On the evening of December 9th, after the premiere of the movie "People Caught by Light", Liu Cixin even said with excitement that science fiction works, from a profound perspective, every little spectacle can bring to society Great changes, but some science fiction works often only focus on creating spectacles and ignore the changes it brings to social life and people's hearts. "The Man Caught by Light" vividly and profoundly demonstrates its impact on society through a pure sci-fi setting. It opens up a new perspective and a new perspective for sci-fi movies.
"The Man Caught by Light" is Dong Runnian's first self-written and directed feature film. Before that, as a movie screenwriter, the name Dong Runnian may not be well-known to most people, but when it comes to movies written by him, almost everyone knows-"Old Paoer", "Cooking Actress", "Heart Flower" "Lu Fang" and "Crazy Aliens"...... After cooperating with many excellent directors in successful commercial films, Dong Runnian's first feature film did not choose the route of completely commercialized typified narrative, but went on At the critical point of self-expression and communication with the audience, this can be seen from the actors he chose, Huang Bo, Wang Luodan, Tan Zhuo, Bai Ke, Wen Qi...These have both movie quality and market appeal. The actor exposed his ambition to pursue the balance between authorship and audience aesthetics.
Simply put, "The Man Caught by Light" is a "science fiction + love" movie. The movie tells the story of a peculiar light descending on the earth to envelop the city. Some people are captured by the light. Rumor has it that these disappeared people are in love with each other, and the people who remain have to explore the truth and face self-emotional scrutiny. However, when many people expected or judged this movie under the label of "sci-fi", the narrative of the movie quickly turned into realism. Director Huang Jianxin of
said that the innovation of this film provides more possibilities for Chinese films. Director Cao Baoping believes that the success of the film in the market, in a sense, means whether the maturity of the Chinese film market has taken another step forward.
When some people focus more on the sci-fi background of where the people who have been captured have gone, Dong Runnian said that those people who were captured by the light are actually just an introduction to the story, and he wants the audience more The concern is how the lives of those who stayed in reality continue.
In the movie's preset, the people who stayed seem to be the ones abandoned by love. Here, light seems to be the final judgment of love. In the face of this light, each of them had doubts about their love and the other person in love. Do we really love each other? Does he or she still love me? This series of doubts disrupted everyone's daily life order and inner emotional order.
So, what is love? This old but classic question was thrown out. For this question, Dong Runnian used a sentence he saw when he was reading quantum mechanics in the movie-love is a quantum entangled state, two Regardless of the distance of the individual, it is actually related to a certain super-space time and space, and it is emotion that connects people together.
But whether everyone's love is established, whether happiness is true or not, whether it really comes from the feedback given by the other party and the judgment given by the outside world, this is the topic Dong Runnian wants to discuss with the audience. In his view, love is complicated. Not only is the other party complicated, but we are also complicated. But more often, people are unwilling to admit and face this fact. Although he did not expose this point of view to the audience naked in the movie, he hides his thoughts through the emotional relationships of the four pairs of characters in the movie. In the
movie, the light test is unexpectedly cruel, everyone's life has deviated from the usual rituals, and even a little unsustainable. But in the end, these emotions seem to have returned to the original point in a reconciled way. And this point of origin is no longer the point of origin before the light happened. In this painful process of moving back from hundreds of turns, people’s emotions have been sublimated, and they have a deeper understanding of each other and themselves. The understanding of love is also more serious. Some people learn to accept, some people learn to let go, and all people learn to face their own hearts.
Faces his own heart, Dong Runnian wants mostThe subject of expression. He believes that it is actually the most difficult thing to truly see oneself emotionally, face oneself, accept oneself, and be loyal to oneself. In this fast-running society, everyone is like a spinning top that can't stop, let alone sinking to face their own hearts. The impetuosity of the human heart comes from this, the distrust of the society comes from this, and the inconsistency caused by the lack of security when dealing with oneself also comes from this.
So, those who stay in the light are really the ones abandoned by love? Is there really no love between them? The premise of this rationality, I am afraid, lies in people's clear understanding of themselves and the courage to face them. Therefore, it is not the light that executes the final judgment, but each person himself. Perhaps it is because of this consideration that Dong Runnian did not make a judgment of "existence is reasonable" in the film. Those who have watched the movie will find that all the topics raised by the movie are open-ended, and the only outlet is whether you have really tried a journey to face your heart, even if you are only watching the movie.
Dong Runnian's creation is extremely brave. When most people in life are indulging in love that is whitewashed and beautified, he is using this movie to accompany the audience to break the love myths that have been repeatedly molded, and face the most simple and authentic nature of love. Many viewers who have watched movies also said that such love movies are very scarce and valuable today. Movies can reshape the seemingly plain and trivial daily life, presenting a true and sacred texture, and returning to the face. The original intention for love and self-face, believes more in pure love in the world, is more determined about the love of my choice, and has a deeper insight into my inner world.
Does the ultimate meaning of this movie just stop at the discussion of love? This may not be the case. After urging the audience to examine and recognize the self in love, Dong Runnian tried to bring the scope of discussion deeper into the hearts of the people.
