The road that swayed the wheat was extended / the wind passed through the trunk of the car / people sang and sat on the moon in the wooden building / the machine followed the light of the machine / it took me a long time to distinguish that pain is different from gasoline / it can sink to the bottom of the river / But I hope the pain can evaporate / The fragrance of flowers can’t increase the fragrance of flowers and dive into the bottom of the water / Memory covers the memory and floats on the surface of the body / Human beings replace human beings in charge of the homeland / Hell subverts hell and becomes heaven – Bi Gan in "Roadside Picnic"
【Written before the video】
From April 15th, we entered Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture. Previously, we watched Bi Gan's two films - "Roadside Picnic" and "The Last Night on Earth", and were attracted by some elements in the film. During the trip, we visited Danzhai Mercury, where the two films were filmed. The mining factory, Kaili urban area and Pingliang Village of Dafengdong Town were visited. In the end, we selected Pingliang Village, the real location of the fictional village "Dangmai" in "Roadside Picnic", as the first video documentary series of exploring the secrets of ethnic minority villages. The focus of the second period.
Why choose "Dangmai"? Because it is poetic enough in the movie, like random thoughts floating in a dream, dissolving the past and future of the protagonist Chen Sheng, and also arousing the reverie of the audience, eager to enter that mysterious space. In reality, this quiet village exudes the same temperament. When you stand by the river, the past will come to your face. In the village, we saw that Yangyang’s tailor shop in the movie has become an ordinary residence, and the billiard hall upstairs is covered with straw, and a grandmother lives here alone, with inconvenient legs and feet but a hearty laugh; the rice wine shop where Bi Gan played a guest role The store is still there, and an old man has been running it from a 30-year-old guy to a seventy-year-old. He can take away a bottle of self-brewed rice wine full of mineral water for only 5 yuan.
In the process of editing the video, we discussed whether only people who have seen the movie and liked it will be interested in this issue. But in fact, although this video follows the trajectory of the protagonist Chen Sheng, it can show another side of Kaili, the capital of Southeast Guizhou, and its surrounding villages. What will happen to a relatively closed, illusory village like the other side after it becomes famous, or will it not change? Just take a look if you are interested in these.
Alternatively, you can read the article below before watching the video.
Throughout April, it seemed as if all the water fell on Guizhou. This is probably what people in the north of the Huaihe River in the Qinling Mountains long for: green, dense green rushing out of the ground and growing wantonly. The solidified fog of the entire valley, except for the dampness, is still damp... Driving through one dark tunnel after another, the light from countless headlights stirs up the mist and twists it while driving at high speed. People seem to be in this situation. Suddenly entering a certain time illusion.
When I returned to Kerry, where I had briefly stopped, the past and reality overlapped to reinforce the illusion. This time, Grass Carp and I came to pursue the scene depicted by Bi Gan in his movie "Roadside Picnic". That's right, if you want to introduce Carey to a stranger, then the colors, scenes, sounds, and atmosphere in Bi Gan's movies are the most suitable. In addition to the taste of the air and the touch of the rain, you can only feel it yourself.
In the movie, the main character, Chen Sheng, is an old gangster. He served nine years in prison because he stood up for the boss and hurt others. After he came out, his wife and mother were gone. He read a lot of books in prison. After he was released from prison, he published a collection of poems, often read aloud on TV, and became a doctor in a clinic. Chen Sheng has a disappointing younger brother, Lao Wai, who gave his son Wei Wei to the watch seller "Hua Monk". In order to find Wei Wei, Chen Sheng boarded the car to Zhenyuan, and passed a small village called "Dangmai" on the way. The past time and the future alternate here, and a dreamlike journey begins.
"Roadside Picnic" is the first film directed by Guizhou director Bi Gan. It cost 500,000 yuan and directly won the Taiwan Golden Horse Award. Among them, the 42-minute long shot, which was praised and criticized in half, locked the time of "Dangmai" in the cage of the movie for people to enjoy. When we came here, we found that the "invisible bird" of time seemed to be frozen at that time. At that moment, Carey moved forward and swung the mic backward, leaving the time in the movie to the past.
