At the beginning of 2024, the TV series " Blossoms " exploded in popularity, followed by "Horse" and "人世". The ratings, click-through rates and topicality were all astonishing. It should be an interesting topic to compare these national dramas.
found Mr. Chen Danqing and asked him to have a written discussion. He is a TV series watcher. He binge-watched more than 2,000 episodes of domestic TV series in New York. Moreover, Chen Danqing is an authentic Shanghainese who grew up in a lane. The hot topics of "Flowers" are inseparable from Shanghai and Shanghainese dialect.
At the Shanghai Film Festival, Chen Danqing once had a conversation with Wong Kar-wai. Now he has forgotten what he said. He only remembers the newspaper headline the next day: "Chen Danqing: Wong Kar-wai is like a gangster." "Probably because he was afraid of embarrassing me, he invited me to have a late-night snack afterward." Chen Danqing said of Wong Kar-wai, "He is as attentive as a Shanghainese. He doesn't talk too much and doesn't bother to talk."
Chen Danqing (right) and Wong Kar-wai (left) in the third Dialogue at the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival. Visual China
"Shanghai and Shanghainese have finally entered a large-scale narrative"
Southern Weekend: Shanghai in the films of the Republic of China, Shanghai in the early films of New China, Shanghai in Hong Kong film and television dramas, which ones can you blurt out? Why?
Chen Danqing: During the Republic of China: " Street Angel ", "The Crow and the Sparrow", " Long Live Mrs. ". "The Wanderings of San Mao" takes photos from the end of the Republic of China to the liberation of Shanghai, with Yangko dancing and carnival on the street, which seems to be a documentary shot.
In 1947, in the movie "Long Live the Wife" written by Zhang Ailing and directed by Sang Hu, the heroine sent the hero on a plane. Data map
The revolutionary movies of the Republic are all loved by us children. Speaking of Shanghai, I remember " Female Barber " starring Wang Danfeng. The movie that is Shanghai's most famous film is "Sentinels Under the Neon Lights", which focuses on "The Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road".
In the 1960s, "Pity the World's Parents" was shown in Hong Kong in the Mainland. I was in elementary school and had never seen it. I heard adults say every day: "Bring a handkerchief, you are going to cry!" In the 1980s, "Shanghai Beach" was released, but I have not seen it.
Shanghai filmmakers during the Republic of China semi-consciously constructed "urban cinema". In the 1950s and 1960s, movies fully entered the rural theme, looking back at the two classics of the "old society", "Lin's Shop" and "Early Spring in February", which are also rural stories. After 1949, the left-wing stars stayed and the "urban film" line went to Hong Kong. In the future, Hong Kong movies will enter a golden age, all with urban themes.
Mainland films and TV shows can’t talk about urban themes so far. The Beijing stories one after another cannot be considered "urban themes", but rather the style of old Beijing and the capital. Although there are ordinary people and young people of the new era, they are still period dramas: "Desire", "Enjoyed", "Love You Without Negotiation" ...
Back then, "The Hairdresser" was very popular. In addition to its revolutionary theme, it was hard to find a film with an urban feel and a sense of comedy. Old audiences could once again take a look at Wang Danfeng with permed hair. Tianma Studio also produced a movie " Today I'm Resting " starring Zhong Xinghuo, but the "city" in the film does not seem to be Shanghai. Xie Jin is an authentic Shanghai director. His representative works are "Red Detachment of Women" and "Stage Sisters". He has nothing to do with Shanghai. The "Wrangler" and "Furong Town" filmed after his comeback still have nothing to do with Shanghai. His "The Last Noble" cannot be called an urban movie.
A still from the 1962 movie "The Hairdresser". After the data map
, " Legend of the Sea " hired Jia Zhangke. The year before last, " Love Myth " was finally an urban movie directed by Shao Yihui, a Shanxi girl born in the 1990s. There was Truffaut in Paris, Fellini in Rome, and Woody Allen in New York. Shanghai is the cradle of Chinese film. A hundred years have passed, and there is no Woody Allen in Shanghai.
Southern Weekend: How do you feel about "Flowers", which is considered to have shaped Shanghai?
