Chapter 29 Both teacher and friend say Xie Jin

The first time I knew Xie Jin's name was the period of the "Great Famine" in the 1960s when he fell into the labor camp.At that time, watching movies was "education" and a supplementary means of transformation.The film team came, and the hungry prisoners were all driven out of the cell, and lined up in groups to the threshing floor.Those who have a little strength even use a lump of soil as a stool, and those who are exhausted sit on the floor, while the sick simply sleep on the ground and curl up in a ball, and the white cloth hanging on the earth wall dangles like a sail. Mountain Shake", but I was moved by a movie called "Red Detachment of Women".How can a fragmented film make a hungry person not hungry for a while?Just because there is a kind of "qi" and a kind of "spirit" in the mottled and variegated colors, just like a Chinese painting or rubbing that has become an antique, the charm of which cannot be erased by time, which just confirms the traditional Chinese aesthetic principle.Since then, the name Xie Jin has been imprinted in my mind.

Twenty years later, in 1981, Xie Jin contacted me suddenly, asking Mr. Li Zhun to adapt my novel and make it into a movie called "The Wrangler".Although I have won a literary award in the two years since I was rehabilitated, I have seen a little bit of the world, and met some literary masters, but Xie Jin came to me, which still has a different meaning for me. The word "Jiu Yang" is by no means an empty term .When we met, his respect for the original author of the novel strengthened my confidence in taking the rough path of literature, which is not easy to walk.Today, maybe I can be regarded as a tenable figure in the Chinese literary world, but 17 years ago, I just got out of the labor camp, and my spirit and nerves were still "fragile".The "audience" of movies is wider than that of novels, with hundreds of millions of viewers. The success of "The Wrangler" has greatly increased my popularity, and this has inspired me to "break into restricted areas" again and again.In contemporary Chinese society, enjoying a certain degree of popularity can often enjoy a certain degree of spiritual freedom, and spiritual freedom is the most indispensable condition for literary creation.So, I can say that Xie Jin played a big role in promoting my spiritual liberation.That's one reason I'm still grateful to him to this day.

Since then, I have frequent contacts with Xie Jin, and I have to meet several times a year, so I know roughly how he walked the road that was not easier than me.About him, he seldom talked with me, but heard a lot from Mr. Li Zhun.Everything made me feel emotional, and I often secretly compared him with me. Although he was lucky enough not to enter the labor camp, the hardships in the "big prison" were even more difficult than mine.Every time Teacher Li Zhun talked about something, I always thought: If I encounter this, can I stand it or not?To be honest, some of the things he encountered had to be placed on me, and it might be difficult for me to survive.All the wind and rain in one body, external troubles and internal troubles, all the encounters in life make you feel vulnerable, there is nothing around you to support you, the whole life is so helpless and hopeless, and in this situation To produce a film called a "spiritual product", how can we survive if we don't regard film art as our own life itself, everything in life?This can't help but make me have a little reverence for him.

