On February 12, the 72nd Berlin Film Festival has been kicking off for two days. On February 13, Berlin time, the Chinese film "Hidden in the Dust" will be screened at the Berlin Film Festival. This film, directed by Li Ruijun, is a shortlisted film in the main competition section of this Berlin Film Festival. Most of the shortlisted films in the main competition section of the Berlin Film Festival are European films, while Li Ruijun's "Hidden in the Dust" and Hong Changxiu's "Novelist's Film" are from Asia, representing China and South Korea respectively.
It is worth noting that the movie "Hidden in the Dust" has been set for February 25 in China. This means that whether or not the film wins the grand prize at the Berlin Film Festival, the film will not move, and it will be released in theaters with the west wind of the Berlin Film Festival's finalists. As of now, "Hidden in the Dust" has not officially opened the online pre-sale. According to the above box office practices, the box office expectations of this "Hidden in the Dust" should not be too high. Earlier, we also had many award-winning films at the Berlin Film Festival, which were released in theaters, but none of them became blockbusters at the box office. This batch of movies is still the ranks of niche movies.
However, this time," "Hidden in the Dust" is slightly different from some of the previous award-winning literary and artistic films. In the past, most of the literary and artistic films could not afford to hire well-known actors, and could only use amateur actors, or even ordinary people to play. In this "Hidden in the Dust", a well-known actor Haiqing was invited to serve as the heroine of this movie. In the film, The urban Haiqing, who has always been more fashionable, needs to play a big northwest peasant woman who has lost her scum. This is obviously very worth looking forward to for some fans of Haiqing.
Let's start with the story of "Hidden in the Dust":
The taciturn old fourth horse has iron and has lived in the third brother horse with copper since childhood. According to people, Ma Youtie and Guiying married and started a new life, they sowed seeds in the spring, cultivated in the summer to harvest in the autumn, and in the natural and simple labor life, they not only obtained rich grain, but also gained understanding and love.
This is the synopsis of the story of the project declaration of the movie "Hidden in the Dust". Director Li Ruijun is not only the director of the film, but also the writer of the film. Obviously, this film is still about the story of Director Li Ruijun's hometown in Gansu. The director is good at creating his own stories of coming to the countryside of Gansu, and has been shortlisted for many films with very rustic rural themes at the Venice Film Festival, the Tokyo Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival and the Shanghai International Film Festival. "Tell Them I Went by White Crane", "Home in a Place with Lush Water and Grass", "Passing through the Future" and other works are all from the hands of this director.
In the film directed by Li Ruijun, the rural areas of Gansu present a sense of desolation and ruin that we once remembered, and in this desolation of life, there is another alternative spirit of survival. This narrative style is in line with the traditional impression of rural China at many European film festivals. One thing worth noting is that many directors from rural areas are willing to shoot their hometowns, why is it that only director Li Ruijun of the Great Northwest can be repeatedly shortlisted for international film festivals?
My personal view may not be quite right, but China's rural areas have already undergone earth-shaking changes, especially economic changes. The ruined countryside we once remembered no longer exists in the chinese countryside today. The peasants based on the foundation of ruin have ceased to exist, and many Chinese farmers have become important trend followers because of the development of the Internet and the times. This phenomenon is most common, especially in the countryside of the eastern region.
Therefore, many directors who grew up in the eastern countryside are faced with the problem of disconnection between their own creative content and real rural content. Especially for the post-80s directors, the countryside in memory and the countryside in creation are still around the new millennium, and the current countryside is already 2022. After more than two decades of development, the rural stories in the memory of many directors who grew up in the eastern countryside are not established. The northwest region, which is relatively slow in development, gives Director Li Ruijun some time possibilities for the establishment of the story.
Of course, I am still willing to ask one more question, is the northwest countryside in director Li Ruijun's lens a real northwest countryside under the eyes? It is not that the countryside must be barren or rich, but in the face of the changes of the new era, all chinese rural areas have also entered the tide of changes of the times, can the rural areas under the lens of director Li Ruijun present the changes of these new rural times? Or is it the same, still just the countryside in the director's memory?
In the two trailers that have been released by "Hidden in the Dust", we can see the actress Haiqing's more rustic rural outfit. However, in some sections, Haiqing's urban woman's face still seems to be incompatible with the real Northwest woman. Our current famous actors are too good-looking to perform real rural women. I don't know if this problem will be widespread in the main film. I hope that "Hidden in the Dust" can be a more realistic work. (Text/Ma Qingyun)