Chen Danqing: To follow my previous words, Shanghai has produced too few movies in the past thirty years.There are some TV series, such as "The Debt" and "The War of Seizing Children", which are about Shanghai's urban life and have dialogues in Shanghainese. They are great. I watched "Qianqiu" (which means "crying violently" in Shanghainese), but now it has been completely forgotten, or rather , you can’t get out of Shanghai, no matter how well you shoot, you can’t create the Beijing narrative and the Northeast narrative that cover the whole country.
Netizens recently dug out the 1990s Shanghai-language film "Stock Madness" and watched the clips. It was very aggressive and was forgotten by the audience. It was not an urban movie. Maybe I haven’t watched enough, but except for “The Myth of Love” from the year before last (I loved it so much), I don’t remember any Shanghai-themed movies. Therefore, it makes sense that "Flowers" is popular. Over the years, Shanghai and Shanghainese have finally entered a large-scale narrative.
Stills from the 1994 movie "Stock Madness". Data map
The unexpected one is: director Wong Kar-wai. I guess that long before the novel "Flowers", he had dreamed of filming a return to Shanghai. When the novel was published, he intuitively felt that the opportunity had come. This matter has a profound meaning: Shanghai is waiting for him.
People now say that he is from Shanghai. What does that mean? He left before he was ten years old, and Hong Kong really shaped the director. In modern history, Shanghai and Hong Kong are a "tale of two cities". At present, the audience says that "Flowers" was filmed like Hong Kong. In my opinion, it has a deeper meaning.
I am a fan of TV series. Not to mention, I watched last year's "In the World", which made me cry, and last year's "Hurry", which made me feel prosperous. Okay, this year "Flowers" is coming, what should I do: Compared with the previous two dramas, it is a strange species. It can be said, but it is difficult to say.
Southern Weekend: Do you think "Flowers" is very Shanghainese? Which Shanghai?
Chen Danqing: At first, I felt the same as many viewers: it looked like Hong Kong, but not so much like Shanghai (the first episode was too noisy and Wong Kar-Wai tried too hard). As I continued watching, the problem came: it didn’t look like Shanghai. Like where? Is this true in Hong Kong?
is very fast. Like it or not, it appeared on your mobile phone. But I fell more and more into it. After watching it, I went back and re-watched several episodes. These days, I watched the "Flowers" clip. As long as those actors appear, I still watch it. I can’t remember a show that gave me this kind of misplaced appeal.
I appreciate Wong Kar-Wai, his coolness, his personal style that can be amazed by Quentin, and his indescribable gloominess when he grasps the relationship between men and women. Behind his various expressions, he remains "silent". Now that "Flowers" is so popular, is it "popular"?
My taste is the realism of Hou Hsiao-hsien and Jia Zhangke, not Wong Kar-Wai. Why did you fall in this time? All I can say is that my memory of Shanghai—not the visual Shanghai, nor the Shanghai of any particular era—was suddenly touched.
I believe that Wong Kar-wai poured his ambition into "Flowers", which is both a period drama and an urban drama. The two-way interpretation of A Tale of Two Cities is both an extra and an opportunity for him: of course he is a Hong Kong director, but in his heart he will say to all the Shanghainese on the street, "I am also a Shanghainese."
Director Wong Kar-wai (second from right) and the actors of "Flowers" during filming. Data map
By the way, in 1977, just after the movement and policies were loosened, there were Shanghai families queuing up at the police station to apply to go to Hong Kong (there was no exit agency at that time). I saw them waiting timidly and firmly, avoiding the eyes of passers-by. In three years, Chinese people will be allowed to leave for Europe and the United States (Chen Yifei left in 1980), and Shanghainese with relatives in Hong Kong are ready to make the move.
In 1987, I went to Hong Kong for the first time. At several neighboring tables in a restaurant, I heard the long-lost old-school Shanghai dialect: the pronunciation of Suzhou and the local gang. That generation left and took the old Shanghai dialect with them.
""Flowers" has only one protagonist: Shanghainese"
Southern Weekend: What kind of Shanghai do you remember? Your Shanghai memories must include and are not limited to movies. What are some?
Chen Danqing: It should be said that my perception is different from that of Shanghai residents.
