Why did you flee Beijing and return to your hometown?

It was 20 years after he came to Beijing that he decided to move back to his hometown of Fenyang because of the smog.

"But the air in Fenyang is not good either." Some people disagreed with this reason. "No, it's much better than here. We must eliminate the misunderstanding about Fenyang," Jia Zhangke said with a smile, "And I live in the village."

Jia Zhangke's Picture of Shanhe Old Friend Restaurant/Zhai Jin< /p>

Jia Zhangke, who lives in the village, opened a restaurant called Shanhe Old Man. As soon as you enter and take a seat, you can catch the 9 trophies lined up in the glass cover. This is the transcript of the film "Old Friends in Mountains and Rivers". Of course Jia Zhangke doesn’t have time to run the business, but there are traces of him everywhere here. Every dish on the menu was chosen by him, such as "Chief Jia recommends: Qingshui Peach Kernel". Posters, stills and his photos are hung on the blue-gray walls. There is the book he picked on the bookshelf upstairs, and next to it is a pile of dusty 2016 "Southern Weekend".

The restaurant is located in Jiajiazhuang, and Jia Zhangke also lives in Jiajiazhuang. In the past two years, he has maintained a fixed writing rhythm, starting at two or three o'clock every afternoon, when his thinking is most active During my spare time, I would occasionally stay on the second floor of Shanhe Old Friends and write until dark. In the evening, it was a gathering of friends, mostly at a drinking party. They called him by his nickname "Lailai" with swear words. Han Hong, an old friend from his hometown, once thought that the reason why Jia Zhangke opened a restaurant was so that he would not have to worry about where to eat.

Picture of Jiajiazhuang/Zhai Jin

Compared with the dusty Fenyang County, Jiajiazhuang has wide roads, quiet and leisurely, and the sky is bluer. Jia Zhangke likes to walk on a road lined with two rows of tall poplar trees. While walking, he can hear folk songs in the distance, which he enjoys.

From desperately escaping from his hometown when he was young, to choosing his hometown as the context for all his movies as an adult, and then returning to his hometown at the age of 45, over the years, Jia Zhangke has always maintained a relationship with his hometown of Fenyang in different ways. A kind of connection, he left and came back again, half his life passed, and finally he truly accepted this place.

Tired

On the afternoon of the last day of September, before the interview started, Jia Zhangke asked for a 10-minute break. He stood up and walked a few steps, sat down again, lit a cigar, and took the time to record a video, which seemed to be for a friend's event.

For the release of his new film "Where Has the Time Gone", two years later, Jia Zhangke once again left Fenyang for a long time and accepted intensive interviews in an office building in Beijing. We were the last media in line that day. At the end of the day, he was already a little tired, but once he spoke, he would unconsciously fall into thoughts, so that the flame of the cigar dimmed several times and had to be relit repeatedly.

"Where Has the Time Gone"

Jia Zhangke may have been tired for a long time. Since making his first short film in 1995, his life has maintained the same rhythm: writing scripts, Look at the location, find actors, set up the team, shoot, and promote. After this is over, the next round begins, and the cycle repeats.

At the same time, he still needs to compete with some forces. "Where Has the Time Gone" is his fourth film to be released in China, the first being "The World" in 2004. Many people remember that he cried at the press conference because "I made 4 films in 8 years. This is the first time it has been shown publicly in China..."

In 2013, in order to promote "Destiny", he flew to 7 countries in a month and gave interviews one after another. He even confidently claimed that he had received the Dragon Award and the film would definitely be released. But later the release of "Destiny" was cancelled. Jia Zhangke went to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. When he came back and faced the media, the issue of the release was avoided.

At that time, in the documentary "Fenyang Boy Jia Zhangke" shot by Walter Salles, after "Destiny" was banned, Jia Zhangke was exhausted and the lights were dim. He sat on the sofa and sighed. , smoking, puffing out smoke rings slowly, "I may have made a big adjustment. My consideration now is not which one to shoot. My first choice is whether I want to shoot or not. That is the question. This is indeed not a temporary bad mood." , I really thought that I couldn’t do it in this industry, the space is too small... I left it completely for a while." Although he later clarified his thoughts to the media: "I am not dissatisfied with this industry. "I'm satisfied. I just don't like living in this industry every day. I'm tired of being a movie animal, but this is not because I'm tired of the industry." But when chatting with Xu Zhiyuan in 2016, Jia Zhangke still admitted that his life has been like this for the past 20 years. movie, he felt tired and wanted to slow down.

