"As a straight man, how did you make "Brokeback Mountain"? This is one of the questions Ang Lee received during the dialogue of the new movie "Gemini Killer" yesterday.
Although I don’t know how many times this question has been asked in the past ten years, Ang Lee gave a serious answer:
"I have made a lot of female films. Obviously I am not a female, I think we do. Artists have some talents, use fake and descriptive methods to achieve the purpose of portraits.
"I have taken three shots of homosexuality. Maybe I am not masculine enough. Every time I pat and kill, I won’t be very popular. Depressed, it seems that the audience feels the same, and I don't know why. "
Indeed, when it comes to Ang Lee's films, we think of gentle narratives, delicate emotions, cross-cultural barriers, and empathy.
has been trying to restore the relationship between people even in the pursuit of film technology in recent years. Breathing, emotions and even feelings that are almost inaudible.
And why did Ang Lee become Ang Lee? Perhaps it is because he always defines himself as a wandering, restless, and looking for something "loser".
On October 23, 1954, in Chaozhou, Pingtung, Taiwan, Li Sheng, who was the principal of Hualien Teachers College at the time, added a new big fat boy. According to the older generations, this child is a horse, and his name is gold in sand. The passing years and the sound are long flowing water. The golden and the water regenerate, the fortune is good, but trivial and laborious.
is the fourth year that Li Sheng arrived in Taiwan at this time. This is his third child. The other children and a daughter have to Staying in his hometown of Wushimen Village, De'an County, Jiangxi Province, he also left with the title of Director Secretary of the Ministry of Education, a five-well mansion, and the "Hengyu Commercial Bank" opened in Jiujiang.
In 1954, the world was like chess and sudden. Everything changes, everyone is flying in the wind. For Li Sheng, who lives in a foreign country, the birth of this child has found a more practical focus for the Chinese people's peace of mind and the compassion of the intellectuals. Li Sheng helped his son. His name is Ann, and he is raised as the eldest son.
In an interview many years later, Ang Li explained that the name his father gave is to remember his hometown Dean, and to commemorate the ride he took when he came to Taiwan. "Yongan" freighter.
At that time, no one would have expected that this child named Li An became the most unconvincing in the family. He did not achieve the good son, good husband, and good father that his father hoped. After Ang Lee got married and had children, his father wrote and scolded him, asking him to "look like a man."
But Ang Lee, who is also the "ghost look" in his father's mouth, has become the most successful Chinese director so far. He has won three Oscars, a Golden Globe Award for Best Director, two Golden Lion Awards at the Venice Film Festival, and two Golden Bear Awards at the Berlin Film Festival. Almost every piece of his work has been enshrined in the history of world cinema.
It broke the prejudice of Hollywood directors of foreign descent that lasted for nearly a hundred years, and also broke the cultural boundaries of nationality and ethnicity.
's "Fantasy Drifting of Juvenile School" was hailed as "When the world thinks the movie is old, this A movie proves that the movie has just been invented.”
His 14th movie "Gemini Killer" will be released this weekend, after 4k and 120 frames, he also added VR technology.
His name is Li An, he said He has always been a loser.
1. An unsatisfactory son
. When he was a child, Ang Li grew up in Hualien. For Hualien, Ang Li’s memory is "very simple and very earthy."
is like many people when they were young Ang Lee’s memory of Hualien It is vague, even chaotic. He remembers that his family worships his ancestors every Chinese New Year, but he doesn't remember the ancestral worship ceremony and the subsequent bowing to his parents. The details are different. He remembered that the atmosphere was very dignified every time he ate, because his father had taught "no food, no words."
He also remembered that his father would tell them before eating, "Don't eat all the food, save some for the brothers and sisters in the mainland."
Many years later, Ang Lee concluded that in Hualien, he “received American-style free and open experimental education.” He was like a wild horse and could run freely, but his home was a typical old-fashioned Confucian environment. Once he returned to the hall, he had to Press your mind to smooth out all criss-cross thoughts and actions.