Sixteen years of my Shanghai memories are memories of residents and children, and the rest are memories of Shanghai after traveling to other places and foreign countries (actually, they are complexes). At this level, I am similar to Wong Kar-Wai.
No art can touch people's memory like film and television. No matter what memory.Why do you care whether "Flowers" looks like Shanghai or not? You asked me about "Shanghai in memory", yes, it is "memory" - what the post-1990s generation saw in "Flowers" is also Shanghai's own memory.
A downtown scene in Shanghai from the movie "Stock Maniac". Information picture
When Hu Ge stood over and got that slap (I saw it a hundred times in the alley when I was a child), when two men and two women quarreled in Tokyo that night (it was a classic Mozart quartet), when You Benchang wore that Mao suit (I still long for it) Prepare a Chinese tunic suit), when the protagonist speaks Shanghainese (I feel ecstasy listening to it), in short, my intensive Shanghai complex - after waiting for fifty years in movies and TV - finally found an outlet.
Regarding the Shanghai version of "Flowers", Mao Jian's long article is so wonderful, with high positioning and accurate judgments. I hope that in the future, mainland TV series and even movies will all be in local dialects with subtitles - the 1960s movie classic "Catching the Young Man" would be unimaginable without the Sichuan dialect. I know it's impossible to dialectize films and TV shows, but please look at the current Shanghainese version of "Flowers."
What a pity. The most common swear words in Shanghai dialect cannot appear - "Cina", "Lao egg", "A Wu egg", "Lulu Bie"... Those are not vulgar words, but words in Shanghai dialect (just like the dialects of various provinces and cities) Prepositions, connectives, modal particles, without these words, people cannot speak completely, it is like there is no salt in the broth.
Except for You Benchang and Fan Zhiyi, the other young Shanghainese actors in "Flowers" all speak the changed Shanghainese dialect. Shi Yihong's scenes are quite authentic. Many housewives had the same tone when they were children. It was called "嗲里里" in Shanghainese, but he was not artificial at all, worldly and polite, and he was polite even when there was an argument, and did not change his appearance.
To be honest, Shanghainese has been disliked by outsiders for too long. Will Shanghainese, which has been absent from movies and TV for a long time, still be disliked by outsiders this time? For me, "Flowers" has only one protagonist: Shanghainese.
Southern Weekend: The story of "Flowers" has several parts: the Peace Hotel suite, the private room from Yellow River Road to Zhenyuan, Reiko's Night Tokyo, and Fan Zhiyi's factory area. Which part do you think is more relevant to your personal memory?
Chen Danqing: I can’t write a drama review, I can only talk about my personal feelings.
Apart from Fan Zhiyi’s factory area which looks quite similar, I have no memory of the plot of “Flowers”. It was not until the end of last year that I walked into the Peace Hotel for the first time and peed in the old-fashioned stone toilet. At that time, we could not enter the Western-style buildings that are now open to the public. Nowadays, most of these western-style buildings have been developed into high-end hotels, restaurants and bars. In the past, they had no idea what was inside, and there were soldiers standing at the door.
I went to Maoming North Road Primary School, and I knew Jinxian Road very well. In the small gang bathhouse at the east end, there was a close friend of mine: Ah Hua, who forked poles to hang clothes for guests. Later I found out that he was Wu Sibao's disciple - I wrote in "Superfluous Materials" "I wrote about him in "He died a few years ago - it was completely demolished in the 1990s and is now a high-end community.
In "Flowers", the buildings on the Bund in Shanghai under the sunset. Data map
I don't care about the scenes in "Flowers", I am watching a play, watching a drama. We have never been to countless places in British and American dramas, and we still watch it to death.
Southern Weekend: Among the three main female characters, Mr. Bao and Uncle Ye, who touches you more?
Chen Danqing: touches me. It's not the plot (I don't care much about it and can't figure out the plot), but those faces. When they speak Shanghainese one after another, I empathize with them all the time (if they play Mandarin characters, in the I think there is only three points of charm left).
As I said before, the scenes that moved me the most were "Slap in the face" and "Xunxiang scolding" (Shanghai dialect means "slap on the ear" and "quarrel"). As the saying goes, making the vulgar become elegant and making the elegant become vulgar, "Flowers" is a bizarre combination of elegance and vulgarity.
