At the beginning of 2023, on the honor release night of the 6th Pingyao International Film Festival, a literary film called "Night Is Coming" won three awards: Fei Mu Honor for Best Film, Movie Fan Choice Honor, and Tong Ye Honor. Director Suga Haodong came to the stage to speak, and first asked a question, "Is the bonus real?"
At that time, Suga Haodong was heavily in debt, his online loan was overdue, the money for the later stage had not been settled, and he still had countless debts of gratitude. For him, this movie was a bet that he could not turn back from.
On January 12, 2024, the movie "Night Is Coming" will be released nationwide. Less than 0.1% of the films were scheduled in theaters, and the box office was only 250,000.
Director Suga Koudong has been on this path of pursuing light from deep underground wells to theater screens for 10 years.
"Night is Coming" poster
Digging and digging for dreams 500 meters underground
"When you smell the thick smoke and loess from the coal stove, it is the familiar smell of your hometown." Haodong Suga described the place where he grew up. .
His grandfather, father, and uncle are all mining workers. There is a small coal mine in the village, which is the source of income for everyone in the village. Working in the coal mine is recognized by the whole village as a "serious job." There was a time when Suga Haodong thought that this was also his life. After graduation and entering the coal mine, if there was no accident like his uncle, he could see his whole life at a glance.
Jian Haodong liked reading and writing since he was a child. Although he majored in coal mining in college, he signed up for many clubs, including literary clubs, calligraphy associations, and art associations. One day, the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" was shown in the school auditorium. It was the first time that Suga Haodong actually watched a movie on the big screen. The poor and shining life in the distance deeply shocked the young man's heart. . Later, he also heard the inspirational story of Jia Zhangke, another director who was also from Shanxi, who took the Nortel exam for three years, became an auditor in the literature department, and became internationally famous for his independent films.
Haodong Jian found his lifelong dream.
He quit other societies and established his own film association. He attracted "artistic youths" who socialized in other societies to join the film association. He saved money to buy DVDs, tripods, and laptops, and started image creation from scratch. He filmed the youth campus novel he wrote and also filmed music videos to practice audio-visual editing.
After becoming obsessed with movies, Haodong Suga was completely unable to take the mining course exams and failed several subjects. But when I study in a coal mining school in Shanxi, it is natural to be assigned a job after graduation.
In 2013, Jian Haodong joined Wangzhuang Coal Mine of Shanxi Lu'an Group. Even a college student had to do purely physical labor on the front line. 500 meters deep underground, 12 hours a day.
"I just feel that the coal washer is going to wash away my youth, the coal surface is blackening my dreams, the loader is taking away my hope, the welding machine can't stitch up my sadness, and the sledgehammer is beating my heart. , the water pipe pressed on my arm again and again. I fell into a daze and dreamed that I was dancing lightly on the coal pile." Haodong Suga recalled his "underground" years in a short essay on Douban.
Suga Haodong, who once worked in a coal mine,
Jian Haodong's uncle died in a mining accident, and he was well aware of the dangers of the underground world. But at that time, it seemed that the greater the sense of crisis, the more restless my heart felt the urge to create and express. Jian Haodong later recalled that without the support of dreams, it would be difficult for him to persevere, "Opening a road under the mine, every time I dig forward, every step forward, I know that I am closer to my goal."
He was at that time Every day I face a face blackened by coal, thinking that I look exactly like Andy, the protagonist of "The Shawshank Redemption" - apart from the black face, their greater similarity is that they have hope. During the one year and three months he worked in the coal mine, he worked hard without complaint and refused to accept the dirty work assigned to him. He knew in his heart that he would not stay here for long and had only one purpose here - to save money to make movies.
Even though he was so tired that he just wanted to sleep after taking a bath in the well every day, he still found time to write scripts. At the beginning of 2015, Jian Haodong left the coal mine with the 50,000 yuan he had saved, returned to his hometown, gathered his partners, and started filming his first movie, "Light Blindness," a story about blind people in rural mining areas.
"Light Blindness" poster
This experience was made into a documentary "Little People's Big Movie" by CCTV that year. In the movie, the young man with dreams in a coal mine searches for a path closer to his inner faith in a pious and clumsy way. The process is both passionate and somewhat embarrassing and sad. For example, the family's incomprehension, the fact that they were all out of place in the village and the mine, and the limited conditions of the "Grass Team" were all tied up in filming operations.
At the end of the documentary, "Light Blindness" was shortlisted for a niche film festival, and Haodong Suga left for Beijing to continue pursuing his dream. Now, six or seven years have passed since his next movie.
Screenshot of "Little People's Big Movie"
I did a job I liked, but it was only enough for food and clothing
The days in Beijing were a different kind of life.
Jian Haodong became a "film and television migrant worker". In Beijing, he met a group of friends who had also graduated and had just arrived in Beijing, and formed a small team. Some of them were photographers, others were producers, and Haodong Suga started recording. It happened that there was an online movie to start shooting, and Haodong Suga and his friends received the first job. "The members of the team are also very responsible and cooperate well. In addition, our labor is not expensive. If people have future films, they will come to us again, and we will continue to receive some shooting opportunities."