01 Carey forward
The plot at the beginning of the movie takes place in Kaili, where Wei Wei and Lao Wai live in a house next to a waterfall that leaks everywhere when it rains. We followed the prompts from netizens to locate the "Kaili City Railway Cultural and Sports Center", and we heard the sound of rushing water from a distance. We remembered that Chen Sheng said that he and his wife lived by the waterfall, and the sound of the water was very loud. Speak, for speaking cannot be heard.
Waterfalls in the urban area are rare. What's even more amazing is that the waterfall is sandwiched between the sales office and the cultural and sports center, and the small house has been buried in the weeds and cannot be approached. This seems to be a continuation of the plot in the movie - Wei Wei was lured to Zhenyuan with a watch by "Hua Monk", Chen Sheng just took a look at it from a distance and then left silently, Lao Wai disappeared, leaving the small house alone and deserted. Suddenly, I really want to see the dial that Weiwei painted on the wall with chalk, whether it is still following the trajectory of sunlight to extend the time in the small space.
What makes people feel emotional is the big billboard on the sales office. The small bungalow with four walls in the movie seems to have doubled its value and become a school district house. Doesn’t Lao Wai need to quarrel with Chen Sheng? When we arrived, it was just in time for the school lunch break. Many boys and girls who were as old as Weiwei in the movie hurried past eating snacks. Some naughty boys came up to take a look at our camera, and ran away laughing and talking with the little ones. The buddy whispered something. This inexplicable connection makes people have a magical look.
Walking down the path next to the bridge, you can get closer to "Weiwei's house", but you can only be stopped by the warning sign and red strips of "This is a dangerous wall, do not approach", except for the rusty railing And weeds can't see anything anymore. At this time, the old man who was cleaning and sanitating on the bridge went down a dirt road beside the path to the waterfall, picked up the snack bags thrown by the children from the bridge with a clip, and then stared at the small house opposite and entered the meeting in a daze. God, I don't know what I'm thinking.
For a moment, I was also in a trance. Eight years ago, my impression of Kaili was that it was an old-fashioned small town. When I took the bus, I gave 50 cents less. The driver said generously, "You can give me as much change as you have." Looking at Kaili today, whether it is the brightly lit business district of "Grand Cross" or the prices of restaurants, it is already a veritable mansion. At first glance, it is almost the same as Guiyang. Moreover, there are many young people in Kaili, many students, and many children running around with their teeth and claws running around. There are many diners in the night market at midnight, and there are still noisy sounds on the street at three o'clock in the morning. A completely different vitality from the impression.
In contrast, elements that are common in Bi Gan’s films—interlaced mines, abandoned prisons, and billiard halls made of plastic sheeting—seem to have receded to the edge of Carey, like a set surrounded by new vegetation at the edge of a waterfall. . As sung in the ending song "Farewell" of "Roadside Picnic", "Let the original return to the original, and the later return to the later".
02 Swing Wheat Backwards
Contrary to the changes in Kaili, Pingliang Village, Dafengdong Township, 60 kilometers away, was not long after the filming of "Roadside Picnic", and the time in Pingliang Village seemed to be frozen in the moment of "dangmai" forever.
Pingliang is not far from Kaili, but we spent a lot of time on the way to Dafengdong Town because of the waterlogging and large puddles. The big truck full of gravel and mud swayed past. The front wheel of the van accidentally got stuck in the mud. The SUV found the ruts and swam through the water. We were left with a TOYOTA car to mourn alone. We still have to find another way Almost broke the chassis.
After a lot of tossing around, it was already evening when we arrived at Pingliang Village, but the rain was getting heavier and heavier. When we entered the village, the first thing we saw was a road sign of a scenic spot. After walking back and forth several times, we still couldn’t see the scenery in the movie. Annoyed, he hid in the car and looked back at the camera, only to realize that the journey where Chen Sheng got into the band's car and met Dangmai was the way back from the end of the village along the river.
The river next to Pingliang Village is the same as in the movie, dark green and very beautiful. Going up the river, we first saw the conspicuous yellow wooden house. From here, Chen Sheng got into the car of the band, listened to a song "Little Jasmine" and entered Dangmai, and started a dreamlike adventure. The 42-minute long shot unfolded .