But as a child, Ang Lee will never be able to retract and unwindSewing, the younger brother Li Gang also said, "My brother was beaten more often when he was young."
's father’s expectations for the eldest son have been heavily pressed on Li Ang from the beginning. This is what he is still thinking about until now. Whenever there is any big or small affection in the family, his first reaction is, " I am the eldest son, this should be my responsibility."
is different from dad's strictness. Mom and Li Ang are "in the same group". What he is most happy about is going to the movies with his mom. Before he was ten years old, Li Ang remembered most when he watched Li Hanxiang's "Blessings of Love" with his mother. The nine-year-old Li Ang cried so much. The
incident resulted in two consequences. One is that Li Ang's worship of Li Hanxiang has continued to this day; the other is the disappointment of his father's larger tonnage. For the first time, Li Sheng said to his son, "Be like a man." He didn't expect it at the time. Since then, this has become the most common sentence he said to the eldest son in his family.
Li Ann admitted more than once, "not a qualified son." From an early age, Ang Lee did not show the mind and responsibility that his father expected. Not only could he not be "suddenly not surprised, and not angry for no reason", but even "benevolence, kindness, generosity, and commitment" would stumble. When the failed son of
reaches ten years old, Ang Lee welcomes another more failed identity in his life, a student. When
was 10 years old, the family moved to Tainan. "Teachers all speak Hokkien", and the Japanese-style education in Tainan, Ang Lee "was slapped on the second day of class because of his poor math test," and "thank you teacher after finishing the test." This made Li Ang feel that he was born out of the province again. The 10-year-old boy began to learn and he has always needed to learn to integrate.
For a student to integrate into an environment, he must first have the right to speak in his studies, and this is precisely what Li Ang, as a child of family background, feels most embarrassed. His grades are "worse than bad."
At the same time, as a failed student, Lee Ang's other strengths began to surface, singing, dancing, and calligraphy, he topped the school. But every time after school, he secretly hoped that if these could be counterproductive in his subjects, how good it would be.
Probably every genius has experienced this kind of tearing, the fight between self and others, either ends with disarming reality, or starts with Nirvana rebirth, and every genius who escapes from death, this time In the end, the struggle has become a special footnote in his hymn for onlookers to talk about, but only the person involved knows how dangerous and painful this is.
Especially after he was 16 years old, he entered Tainan No. 1 Middle School where his father was the principal. Ang Li told the media more than once, when he was in Tainan No. 1 Middle School, when he saw his father's complicated mood and his actions to avoid him from a distance, the listeners all smiled, and Li Ang smiled honestly.
, as an embellishment after success, any hardship has a grand enough reason, but the hardship of young Li An seems to be remembered for the meaning of hardship itself.
2. The tribulations followed the tribulations
Li Ang said that he has suffered two major tribulations so far, one is that he failed the college entrance examination twice. The first year is six points and the second year is one point. On the day of the second failure of the college entrance examination, Ang Lee dropped the lamp and textbook on the desk.
He said that it was "the most fierce move in his life", and its magnificence can be compared with that when he was scolded by his father for playing a girl in a drama club, he slammed the door and escaped. The second tribulation of
is that after graduating from New York University, he spent six years at home.
These six years are still a legend that everyone talks about, think about it, a big figure who later shocked the world film industry, for six full years after graduation, did laundry, cook, and take care of children at home.
Every day when his wife is about to get off work, Ang Lee and his son sit on the sofa properly, waiting for "the heroic hunter mother to bring her prey home". Is it more thrilling than a Hollywood movie?
While chatting with a friend, Li Ang talked about the six years that was praised as "squatting before the jump" and said, "If I had the integrity of a Japanese husband, I would have committed suicide by caesarean".
's wife Lin Huijia was acquainted with Li Ang when he went to Chicago to cheer for the Chinese Youth League. Lin Huijia was hailed as a strange woman in various texts about Li Ang. This Ph.D. in biology from the University of Illinois is much cooler than An Li. The eldest son of
was born. She didn't notify Ang Lee. Ang Lee later recalled: "The next day I took a plane to Illinois, and everyone in the hospital clapped with joy. It turned out that Huijia was in the middle of the night.When she went to the hospital alone, the doctor asked her if she wanted to inform her husband and relatives. She said no, and the hospital thought she was an abandoned woman.