2015 to 2020 In the past five years, Haodong Suga worked with the crew in Beijing and filmed more than ten movies, mainly online movies, and also worked on small-budget art films with young directors. He works as a sound engineer, and sometimes also works as a documentary director and assistant director. "When I was with the group, I kept a very calm mind. I was just a staff member, completing my own job."
During this process, Haodong Suga was also on hand to watch how the director directs the play and how to follow it. Collaborating with actors "is a good way to learn. During those years, I not only mastered the recording technology, but also saw how so many movies started from the words on the script and were shot step by step."
During those days, Suga Haodong lived a fulfilling life. Now that I no longer work in the coal mine, my physical fatigue has been reduced a lot. Apart from shooting on the set, I have free time the rest of the time, so I can have a lot of time to write scripts. "It really opened the door to creation." He wrote three scripts during those days. Living close to his colleagues, he could often read scripts and give each other advice. During the process, he found that everyone's standards had improved.
"Night is Coming" The money earned by recording
at work is far less than what he can earn in the coal mine. Haodong Jian recalled, "When I was in the coal mine, although I only worked for one year, we got bonuses every quarter, as well as half-year bonuses and full-year bonuses. I felt quite rich when I left. When I came to Beijing, I like this job very much, but the income is barely enough for you to pay the rent and have enough to eat. After eating this meal, you may not be able to live tomorrow, and you have to find another job to pay the rent next month. "Like most Beipiao, his life has been struggling with food and clothing. "I never thought I could save extra money, let alone save it to make movies."
At that time, it was the time for Chinese movies In the booming years, the industry was booming, box office records were broken repeatedly, and more and more film festivals and venture capital platforms introduced a large number of newcomers to the industry. Many young directors were able to make feature films after graduation, winning major awards or setting records. It was a blockbuster success at the box office. But no matter how many opportunities there are in the industry, they seem to have nothing to do with Haodong Suga.
His script has also been shortlisted by some of the venture capital firms, and there are hundreds of thousands of projects. To reach the 20th and 10th is already a long and difficult process. You have to make a ppt presentation, deal with the judges' comments, and only a handful of them can finally get the bonus. After several rounds of venture capital, Haodong Suga found that even if he could win an award, the amount of more than 100,000 yuan given to the creators who were working off-duty would barely solve their survival problems and would be of little help in making movies. He also had the opportunity to contact some investors and found that others were more interested in finding projects with commercial potential. He also tried to change the direction of his script, but ultimately wanted to stay true to his own feelings and expressions of life.
"Night Is Coming" stills
"I don't pay much attention to this part of the film market. Although I will see it, I won't study it. I think it may belong to the production level. It is also necessary to study the market clearly. It takes a lot of time. I still focus on myself, what stories to tell and what scripts to write." Suga Haodong said that he thinks clearly, "You can't copy other people's experiences, and my experience is something that others don't have."
How many means of transportation have I changed to return to my hometown where I "buried myself"
"Night is Coming" records a journey back home. During the epidemic, Liang Zhe, a young man from Beidiao, traveled back home because of his grandfather's death. The transportation changed from buses to trucks, to motorcycles. The cars became smaller and smaller, and the words of the people traveling with him became louder and louder. There are fewer, but the bond is actually getting deeper and deeper every time.
This is the real transfer route that Suga Haodong himself takes every time he returns home, and the feeling of being out of place and at a loss when a wandering wanderer returns to his hometown is also his true feeling.
Stills from "Night Is Coming"
Therefore, in the movie, the audience can see the boundless enthusiasm and offense of the folks in the countryside, the helplessness and estrangement between brothers who are gradually drifting away, and the relationship between first lovers who were still trying to talk to each other. Ambiguity and unwillingness, the body-close but relatively wordless silence and concern of his father who had just lost his father... On Liang Zhe's journey home, every encounter explains to the audience what a place that cannot be returned is called hometown. In the
movie, the male protagonist, who is over thirty, has a blocked career, and is unmarried, is in the same situation as the creator. After his grandfather passed away, Haodong Jian remembered that the ride home on the bus was as long as ever.
Stills of "Night is Coming"
The starting point when writing the script came from the touch of every small emotional detail in life. For example, his luggage was thrown out by the landlord, or he was questioned in the car on the way back to his hometown. These are all his actual life experiences. "In terms of creation, I wanted to find a changing form to carry various feelings about life, so I decided to use the form of a road movie, through changes in transportation, to substitute various emotional relationships inside."
Each type of transportation corresponds to It is also a natural process to express different emotions. Suga said, "What affects people is nothing more than these emotional experiences, which interact with others and then reflect on themselves. And every time I go home during the New Year, the collision of these three emotions It will appear all the time, so I just put it in naturally."
