Amoy, an over-aged sister, is as chic as a teenager. Directed by Qiao Liang and starring Wang Fuli, Pan Hong, Song Xiaoying, Xu Di, and Wu Mian, the urban emotional drama “Old Girlfriends” is currently being broadcast on eight prime CCTV sets. The play focuses on the problem of an aging society and tells the story of five old ladies with different personalities who met and became best friends due to an anti-counterfeiting activity. Since its broadcast, the play has been eye-catching with its down-to-earth stories, representative characters, and youthful light comedy style. It has been praised by the audience as the elderly version of “Ode to Joy”, and some young audiences even praised it. The drama joked about his attitude towards life, and said excitedly: “When we are old, we have to live as wonderfully as old girlfriends.”
Speaking of “Old Girlfriends”, director Qiao Liang said that this is a return to China’s traditional culture of respecting the elderly and honoring the virtuous. In addition to the saturated young theme market, it focuses on showing the “anti-fashion” work of young and old life. With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, as a director, Qiao Liang pays attention to and thinks about changes in China in his favorite realistic works. As a professor of the director department of Beijing Film Academy, he “learns from each other” in his teaching, inherits the tradition of Nortel, cultivates new talents, and uses his works to bloom the glory of Chinese filmmakers to the world. From a literary youth graduating from the Department of Chinese to an “academic director” whose works have frequently won awards at home and abroad, in his view, life is like filming a movie. As he said: “Every age group has beauty in every age group. People can be old, but their dreams are still young.”
Old, not terrible, every age, there is beauty in every age
Q: What was the original intention and reason for you to make “Old Girlfriend”?
A: China is a country that respects, respects and loves the elderly. Respecting the old and the worthy was once a fine tradition passed down from generation to generation in China and even in eastern countries influenced by Chinese culture. In the Zhou Dynasty, a large-scale “Hometown Drinking Ceremony” was held every year to honor the elderly and the worthy. The etiquette law stipulates that the elderly over the age of 70 are qualified to eat meat and enjoy the same courtesy as gods. The elderly over 60 years old in the folk can accept the birthday wishes of their children and grandchildren. Until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, a large-scale event to respect the elderly was held – the banquet for the elderly.
However, since then, China has become a country with serious age discrimination. With the rapid development of the times, people are particularly afraid of aging. After 30, they are very anxious and sighed that they “can’t do it, I’m old”. In addition, the current society advocates youth and youth, including business and commodities, which are basically aimed at young people, especially the film and television industry, which all shoot themes that young people like, and the requirements are becoming more and more fashionable. The queen mothers in some costume films are even played by people in their thirties. These may have brought a climate of anxiety to the audience, and to society as a whole. China has now become an aging society, and more and more elderly people are facing many social problems, so I especially want to shoot something like this.
In this play, the five old ladies represent different problems in the elderly society: Aunt Mei represents the kind of old man who has lost his only child, and Irene played by Teacher Pan Hong is the kind of person who is strong in appearance, but has to face aging and terminal illness in her heart. , such a woman who is no longer beautiful. Song Xiaoying played Mr. Song is an “old girl” who always refuses to grow up, refuses to accept the old and refuses to accept the old. The retired doctor played by Teacher Xu Di is energetic and pays attention to details, which brings a lot of trouble to her son’s life. In the end, she also knows how to “let go” and understand another kind of beauty in life. Sister Hong, played by Wu Mian, is a typical representative of our mother. She takes care of her husband, her son, her daughter, and her grandson. She takes care of everything at home. In the end, she doesn’t understand anything. They all have their own representatives of social issues, which are also mapped to medical issues, demolition issues, children’s education issues, etc. The most important thing is the issue of “grouping for the elderly”. What is “Group Aged Care”? It refers to like-minded old people, not relying on children, looking for a suitable place, and comforting each other’s spiritual emptiness. This is a more advanced pension model than the elderly activity center.
Q. What was the biggest difficulty or challenge in filming “Old Girlfriend”? Did you have any unforgettable moments during the shooting?