Mr. Bao is so handsome and cute. He is a typical Shanghai version of an honest kid, well-behaved, cool, a little naughty, cuter, and more honest, so he doesn't look like "Mr. Bao". Even if his acting skills are perfect, he still can't match his appearance. It doesn't matter, neither Gregory Peck nor Zhao Dan resemble their characters. As long as Hu Ge is dressed, he can move there.
Hu Ge in "Flowers".Data picture
You Benchang is so handsome, so mature and charming. Now in Shanghai and all provinces, "Uncle" is a "jewel in the ocean". When we were young, there were countless elders like this with old voices, as Mu Xin wrote in "Once Upon a Time Slow": Say one sentence, just one sentence. He saw Mr. Bao put on a suit (I don’t know how many shots were taken), and that kind of sadness was like the understanding of each other that can only be seen in A Tale of Two Cities.
I was so sad when I saw the young You Benchang (so sexy) on my mobile phone.
The uncle played by Yu Benchang in "Flowers". Information map
Ma Yili and Tang Yan are like neighbors, classmates, and sisters. Their acting skills and charms highlight each other in contrast. Every class in elementary school and middle school has a cheery Miss Wang, and every alley has a fierce and warm Reiko.
I tend to reject Li Li, who is too pretentious and too superficial. The charming restaurant owner is not this kind of charming. If it was Wong Kar-wai who created the character, it shows that he understands the shallowness of the audience. Later, Li Li's early story was released, and I gradually accepted it. An actor is both a character and "the person" at the same time. An honest person pretending to be a ruthless character is also a spectacle.
Li Li played by Xin Zhilei. Information picture
In the trailer, they (she) were all reluctant to finish "Flowers". Actors will never get the chance to perform happily once or twice in their lives.
I like Xuezhi, the conductor on Route 13. It looks better than on the stage. Fortunately she's not very good at acting. That story touched the fragile memory of my generation. Not only on Route 13, several of the popular bus ticket beauties are now old ladies. When I was in middle school, I had a beautiful girl who went to Hong Kong in 1977.
Du Juan plays Xuezhi (right). Data map
Yes, in those days, there were only two cities in the "world view" of Shanghainese: besides Shanghai, or Hong Kong.
When I was young, I knew a nurse girl. She went to Hong Kong to work alone in the 1980s and helped her three younger sisters go to Japan, Australia, and the United States. It was so touching - "Flowers" responded to the misunderstandings of outsiders about Shanghainese on a large scale: Little man, naughty sister, coward, self-beautiful, threshold spirit...Zhou Libo has already hit back hard. "Flowers" truly unfolds the fierce and tough side of Shanghainese, Jiangsu and Zhejiang people. Mr. Fan from Hangzhou and Mr. Ma from Zhuji are 100% Zhejiang people.
What’s interesting is that the few outsiders who speak Mandarin in the play suddenly appear weak, marginal, and out of touch with the play, successfully flipping the discourse field in film and television.
My memories of Shanghai are all the work of ordinary citizens, with provocations, curses, insults, and violence happening every second in the alleys. At this time, the feminine nature of the southerners understands the scriptures, can understand it clearly, compares their hearts to their own, and "doesn't ring", then it is full and full of tension.
I rewatched the quarrel in Tokyo at night five times. The Shanghai alleys in my memory were filled with this kind of grand scene every day, even every morning, afternoon and evening. A few days later they were eating, laughing and wandering on the street together again. Is it still available? If there were no dialects and quarrels - everyone was full of talents - would life still be life?
The quarrel scene in "Flowers". Data chart
Compare "Flowers", "The World" and "The World"
Southern Weekend: "Flowers", "The World" and "The World", what scores can you get for these three works? What content and formal elements make you like, prefer, or dislike it? What are your preferences for the actors and their performances?
Chen Danqing: "The Human World" is not as noisy as Tokyo Night, but I like "The Human World". I watched another episode on a plane last month, and I still couldn't help but cry. The real filming of that era was half a star. I will be vulnerable. I also like "Hurry Up". It turns out that this is how the gangsters got rich and then were shot. After watching it, I just watched the short videos in which Zhang Songwen appeared.