On the way back home, from Hequ County to the village, there are many shadows of film masters in the brushwork and rhetoric. Some people see the sixth generation in it, and some people see it in it. Later, he gave the evaluation of "Shanxi Abbas". Haodong Suga also wanted to pay tribute to his favorite director Ceylon, but more intuition may come from the accumulation of a lot of watching movies, "When actually filming, you don't care at all. If you don’t want to pay tribute to or imitate a certain director, you have too many things to solve at that time.”
Film scholar Dai Jinhua commented on the film, “It has a clear positioning as an art film, but it is not deliberately To find the external form that a certain art film should have. To reveal oneself very truly, and at the same time to capture the real situation, what everyone has personally experienced and lived with."
The male and female protagonists are all professional actors. The actor's father also worked in a coal mine, and the actress also came from a rural background. Suga Haodong said: "They are all people with a background in life. Their experience is different from those who have studied in this system of institutions from high school to undergraduate and directly engaged in the (actor) profession. It is also closer to me. ."
Stills of "Night Is Coming"
As the end credits scroll, you can see a large list of "Jian" family names. The director used various relatives and acquaintances in the village to help act in the movie. In addition to my mother, who is also a producer, and the father who plays the role in the film, "The grandfather on the minibus handing the apple is my grandfather, the person gossiping behind is my aunt, and the pregnant woman with a big belly getting off the bus is my cousin. The truck driver pulling the coal was my cousin and the truck also belonged to him."
Although these non-professional actors cannot understand what Suga is doing in making movies, many of them are already "veteran actors" in front of the director's camera. When Suga started making short films 10 years ago, he returned every New Year. Everyone wants to take photos of them. "Over the past 10 years, we have established a very important tacit understanding. They were very natural in this filming and the cooperation went very smoothly. They were fearless in front of the camera and their performances were very natural. "
Haodong Jian used the method of making movies in his hometown
to give himself an explanation
In an online post-screening exchange with Paragon Cinema audiences, some viewers suggested that many people always have a happy and warm part when they return to their hometown. , returning home in "Night Is Coming" seemed so depressing and depressing.
Suga Haodong told reporters in the interview that indeed for many years before, every time he went home, he really felt so "mourning". "Especially after the At the age of 30, life, career or marriage are all in trouble, and there is nothing. When my grandfather was alive, the most regrettable thing was that he did not see me get married and start a business. My father is busy with my grandpa’s funeral affairs, and I can’t seem to do anything to help him share the burden." In addition, from looking for investment before the movie was started, to owing a lot of money after filming, "You go home all the way and experience that kind of China. It feels uncomfortable to go home during the Chinese New Year without a penny in your pocket, and everything is quite confusing. "
All this anger turned into a desperate move towards the movie, "As a creator, what I can do is to write this script, make this movie, and help people like Liang Zhe who are confused and want to find a The destination or the situation that is the answer, I use the way of making a movie to give myself an explanation. "
Liang Zhe in the movie "The Night Is Coming"
experienced all kinds of dissatisfaction, and Fa Xiao, who was resentful of himself, blurted out, "I may not leave this time. "In reality, Haodong Suga has never been moved by this feeling, "I am a determined person. I have never thought about going back for so many years. Liang Zhe has my shadow in him, but it is not entirely me. This meaningful swing is exactly what I want to convey in my film. "
Suga Haodong wrote in a recent article, "In the eyes of optimistic people, what you see is hope. In the hearts of sad people, despair always lingers. "He used the words of Meursault in Camus' "The Outsider" as the title of this article - "I know there is no place for me in this world, but why do you judge my soul?"
Last year, "Night is Coming" Pingyao After receiving the call, Jian Haodong's father's first reaction was that it was a scam and he hung up. The news soon spread to his hometown, and some villagers said to Jian Haodong's mother, "How can there be a prize of 1 million? It must be fake." Yes, it's a liar. "
Pingyao Award-winning
Pingyao After the bonus was paid, Jian Haodong paid off all his debts. "I breathed a sigh of relief," and returned to the village, Jian Haodong said, "Finally, I don't have to carry so much anxiety. The people who lent me money, the friends and seniors who invested money, at least gave them an explanation, and I did not disappoint these people who believed in me. "
After becoming famous at the Pingyao Film Festival founded by Shanxi director Jia Zhangke, another Shanxi director Ning Hao's "Bad Monkey 72 Project" also threw an hydrangea to Suga Haodong and gave him a story about Shanxi coal mines.
The sincere Haodong Suga would also ask worriedly when he saw Ning Hao, "The films made by the director before were quite commercial. I make literary films. You have also seen my movies. Are you sure you want to sign a literary film?" Director? "Ning Hao's answer to him was that if a literary film can be done well, it also has commercial value.
After finishing the release of "Night Is Coming", Suga Haodong will start the creation of the next one. "I have this aspect. No one is more familiar with life in a coal mine than me, and I have the confidence to do it well. "