A: For the director, the biggest challenge is group play. Many scenes in “Old Girlfriend” are group scenes with five people. So the handling of this kind of group play will make the director very difficult in terms of rhythm control and scheduling, and it is not small. At the scene, I joked that even if there was one less shooting today, I would be more comfortable with four. For me, this is the biggest challenge. For the five teachers, because they are all old after all, everyone’s heavy scene is a huge challenge in terms of physical strength and energy. They can win it, which is very remarkable. Because everyone’s heavy scenes are basically a dozen scenes a day, a total of more than ten days in a row, which is not easy.
There are many things that made me unforgettable during the filming process, the most unforgettable is the five teachers, the kind of artistry they showed. For example, Teacher Wang Fuli has a bad waist. I didn’t know it at first, but she kept insisting on the set. In order to play the role of Aunt Mei well, she also went to a cafe to experience life and learn to make coffee. Teacher Pan Hong, she has a lot of lines, and her sleep is not very good, so she put the script on the bedside, read it when she woke up, went to sleep after reading it, and read it when she woke up. Nearly seventy years old, except for filming and sleeping time, she is reciting scripts almost all the time.
Everyone gave a huge amount to this drama. Like Teacher Xu Di, she designed some movements for herself to climb high and climb over walls. I was worried about safety, so she climbed on her own. Including teacher Song Xiaoying’s role this time is also a huge challenge for her. She has never played such a role as a revolutionary. This role is also an image of an old man that has never been seen in previous TV dramas – an old girl. Including teacher Wu Mian, she is very demanding of herself. She will scrutinize every line carefully, and grind every scene again and again until she is satisfied. Such a group of people and some things moved me very much and I vividly remember them.
Q. Which scene in “Old Girlfriend” is the most memorable to you? why?
A: In the last game, when Pan Hong said goodbye to the four people. In that scene, I felt that everyone was in the right state. They were really crazy. I enjoyed seeing their scenes so well. This is what impressed me the most.
Q: “Old Girlfriend” is an elderly drama, but under your direction, this drama is not dull and heavy, but full of youthfulness, with a distinct light comedy style, which brings a new look to Chinese elderly dramas. Why is there such a style breakthrough?
A: Every age group is good. It’s not what we should be when we get old. We have our own lives. So we don’t want to shoot things like twilight, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, I want to shoot a youth version of the old-age drama. Therefore, “Old Girlfriend” is very fast in rhythm and bright in color, which belongs to the light comedy style. Of course, there are also many touching parts in the play, but the main style is light comedy, and many of the scenes are humorous and life-like fragments.
Q. As a director, what kind of theme values do you think “Old Girlfriend” conveys to the audience today?
A: “Old Girlfriend” focuses on the global aging problem, showing some phenomena of an aging society, and also wants to tell everyone: old, not terrible, every age group, there is beauty in every age group. We have to learn to enjoy, not to miss out on the kind of things that this age group should have because of anxiety. In addition, I also hope that young audiences will feel that old age is not scary after watching this drama, and I hope that when they are old, they can also live such a life. I recently read some comments from netizens, and I am very happy to hear such feedback.
Such is life, we are both actors and audiences
Q: You and your mother have a very deep relationship. After winning the award, you publicly said that you would take this award as a birthday present for your mother when you received the award in Moscow. Your mother said something that impressed you: if you have a smile on your face, there is no room for tears. In your eyes, what kind of person is your mother? After filming “Old Girlfriend”, did you have a deeper affection and understanding of your mother?
A: My brother said something very interesting. After watching the first episode, my younger brother said to my mother, “In these five people, there is a shadow of you.” In fact, when you create something, you will definitely learn something from the people around you. Among these five old ladies, my mother does have this shadow. The influence a mother has on her child is enormous. As a director, I learned to make films, and I took the path of film and television. All of them have a very important relationship with my mother, and she supports me very much.
Q: “Old Girlfriend” actually talks about a way of living and an attitude towards life. In a person’s life, it is difficult to transcend one’s heart to transcend oneself. Do you agree with this view? How do you view life and aging?
