Cover News Reporter Zhang Jie
During the Spring Festival holiday, many people went to the cinema to watch the latest Lunar New Year movies. But there are also many people who choose to rewatch a beloved art film at home, such as "Poetry" by Korean film director Lee Chang-dong.
"Poetry: Original Script"
The 66-year-old old lady Meiko lives with her grandson and usually works as a home care worker to support her family. She dresses and behaves elegantly, like a girl. The days seemed peaceful, but she found that her memory was slowly declining. Meiko participated in a local poetry lecture out of interest, and later learned that her grandson was related to a tragic incident involving a girl from the same school... "Poetry" tells the story of Meiko's life course while learning to write poetry, while facing various painful impacts, with meaningful meaning. It was well received for its poetic style and concern for reality, and won the Best Screenplay Award at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival.
"Poetry" film creation manuscript
The film "Poetry" (released in 2010) is Li Cangdong's fifth original feature film since he joined the film industry. It was rated as "the quietest but the most complete film in theme among Li Cangdong's works" and "narrative "A highly completed work" and won the Best Screenplay Award at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival. At the same time, the film has also won awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress at well-known film festivals in Korea and abroad. It is recognized as the best Korean film work in the 2010s.
Director and heroine "Miko" actor Yoon Jung-hee
The film director, screenwriter, and novelist Lee Chang-dong, who was born in Daegu, South Korea in 1954, is one of the most watched contemporary Korean creators. He started as a writer, using profound and realistic sentences to describe the painful life of ordinary people and his trust in human love; then he entered the film industry and wrote and directed 6 feature films, still focusing on the bottom of society and even the Marginal Group has been well received for his poetic style that combines pain and beauty and his strong humanistic care. He is known as the "Master of Realism". He has won many international awards and quickly became a world-class director.
After watching a good movie, there is always a desire to know more and have a deeper understanding of the story behind the movie. At the beginning of 2024, the documentary "Poetry: Original Screenplay" of the movie "Poetry" will be introduced and published by Houlang Publishing Company. This book contains rich content such as the original script written by director Li Cangdong himself, unpublished stills, multiple in-depth interviews with the director and comments from cultural celebrities. Poet Park Joon and literary critic Shin Hyung-cheol's beautiful and penetrating essays on the essence of the film, film critic Lee Dong-jin and director Lee Chang-dong's five-hour in-depth interview, and the director's interview with French poet Claude Mushar in Cannes, etc. , all fully help readers understand all aspects of the film "Poetry" and its significance to the present that has not faded to this day.
In the book, you can see the notes and sketches of Director Lee Chang-dong's initial ideas, the storyboards of the famous scenes that the director personally sketched, the stills of the scenes where the famous actor Yoon Jung-hee showed her amazing acting skills, and the director's "To Chinese Readers" specially written for the simplified Chinese version. Preface... For fans who love director Lee Cang-dong's works, this is an incomparable and precious gift. By reading this book, readers can reminisce about the aftertaste of the movie with the director; this book can also be regarded as a top master class for sharing creative experience, which is worth reading carefully, learning and understanding.
Meiko is taking a poetry class (screenshot from the movie "Poetry")
In the "Author's Words" section of the book, Li Cangdong writes that it is not common for scripts to be published in book form. Because the script is like the draft of the movie, after the movie is made, there seems to be no need to read the script carefully. However, reading the script is arguably the best way to understand some movies (perhaps most movies). "The movie is based on the script, relies on the dedication and creativity of the staff and actors behind the scenes, as well as the production and selection of the space, weather, sunshine, etc. during the shooting process. From this point of view, the movie is better than any creation. It is more fateful. It does not mean that it rushes towards the predetermined result, but that it has gone through countless accidents and finally reached the inevitable result that we cannot predict.Therefore, by reading the script after the film is completed, you can better understand how the film created its own destiny after the script was completed. "
The script writing of "Poetry" began in 2004 when teenage boys committed collective sexual violence against female junior high school students in Miryang, South Korea. "I think this incident is a question about the daily morality of our society. I personally This question is also extended to a question about the role of art such as literature and film (if film can be counted as art). This question can be said to be the essential question that I have never stopped asking myself as a writer and film director: What is the relationship between art and the pain of reality, and whether art can change reality. "Li Cangdong wrote, "If you are a reader who is interested in narrative, this movie can also be regarded as an adventure story. For Meiko, wanting to write poetry for the first time in her life was like a journey to find the Holy Grail. It was an arduous and blind adventure, and it was an adventure that cost everything and had to pass a moral test.
In addition to the screenwriter and director, all the actors and staff involved in the film are also the main factors that affect the fate of a movie. In the movie "Poetry", actor Yoon Jung-hee, who plays the protagonist Mija and brings this character to life in the movie, plays a decisive role. "What is heartbreaking is that it is speculated from some circumstances at the time that Ms. Yin Jingji had already shown early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease when filming the movie. Like the protagonist in the movie, she had already developed the disease without knowing it. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This is the terrible fate of Ms. Yoon Jung-hee, and it is also the fate of the movie "Poetry."" Li Changdong revealed in the book.
Meiko is writing poetry (screenshot from the movie "Poetry")
Although Li Cangdong considered Ms. Yin Jinghui to play the role from the beginning of the creation of the script, and Ms. Yin Jinghui herself said that she has many striking similarities with the protagonist Meiko, but In fact, the character Miko in the script was created based on interviews conducted by the director team. "Even much later, I was surprised to learn that even the name Meiko was the same as Ms. Yin Jingji's real name." Li Cangdong said.
On the occasion of the publication of "Poetry: Original Screenplay" in China, in the words "To Chinese Readers", Li Cangdong wrote, ""Poetry: Original Screenplay" was published in China, and I really enjoyed meeting Chinese movie lovers and readers. I am very happy and very grateful. I have also read many poems by great Chinese poets since I was a student and grew up in poetry. These readings inspired me to feel about literature and gave me an eye to appreciate beauty. "Poetry" "This movie tells the story of a woman who wants to write a poem for the first time in her life. She gradually understands how difficult and blind an adventure it is to write a poem, but this is not just because she has Alzheimer's disease. Sick, she gradually forgot words. She tried to find the true beauty that would allow people to write poems, but had to face the dirty and ugly reality. How to find true beauty in the filth and pain of reality? What is the meaning of this beauty? ? This is the essential question that I have been asking myself since I was a literature student. Perhaps, this is also a question for all artists: What can the art I create do to combat the absolute misfortune of the world or the evil of human nature? Should it? How to find true beauty? In this film, I pose questions to the audience, hoping that the audience can find the answer. In the film, the poet says that it is important to look carefully. I think this is not only true for writing poetry, but how to observe the world is also the way to create movies. The essence of film. Movies represent the world through the eyes of the audience. But from what perspective do the movies we create show the world to the audience? This is a question that film creators cannot avoid. I hope that Chinese readers and audiences will finish reading this book After reading the script, think with us."
(Unless otherwise noted, pictures are provided by the publisher)