The next iconic building is the place where Weiwei was bullied in the movie. The house seems to have been renovated, and the exterior walls and windows are clean and new. We couldn't help imitating a photo of the same "punishment station" in the movie. From this corner, Chen Sheng got off the band's pickup, got on Wei Wei's motorcycle, and went down to the road along the river.
There is an inconspicuous little clip in the movie that many movie fans interpreted. An alcoholic went to a rice hotel to drink a pot of wine.
In reality, this rice hotel has a history of 42 years since it was opened in 1979 after the reform and opening up, and the real rice hotel owner has changed from a 30-year-old boy to a 70-year-old grandfather. Grandpa Mijiu's wine money is conscientious, 5 yuan a catty, and he filled a mineral water bottle. He also said the sentence that we are afraid to hear but almost every Miao people will say when they see us, "You can't come here without drinking."
Interestingly, even though the red notices explaining the "roadside picnic" have been plastered all over the village, the real filming locations - Grandpa's Mi Hotel and the tailor's shop diagonally opposite did not use the film to develop tourism. Gu Zizhi lived a quiet life, and didn't even make a movie at home. Grandpa Mijiu said calmly, "I haven't seen it, it's boring. We look at these places every day, and we don't think they are beautiful. Only you outsiders think the scenery is good."
This reminds me of Bi Gan teasing himself in "Thirteen Invitations", saying that he made a movie and won an award, and he wanted to brag to his buddies at home when he returned to Carey, but they didn't think Bi Gan was so good, they just I was happy for him for ten minutes, as if I completely forgot about it. The cozy little villagers in Pingliang Village also brought me similar feelings.
But the film's local impact is real. I heard from Grandpa Mijiu that just after the movie was filmed, more foreigners came. There are places in Henan, Hebei, Hunan, and Hubei, and his business has been better for a while. barrel of wine". But the good times didn't last long. Once the enthusiasm for the movie was over, there were fewer tourists from other places, and young people in the village gradually left their hometowns to work elsewhere, and business was not easy. "We are the old men left."
The plot and reality in the movie seem to be connected. In "Roadside Picnic", going to Kaili is the dream of the young "Dangmai". The beautiful tailor Yangyang is eager to be a tour guide in Kaili. When reciting the guide words, her eyes are full of longing. She calmly puts aside the relationship with the adult Weiwei who pursues her. The eyes of people who come to Kaili will light up suddenly, and they are anxious to speak Mandarin. Respond enthusiastically. The current Pingliang Village is not just the "dangmai" after the young people left.
As night fell, Pingliang Village was unusually quiet, and no children were seen playing around, not even middle-aged people. On the way we drove back to Kaili overnight, there was almost no traffic on the opposite road. This quiet small village seems to be trying to catch the express train of natural mountains and rivers and tourist attractions through the development of scenic spots, but the few comments on "Pingliang Ten Mile Ancient Gorge" on the map software are almost all "inconvenient accommodation" and the like Complaining... Maybe it is also because of the lack of development that there is a kind of quiet comfort when walking here.
At the end of "Roadside Picnic", Yangyang told Chen Sheng that if time could be turned back, his sweetheart Yangyang would not go to Kaili, so he wanted to draw clocks on the freight cars passing through Kaili. I remember nine years ago, when I was teaching in Qiandongnan, a Miao boy who had just entered junior high school asked me seriously: If the speed of running is equal to the speed of light, can time be stopped? If you run faster than the speed of light, can you turn back time? I was stunned for a moment.
This expression makes me seem to have some kind of unreal hallucination. It's hard for you to imagine that a child in a mountainous area who has little access to outside information and fills his head with limited textbook knowledge in textbooks would ask such a question, but I have kept that memory in my diary. Confirm the authenticity of that memory. And that solemn expression was deeply imprinted in my memory, turning into a mysterious memory about Guizhou.
Let the original return to the original, and the future return to the future, but someone will come back after leaving...
Why did you post the video and the article in the same article this time? Because this issue is more like a movie map. I walked along the route of a certain director. The relationship between video and graphics is parallel rather than complementary. If you want to be more intuitive, you can watch the video. If you need to find the route, you can directly read the article. , it will no longer be sent separately for easy reading.