The deserted city head, the deserted town, the emotional entanglement of two men and a woman, Fei Mu's "Spring in a Small City" tells a story of grievances in a light touch, which is incompatible with the exciting atmosphere of that era.
But it is such a plain story that can happen everywhere, which is still shocking today.
In 1995, "Spring in a Small Town" was voted by the Executive Committee of the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival as the fifth-placed film in the "Top 100 Chinese Films in Film History". The Hong Kong Film Awards listed this as the "Best Chinese Film in Chinese Film". "One Hundred" in the first place.
I look at this film 70 years ago from the perspective of a modern person. It is purely personal. If it is not based on a specific purpose, such as I like movies, I want to watch representative movies, or research specific topics. If you want to understand how the views on a certain topic have evolved in different eras, you don't have to go after this movie in particular.
However, the plot of "Spring in a Small Town" is straightforward and easy to understand, and the theme that I want to express is also obvious. If I look for it, it won't be difficult to digest. The special thing about
is its background. At that time, China had just ended the eight-year war of resistance. The film used the behavior and interaction of the characters to present the atmosphere and changes of the entire society. China has evolved from a traditional scholar-bureaucrat into a country where social elites are formed. The traditional ethics education encounters the contradictions and conflicts caused by Western open thoughts, and it is a work that showed the awakening of women in a very early stage. At the beginning of the movie, the heroine’s narration was like a common cliche of popular drama, but soon the audience realized that this was neither a memory nor a voice. The owner of that voice was like a heavenly eye, a break from tradition. The subsections narrating time and space not only transcend the film language of that era, but also echo the traditional Chinese theater stage practices.
Under the ingenious guidance of Fei Mu, Wei Wei, the heroine when fashion is a newcomer, plays the subtle and meticulously, echoing the subtle language of the film, and tells this story of female emotional struggle gracefully and moving. But today, what makes this movie really moving is its modern and quaint film aesthetics.
From the perspective of film history, it is an indispensable part.
Among the early Chinese directors who had a deep tradition in writing and caring about content and themes more than expression skills, Fei Mu may be the one who thinks deeply about film aesthetics. His film works often reveal the ambition to blend Chinese and Western theater traditions naturally. , Introducing the concepts of traditional arts such as opera to do experiments.
And "Spring in a Small Town" is among Fei Mu's works that we can see. This kind of blending effort is the most mellow. The references to various traditional aesthetic techniques and concepts show a certain avant-garde beyond the times in the film.
is precisely the avant-garde in this tradition, making "A Small Town Spring" that has been in disrepair in the face of film classics around the world. Even today, the novelty in this film will not be less than that of the films shot more than 70 years later.
I believe that this is one reason why "Spring in a Small Town" continues to be the best Chinese film in the eyes of the audience.
As for the essence of the movie "Spring in a Small Town", it is in the six words "in estrus, but only in courtesy."
From this perspective, "Small Town Spring" is not a well-discussed movie, because the emotions expressed in the play are not easy to interpret in words, and it is difficult to find accurate words to capture the essence of the movie. What is easy to express in words is often not the focus of the movie. The situation is a bit like Ozu's movie. On the surface, it seems very superficial and seems to understand, but in fact it is difficult to disassemble it layer by layer in an orderly manner.
Fei Mu also tried to establish the aesthetics of Chinese films in "A Small Town Spring".
He uses horizontal compositional aesthetics: like a banner scroll in traditional Chinese painting, he uses less depth composition. Long continuous shots are used to show the complex state of the characters. He mostly uses dialogue and narration to express the sound of
, and rarely uses the soundtrack. As for the complexity of the narration, it is breathtaking. Among them, the subjective and objective alternate, and the virtual and the real are alternated. Hereby, the alignment and tension between the sound and the picture are produced.
The outstanding artistic achievement of "Spring in a Small Town" cannot be explained by the general and general "Chinese characteristics".
Zhou Yuwen and Zhang Zhichen’s love
"Spring in a Small Town" has a controversial point. Does the heroine Zhou Yuwen in the film embody the meaning of "being in love, but only in courtesy" in Confucianism?
jade pattern finallyDidn't have sex with the old love, and stayed by her husband's courtesy at the end. Does the movie or Fei Mu affirm a relatively traditional and conservative ethics? Some viewers of
said that the jade pattern was out of courtesy, so they didn't really commit deviant things. But this way of speaking is obviously inconsistent with the content of the movie. In the ambiguous relationship between Yuwen and Zhichen, she not only behaves aggressively, but also has no moral restraints or guilt. However, Zhichen felt ashamed after hearing Li Yan's gratitude to his wife in the middle section.
