This afternoon, the first domestic anti-MLM film "The World of Grass and Trees" came to Nanjing for a road show. Director Gu Xiaogang and actors Jiang Qinqin and Wu Lei came to three universities including Nanjing University of Science and Technology to interact with college students. The film has many interesting points, including the visual spectacle of how the MLM group promotes pyramid schemes, and how a simple and innocent tea-picking girl gradually sinks into madness after accidentally joining MLM schemes, etc., etc., which all triggered heated discussions among the students.
"The World of Grass and Trees" is inspired by an ancient Chinese fable "Mu Lian Saves His Mother". The film tells the story of He Mulian (played by Wu Lei), a newly graduated college student who sacrificed her life when she discovered that her mother Wu Taihua (played by Jiang Qinqin) was trapped in a pyramid scheme. The story of saving my mother.
A female college student at the scene said that she specially brought her mother to watch the movie because her mother always bought some weird things, which seemed like she had been cheated. In this regard, director Gu Xiaogang said that the choice of the anti-MLM theme this time was also based on his own personal experience, "When I was filming the last movie "Spring River Plumbing", a family member around me entered a pyramid scheme. I always felt that pyramid schemes were involved. It is a very distant news event. I didn’t expect that it is actually in your life. From then on, I started a lot of research and went deep into real MLM organizations to experience MLM routines and understand how to rescue those victims. The author also hopes that the film can serve as a warning and help to society."
Gu Xiaogang said, as the lines in the film say, MLM is actually a loophole in human nature. This type of subject matter is like an anatomy laboratory of human nature. The audience can From it, I can see what my desires and loopholes are. “The creative inspiration also comes from the ancient folk legend "Mu Lian Saves His Mother". This folk classical myth is related to spiritual beliefs. At the beginning of my creation, I wanted to think of modern Combined with ancient issues, it serves as the presentation and translation of the theme."
At the student interactive meeting after the screening, some college students asked, "The World of Grass and Trees" has been developed on university campuses this time. Is it because of college students? It’s easy to be deceived. The creative staff asked, "Is it true?" and many students in the audience said, "Yes."
Reporters saw that many students were amazed by the detailed inside story of pyramid schemes and elderly health care product sales scams revealed in the movie. The methods of "accompanying, coaxing, scaring, and guilt" for dealing with the elderly, as well as the concept of quantum buckets, are dazzling. However, in MLM, the familiarity, non-stop brainwashing, high rebates, sharing economy, and strict hierarchical system and profits Distribution, the characteristics of MLM are fully demonstrated, "As long as you take action and successfully inspire three people, three people will become nine people, and nine people will become twenty-seven people." It is very confusing.
In the subsequent interaction, after the film's creator revealed the three major aspects of MLM, a classmate came on stage to test whether his friend could withstand MLM. Unexpectedly, after 2 minutes and 45 seconds, the unsuspecting female classmate on the other end of the phone really Believing in a "199 yuan" scam, Wu Lei and other founders were so anxious that they immediately took the phone to explain and reminded the students to be cautious about transfers and other actions.
In addition, in the film, Jiang Qinqin presented a breakthrough interpretation of "You can't live without being crazy". At first, she was a tea-picking girl. Her husband ran away without news for 10 years, and she raised her son alone. Later, due to the development of the tea-picking sisters, , she mistakenly entered MLM, found the illusion of self-confidence and independence in it, and gradually became "crazy and addicted".
At the interactive scene, a classmate asked how to understand the role of Wu Taihua. Jiang Qinqin said that encountering a role with tension and huge character space is both an opportunity and a challenge for an actor. “I graduated from the film school 26 years ago when I played her. All the inner struggles were delivered at the moment of roaring." It is worth mentioning that Jiang Qinqin had already won the "Best Actress" at the Asian Film Awards for her performance of Wu Taihua in the film.
"The World of Grass and Trees" is the second part of the "Landscape Pictures" series directed by Gu Xiaogang. In addition to being better than the previous film "Spring River Plumbing" in terms of storytelling, "The World of Grass and Trees" has also made great progress in visual expression.Most of the scenes in the film were shot in Hangzhou, from Leifeng Pagoda, Jingci Temple, Three Pools Reflecting the Moon, to Meijiawu Tea Mountain. The director used the characteristics of a "long scroll painting" to express the film. Both movies are set in his hometown. In addition to wanting to express his hometown complex in the movie, Gu Xiaogang believes that landscape is a very unique urban style of Hangzhou, and he also wants to show the audience a brand new landscape picture of Hangzhou.
Yangtze Evening News/Ziniu News Reporter Kong Xiaoping
Proofreading Faye Wong
