China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Shen Jiequn
In 2012, Jin Yucheng’s first novel "Flowers" was born. At the end of 2023, the TV series "Flowers" directed by Wong Kar-wai will be launched. When writer Jin Yucheng met Wong Kar-wai for the first time, he asked: "Director, you are famous for working slowly and carefully. Can you be successful in ten years?" Wong Kar-wai said: "I will try my best."
In the past ten years, they Just like Abao in "Flowers", he "crosses the river by feeling for the stones."
On December 27, the TV series "Flowers" was launched on cctv8 prime time, exclusively broadcast on Tencent Video, and will be broadcast on Dragon TV and Jiangsu Satellite TV on January 2. The play is adapted from writer Jin Yucheng's "Five One Project" and the Mao Dun Literary Award-winning novel of the same name. It is produced and directed by Wong Kar-wai and stars Hu Ge, Ma Yili, Tang Yan and Xin Zhilei.
The story of "Flowers" focuses on Shanghai during the period of great changes in the times. It is intertwined with the narrative around A Bao and shows the ups and downs of the young people in Shanghai's high-profile business world in the early 1990s.
Stills from "Flowers". Photo courtesy of the show
In the 1990s, Shanghai was full of opportunities and hopes. Huanghe Road was the center of the business world. This road was only 755 meters long. It could make people famous or bankrupt.
Abao has become a rising star in the business world through his own hard work. He opened his company in the Peace Hotel and led a fleet of ships to sail across the sea. A mysterious car accident forced him to re-examine the relationship between the people around him and himself.
Stills from "Flowers". Photo courtesy of the show
The transformation of ordinary Po into Mr. Bao is inseparable from the help of the master uncle, Reiko, the owner of Night Tokyo, and Miss Wang of the foreign trade building. As the mysterious woman Li Li lands on Huanghe Road, a fashionable restaurant is about to stir up the whole street. Mr. Bao's career will also become turbulent and shocking. His relationship with the people around him will undergo unprecedented tests. At the same time, the powerful boss of the Shenzhen stock market will give Abao a fatal blow at any time. Only by moving forward and climbing over the mountains with a pure heart can Abao reach the place where the flowers are everywhere.
"Flowers" has not only style, gimmicks, and signs, but also human faces, human feelings, and scenes.
Regarding the three women around A Bao, Hu Ge, who plays A Bao, described them this way: partner Lingzi, good partner Miss Wang, and the mysterious "enemy and friend" Li Li.
In an old alley in Shanghai, Abao and Lingzi jointly run a local restaurant "Night Tokyo" on Jinxian Road. They are partners who know the time and move forward side by side. Hu Ge described: "Lingzi and Abao are like Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie. Sun Wukong is Lingzi, who has great supernatural powers and can overcome obstacles ahead."
Stills of "Flowers". Photo courtesy of the show
Abao rode the wind of the times and became President Bao by relying on "foreign trade with his right hand and stocks with his left hand." The foreign trade company he founded was anchored at No. 27 on the Bund, and Miss Wang was an employee here. In the play, her relationship with Abao is like the minute hand and the second hand, moving hand in hand in the torrent of time.
Stills from "Flowers". Photo courtesy of the show
The mysterious Li Li are like "familiar strangers" to each other. Hu Ge said that Mr. Bao and Li Li were familiar strangers. When they first met, they "seemed to see shadows of their own past in each other."
Jin Yucheng's explanation of the title of "Flowers" is: "Flowers are like little flowers with strong vitality. They are like small lights flashing on the tree. This one lights up and that one goes dark. This is the smell." "Flowers" What is depicted is a series of interesting anecdotes, which carry the memory of Shanghai's sometimes dark and sometimes glorious city.
The core of "Flowers" begins with people but does not end with them. The contemporary nature behind the portraits of the characters has always been the creative theme of the play. In order to accurately present the sense of the times behind the story, director Wong Kar-wai has repeatedly refined the script, casting, costumes, lighting effects, etc. The crew has carried out several years of preparation work, striving to bring the audience into the 20th century. In the atmosphere of the era of Shanghai's customs, customs and rapid economic development in the 1990s.
The original work of "Flowers" has a total of 31 chapters. There is no coherent story. The surface is about men and women eating and drinking, but the inside is about Shanghai years and the changes of the times.
Jin Yucheng said that he was moved by Wong Kar-wai's words: "He said that what you wrote was about my brother and sister." Jin Yucheng said that if an original work is given to a director, and he makes a thing, it will be a new life.
Wong Kar-wai believes that words have the advantage of words, and images have the advantages of images. For the drama, the most ups and downs and the most representative character should be Po. What makes A Bao become President Bao and become a trend-setter of the times overnight is not reflected in the book. The original work "doesn't sound", and the TV series can "fill in" and complement each other. "We don't have the ability to restore the complete "Flowers", but we will definitely give you a Shanghai Abao that you can't see in the original work."
"This series is just a piece of the cake." Wong Kar-wai hopes everyone will read it The original work, watch "Flowers" with "Flowers". Everyone has his own "Flowers" in his heart.
"Flowers" tells the story between 1992 and 1993. Wong Kar-wai said: "Thirty years have passed, and I hope everyone's 2024 will be as beautiful, with blooming flowers, and a happy New Year."
Source: China Youth Daily Client