A: I just feel like enjoying life and enjoying the moment. Every moment in life is wonderful, don’t miss the beauty of today just because you sigh your youth is fleeting. I think whether it is life, old age, sickness and death, love-hate separation, as long as we can look at it with a normal mind, it will actually be very beautiful. Just like when we watch TV shows, when you jump out of the way and watch the joys and sorrows in the show, you will get a kind of enjoyment from it. This is how life is. We are both actors and audiences. As long as you face it with an audience mentality, your life will be wonderful.
Q: You are a professor, director, screenwriter, and you make both movies and TV series. In your opinion, which is more challenging to make a movie or a TV show? Even in TV dramas, your work has a distinct cinematic approach and high-quality texture, with a unique style. From a creative point of view, what do you think of the “commonality” and “individuality” in your film and television works?
A: Films and televisions use audiovisual language to tell stories, so there is no difference. But when it comes to shooting, each has its own difficulties. Just like short stories and novels, writing a long story and writing a short story requires different strengths. Some people can do both, and some people can only care about one end. It should be said that TV dramas pay more attention to the kind of long-form structure. You have to find the climax of its succession and transformation between a volume of about forty episodes, and at the same time you have to find this climax in each episode. There are many characters in this process, and there are character relationships and changes in relationships, as well as the succession and transformation of the main characters in major events. Every character must be grasped, so in this regard, filming TV series is actually very tiring.
Movies are another. Because it’s not long, your expression must be concise and without nonsense. For example, in a TV series, there may be 50 scenes in a room, and these 50 scenes are bound to be repeated in scheduling. But when making a movie, there are only 5 scenes in this room, so unless I deliberately ask him to repeat these 5 scenes, there is a flavor. Beyond that, you have to come up with new ways to solve this, it’s got a different dynamism.
Q: Whether it is a movie or a TV series, your works are basically realistic themes, and the themes you focus on are relatively marginal, not popular themes. Some people call you a “pioneering director of realistic themes”. Why and how do you prefer to shoot realistic subjects? Some people say that what you see in your work is “loneliness”. Will this solitary counter-trend creation and sharp but realistic theme continue and become the main theme of your work?
A: I think China’s current society is changing with each passing day, especially after the reform and opening up, China has changed a lot. In the boiling life every day, there are too many stories to be filmed at all. I feel it every day and feel very touched, so I prefer to shoot modern and realistic things.
Regarding the “loneliness” in the work, this is what the critics commented on. I don’t have this awareness myself, and I don’t want to use this thing to tie myself up. In fact, as long as it is something you like, when you do it yourself, it will naturally bring out your personality and preferences.
Only by truly achieving cultural self-confidence can you have confidence when you face the world
Q: You are a director and a professor in the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy. You are a typical “academic” director in China. What do you think is the biggest characteristic or advantage of “academic” directors? As a professor of the director department, what do you think of the current Chinese director training model and the results of production, education and research in your actual teaching?
A: Academic directors, I think one advantage is that when you are lecturing to students, you have to force you to review and summarize your own creations. This is a mutual benefit of teaching, and you will also get a lot of nutrition and fresh blood from your students. In addition, in the teaching process, this also allows you to constantly come into contact with newer and better ones, including some new ideas and new creative methods in the world. After all, in the school, we communicate and exchange more with the international community, which will make you continue to make progress, and then give feedback to the teaching experience and lessons from the creation, and then help students to improve in this regard. Being a director and being a teacher are both my favorite jobs. Not only do they not conflict, but they can also help each other.
In terms of production, education and research, Beijing Film Academy basically ranks third in the international ranking of film art schools, followed by the New York Film Academy and the University of Southern California School of Film Art. The high ranking of Beijing Film Academy is not because of how much space the school occupies or how many students there are, but because of your training results. Taking the directing department of Beijing Film Academy as an example, it has cultivated too many outstanding directors. Many famous directors and young rookies who are active in the Chinese film and TV industry now are mostly trained by the Beijing Film Academy, such as famous directors Cao Baoping and Xue Xiaolu. In addition, screenwriters from the Department of Literature, photographers from the Department of Photography, film art from the Department of Fine Arts, and sound engineers from the Department of Recording have won many international awards. On the whole, Beijing Film Academy is constantly enriching the freshest blood for the Chinese film industry and various industries in the film industry. This is a very unique aspect of our school.
