With the success of the movie "I'm Not the God of Medicine", Ning Hao, one of the producers, once again occupied the public's attention.
Ning Hao, known as the "ghost director", has directed many excellent movies such as "Crazy Stone", "Crazy Racing", "No Man's Land", etc., each of which is a good word of mouth price. The film that
will introduce today is "Incense", a college graduation work written and directed by Ning Hao in 2003. It is also his second director work after "Thursday and Wednesday" during his student days. The film
won the Best Picture Award at the 4th Tokyo Filmex International Film Festival, and laid a solid foundation for Ning Hao's subsequent film career.
"Incense"丨2003
Director / Screenwriter: Ning Hao
Starring: Li Qiang
Due to the lack of investment, Ning Hao had to use a fully amateur cast, even if the entire filming crew is only 8 people. Even the shooting equipment for
is a handheld DV borrowed from a friend. The entire shooting and production cost is less than 40,000. The story of
takes place in a small village in Shanxi Province-Nanxiaozhai Village.
There is a small temple in this small village that kills sheep for a living. One day the Buddha statue in the temple fell into disrepair.
In order to repair the Buddha statue, the only monk in the temple embarked on a bumpy fundraising journey.
He came to the Religious Department and hoped to get funding for the construction, but the head of the Religious Department said that he had no money and could not help this matter. He asked the monk to find Xiao An from the Cultural Relics Department. Said to build a church.
In desperation, the monk had no choice but to come to the cultural relics department, who knows Xiao An from the cultural relics department refused as soon as he heard his intention, saying that this matter was not in their charge. However, Xiao An had an idea and said that their main task this year is to recycle old window frames, so the monk might as well go back and find if there is any window frame that can be recycled. In desperation, the monk found his cousin in the development gallery to see if there was a good way. However, his cousin persuaded him to work with him. The monk who believed in Buddhism certainly refused. His cousin had to give the ragged monk a little money to help him live. In order to raise money, the monk removed the window frame of the temple after he went back and came to the Cultural Relics Department again. Xiaoan said that the window frame should be from Ming and Qing Dynasties and could be worth about 2,000 yuan. The IOU asked him to come back to get the money in the next year. The monk, who was waiting to collect the incense money for repairing the Buddha statue, had to borrow money from the brother, but the brother also said that he had no money. The brother also advised the monk not to stay in the ruined temple, it is better to come to his own temple to buy shares, the monk refused, saying that he still wants to build the temple. Later, the monk wanted to ask his cousin for help, but was told that his cousin had run away because of the pornography in the hair salon. At this time, the monk saw that someone was begging, so he planned to raise money through alms. The monk came to the city to almsgiving with his "benefits". After walking through the small town, he finally got 1,350 yuan. However, at this time, the police suspected that the monk was involved in fraud and took him to the police station.
The monk and three young ladies were locked up in a room. The monk sighed bitterly that this is the cause and effect of time. The ladies sounded a little thoughtful. In order to accumulate virtue, they offered them money for the monk to repair the Buddha statue, but the monk refused, saying this Inappropriate. Soon after the police station found out the monk's identity, he was released. However, because the state banned monk alms, the public security confiscated all his money for alms. The penniless monk came to the street and was stopped by a young man. The young man gave money to the monk to pretend to be a fortune teller to match him with his girlfriend. Monk
was inspired. After buying a fortune-telling book, he set up a fortune teller on the street, but he didn’t want the income of fortune-telling and was finally robbed by a group of gangsters.
Feeling melancholy, the monk has no choice but to go home. On the way home, he met a tricycle driver. The Buddhist driver wanted to ask the monk to treat his neighbour's wife who had been paralyzed for many years. The monk agreed. When he came to the neighbor's house, he took out the small Buddha statue that he bought on the street for 12 yuan, saying that it was a magical instrument opened by Master Wutaishan and could help their home. Finally, the monk sold the small Buddha statue for 3,000 yuan, and finally raised enough money to repair the Buddha statue.
After a while, after the Buddha statue was repaired, the monk held a consecration ceremony in the temple. Unexpectedly, the monk was told by the highway bureau that the small temple happened to be on the roadbed of the road to be built in the village.It will be torn down after the year, and he also said that the window frame that the monk sent to the cultural relics department was not an ancient relic and asked him to take it back. Seeing the big "demolition" on the wall and the sound of "Amitabha Buddha" lingering in his ears, the monk was in a daze. One of the highlights of the
film is the use of Shanxi dialect throughout the whole process, which not only has strong local characteristics, but also makes the film more realistic. The monk in the
film is not the image of a monk who has no desires and desires in the traditional impression. Although he has faith in the Buddha, he does not strictly abide by the Buddhist precepts. Instead, he is a little bit stained by the society on the bumpy road to Buddha statues. The land has been alienated and deteriorated, and finally lost the original heart.
The film has a strong realistic irony. While exaggerating the beautiful atmosphere of social progress, the film also shows the various twists and turns experienced by the monk for 3,000 Buddha statues and many ugly human natures. The strong contrast not only reveals that the little people make a living. The values gradually distorted and alienated by the secular also reveal the difficult life of the people at the bottom.
Although the film only tells a short story, the various things that happened in the story make people feel a lot after watching it.
I have to say that when Ning Hao was in college, he dared to make such realism-themed movies. It is indeed worthy of admiration. This is destined to be a "mortal". The video is introduced here, and in the end, it is strongly recommended that fans and friends can find the video for their taste.