Zhang Songwen plays Gao Qiqiang in "Hurry". Data map
However, the audience has long been familiar with the paradigm of mainland dramas. "In the World" and "Hurry" jumped out. First, there are few good dramas, second, the story is good, and third, the filming is good.
But what drama does "Flowers" compare to in mainland China? "The Debt" and "The War for the Son" are still mainland dramas, very Shanghai-based but not limited to Shanghai. "Flowers" has been criticized for being too "Hong Kong". People who are familiar with Hong Kong film and television will refer to previous Hong Kong dramas. Maybe, but even watching Wong Kar-Wai's movies, "Flowers" is an unfamiliar job for him.
I say "work" because every artist has his or her own password, which cannot be changed and does not need to be changed. However, new themes and new fields give him the opportunity to come up with new effects and new charm. Wong Kar-Wai is still "not loud", he is restrained enough and confident enough. Of course he cares about the market, but his thinking and approach are different from those of mainland directors.
He is a person who traveled far away and did this strange thing for Shanghai and mainland film and television.
Southern Weekend: "Flowers" of course not only contains Shanghai, but also the memories of the times and the fireworks of the world. However, it seems that compared with "In the World" and "Hurry Up", its degree of social realism and human nature will be much lower. Is it unfair to ask Wong Kar-Wai from this angle?
Chen Danqing: The story can be read, and if it is acted by live people, I will laugh and cry. My level of excitement is very low, and my requirements are even lower.
"The Human World" is a shallow realism in the style of a comic strip. You can also check out Northeastern stories such as "The Long Season" and "Moses on the Plains". Just talking about "social reality", dramas from the 1990s can scare you to death.
is strange. "Flowers" has a lot of refreshing realism and texture. I'm not talking about plot and characters, that's a matter of opinion. Roughly speaking, this is a reality that has long been scarce in mainland film and television. The premise comes from Shanghai narrative (including Shanghai dialect), from a "place" that has no chance to be expressed on a large scale (including Shanghai dialect), and a concept that has been conceptualized by national audiences for a long time. But I don’t understand the “place” (including Shanghainese).
It is said that there has been a small trend of foreigners learning Shanghainese recently. But I guess the Mandarin version of "Flowers" can still have an inexplicable appeal, because local audiences finally turned away from decades of northern narratives and took a major TV series about Shanghai seriously for the first time.
Shanghai life scenes in "Flowers". Why does the data map
need to be rated? I am a long-time fan of mainland dramas, so I can compare. How to say
, "In the World" is the latest version of Huge Northern Film and Television, and "Crazy" is the latest version of dozens of anti-corruption dramas. If you have to give a score, the difference lies in the quality of the script and director. Of course, I also looked at the actors, Lei Jiayin from "In the World" and Zhang Songwen from "Hurry", I remember them.
Lei Jiayin plays Zhou Bingkun, the elder of the Zhou family, in "The World". Data map
I don’t want to belittle these two dramas at all. My memory of Shanghai is actually not as “wandering” as the plots of the 1970s and the reform era. The main plot of the film and television version of "Flowers" is to get rich. I don't understand anything about the stock market, but I was touched by "Flowers" probably because of Shanghai.
But I used to be from Shanghai, so I have to be restrained when talking about "Flowers" and don't offend people. After a long time, how many foreign viewers really like "Flowers"?
Southern Weekend: "Flowers", "Shanghai" and "Shanghai Dialect" are both popular at the same time. The popularity of "In the World" and "Hurry" has little to do with the region, and they have not driven much of the buzz in Northeast and Guangdong. What touched you more about the latter two dramas? Fireworks? Gao Qiqiang lives in the vegetable market, while Zhou Bingkun lives in a shanty town.
Chen Danqing: The Northeast fever has long passed. Just talk about Zhao Benshan. For the past ten years, hundreds of millions of people have been eagerly waiting for him in the Spring Festival Gala. In the past forty years of film and television, audiences in the northern and southern provinces have long been "Beijingized" and "Northeastized". I watched more than 2,000 episodes of TV series in New York, and 70 times out of 10 they were Northern themed.