First, in the film, Zhichen suggested to Yuwen that he wants to leave. The meaning of Yuwen and Zhichen to each other was actually made clear early on. On the first night when Zhichen stayed, Yuwenjing had been tempted with excuses; seeing that he was still gentle, she immediately changed his clothes and added a quilt. Yuwen's brisk footsteps could hardly conceal her inner anxiety and joy.
The next morning, when everyone went for a walk in the city, Zhichen took the opportunity to drag Yuwen's hand, and she didn't struggle - this time, the hearts of both parties were clear to each other. Of course, Yuwen's courage grew stronger. The next morning, she met Zhichen on a date alone in the city. By the time they met, their conversation was like a private love story between a couple. Later, Yuwen tried to tease and tease Zhichen in the dark night, and unavoidably showed intimacy with Zhichen in front of her husband and sister-in-law.
Yuwen embraces her rekindling relationship with Zhichen almost without thinking. In contrast, Zhichen is the one who is morally alert. The relationship between
Yuwen and Zhichen did not continue to develop, not because Yuwen adhered to any norms and dogma, but Zhichen rejected her exactly. In the second half of the
movie, while celebrating her sister-in-law Dai Xiu’s sixteenth birthday, both Yuwen and Zhichen were slightly drunk. When he was drinking, Yuwen combed his makeup and touched Zhichen's room.
He didn't let her in, she rushed in; he picked her up and put it down again; in the end he locked her inside the house, she wanted to escape, and broke the glass on the door with her elbow, but hurt her palm. When Zhichen bandaged the jade pattern, she must know that everything was over.
This is a man's resolute rejection of a woman. It is Zhichen, not Yuwen, who cut the love thread.
On this important night, another event happened, which can be understood as a turning point for the whole movie.
The injured jade pattern went to Dai Liyan's room to get sleeping pills, and Liyan told her to light a candle and sit by the bed to let him take a good look at her. Li Yan first blamed himself for his wife's grievances over the years, and then he admired Yuwen's youth, vitality and beauty during the evening celebration.
"I almost forgot that you would be my wife!" he said. Finally, Li Yan asked calmly: "Tell me, do you still like Zhichen now?"
fell into a love triangle and she did not answer, but fell on her husband and cried.
The next day, Yuwen's attitude towards Zhichen completely changed.
She decided how to live, she made up her mind to ask Zhichen to leave. Unexpectedly, the rituals on the side were misunderstood and taught him to be willing to commit suicide. During the time when Li Yan was lying in bed, the care, regret, and sorrow that Yuwen showed was not at all comparable to her previous kindness of only seeking to fulfill his wife's responsibilities.
Here, Yuwen is a true love for Liyan, and she is also convinced that she was moved by Liyan's trust, love, and reluctant affection the night before. After waking up from the ceremony, Yuwen said to him: "What's the matter with you...Why are you?" Then she couldn't help but leaned on her husband's shoulder and sobbed while holding her hand tightly with her injured hand.
is here. I don't think that the deep affection here and the meaning of the love triangle in "Spring in a Small Town" can be explained purely by saying "the jade pattern returns to traditional ethical values". "Spring in a Small Town" does not subordinate individuals or feelings to certain norms and ideas. What overcomes the momentary lust in the movie is a kind of love that is more generous, deeper and broader, and needs to be aware of others.
The voice-over of "Spring in a Small Town" is
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"Spring in a Small Town" has been rated as the best Chinese film in history many times. It is deeply loved by movie fans and scholars. Even the fifth-generation celebrity director Tian Zhuangzhuang is also a fan of his fans, and regards the remake of "Spring in a Small Town" as his top priority for his comeback.
Fei Mu’s "Spring in a Small Town" is so named for later generations. The biggest reason is that he photographed the feelings of Chinese people. He blended the style of traditional Chinese theater with profound and delicate descriptions of Chinese people. The film shows The mood blends like a Chinese painting.
In addition, he also flexibly used the narrative method of overtones to expose the emotions of the people in the film naked to the audience.
Tian Zhuangzhuang's remake is obviously intended to continue this style, and even go more extreme.
