Watch the Dead: The 69th Berlin International Film Festival came to an end, Israeli director Nadav Lapid's "Synonym" won the Golden Bear for Best Film, and French director François Ozon won the "Thank God" Jury Prize.
What excites Chinese movie fans the most is that Wang Xiaoshuai's "Long Time" has won both the Best Actor and Best Actor crowns at the same time. When Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei took a group photo on the podium, it was as if the history of the film festival was repeating itself. Recalling that the last time the leading actor and actress were the best actress in Berlin at the same time, it was "45th Anniversary" in 2015, and there was "A Separation" before that.
Although the aftermath of Zhang Yimou's "One Second"'s withdrawal from the competition is still unfinished, and although Wang Quanan's "Dinosaur Egg" was ultimately unsuccessful, this Berlin Film Festival undoubtedly gave us more annual expectations for Chinese directors.
Author | Peter Pan
When the 2019 Berlin Film Festival just launched the full film list, many people shouted that this year is the big year for Chinese films in Berlin. But the reality is always changing so fast that before the discussion of retirement has subsided, the main schedule of the film festival has come to an end.
Among the films in the main competition, apart from Wang Quanan's "Dinosaur Egg" which cannot be regarded as a Chinese-language film, Zhang Yimou's "One Second" finally withdrew due to "technical reasons" when it was about to make an appearance.
As the "only seedling", "Long Time", naturally assumes the heavy responsibility of the seed contestant in the main competition area of Chinese films. It took five years since "The Intruder" in 2014, and Wang Xiaoshuai finally polished his new work "Long Time".
This is also Wang Xiaoshuai's return to Berlin's arena since "Left and Right" in 2008. Coincidentally, Berlin was also the place where Wang Xiaoshuai made his debut at the international A-category film festival for the first time with his debut film "Days of Winter and Spring".
Different from the previous films such as "Qinghong", "Seventeen-Year-Old Bicycle" and "Intruder", "Long Time" does not use a single individual as an entry point to tell a specific period.
In terms of capacity, the new work uses the experience of group portraits to bring out the ups and downs of the era that spanned three decades, spanning across North and South Korea, from the post-Cultural Revolution to the present, such an ambition must be carried in a film length of nearly three hours. At the same time, as the opening work of Wang Xiaoshuai's "Homeland Trilogy", its meteorological Hongda also has to make people look forward to the next two works. (Warning: Slight spoilers below)
The new work "Long Time" unfolds the scroll with a steady three-stage narrative. In the first section of the film, in an hour's length, it slowly prepares the lives of all the characters in the post-Cultural Revolution period. After the loss of their children, Liu Dong, Wang Liyun, his wife, and Shen Yingming's family took turns to experience family planning, "strike hard", and the wave of layoffs. The transition from the economy to the market economy, in the jumping time line, slowly introduced the audience into that era.
In the second paragraph of the narrative that follows, the film jumps directly to the Wang Liyun family, who is also called Xingxing's adopted son, who has actually suggested that the son played by Wang Yuan is just an alternate identity.
The second part takes a long time to shape the characters, compressing the influence of social driving forces in proportion, and instead focuses on the various entanglements in the characters' situations and choices. The repression of losing a child in the early years but not letting go and the derailment in the middle-aged void all show the characters' forbearance of pain in nuanced detail.
Therefore, when the film enters the third part, all the accumulated emotions have to find an outlet to release.
After years of experience, Cheng Haohao, played by Du Jiang, can finally tell the whole story of Xingxing's drowning accident. The three people who were most hurt in that accident reconciled face to face with each other, with life, and with the times. The three-hour space depicts the vicissitudes of life and the ups and downs of the world for 30 years.
When talking about individuals in the big era, many people may think of "Roma", the winner of the 2018 Golden Lion Award. In fact, the social characteristics that are more closely related to the fate of the characters in the film "Long Time" shows this personal powerlessness more vividly. Li Haiyan, played by Alia, forcibly took Wang Liyun into the flow of people because of the implementation of the family planning policy.
It also makes the reconciliation between Hao Hao and Wang Liyun's family at the end of the film more tense. In the author's opinion, this kind of emotional outlet is not a pretense of sensationalism, but a reconciliation with life. Not choosing to forget, but being able to face the trauma.
The success of characterization in the film lies in its excellent expression of human nature and the blurred area between black and white. Li Haiyan's strong execution was called by the policy. Wang Liyun's family adopted Xingxing as compensation for the loss of their son, which was also the helplessness of fate. The last resort reflected everywhere in the film is an important factor that makes these characters extremely full.
The two interacting tracks laid out in the film combine the microscopic personal destiny with the macroscopic giant wheel of the era, unfolding a 30-year historical scroll. In the unique era of Shangdu, the entanglement and ups and downs of destiny between people and society and between people all show a very magnificent atmosphere.
The individuals in the film, under the huge social impetus, all show a unique resignation in Confucian culture. It is not so much kindness and obedience as it is the helplessness manifested in the face of a high-pressure environment under the beating of life without any counterattack. It was as if after being crushed under the tumbling of the giant wheel of the times, he still got up and patted the soil on his body and continued to live.
Speaking of which, I have to say that Wang Xiaoshuai's vicious vision in casting roles, Wang Jingchun's outburst of cowardice and Yongmei's natural forbearance and submissiveness, and the capture of the details of the characters under the panning mirror make it possible in this specific time and space. The character status presented in is full of rationality.
The performance of the two actors can be said to be the pinnacle of the completion of the work, depicting the passivity of tiny individuals driven by the times in great detail. At the same time, it feeds back the grand background with extremely subtle details. Other actors such as Alia, Xu Cheng, Du Jiang, Qi Xi, Wang Yuan, etc. have performed very well.
Thirty and a half years later, the educated youths in Wang Xiaoshuai's previous works have finally moved from youth to middle age, even old age. We always say a word of encouragement: "Tomorrow will be better", but who can pat on the chest and guarantee that tomorrow will really be better? The generation that has experienced the Cultural Revolution and the decentralization of educated youth have never imagined that there will be a day when family planning, layoffs, and economic waves will sweep in the future?
Everyone in this magical era of reality has to become the wave in the torrent of the times, unable to figure out who is the master in the ebb and flow of the tide.
The end of the movie returns to the perfect reunion, not only because of the director's tenderness towards the characters in the movie, but also because of the equanimity that comes after seeing through it. The so-called lasting forever is still a circle and a circle that does not pass. When the screen falls to the end, I just think of the phrase "I hope people will last forever, and we will live together in a thousand miles".
Author | Peter Pan; Official Account | Watching Movies and Seeing Death
Editor | Teenager on the Roof; Please indicate if reprinted
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