Going back to your hometown may be a way to slow down. Jia Zhangke spent the Spring Festival last year in Fenyang, attending gatherings with relatives and friends every day. In the past few years, he has become more and more fond of such gatherings, making fists on the wine table, smiling, shouting, and full of excitement. The smoke of fireworks.

"Destined"

It was also around the time of filming "Destined" that Jia Zhangke realized that he needed to return to the life he was familiar with in the past. "So, I opened a noodle shop in Shanxi and used it as a place to communicate and meet with friends. I spent less and less time in Beijing, leaving more and more time for my hometown. Only after wandering outside can you gain The so-called homesickness is because we are too far away from our hometown."

Escape

Jia Zhangke carefully compared the differences between Fenyang and Beijing: "The sunshine in Fenyang in the afternoon is very thick, that kind of light. There is no such feeling in Beijing.

It’s not that the sun in Beijing is relatively thin, but I’ve been accustomed to that kind of thick light since I was born and grew up. When I arrive in Beijing, if there is no such light in the afternoon, I will feel disappointed. ”

He missed the light, smell and people of his hometown. During the Spring Festival this year, he visited his uncle who lived in Fenyang. The old man was old and a little confused. He called his nickname "Lailai" for a while, and then called him by his nickname "Lailai" for a while. Then he mistook him for a business friend: “Are you back from Kyaktu? Do you have a translator with you? "Kyakhta is a place where Shanxi people often stayed when doing business in Outer Mongolia. This name brought him back from an internationally renowned director to his identity as a boy from the Jia family in Fenyang.

In the 1980s, in Fen When he was studying at Yang Middle School, the boy from the Jia family was a popular figure on campus. He grew his hair long, danced breakbeats, formed a poetry club, and published poetry collections. The poetry club was called "Shapai". The seven of them were tired of being together every day. When they were not listening to classes, they would think. They each wrote out some propositions and circulated their comments to each other to compare who wrote better.

The first time they mimeographed a collection of poems, they spent a week borrowing offices from place to place and staying up at night to finish it. After it came out, seven to eighty copies were printed, and they were given to very close friends, but not to those with ordinary connections, because they were so popular.

The reputation of "Shapai" is growing day by day. , the County Public Security Bureau sent someone over to ask what kind of organization it was. Jia Zhangke’s high school classmate Zhao Hai even received a beating from his parents for this: “You didn’t join any gang, did you? ”

Zhao Hai recalled a dinner party last autumn. On the highway back to Taiyuan, Jia Zhangke called and said, “Zhao Hai, where are you? Let’s have a drink tonight. Call us.” People." "Okay. "Looking for the nearest opening, Zhao Hai got off the highway, turned around and drove towards Jiajiazhuang. That night was the most complete gathering of the seven "Shapai" members of Fenyang High School.

There is a lot left for Jia Zhangke in his hometown. Moments of tenderness, but it also gave him a sense of isolation when he was young. He often imagined the distance and felt that Fenyang was like a besieged city: there were people he knew everywhere, comfortable and at ease, but no one seemed to leave this land, but he Eager to see the distance, "When I wake up in the morning and lie in bed, I feel a sense of boredom."

When he was in the first grade of junior high school, Jia Zhangke had just learned to ride a bicycle, and the first thing he did was make a date. I met my classmates and secretly went to Xiaoyi, 30 miles away, to watch the train. They searched all the way, and finally saw a railway. Several people were sitting on the ground, holding their breath and listening to the sounds in the distance getting closer and closer, like a ceremony. A slow-moving train carrying coal also carries the young man's imagination of the distance.

A similar scene later appeared in the movie "Platform": the young people from the county art troupe accidentally saw a train approaching. He immediately jumped off the big truck that was carrying them around and shouted excitedly in the direction of the train.

For Jia Zhangke at that time, the train was coming and going away from him. The train is "Yellow Earth", "It turns out that such a familiar waist drum can be played like this, in the wild, and can produce so much dust. The dust turns into something like poetry under the sun." He said this. Determined to leave my hometown, enter a film school and become a director.

Almost everyone around me thinks that going to college is just for finding a job. What is a film school for? But that is too far away from life. Han Hong felt that Jia Zhangke "did things differently from other friends around him." This temperament attracted him so much that from 1999 to 2005, he went to Beijing to work for a clothing store in Fenyang. After finishing the goods, I would take a taxi and go straight from the zoo to Xiaoxitian, just to meet Jia Zhangke, and then take the goods back to Taiyuan.