The whole film of the new "Spring in a Small Town" is basically connected by long shots, almost one scene and one shot, each time entering a new scene. And most of them use a slow moving camera to shoot the actor's dialogue in one go with a telephoto lens. No close-up shots were used at all, and no emotional soundtrack was used to push the waves. All of
only relies on the tension of the dialogue to create drama. This traditional stage play is actually quite overdone, and it is too monotonous. If you carefully observe the old version of "Spring in a Small Town", you will find that director Fei Mu's directing approach is actually very flexible. Although he likes to use the moving long lens to maintain the coherence of the drama, but it will not be static.
He will add some close-up shots according to the needs of the plot, such as fusion and monologue.
Relatively speaking, Tian Zhuangzhuang’s new version of "Spring in a Small Town" is obviously too focused on preserving the characteristics of traditional Chinese drama. Not only is the performance of the actors full of the taste of stage drama, but also the restraint and suppression of film technology.
, for example, minimize the use of montage, and try to avoid any tricks on the screen connection. Even the fusion technique is rarely used. In addition, all voiceover monologues have also been deleted. All scenes are supported only by the composition of the picture and the interpretation of the actors.
If Fei Mu is a detached Taoist, then Tian Zhuangzhuang is an ascetic monk.
believes that everyone who has seen Fei Mu’s works will notice several obvious changes in Tian Zhuangzhuang’s handling:
has almost no close-ups except for the removal of the monologue. In addition, the lens movement becomes more subtle and restrained.
In Fei Mu's original work, we were led into the back garden of the heroine Zhou Yuwen's soul by Wei Weimeng's monologue from the beginning, which is a bit of Du Liniang's dream in the garden. What happens in the future may be just a spring dream, it may be true, or it may be true illusions.
However, in Tian Zhuangzhuang's version, there is no monologue. He wanted to keep a distance from Yuwen, but he approached her husband Dai Liyan and her former lover Zhang Zhichen relatively, creating a more objective and equal overall feeling. The film begins with a telescope with jade patterns strolling on the head of the city. It is soon followed by the words of courtesy that lingers in the tattered pile in the courtyard of the small courtyard. The sound of a train is faintly heard, and Zhichen gets off the train.
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finally came out. He walked in the run-down old mansion and walked into the gloomy and gloomy room of Li Yan from the bright sunny corridor. In the afternoon of the third day, a pair of old lovers met on the battlements. The camera kept a reserved distance. Yuwen pointed to the hand Juan hanging on the bare tree and said: The day you came, that's it. I fell asleep. The handkerchief flew away. Yes, this is life day after day, Yuwen is not dreaming, everything is real. The spring breeze blows away the thoughts and Qi Nian of her daughter's house, and it is Zhichen who retrieves them and returns them to the master.
Lust was jumping in the shaded lights, everyone in the room was full of enthusiasm, only Li Yan was an outsider.
The night is falling and people are still, he walked alone into the garden, leaning against the tree and crying bitterly, the camera accompanied him compassionately and couldn't bear to interfere. And in the room, a somewhat drunk Zhichen said to her sister: "You remember, you will never be 16 years old again." She sang wildly and cried, holding Yuwen's hand and refused to let it go, and put her handkerchief Putting it on his face, is he not disappointed? My sister suddenly understood, she snatched her handkerchief back and took her sister-in-law away. Back in the room, Yuwen lay down on the bed and sobbed, then walked to the vanity mirror, her tears were wiped away from the earlier style, Zhichen turned her heart and walked out of the room.
In Fei Mu's original work, the ending is that the husband and wife send Zhichen together on the battlements. It is not optimistic, but it also has a more open scent.
More than half a century later, the younger sister and Lao Huang sent Zhichen out of the city, but Li Yan and Yuwen did not even step out of the house. One trimmed the branches in the garden downstairs, and the other ran to the younger sister upstairs. Embroidery in the room.
heard the whistle of the train from outside the painting, thinking upstairs and downstairs, and then returned to the work at hand, as if nothing had happened. The film ends with an empty mirror on a battlement, which is a kind of everlasting confusion. Compared with
, Tian Zhuangzhuang’s Jiangnan town is more barren and lonely than Feimu’s Songjiang.The owner of the old house is still self-enclosed in the shabby courtyard, how can he regain the fun of "Huajianci"?
And the hostess, still, every day I carry a rattan basket to buy side dishes, and then go through the decayed towns, enchantingly like entering the ghost territory, to the medicinal material shop to pick up a packet of medicine, and then to the battlements. In the first quarter of an hour...
If Fei Mu’s response to the era of "Spring in a Small Town" filmed in 1948, Tian Zhuangzhuang's remake can also be said to express his attitude towards our new era. When most people participated in the destruction of human civilization with excitement and excitement inexplicably, he chose to listen silently, keep a distance and watch, stay away from the turbulent material reality and return to the murky and deep emotional world.