"She felt that the amniotic fluid was broken, and she drove a car running out of gas to the hospital to have a baby. When the second son was born, she also drove me away, saying that you can't help or give birth!"
After Li Angong became famous, When I went to the vegetable market with my wife to buy groceries, some people envied "Your life is really good, my husband can still buy groceries with you." She replied, "I took the time to buy groceries with him specially today."
Even if it is as cool as Lin Huijia, she was almost collapsed by Li Ang in the past six years. She called her mother to complain, and her mother asked her to divorce and put down the phone. Lin Huijia blamed herself for "how I became such a woman".
No wonder the old father wrote and scolded Li Ang, even Li Ang himself lost his confidence and wanted to learn computer and talk about it. His wife Lin Huijia scolded him, "There are so many people who study computers, so I don't care about you Li Ang."
Perhaps, the pantothenic words "success and failure are always one step away" that many people don't believe is the main reason for most people's inaction. At least the light of this sentence reflects Li Ang.
His famous work "Pushing Hands" is dedicated to his father and his wife. At the end of the film, he wrote a special thanks to Lin Huijia. This failed son and husband finally waited for this day when they most likely could not wait.
Ang Lee’s film is hailed as breaking the boundaries between the East and the West. Experts once specifically discussed the reasons why he crossed the barriers of race and culture. The conclusion is that Ang Lee’s thinking about people is based on human nature itself, and human nature has never Never been encircled and suppressed by time and space before.
This may be just a statement from the family. When an iconic thing is included in the public's field of vision, its interpretation will always bring the entry point of looking up.
3. The movie is his way of seeking peace with his father.
is the same as the perception of British culture in "Sense and Emotion", the observation of American history in "Riding with the Devil", and the examination of Eastern culture in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Ang Lee was enlarged and frozen as a symbol.
He had to fluctuate in an increasingly grand torrent. So he said, "I can handle movies, but I can't grasp the reality. Facing the real life, I often do nothing but use dreams to relieve my frustration. My vision for movies is the root of my heart's stupidity."
In other words, Ang Lee's success lies in his direct vision of his failure.
Ang Lee’s movies have never been out of his youth shadow. He explored the gap between the two generations in "Pushing Hands", "Wedding Banquet", and "Diet Men and Women". Therefore, he named these three films the Father's Trilogy .
He timidly made peace with the world represented by his father through the film, he tried to understand, communicate, and sat down bravely in front of his father. But after all, he was the kid who had finished his crazy run in Hualien and cleaned up his clothes before entering the hall.
's awe of his father is the reason why he explores the world he doesn't know. The tall back of his father has always appeared in every of his movies. Under the cover of such a back, the grown-up Ang Lee still bears all of that little Ang Lee, and fights hard with every windmill, hope Get the approval from the father.
He said that from the beginning of "The Hulk", he came out, but this is also his unsuccessful work so far. In the face of the huge input and output pressure of the film, in the end, his father said to him, "If it doesn't work, you should come back and become a teacher." The failure of
in front of his father made Ang Lee's success. Ang Lee said, "The Fantasy Drifting of the Youth School" is like his autobiography. The parents of
in the film passed away. He had no chance to see his parents for the last time, so he could only shout at the sea, "Parents, I'm sorry you". Ang Lee also used this movie to say thanks and sorry to his father.
's father Li Sheng passed away in 2004. At the time, Li Ang was filming "Brokeback Mountain". He was notified by his father that he was critically ill. He went home overnight. At the airport, he received a call from his younger brother. He spoke to his father over the phone, but then He never heard his father speak, and never saw his father for the last time. He said he "will never forgive himself for the rest of his life."
said that Ang Lee’s movies are all about his father, which is a bit exaggerated, but every movie of Ang Lee does have a father’s breath. In "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", he listened to his father "Don’t use too much force, don’t color The advice of "too heavy" captures the unique Zen of the Chinese.
