Source: Network

Some words, some movies, some paintings, etc. At the beginning of publication, it was not recognized by the world, and even suffered from all kinds of injustice and slander. But after many years, they will re-enter people's field of vision and gain the respect of the world because of some chance. This is the power of classics.

In 1980s, the Hong Kong film industry set off an upsurge of studying China's old films in 1930s and 1940s, aiming at excavating some neglected works and re-evaluating and positioning their roles in film history.

Among these relocated works, Spring in a Small Town directed by 1948 Fei Mu stands out. This film won many awards, 1995, and was selected as a classic work of China film 90 years ago 10. In 2005, the film was awarded the first place in a hundred films in a hundred years by the Academy Awards. In addition, Spring in a Small Town was rated as 127 in the top 250 film history by the British film magazine Watching and Listening.

"Spring in a Small Town is a misread or misunderstood film. At that time, the mainstream thought it was a decadent, paralyzed, pale and morbid film. Although it is contagious, it has produced bad results (Peggy Chiao). " Many years later, it was found that Spring in a Small Town did not escape from reality and the times as it was said at that time, but the film was shot from different angles and the story was told in different forms.

Ms. Peggy Chiao, a famous Taiwan Province filmmaker, said: Fei Mu pursues another kind of truth. His films have gone beyond the function of superficial storytelling. What he pays attention to is a form, an artistic conception and a freehand brushwork. This kind of movie, we always call it a poem movie. "

Director Fei Mu is the pioneer of "Poetry Film". He made a movie into a poem and a poem into a movie. It can be said that Spring in a Small Town has influenced most art directors to some extent, and its traces can be captured in many movies.

Watching movies is actually like watching a ball game and playing games. Only by knowing its rules of the game can you understand it to some extent, and only in this way can you be deeply immersed in it, intoxicated, happy, tearful, shocked or cured.

Ms. Peggy Chiao spoke highly of Spring in a Small Town: Fei Mu used the method of combining poetry and painting, combined with China's traditional art and aesthetics, and avant-garde film language, and made works beyond the times. The tradition of Fei Mu's films is not fade away in China's films.

Ms. Peggy Chiao analyzed the classics of Spring in a Small Town from several aspects, such as the artistic conception taken from ancient poems, the blending of Chinese and Western aesthetics, the arrangement of scenes, the vagueness of narration, and Fei Mu's four aesthetic means.

After listening to Ms. Peggy Chiao's wonderful explanation, the process of watching Spring in a Small Town was full of emotion and joy, just like a course I never understood. Suddenly, my brain opened wide and I understood something. Although it is only the tip of the iceberg, I am also very happy.

This movie viewing is no longer a simple movie viewing, but a learning process, which will be viewed with questions and thoughts. In other words, the perspective will change from now on, no longer limited to the surface of the film, but also try to explore and learn deeper things in the film.

To watch the movie Spring in a Small Town more than 70 years ago, it is best to find a place that is not disturbed by the outside world, close the curtains and watch it quietly. When you are completely immersed in it, you will find that time can really go back.

The story took place in a small town in the south of the Yangtze River in the late 1940s. There are only five characters in the play, namely, husband, wife, sister Dai Xiu, servant Lao Huang, and a foreign guest Zhang, but this guest is an old lover. Chen Zhi Yu Wen didn't see the old love rekindle for ten years, and her sister Dai Xiu's love seed fell in love with Chen Zhi. What should these people do under that special background, between affection and love, between reality and the future?

Director Fei Mu tells such a story in an unconventional narrative way. In addition to the story itself, the audience can also capture the poetic mood and atmosphere in the film, and the original film can also be filmed like this.

Although the scene of spring in a small town is mostly dilapidated, it still can't resist its "poetry". In addition to the prose-like narrative, there are many poetic places in the film, such as two poems implied in the film, two love songs sung by my sister, and the city walls that appear many times in the film.

"I always like to take a trip to the wall when I buy food in the morning, which has become my habit. People walk at the top of the city as if they have left this world. I see nothing in my eyes and think nothing in my heart. If I didn't take the food basket in my hand and take medicine with my husband, I might not go home all day. "

The film begins with this narrative. It introduces the background of the story very artistically, and also lays the tone of the film: sick husband, eternal wife in his heart, estrangement between husband and wife and so on.

"Who knows there will be another person, he came out from the railway station, he entered the city, I didn't expect him to come. He knows the back door of our house. He stopped, and his foot stepped on the dregs. By the way, he studied medicine. "

This diary-style monologue tells the delicate inner activities of jade patterns, as well as the joy and anxiety of learning the arrival of old lovers.

"Why did you come? Why did you come? How can I see you? It may or may not be him. I'm a little panicked. I kept calm, I didn't expect it to be him. "

After learning of Chen Zhi's arrival, Yu Wen's complicated inner activities were expressed through this imaginary dialogue narrative.

At the beginning of the film, a young woman walks slowly from the wall with a vegetable basket, and the narrator rings at the same time. From beginning to end, poetic narration runs through and plays a leading role in the film.

There are two metaphors in the film, namely, Du Fu's "Spring Hope" and Su Shi's "Spring Scenery with Butterfly Lovers", and the film is narrated around these two poems. Broken walls, broken gardens, bitter women, unhappy, empty and confused men skillfully integrate spring watching into them.

"The swing outside the wall, the layman inside the wall, the beauty outside the wall. The laughter died away, and so did the sound. Affectionate but ruthless. " It establishes a framework for this annoying love triangle.

There are two songs in the film, namely "A Lovely Rose" by Wang and "In that Far Away Place" improvised by my sister Dai Xiu. These two love songs properly express the inner activities of the characters and also render the atmosphere at that time.

Yukou's "empty and dilapidated" city wall is the most important sight of the small town in spring. Yuwen walks on the city wall every morning after buying vegetables. This habit is her courage to live. The old lover hasn't seen you for ten years, and the meeting place is this wall; My sister asked my brother to travel, and the chosen place was this wall; At the end of the movie, after leaving Dai's home, Lao Huang and his sister went to see him off. Yu Wen and Li Yan are still standing on the wall, looking at Chen Zhi's distant figure.

The city wall is no longer a simple city wall, but also implies a gap in the hearts of the characters: jade patterns are deeply involved in the marriage in name only, "a helpless mood is on this empty and dilapidated city wall." My sister wants to get rid of the shackles of her family and is full of longing for the outside world. She said, "When you look outside the city, when you try to look far away, you will know that the world is not that small."

Politeness is hiding in the city. The uncertainty about the future is so sexy that you are confused and powerless, and you lose the courage to live. Chen Zhi comes from the outside world, and he will eventually return to the outside world, but his arrival brings a glimmer of hope to people trapped in the city.

Although the scene of spring in a small town is broken and depressing, if you look closely, you will find that beauty is everywhere. Just like Dai Liyan's first appearance, the camera shot from far to near. At last, I saw Li Yan sitting on the broken bricks from a blown hole in the wall. The first impression of this hole in the wall will not be a hole in the wall, but more like an elegant door. This is the film called Poetry, and everything is self-evident.

After reading Spring in a Small Town, I don't know why it reminds me of Xiao Hong and her Hulan River Turn. I thought of Mr Mu Xin and his paintings in the British Museum. I am reminded of beginning of spring and the unique narrative at the beginning of the film. I also thought of the classic lines in In the Mood for Love and movies: "If there are any extra tickets, would you like to go with me?"

Perhaps this is the charm of small town in spring. Although many years have passed, there is still a legend of "I" in the film industry.