Tian Zhuangzhuang's new version of "Spring in a Small Town" focuses on retaining the original features, but also photographs a touch of ancient style, which is truly commendable. It's a pity that everywhere, the directing technique is too sculpted, and it is still not as good as Fei Mu's original version.
So I can't lie, saying that Tian Zhuangzhuang's "Spring in a Small Town" is better than Fei Mu's original.
Tian Zhuangzhuang said in the remake of "Small Town Spring":
"Today's re-shooting of "Small Town Spring" is a process of copying and learning from classic Chinese films. Only by choosing this format can we younger filmmakers directly interact with the film predecessors We have a rare opportunity to communicate. Especially Director Fei Mu, whose knowledge and unique insights into films are the pride of the Chinese film world. It is my luck to be able to re-shoot "A Small Town in Spring" today."
read this passage , Let people give a deep admiration. One is the admiration of the master's achievements, and the second is the admiration of Tian Zhuangzhuang's Qianqian gentleman style.
A Woman’s Desire and Struggle
"Spring in a Small Town" unfolds with jade patterns and flashbacks, the language is slow and melancholic, and poetically embodies a woman's dissatisfaction with her life and emotional situation, as well as her feelings Yearning and despair of the status quo.
She wandered around the dilapidated city wall time and time again, expressing her inner depression and hesitation time and time again. The broken city wall appeared many times. It was a place for Yuwen to resolve and tell when she was lonely and depressed. It was a place for Dai Xiu to look forward to living outside. It was also a place where Yuwen and Zhichen shared their old feelings and rekindled passion.
Therefore, this section of the city wall is an important place for the development of the plot in the film, and it is also an important clue throughout the film. It implies the background of the film and also metaphors the loneliness and helplessness of the characters in the film.
Yuwen expressed his dissatisfaction with the past several times, implying that Zhichen’s failure to integrate with himself was a lifelong regret and the source of today’s unfortunate life.
However, she made it clear that she did not want to go with him now, but after being drunk, she took the initiative to confess love to Zhang Zhichen. It can be seen that the character Yuwen is deeply caught in the vortex of emotion and the contradiction between ethics. Compared with some of today's feelings of pursuing the flesh, the evaluation of enduring moral restraint is very different. The
jade pattern is the main thread that runs through the film, and her feelings are magnified, as a dominant factor supporting the backbone of this emotional entanglement. From her voice-over, Fei Mu tried to express this intention.
and Dai Liyan is a hidden factor in Fei Mu's performance methods. At first, people thought he was just a child from a feudal era who was sickly and eccentric. The further forward, the more I feel that he also has love for jade patterns, but the more it is mixed with guilt. The appearance of Zhang Zhichen undoubtedly exacerbated the changes in his feelings. In fact, is he not a victim of this misplaced relationship?
In the end, Dai Liyan used his death to complete the repayment of the jade pattern and completely pushed the entire film to a climax.
"Spring in a Small Town" still tells the most traditional story in China. The most traditional homework of Chinese women reflects China's most common and special reality. Therefore, it is the "Spring in a Small Town" of the nation.
Mr. Fei Mu uses audiovisual language to continuously explore the perfect integration of Chinese flavor and expression with Western technology and thinking. Therefore, it is the "Spring of a Small Town" of the world.
actually sighed a bit. When "Spring in a Small Town" was born in 1948, it seemed a bit untimely. The general social environment at that time made it easy for everyone to ignore its existence. The emotional entanglement and sighing of men and women in a small closed city were really not in harmony with the social theme of the time.
But fortunately, the film also "returns to the sky." To this day, in the past 70 years or so,It is sought after by many scholars and audiences.
even Zhang Yimou said: "There are a lot of my favorite films, and I cannot list them all. As far as Chinese films are concerned, my favorite is "Spring in a Small Town". I think this film has reached quite a bit at the time. The height, as we see it today, we still don't think it can be compared with it."
It is regrettable that Director Fei Mu had no choice but to leave Hong Kong the following year for various reasons. He hoped to return to the mainland as soon as possible, but died in Xiangjiang in 1951. His family and country feelings can no longer be sent by movies.
And this kind of regret, just like "A Small Town Spring", there is no second one.
References
Mtime Time.com. "A Lovely Rose-"Spring in a Small Town": A Woman's Desire and Struggle"
Economic News. "After "Confucius" is unearthed, we will explore the poet and director Fei Mu"
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