In the early 1990s, some newspapers and periodicals carried out discussions on the so-called "Xie Jin model", which was quite normal.However, some people in the discussion looked down on Xie Jin's film art and dismissed it as "sensational".But in the end, due to the unfamiliarity with film art, I couldn't write, and I was afraid that "Guo's idiot would help more and more". Besides, Xie Jin didn't need my "help".Today, I just want to say as an ordinary viewer: I really don’t watch many Chinese movies, why don’t I watch more Chinese movies after I set up a film and television studio?Because I occasionally watch Chinese movies, most of them want to make me sleep: the film language is dry, the picture composition lacks aesthetic feeling, the "montage" is procrastinated (many cut scenes should be cut in my layman's opinion), the costumes, makeup, and props are shoddy. We can't be as meticulous as "Titanic", so that the disc used in the movie lacks the Titanic mark and remake it, but at least the times must be clearly explained, and many Chinese movies (especially TV series) are influenced by Hong Kong. Influenced by TV series, the costumes, makeup, and props in the screen make you confused about the era of the plot and the characters.Hong Kong TV series are pure entertainment and people don't find it unreasonable.Mainland movies and TV series have an "educational" mission, and people certainly have the right to demand that they meet the authenticity required by the plot.What makes me even more unbearable is the performance of the actors, which can be described as "amazing". Many actors will not even "die", and before they "die", they have to find a clean place to lie down slowly (here I Thinking of the old man Xie Tian's performance of "death" in "Honghu Red Guards", which can be used as a model of "death", it is simply unbearable to "see".I have watched almost all of the films directed by Xie Jin except for the early ones. I think that although I look at them with some regrets due to the political conditions at the time, they are all repertoires in the history of Chinese film. , and several of them can be called classics.The reason is that each of Xie Jin's films runs through "love".When there is no high technology to use, no big investment, the script is not particularly good, the performance art is basically stylized, the costumes, makeup, and props are not sophisticated, and the film that particularly emphasizes "political standards" must make the audience feel You can watch it and be moved. What else can you rely on if you don't rely on the emotions of the characters in the play to attract people? "Sensation" is a very superb artistic skill and an important skill in any art category.Xie Jin can firmly grasp this artistic technique and use it freely, and the most important element of love must be avoided in this "love".Creating excellent works in a state of complete freedom without restrictions is not an artist's ability, but creating works that audiences and readers love in a limited and unfree space is the genius of an artist; Spiritual freedom, this process can best forge a high state of personality.To use an inappropriate analogy, it is like a "pipe gushing" under a dam, the water rushing out of that small hole is the strongest.

The younger generation of directors who are popular today can have one or another view on Xie Jin's film art.I just want to say, how many of the vast majority of people in this generation can reach Xie Jin's personality in today's at least relatively relaxed environment?It is said that Chinese films are now "calling for big productions". To put it bluntly, they need a lot of investment, but the total market for Chinese films is only 2 billion yuan per year, 1 billion is taken away by "big movies" imported from abroad, and the remaining 1 billion is made every year. The 100 Chinese films produced are divided, so how can such a large investment recover the cost?So how to save Chinese films?In my opinion, the "Xie Jin Model" should have a more important meaning today, and it is worth learning from.

Xie Jin, like me, is a "theme first" person, which is often criticized.In fact, "theme first" and trusting the horse, following the feeling can produce good works.Artists who have a sense of historical mission and put the destiny of the nation as the most important thing always lead him to choose subjects related to the destiny of the nation, which are commonly called "major themes".Of course, "major subject matter" does not mean writing about "big men" or big scenes. The Opium War is a major subject matter, and the fate of the nation and the country can also be reflected in the old man and a dog in the countryside.Therefore, this kind of artist's "theme first" is completely different from the "theme first" advocated by the "Cultural Revolution". In fact, it is a deep-seated "follow the feeling".Xie Jin said at the symposium on his 50th anniversary of filming that he must make a film that reflects the "Cultural Revolution" in the future.His artistic purpose is also what I have always followed, which is probably why he made another of my novels "The Story of Old Man Xing and the Dog" into a movie called "The Old Man and the Dog". The "Cultural Revolution" should be an inexhaustible theme for Chinese movies. Unfortunately, there is not a single successful Chinese feature film of this kind, so that most of the young people of this generation have no idea about this very important period of Chinese history. impression.I thought this was simply a negligence of Chinese artists.Zhang Yimou has made many films that have been praised by others.I asked people around, and almost everyone said that his favorite was his (seeing it from a pirated CD).Why?This shows that people still like "major themes".For example, a series of Xie Jin's films are shown continuously, from the subject matter to the environment in which the subject matter was produced, all of which can be linked to a part of contemporary Chinese history.Xie Jin's films not only have "Qi" and "God", but also have deep concern for the destiny of the nation.

(Originally published in Shanghai Wen Wei Po)