The heat in Guangdong passed earlier. When doing business in the 1980s, anyone who spoke Cantonese was considered a Hong Konger. When a girl marries to Hong Kong, the neighboring villages will be so envious. But the film and television production in Guangdong is indeed limited. Where is the team of "Cyclone"? no.
Shanghai is too superior, too important, and has too many historical open secrets to be publicized. Shanghainese people know their interests and collectively "keep silent". That's another topic, let's leave it aside for now - is "Flowers" really that "popular"? I still have to ask.
I love watching "Human World", it is very simple, there is the "Cultural Revolution", there are educated youth, there are stupid poets, and there are ordinary people. The life in the shanty towns was quite similar, but the other parts were completely different, but my requirements were very low. The most touching thing was that the whole family finally got together and slept on the bed, turning their heads this way and that and chatting. Those were the poor days in the collective memory of our generation. Looking at the light of the light bulb made me sad, even though I was from the south and had never slept on a kang.
My father died the next day, and my mother followed him. It didn’t matter, just watch it as a TV series.
I love watching "Kurst" first (because) like Zhang Songwen. He has appeared a few times in other online dramas. He is very good at acting and charming enough. This time, the brothers also acted well. I like the story in the muddy pond, watching how the grassroots gritted their teeth and fluttered, feeling extremely happy and sad. "Hurry Up" is moving outside the strings, as all living beings are clearly filled with poison and pain, yet they are also lawless.
Wong Kar-wai's "Hard Strength"
Southern Weekend: Return to the "Tale of Two Cities" issue. Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love" has a shadow of Shanghai, and "Flowers" has a shadow of Hong Kong. In your mind, what is the relationship between Shanghai and Hong Kong?
Chen Danqing: Needless to say Hong Kong. Tianjin and Wuhan are also large docks, and their modern architecture is similar to that of Shanghai. But modern Shanghai is an international city in a complete sense. How can mainland cities compare with the international financial system alone? Hong Kong and Shanghai are genuine immigration cities. I believe that many of the audiences attracted by "Flowers" are foreigners who have immigrated to Shanghai.
The imprint of the two cities in Wong Kar-wai's works is so natural. You can't imagine that he is Cantonese. Guangzhou is the cradle of the national revolution and reform and opening up, not the cradle of movies.
Southern Weekend: The unique urban feel and petty bourgeoisie sentiment of Wong Kar-wai's works has made many directors admire him. Is it only him who can capture it, or does it only come from these two cities that have such an urban feel?
Chen Danqing: What is "petty bourgeoisie"? flirt? Drink coffee? Named "Charlie"? That is a critical term in a special era. It is not only derogatory, but can even be used as an indictment. Since the reform, "petty bourgeoisie" has become a sweet and sour word of envy and affirmation.
"In the Mood for Love", the cramped conditions and words of several families in the small corridor, the men and women stayed up all night in order to avoid suspicion and did nothing. What does this have to do with "petty bourgeoisie"? To say that Wong Kar Wai can capture an urban feel is also a general statement. His film aesthetic is profound. He is a Hong Konger. You want him to film "The World"? Filming "Rush"?
This is a human problem, not a city issue. Wang Shuo and Feng Xiaogang were born to photograph the "ferocious animals" in Beijing. Xin Shuang and Ban Yu from the Northeast were born to photograph their parents being laid off. The same goes for Wong Kar-wai. It has nothing to do with whether they are petty bourgeoisie or not.
In the TV series "Flowers", Mr. Bao and Ms. Wang spend the New Year together. Data map
Southern Weekend: Which of Wong Kar-Wai’s films do you admire the most and which parts of them do you admire the most? Rembrandt-style lighting, period music, the unrequited love? Do you like the Wong Kar-wai style sentence structure?
Chen Danqing: As I said before, I prefer straightforward realism, not highly recognizable stylization. The strange thing is (I have to use the word "strange" several times), in Wong Kar-wai's "Sentence Structure", I got the realistic effect of many fragments, forgetting his style, and suddenly the Shanghainese in the play found me out of town. After all this time, I am still a Shanghainese.