In this sense, the reason why movies have always been gently wrapped in the topic of love may be precisely because love is the gentlest and smoothest way to enter the inner world of people. What Dong Runnian wants to do is actually use love as a medium to explore and touch people's inner world.
So, what is the meaning of using science fiction? This is to answer what science fiction is. Everyone has a different answer to this question, but it is almost possible to reach a consensus that, on some levels, science fiction is a presupposition of a certain kind of premise that has not yet occurred or cannot happen. The premises it presupposes, just like those shown in movies, will surely bring a profound impact on people's internal and external order. But is this true in real life? Every now and the next moment, unknowable possibilities and uncertainties are being staged. And for every concrete and micro life, every change caused by these impossibility is a magnificent wave.
The rationality and comfort implied in the rituals of everyone's life are actually relative and fragile. Just like the light in a movie, any slight external change is enough to leverage this inertial imbalance. In the face of every difficulty in life, what will happen if you seek outward, what will happen if you look inside yourself? The hypothesis of life and the hypothesis of science fiction are essentially the same in different ways. The spectacle created by science fiction is to use an external force based on hypothesis to break this fragile balance, in order to examine everyone's inner world, and put forward harsh tortures on human nature. In this sense, human life is a science fiction story full of wonders, and science fiction itself is also an external mechanism and a preview of life.
Light is not a judge, each person is his own inner judge. Although the film is always tenderly wrapped in love, the director's ambition to explore the deeper parts of human nature is still clearly visible. In this movie, love is the medium and science fiction is the means. The phrase "love is the heroism in ordinary life" on the movie poster is true, but in the director's philosophy, the heroism in life does not stop here?
"Caught away by light" is an emotional metaphor
Liu Yang: The first feature film was a "science fiction + love" story. What was the original idea?
Dong Runnian: Actually, this choice started from the subject matter. Making this movie was originally influenced by a few science fiction novels that I particularly like. In addition, when I was reading quantum mechanics, I saw a saying that love is a kind of quantum entangled state. Regardless of the distance between two people, it actually has some kind of super-space time and space.It is the emotion that connects people together. I think this concept is actually quite interesting.
I was inspired by a science fiction novel. Some people on the earth were taken away for some reason. I thought, if they were taken away, would these people love each other? So if I actually loved this person, but this person didn't love me, he fell in love with another person, and the two of them were taken away, what kind of emotion would I be?
This is actually the prototype of the story of "The Man Caught by Light". But I don’t want to make it a hard science fiction, so that the audience pays attention to what is taking people away, and does not care about the emotion itself. Later, I thought of implementing it in the form of "light", which is very abstract. Yes, but "light" has an intuitive relationship with love and human nature. So there is the "People Caught by Light" that everyone sees now.
Liu Yang: After watching the movie, some viewers will have questions about whether the people who were caught by the light were in love, and whether those who stayed behind were really unloved.
Dong Runnian: Actually, I didn't give an answer in this story, because this is indeed something that cannot be verified, and it is completely impossible to prove it with science. As for whether there is love between the protagonists, it is considered love, I think it depends on what the audience thinks. I hope to leave more possibilities for the audience to experience and imagine.
Liu Yang: After watching the whole movie, you will find that you take the audience to pay attention not to those who were captured by the light, but those who stayed.
Dong Runnian: Yes, in fact, what I want to shoot is how the lives of the people who stayed continue. The so-called people who were captured by the light are not really important. They are just an introduction to the commotion and change of all of us.
is actually more of an emotional metaphor for me being caught by the light. Just like a person’s life, there may be many emotional experiences, but not every one of them can accompany you all the time. For example, your first love, you thought you loved him so much at first, and you imagined that you would spend your life with him countless times, but After a long time, he may not be in contact with him for the rest of his life. From this perspective, this person has completely disappeared from your life, which is no different from the so-called being taken away by light. When you will no longer intersect with his life, your space has actually been separated from different dimensions.
I think everyone can only pay attention to the life around you, and you can't do anything about what is lost or what is lost. This is the starting point when I wanted to make this story. I just used an extreme form here to show this metaphor directly. In essence, I want to trigger people to think about what they should believe in and what they should doubt.
I have heard a sentence, and I find it particularly interesting, that is, your world view or what your world is made of is made up of everything you believe in. What you believe in, what your world is like. If you believe in love, there may be love in this world. Of course, this involves your beliefs. This is actually a torture of people's subjective ideas, not your judgment of the external world.
Everyone must be truly loyal to themselves
Liu Yang: In this presupposition, what do you most want to discuss with the audience?
Dong Runnian: I want to discuss with the audience that emotion is extremely complicated, and it cannot be regulated by kindness or right or wrong. I think everyone must be truly loyal to themselves. It is actually the hardest thing to truly see yourself emotionally, face yourself, accept yourself, and be loyal to yourself. Several lines of this story are all about how you face yourself. You have to see yourself clearly and then admit that you are like this. I think most people don't admit to themselves enough in their lives, let alone be loyal to themselves.
