On January 12, "Night Is Coming" directed by Haodong Suga will be released in major theaters. This film was dubbed the "dark horse of the year" by the industry after its debut at the film festival. The theaters were also full of audiences, gathering many movie fans.
One person and one dog are returning home. When they meet their old friends again in their hometown, they suddenly look back and realize that they are already strangers. This is the story told in "Night Is Coming."
Liang Zhe, who had been away from home for many years, dragged his suitcase with one wheel off back to his hometown in Shanxi in order to attend his grandfather's funeral. But the journey home was far longer than he imagined. On the way, he changed to four modes of transportation, met elders and old classmates whom he had not seen for many years, reunited with his first love, and even picked up a stray puppy. Finally, I sat on the back of the motorcycle driven by my father and drove along the rugged mountain road toward home.
"Night Is Coming" is Director Suga's first feature film. It won the Fei Mu Honor for Best Film, the Movie Fan Choice Honor, and the Tongye Honor at the 6th Pingyao International Film Festival. Director Suga Koudong won the The Most Attracted Director Award in the "Focus on the Future" section of the 13th Beijing International Film Festival, the Best Director of the 10th Chongqing Youth Film Festival, etc.
What you can’t go back to is your hometown.
This is not the first movie about hometown that Director Suga has made. Nine years ago, he invested the money he raised from coal mining for 15 months into the creation of the movie "Light Blindness". It tells the story of a blind man named Guangfu in his hometown. At the end of the film, Guangfu discovers that his hometown has disappeared. Like "Night is Coming", it also tells a story about "a sense of belonging to hometown".
Director Jian believes that people in this life, whether they are in their thirties or in their twilight years, are looking for their hometown and their own destination. This is a very important theme.
This disappearing "sense of hometown belonging" is not fictional or imaginary, but based on Guangfu and Sugao's own real-life experiences and personal feelings.
The four modes of transportation that Liang Zhe took on his way home in "Night is Coming" were all used by director Suga Koudong on his way home. As the means of transportation become smaller and smaller, Liang Zhe encounters fewer and fewer people, the road he travels on becomes narrower and narrower, he gets closer and closer to home, and the sky becomes darker and darker. Director Suga perfectly combines the story, characters and vehicles, giving a road movie a lot of warmth and human touch.
Director Jian himself also said that this is a movie for himself at the age of 30. Many scenes in the film come from life, the projection of real emotional experiences. The dilemma Liang Zhe encountered in the film is precisely The dilemma faced by the 30-year-old. He hopes that when everyone sees the characters in this film, they will think of everyone they meet and even see their own reflections, rather than virtual characters from another world on the movie screen.
There are still details that can be seen
Director Haodong Suga incorporated his own real-life experience when conceiving the script. When implementing the shooting, he also integrated the customs and customs of Shanxi into it, making the film stained with dust and smoke. Let the audience get closer to the movie, take on the role and resonate with the emotions.
Most of the supporting characters in the movie are close friends from Director Suga's hometown. Even in the minibus scene, whether they were the driver, the passengers, or even the car, they all traveled on that road in reality.
The film contains a large number of Shanxi dialects. In order to better present the role, the actor Zuo Fei, who plays Liang Zhe's first love and the film's heroine Li Haipeng, worked hard to learn the authentic dialect with the locals one week before filming started. In order to make the role more three-dimensional, She also deliberately learned to cut and wash her hair. She joked that because she was a novice, the entire crew did not dare to be a practice model.
In the scene in the barber shop, the two actors' tacit interpretations and the director's handling of details vividly displayed the ambiguity, regret and temptation of a first love reunited after a long separation. The pink, hazy door curtain serves as a foreground cover, with warm low-brightness lights. Li Haipeng's fingers are intertwined in Liang Zhe's hair. The distance between the two gradually gets closer. Suddenly, a "Mom" breaks all the atmosphere and separates the two. Bring the audience back to reality.In order to achieve better results, the director shot this scene in many takes. Liang Ji might have washed his head until it was numb, Zuo Fei joked.
Liang Ji plays the male protagonist Liang Zhe in the film. His mature acting skills and design details and movements allow the audience to see a real man in his thirties who cannot stand up and can't find his destination. Moreover, his role in the film The emotions revealed can easily resonate and move the audience.
Liang Ji said that because he is the same age as Liang Zhe, he has also encountered the problems Liang Zhe encountered, and he also grew up in Shanxi, so during the acting process, it is particularly easy to empathize with the character and integrate into the plot.
In order to present the character's sense of abjection and frustration to the audience more intuitively, Liang Ji continued to immerse himself in a state of decadence outside the play, growing a beard and never taking care of his appearance. He revealed that because he was taking the photo without makeup, in order to maintain his condition and appearance, he never took a shower, washed his face, or even washed his hands before changing scenes.
In addition to the actors being "covered in dust", Director Suga added Shanxi's "fireworks" to the plot. In the scene of digging a grave, the fire attracted the attention of many movie fans. Director Jian explained that this is Shanxi's custom of making a fire. When someone dies, a pile of coals will be lit next to the grave. . Of course, in the context of winter and dark nights, "sparks" also represent a symbol of warmth and hope.