Jia Zhangke feels that the reason why his life will be changed by a movie is, This is related to the isolation of my hometown. “Because there are many things in life that we cannot imagine, and this is what the movie is about. In the 1990s, I believe that 99.9% of the children who lived in the same environment as me would not want to work in movies. It was too far away, so it was easy to be completely impressed by a movie before starting to dare to think about it. But a kid from a big city may not have to think about it. This is one of his choices. ”

After taking the exam three times, he entered the Beijing Film Academy and left his hometown of Fenyang. This seemed to satisfy his two wishes at the same time, to be closer to the director and further away from the besieged city.< /p>

Nourishing

The young Jia Zhangke once wanted to leave Fenyang. Later, he left, but his film camera was focused on the people and streets here. At the age of 27, he was in Fenyang. He shot his first feature film "Xiao Wu" and completed the last two parts of the Hometown Trilogy: "Platform" and "Ren Xiaoyao"

Fenyang is the starting point of Jia Zhangke's film journey. From the autobiographical experience of Shanxi to the observation and fictionalization of China's current social experience, Jia Zhangke's films have always had the shadow of Fenyang.

Although Jia Zhangke was once tired of the burden of Fenyang's interpersonal relationships, Jia Zhangke still felt that Fenyang was the most important place in the world. He also benefited from the nourishment of this warm human connection. When he was filming "Xiao Wu", he had little money and could hardly afford to buy film. His father, who worked in a television station, and his friends also provided a lot of help. Many of the props were taken directly from the construction site where my brother-in-law was working.

An Qunyan, who played the role of the drug store owner in "Xiao Wu", was still working in Fenyang at the time. He was always sneaking out when he was not busy at work. , whatever Jia Zhangke needs, he will do it. The yard where upstart Jin Xiaoyong got married was painted by An Qunyan and Liang Jingdong, who was in charge of art for the crew, and it took them an entire afternoon.

The red couplets were also written by An Qunyan with a brush and pasted on them. An Qunyan's mother made the fried cakes at home and brought them over. After taking pictures over and over again, the fried cakes turned black and were inedible, and they were all dumped in the end.

Jin Xiaoyong and the actor Geng Sheng are childhood friends with Jia Zhangke. Picture/Source Network

After "Xiao Wu", Jia Zhangke got investment and was no longer so embarrassed, but as long as he was filming in Shanxi, he would always get a lot of attention. When filming "Old Friends in Mountains and Rivers", Xing Wanli, the secretary of Jiajiazhuang, often mobilized the whole village to help collect old items from various families. In "Old Friends in Mountains and Rivers", the art team called Han Hong to ask about the quilt that Liang Zi carried away when he was away from home. Han Hong also found another Fenyang classmate, Zhang Mingjian, and asked him to dig out his old quilt and drive it to him at two or three in the morning. Went to the crew.

Hometown has become a fixed context for Jia Zhangke’s films. He observed the homogeneity among Chinese cities and the similarities between county towns. “It would be better to shoot in my hometown.” A new city is the continuous superposition of the previous Fenyang. Since making his first short film in 1995, he has been infinitely close to his hometown in creation and benefited from it, but in real life, he has become farther and farther away from the city and his friends.

Zhang Xiaodong, a friend from his hometown, once scolded him. It was in a bar, surrounded by directors who came to participate in the film exhibition. Jia Zhangke also entered the bar. The crowd was a little restless, and many people came up to talk to him. Zhang Xiaodong sat inside and did not come over. He drank with others. When he got drunk, he began to scold Jia Zhangke for not doing what he promised.

"Ma Tsui" is a documentary filmed by Zhang Xiaodong, which took six years. He showed it to Jia Zhangke and asked him for his opinions, and Jia Zhangke readily agreed. But Zhang Xiaodong waited for a month, three months, and half a year, but there was no response. He became angry. Zhang Xiaodong didn't know what Jia Zhangke's reaction was at that time. Later, the two relied on their mutual friend Han Hong to slowly repair the relationship.

Fa Xiaoan Qunyan understands Jia Zhangke's state. When he talks about Jia Zhangke's every sentence, he always adds "That's normal" or "This needs to be understood" at the end. Jia Zhangke almost never took the initiative to call him, and would not reply to text messages for several days. These were common things - he realized that since leaving Fenyang, Jia Zhangke had already entered another circle, not just the previous one. "When you become a celebrity, you slowly become a 'bad guy' because you can't satisfy everyone's wishes," An Qunyan said.