For example, the scene where Mr. Zhuji shows off at the dinner table in Shanghai, the scene where they fall out and cooperate again in Zhuji, the scene where the shrew lover leads the crowd to Zhizhen Garden to cause havoc... are all familiar tricks seen in Shanghai. Commentators like to exaggerate Wong Kar-wai's "Rembrandt's use of light", but what I see is his ruthlessness, and this time it's even more "pinch" (the Shanghainese pronunciation of "pinch" is "ka", which means "ruthless" ).
Audiences usually care about what happens to Po and the three women. I don't worry about that when watching the drama. I just like to hear the flavor of the words. There is a scene where Po Reiko goes to a suburban town to eat a bowl of noodles and cross a stone bridge with an umbrella... It's quite touching, not because of the plot, but because on a rainy day, she seems to be talking about things, seems to be in love, but also seems to be neither... in the end What does it mean? So interesting.
Lingzi played by Ma Yili.Information map
Ms. Wang rushed to Zhuji to save the scene. Seeing that A Bao was safe, she hugged her tightly and cried. A Bao slapped her on her behalf. She hugged her tightly again and cried. Didn't you ask "the reality of human nature"? This is like love. Abao said to Lingzi: "I still owe you a word." Lingzi immediately blocked it: "Stop talking!" (Must speak Shanghainese) "In the World" and "Hurry" do not have such simple and refreshing dialogues. No need to talk too much. I like the refreshing atmosphere of "Flowers", that's why.
As for what happened to them (her) later, "What's the matter?" (Shanghai dialect: What does it have to do with you)
Some people say that Wong Kar-wai is not suitable for filming. Not to mention, "Succession" and "The Crown", which lasted for several seasons, are all extended movies. Whether it's a drama or a movie, if it's poorly made, it's nothing, but it's so serious when it comes to making it. I think Wong Kar-wai is very lucky to have such a lot of fun in his later years. He made extended movies.
Stills from the second season of the American drama "Succession". Information picture
"No one has ever written about the feeling of Shanghai, she wrote it"
Southern Weekend: Why haven't you watched "Shanghai Beach"?
Chen Danqing: I was in New York at that time, homesick, and only watched mainland movies.
Southern Weekend: In his later years, Mu Xin was obsessed with the lack of "gang society" in "Shanghai Fu". There are two major sections of "Black Whirlpool" and "Green and Red Gang" in the manuscript. In the memory of Shanghai movies, gangsters are an important part, "Flowers" The business war part is also close to this approach. What do you think?
Chen Danqing: Mu Xin wrote "Shanghai Fu" in the 1980s. He heard that the mainland was talking about Shanghai during the Republic of China, and he suddenly wrote it. According to him, he wanted to imitate Balzac's excitement and wrote it for fun. He really saw Shanghai in the 1930s, but the young master had little life experience, so he probably had this mentality, and secretly wrote about the Qinghong Gang in his later years. I guess he's never seen half a gangster. He admired Taiwanese Gao Yang for his ability to capture all kinds of characters and themes with style and style.
Yang Jiang has actually seen it. He wrote about Gangster Minions, which was very interesting.
Gangsters, gangster movies, and gangsters in movies are three different things. We'd better not talk about gangster movies. What do you do if Hollywood puts it there? The prerequisite is that there must be gangsters. Have it? Italy has it. I've watched their gangster dramas, but we're not even a kid.
Director Martin Scorsese (second from right) poses with the four leading actors in his film "Goodfellas", which is based on the true story of the American Mafia. Data map
"Cyclonus" is not called a gangster. It has an amateurish feel when committing crimes. You can't even get a gun. It is very unique and down to earth. The "Business War" in "Flowers" is also good because of its "earth". Mr. Ma and Mr. Fan grab the sweater business, which was interestingly filmed. The guy who raped the boss tried his best to pretend to be Wall Street. The amateurishness was gone and it became fake. But the plot was to contrast Mr. Bao, so I just watched it.
Qiu Yuefeng's son Qiu Bichang plays the leader of the "Qilin Society", which is quite similar. Although he talks in the swimming pool all day long, I always feel that he is learning from foreign movies (the lifestyle of China's nouveau riche is all learned), but Wong Kar-wai will choose Actor, I like Qiu Bichang's face.