Q: Now there are many new talents in the Chinese film and television industry, and talented directors are constantly emerging, shooting many amazing and excellent works. From the Chinese department to the director department, from the filming to the TV series, you have also come all the way. From your teachers Xie Fei and Zheng Dongtian to your group of directors, to young directors like Wen Muye, Lu Yang, Guo Fan, and Bi Gan, what do you think of the inheritance and innovation of Chinese directors?
A: I am especially grateful to the teachers at Beijing Film Academy for their constant lashing out at me during the process of going from a Chinese graduate, from a person with a literary mindset, to a film and television director with an image mindset. I remember the first time I did a portrait assignment, the assignment was returned three times in a row. I really don’t understand, and the teacher doesn’t tell you the reason, just let you figure it out for yourself. Later, the teacher saw that I really couldn’t think of it. He said that everything you express in words and write on paper must be photographed by me. Such as how to shoot weathered? Just write “He has deep wrinkles on his face”. I understood right away that I wanted to tell a story with images, not words. This process took nearly two years to be reborn, and it was very uncomfortable to peel off a layer of skin, but for me, this process was the most beneficial place. I just graduated in 1998, and I went to make a movie with Mr. Xie Fei. From reading the novel to writing the script, to the completion of the film, I was his executive director and participated in the whole process. I learned all the bits and pieces. Many of my working methods now are taught and passed down by Teacher Xie Fei, and they are very professional. The film shooting methods of film studios in the past were very effective.
Mr. Zheng Dongtian is my doctoral supervisor. He basically watched all the films I took. After watching, he would outline the outlines and remind you with a sentence or two. If there were some problems that you were not aware of, he would say them at once, and you would feel that he lifted you up. one level. Now I am also a teacher, and I also pass on these experiences and lessons of mine to my students. I feel the joy of seeing them win awards and become talents. This joy is not the same as winning an award. This is inheritance, and I think Chinese movies are like this going down from generation to generation.
Q: You have been in the industry for more than 20 years, and your director’s work has won many domestic and foreign awards, especially the film “On the Highlands” won the highest award at the 39th Moscow International Film Festival in 2017 – the St. George Gold Award for Best Film. This is the best result a Chinese-language film has achieved so far at the Moscow International Film Festival. You have also become the most among the four international A-category film festivals in China? The director of the award? . What do you think are the reasons for Chinese films to gain international recognition? Under the strategy of “Chinese Culture Going Global”, how can Chinese film and television works better go to the world?
A: My works have won international awards, and I myself have been a judge of international film festivals. In my opinion, the standard to measure the quality of a movie basically depends on two points: the first point is whether you dig deep into this matter, and is your opinion unique? Second, is your work innovative in audiovisual language? For example, “On the Highlands” won the award because on the first point, I have a unique understanding of the problem of pollution. In addition, in terms of audiovisual, I gave up color, music, and sports, which means that others have seven weapons, but I only have four. Audiovisual language is generally seven elements. I gave up the three elements, and only used four elements to tell the story, and I did the subtraction, which is more unique.
In addition, I strongly feel that on the basis of China’s 5,000-year-old culture, only if you truly achieve cultural self-confidence can you have confidence in facing the world. You have five thousand years of culture behind you, it’s true, you can’t bluff. When you have a cultural self-confidence in your heart, that work will feel different. This is my own experience.
Q: Next, what shooting plans do you have?
A: I just finished a literary film called “Chasing the Moon”, which presents an image of a mother that has never been seen in the history of Chinese cinema, at least among the films I have seen. Most mothers have worked hard and broken their hearts for the family, but this mother is completely different, very unique, played by Teacher He Saifei.