Jia Zhangke is generally aware of the concerns and opinions of his friends in his hometown. He apologized to his friends at his wedding. He couldn't go to his classmate's father's birthday party, so he would ask his friends to bring gifts. Sometimes he would be happy if he could follow his friends' wishes. He pushed other media during the Taiyuan road show of "Old Friends in Mountains and Rivers" and was interviewed and filmed by Zhang Xiaodong late at night.

Jia Zhangke is re-recognizing the interpersonal relationships in his hometown. There was a year when he stopped making movies and stopped working. “Life became confused, movies became powerless, and the decadence he had in his youth came back. heart". He returned to Taiyuan and dialed the phone number of his former friend. A voice that he had not heard for several years came out of the phone.

After three or five glasses of wine, they called him by his nickname and told him that he should have a child. They were worried about his old age. Jia Zhangke felt like crying, "Only in front of my old friends can I be a weakling. They don't care about the movie, and the movie has nothing to do with them. They worry about my life, but I have nothing to do with them." Jia Zhangke began to feel nostalgic for this warmth again.

In Zhang Xiaodong’s interview, he said: “When I was young, I always just wanted to fly forward. I felt that work was the most important and career was the most important. But when you have life experience, of course these are still It’s important, but it doesn’t stop you from leaving some time for your family or your friends. I joked that this was my heartbreaking realization.”

Return

Now, Jia Zhangke is more and more willing to do film-related things in Fenyang. He initiated the establishment of the Pingyao International Film Festival, and the first one opens today. The opening film is "Youth" by Feng Xiaogang. He also runs an art center and screens movies every Sunday on the second floor of Shanhe Old Friends, almost without interruption. Young people come from all over Fenyang and Taiyuan to watch movies. When there are many people in their 50s and 60s, the second floor can be packed. There are few young people in Jiajiazhuang, and they are the group of people Jia Zhangke wants to attract the most.

Their gestures always reminded him of when he was young, riding a bicycle and running around Taiyuan for a day, trying to buy a reference book for the film school entrance examination. In the end, he was sweating profusely and only bought one copy of "Selected Italian Neorealist Film Scripts", which was one of the two volumes. The other volume was unknown where it went. "The cultural resources in small places are too scarce."

Whether it is the later "Platform" or "Destined", after becoming a director, Jia Zhangke always depicts a story about himself and his hometown: entering and leaving the city, leaving here and going to the distance, just like him A major proposition faced at the age of 23 in life.

“Many people avoid the way they came, the direction they came from, and try to cut off their connection with the past. I don’t like this myself. I like to use a word, I really have ' A director with an agricultural background. I believe that many artists actually have this background, and China as a whole has a huge agricultural background. Why should we abandon this thing? So I have a creed that I don’t want to cut off my connection with the land. .

”

Jia Zhangke, who is unwilling to cut himself off from his hometown, always records the small people in the changing small county in his movies. These small people are the county thieves in "Xiao Wu" and also the small people in "The World". The dancers and security guards at the World Park Folk Village are still Dahai, San'er, Xiaoyu and Xiaohui who were involved in violent incidents in "Destined to Live"

Jia Zhangke looks at these little people, who were like him before he was 25 years old. The shadows of people he spent day and night with in Fenyang, just like when he was still studying in Beijing and saw the migrant workers sleeping at the Third Ring Road construction site, he felt that they were like his high school classmates and his cousins, "I completely understand them. Where did you come from and why did you come to this city?"

The story of the latest film "Old Friends in Mountains and Rivers" also took place in Fenyang. At the same time, Jia Zhangke also really returned to Fenyang. "I don't want to Deify and beautify your hometown. Hometown also includes many things that we wanted to escape from in the past and were intolerable. They still exist, but as we grow older, we are able to tolerate them. Because we have the ability to leave and come back, these things are not important anymore. "

"Old Friend in Mountains and Rivers"

More than 10 years ago, when he was still in film school, Jia Zhangke always loved to stay in the study room, carrying a roll of green checkered manuscript paper and drawing with a pen. , began to write his own script. Every time he faced the blank paper with a pen, his thoughts couldn't help but return to Fenyang.

Later, when he returned to his hometown during the Spring Festival, he took a 14-hour train trip back to Fenyang. Yang, hundreds of years old houses on the street, the shops on both sides have the word "demolished" written in big letters. Jia Zhangke has been in and out of those shops since he was a child. He cares about this demolished county town. He wants to use his camera to record, "Maybe it's me destiny".