understand.
Under such a huge amount of content, Wang Xiaoshuai's expression is extremely restrained, and he made a lot of blank space, which is also the most advanced part of this film.
For example: the drowning of the eldest son, Liu Xing, was shown with only a fixed long-range lens. At the end of the hospital corridor is the blurred silhouette of Wang Jingchun and his wife crying and collapsing; It shows the tragedy of the double suppression of "natural disasters" and "man-made disasters".
Another example is that the adopted son Liu Xing ran away from home for a long time, and finally came back one day with a group of street teenagers. When his father returned home, Wang Jingchun didn't look at it. He went straight to the lathe and started working. The noise from the machine seemed to be stubbornly fighting against the playful and slapstick noises of the boys and girls outside the window, showing his father's mixed feelings.
There are many, many other similar examples. Wang Xiaoshuai is still very familiar with the creation of a sense of space and the handling of the relationship between sound and picture. In the film, "Friendship Lasts Forever" has become an important symbol of the times, and it sounds in the background from time to time.
Matching the restrained technique, the image of the couple Wang Jingchun Yongmei is also very restrained. Wang Jingchun's biggest act of venting her anger was to slam her head against the wall, while Yongmei's heart was deliberately ignored and weakened. She was like an honest person who was toyed with by the times and kept silent.
But it's a pity that the last half hour of the film was sloppy and it could be said to be unfinished. The story is too full, the emotions are too strong, and it completely shatters the concise and powerful style of the previous two and a half hours. After maintaining extreme restraint along the way, the director may still be unable to help but find an exit, showing mercy under the scissors.
Wang Jingchun's performance can be called a movie king, impeccable and completely integrated into the times. The role of Yong Mei is not much, and the silent is better than the sound, but the makeup in old age is too heavy, which makes people play. Wang Yuan's performance was unexpectedly good, not because he played a role that needs to be cool, but really good, but to be honest, there are not many scenes. The other supporting roles are also above the standard.
Many Chinese reporters said they were crying, thinking that there was hope to win the Golden Bear. Judging from the theme, layout, and word of mouth of other participating films, this is indeed very likely. It would be perfect if the last half hour was simplified.
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