Before the filming of "Brokeback Mountain", his father encouraged him to "wait for you to be fifty years old, you should get an Oscar." He said, "Without this sentence, I might not be able to hold on", but Li Ang rarely mentioned it to others. Yes, what my father said right away was, "When the time comes, you will retire and go to teach."
In "Lust and Caution", Ang Lee, who was so true to his heart and soul, was on the verge of collapse. He met Bergman on Faroe Island and cried with his father in his arms. This man named by Ang Lee as the spiritual father saved again. Up him. Ang Lee returned to Shanghai and completed "Lust and Caution".
Ang Lee used the movie to seek peace from his father, to obtain the approval from his father that he had always dreamed of since childhood. He uses movies to communicate with his father, and also uses movies to find his father's spirit. Now he knows that his father is a result of him, but more of his reason.
cause and effect, such as the golden water cycle.
4. A "failed" stranger
Apart from the gap between the two generations, what Ang Lee has been doing in his films is to explore the commonalities of different cultures. This is the reason why his films can penetrate the natural barriers of races and finally get a worldwide response. In fact, this is what he had to do since he was a child.
Li Ang was born in Hualien, and compared to his father's wandering to Taiwan, he was born and raised. But in a larger environment, his birthplace is just one of his dependent villages. Like his father, he lives in the hometown of locals. Coupled with moving to Tainan at the age of 10, the young boy had to find his foothold in two or more cultural vortices.
When he was a teenager, he was a native of Taiwan. After graduating with a master's degree, he was a more distant foreigner to New York. For the first half of his life, he had been wandering outside his hometown.
He will always be a failed stranger. Ang Li, who couldn’t find a job, even went to the crew. The specific job was to stop the crowd during the filming. The gentleman Li Ang was pointed at the nose by an African-American woman. Block, just beat you", ran away so scared that he didn't dare to show up all afternoon.
Ang Lee’s movies have always used the traditional Chinese Confucian culture to stop people and communicate effectively. He discovered the characters carved on the stone tablets. Therefore, his movies are forbearing, just like the taboo love discussed in Brokeback Mountain, and forbearing, but also persevering like the tenacity of Confucianism. People who have worked with Ang Lee say that Ang Lee is totally two people in terms of art and personality. In front of the movie, he refuses to give up, and in normal life, he is gentle and shy.
Is there anyone who fails more than Ang Lee?
A child who grew up in patriarchy and a foreign land always has a very deep understanding of humanity and sophistication. He has to learn a lot to ensure that he is safe in the worlds he accidentally broke into. What he has to do in Tainan is actually what he has to do in New York, and is what he has been doing in his movies.
Are there any Chinese filmmakers who are more successful than Ang Lee?
His success lies in his frank meeting of his failures. He never attempts to use later successes to smear previous failures so that the writer can create a talented Buddha. He does not need to worship and has experienced rejection. The need for equality and fraternity for children who refuse and refuse is far greater than the surface meaning of these words.
Therefore, the movie is his entrance and exit. Not long ago, he talked about the "Lust and Caution" again, and he admitted, "In fact, Wang Jiazhi is very much like me, and Kwong Yumin also has my shadow, um, um...I am also a bit like Mr. Yi." laugh.
has nothing to do with anything other than making movies. "I can't contend with fate, but I stayed in the film industry with a dead face and continued to work in this industry. When the time comes, I will go forward."
He likes to drive people to a dead end in movies, just like Mr. Yi who is tight in "Lust Caution", he always makes evil worse, but his flowers of evil are always sap and shame. . In the movie, there is him in reality, as well as him in his own wishes, such as Li Mubai and the Hulk.
Li Ann always remembered that his father taught him to write calligraphy with a brush, "You have to return to the front when you write, and you have to come back when you reach the end. You have to be round to complete and beautiful." Ang Lee's life is like writing, and making movies is like writing.
