Chapter 8 second quarter

The auditorium has a vestibule.The floor is paved with terrazzo, with copper wires embedded in the cracks between the stones, and it smells like a kerosene mop.There is a gypsum relief ceiling on the top, and a group of Soviet-style chandeliers are suspended in it, and each chandelier has a finely woven net pocket of very thin wire to protect the milky white lampshade.And of course the tall windows and curtains that close automatically with a pull of a cord. When I was a teenager, ballroom dances were often held in the lobby of the auditorium on weekends.My father loved dancing, and my mother hated it, but sometimes took me and my sister to go.

Thinking about it now, it may be to watch my father, and its role is equivalent to that of the police.It is conceivable that with my sister and I running around between our legs, and my mother sitting on the sidelines, my father wanted to make a difference, and I am afraid that he took advantage of his happiness and came back disappointed.The impression left by the front hall is that it is spacious and gorgeous, but when I grew up and revisited the old place, I found that the actual space is very small and simple.Makes me doubt all my childhood memories. I began to think about such a question, if I want to make a film reflecting my childhood life, should I shoot the environment according to my impression, or should I restore its original appearance?The child's gaze looks at the doorknob of the auditorium, which is big and tall, but the adult's gaze is not. Which gaze is more real?The result of thinking is that you should shoot according to the child's sight, that is childhood.

The stage of the auditorium is very shallow. A row of red flags is inserted diagonally in a figure-eight shape in front of a blue screen, and a portrait of Chairman Mao hangs in the middle. If a movie is shown, the screen will fall from the stage. Movie tickets were sold in the office cafeteria on Friday, 5 cents a piece. That was the happiest time for me. I ate dinner hastily in anticipation and longing, and ran to the gate of the auditorium in groups with the children in the yard to wait for the start of the show. They crowded in and occupied seats for their families, and the seats in the auditorium rang together in an instant.Sometimes the aisle was full of people, and we would just step on the seats from the back row and run to the front row, often missing a step, sinking our legs into the flap, and grinning in pain.

That feeling remains etched in my mind to this day. In my impression, I have watched countless movies in the auditorium, which opened my eyes.Thinking about it carefully, this is a bit unreliable.I went to elementary school in 1965, the Cultural Revolution started in 1966, I graduated from high school in 1976, and the Cultural Revolution ended in the same year. I couldn't have watched countless movies during this period, and I watched almost countless "news briefings".Even if you want to give money to your boyhood, you can't make it up like this.The real situation is far less beautiful than I imagined, but one thing cannot be erased. The first movie I saw was in that auditorium. It seems to be in 1965 or 1964. I can’t remember clearly. In retrospect, it should be a drama film.In my impression, I was very scared when I saw people in ancient costumes, and I didn’t know what they were talking about. I started to cry when I saw half of it, and I didn’t want to read anything, so my mother had to take me away.It left a huge shadow in my heart, and I still have no interest in costume films until today.But I like "Midnight Chicken Crowing" very much, I am not afraid at all, I think it is very fun.

A cruel landlord came up with the idea of ​​learning how to crow in the middle of the night in order to get children to get up early to work.The film is very comedic and very imaginative.It is precisely because I was influenced by "Midnight Crowing" that it unknowingly took root in my heart. When I become a film director in the future, I will have a special liking for comedy; I will fully realize the power of imagination. importance. As far as I can remember, Cock Crows is the best low-budget movie I've ever seen in an auditorium. Without a doubt, it is also the best gift the auditorium has ever given me.

I have been thinking, why do I like Wang Shuo's novels so much?Finally found the answer today.Wang Shuo and I were both dogs in 1958, so he must have watched "Midnight Crowing" in his auditorium.When he was a teenager, seeing the landlord learning how to crow like a rooster, he must have been overjoyed. Many, many years have passed.In the second year of my mother's death, the dormitory building of the party school was about to be demolished.A group of children in their 40s who were about the same age in the courtyard made an appointment to come back from various places and take a group photo in front of the two dormitory buildings that we grew up with as a memory.

It was a Saturday, we gathered outside the gate of the party school, and then dozens of people walked into the compound of the party school, bypassed the main building, and walked to our auditorium in unison.At that moment, I had a feeling of going back in time.It seems that we have not grown up, it seems that we still have an appointment, when the time comes, the one who went downstairs first stood downstairs and shouted one by one, and got together to go to the auditorium to watch a movie. Li Chao, hurry up, I'll be waiting for you. Xiao Wan, why don't you come down.We can go now.

Guanglu, do you have a ticket? My buddy unplugged the window of the toilet in the auditorium this afternoon. As for me, Xiaowei quietly gave me a key to the back door of the auditorium.