I think the process of this movie is basically a process of "seeing a mountain is a mountain, seeing a mountain is not a mountain, seeing a mountain is a mountain". Like Huang Bo’s line, after such a painful test, it seems that life has returned to a starting point, but in fact everything is different. The couple still seems to be living in daily life, but they have achieved a qualitative leap. The understanding and trust between them have been sublimated.
I think the most important thing in life is how you face yourself. In fact, the whole life of a person is to get along with yourself. When you are with different people, you are actually mirroring different yourself. This is included in love relationships. In fact, many times you want to find the self that makes you most comfortable and willing to face. When two people get along, As long as you can present the truest self, then you must be the safest and most comfortable, and you are willing to be with this person, even if he is not the most beautiful, his temper is not the best He may have such problems, but you are the most real when you are with him. This relationship is an unbreakable relationship, which is called a soul mate. The less grooming two people face each other, the closer the two souls will be. I think this story is such a metaphor. In a relationship, people discover who they really are. I think this is what I want to express the most.
Liu Yang: There are indeed many viewers who have a self-organizing feeling after watching the movie. Some viewers say that this kind of love story is very scarce today. Its presentation of daily life makes love return to the simplest essence. I also make myself more loyal to my heart and confirm my love.
Dong Runnian: So in this story, I actually did some warming treatment. At first, we had a version that best reflected my original intention, which was to make a more alienated observation. The author did not hold a too strong attitude of intervention. We were just looking at a period of life to see how these people have experienced. The joys, sorrows, sorrows, and joys, how did they realize their own salvation or self-destruction from here? But then I found out that the audience might be afraid of love or marriage after reading this story. This is not my original intention. I just want everyone to face something real and not to be beautified or simplified by too much. Affected and blinded by his love.
I want to tell everyone that love is actually very complicated. Not only is the partner very complicated, but you are also very complicated, but sometimes you don’t admit it. Later, I discovered that I can actually make the movie a little warmer, so that the audience can see more hope, and the emotional things we have strengthened, and the empathy that can be generated by the audience is stronger.
Looking for a balance between self-expression and communication with the audience
Liu Yang: How is the relationship between the four pairs of characters in the movie determined?
Dong Runnian: Before writing this story, I thought about a lot of various emotional relationships, and finally selected the four pairs that are representative emotions that I want to explore.
is the line of Huang Bo, which is actually the most ordinary happy family in life. Will they not encounter emotional crisis? When this crisis arises, how do you deal with it and how to confirm whether this happiness is real happiness or is based on some kind of illusion and lies.
Wang Luodan's line actually tells a story about "put down". This story started with "I don't love him", but finally admitted that "I love him" actually. The so-called "let down" means that I can admit my true feelings and thoughts. The line of
Baike actually meant to say that there is no real love between a pair of people who look bad? This is actually quite moving to me. Some people may be bad in every way, but we can't deny the matter of love. He may still have very pure love.
The line of young people is the simplest kind of love, that is, you love desperately. In the end, no matter what others say, you are the first to realize yourself. I think young people are like this now, something he recognizes. He doesn't care what others say. I think this is the most emotional emotion.
Liu Yang: For such a film, what is the goal you want to pursue in terms of the balance between authorship and commerciality?
Dong Runnian: Always looking for a balance. I faced many choices in front of this movie. At first, I thought about a very literary and literary style, just like the style of Yang Dechang's movie. Later we edited a very smooth and commercial version. Up to the present version, I think it is the most acceptable balance between self-expression and communication with the audience. The audience can basically understand, and I have basically expressed what I want to express. The purpose of
is to stimulate a little bit of people's thinking about their current emotions. Our current society is very impetuous, and we ourselves are very busy. We have rarely stopped to take a deep breath, or even have time to look carefully in the mirror. This film just wants to observe ourselves through those groups of characters, what kind of person I am, what kind of environment I am in now, and we are not willing to have such a big test by the opportunity of light. Then you can improve yourself, but at least you can think about it while watching a movieThink about how to live better in the future.
I’m making this film and I’m not pursuing that all audiences will like this movie. Of course, I hope more people can see it. Of course it’s better if more people like it. But even if you don’t like it, I hope you can clearly Know why you don’t like it. I did not presuppose my view of love in the movie. I just showed some views. You can disagree with some of the views here, or agree with some of them. As long as it stimulates your thinking, you will definitely think. What is your opinion of love, and what is your opinion of the people around you? I hope it will allow you to re-examine yourself and how you get along with the people around you.
Liu Yang: What do you think is the biggest difference between being a screenwriter and being a director?
Dong Runnian: As a screenwriter, in the front-end development period, whether you work with the director or wait for the director to intervene, you have to establish the blueprint of the basic text. But for the director, the establishment of the basic text is only the first step. Directors have to deal with various types of work, which is actually very different from the work of screenwriters. Compared with the work of screenwriters, the workload of directors on communication is very large.
Liu Yang: Will you continue to direct your own movies?
Dong Runnian: Certainly. But I also want to maintain my role as a screenwriter and continue to work with other directors. When you have a suitable idea, you can continue to shoot yourself.
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