Doctor Wu, the leader of the "Kilin Society" played by Qiu Bichang. Data map
There is only one official in "Flowers", Ms. Wang's boss No. 27, who is completely wrong in appearance and spirit. After all, Wong Kar-wai is a Hong Konger, so it’s no wonder that he has never filmed an official before - why didn’t anyone pay attention - the role that mainland directors are most good at is actually an official.
Southern Weekend: Shanghai gave birth to Wong Kar-wai, and Hong Kong gave birth to Wong Kar-wai. But his movies have a persistent Shanghai character, which is different from other Hong Kong movies. If "In the Mood for Love" is dedicated to his parents, and "Flowers" is dedicated to his brothers and sisters in Shanghai, does he know enough about the Shanghai brothers and sisters?
Chen Danqing: My question is: Do mainland directors know enough about the fathers, brothers and sisters in each province and city?
As far as I know, Wong Kar-wai tried his best to understand Shanghai after he left. I can't see that he thought he understood Shanghainese. He asked about everything and searched for every detail. Hu Ge said in the trailer that before filming, Wong Kar-wai asked him countless questions to try to understand Shanghai Wansheng. Each actor mentioned similar details.He was so serious that it made me tired to look at him.
Southern Weekend: Zhang Ailing writes about Shanghai and Hong Kong. There is an inseparable relationship. What do you think of Hong Kong and Shanghai in Zhang Ailing’s books?
Chen Danqing: I haven’t read Zhang Ailing in thirty years. You asked. I just finished reading "Leifeng Pagoda" and "The Book of Changes" recently, and I was very moved. She is vastly underrated. No one writes novels like she does. Completely unlearnable. I believe Cao Xueqin will sigh after reading it.
But I hate the prefaces of the two books, which still dwell on the pain of her life experience. I am surprised that professional literary critics regard gossip as textual research, refuse to get involved in literature, and do not recognize Zhang Ailing in literature.
How many people have resented their parents all their lives, causing a thousand kinds of sadness. There are countless such tragedies. They are human affairs. The human affairs that Zhang Ailing has experienced have been and are being performed in countless windows. Where is literature? Why is literature literature? Why do literary critics always focus on Zhang Ailing’s life experience?
What is moving about Zhang Ailing is not the phrase "gorgeous and lice" (I'm very annoyed when people say this sentence, and soulless people like to quote good sentences until they are bad), but her countless dialogues and countless feelings - it's very difficult and very difficult. It is difficult to write down the accurate feeling, but she came up with it casually - what I read was not the relationship between her and her mother, not that she saw through it coldly at a young age, but Zhang Ailing, astonishingly innocent, honest, and astonishingly stupid.
And she wrote her own stupidity vividly. Great sincerity:
She wanted to take the money to say goodbye to her old servant, but she didn’t want to let the old servant’s country son keep it all, so she thought she was smart and bought rose walnuts from the boss’s room in Jing’an Temple (wrapped in paper, with oil seeping out), but the servant took it. , did not thank her, and did not believe that she would send money in the future. She suddenly realized that she had done something wrong. When the old woman got on the train and couldn't find her, she started crying: Why didn't you cry just now? There's nothing else I can do to help, but at least I can cry. She must understand.
A Tale of Two Cities is "inseparable" from her? There are many writers who have both Hong Kong and Shanghai experiences and complexes, but it also depends on their nature and talent. Deep in my memory, there is a certain feeling of Shanghai and a certain feeling of Hong Kong that no one has ever written about. She wrote it, and she just put pen to paper without using any force or even emotion. The farewell to the servant at the end of "Leifeng Pagoda", the mood of leaving Shanghai by boat in "The Book of Changes", how Hong Kong fell, and how she escaped back to Shanghai, I read it several times and I have nothing to say.
Repulse Bay, Hong Kong in June 1953. This is an important scene in Zhang Ailing's "Love in a Fallen City" and "Lust, Caution" and other novels. Visual China
Now "Leifeng Pagoda" and "The Book of Changes" have finally been published, and no one wanted them back then. Just like Zhang Ailing will dispose of her own body in the future, leaving it there will make no noise.
Southern Weekend staff writer Xia Chen
editor-in-chief Liu Youxiang
