In 2013, the movie "One Man's Martial Arts" was officially released. Wang Baoqiang appeared on the screen for the first time in the form of a villain. The audience was shocked by his punch-to-flesh martial arts moves and was also impressed by his superb skills. Impressed by the acting skills.
Countless netizens left messages below: "This is the role that Wang Baoqiang can best showcase his acting skills."
However, Wang Baoqiang replied: "I think the role that best showcases my acting skills, Actually it’s another character.”
This character is the “tree” in “Hello Mr. Tree”.
In the film, Wang Baoqiang was made a god and written into a textbook just by smoking a cigarette. The film not only won many awards at home and abroad, but was also called a circle movie by film critics. The most underrated movie in the world.
What is the virtue and ability of this movie to achieve such a high reputation?
In 2012, some netizens discovered a unique beggar on the roadside. With his handsome face, upright posture, melancholy temperament, and a beggar outfit, this beggar became famous overnight. Suddenly, he became popular on the Internet and was called "Brother Sharp" by netizens.
At this time, although Han Jie had filmed several works, they all received mediocre response. He was thrown into the film and television industry and could not make a few splashes.
During a trip three years ago, Han Jie accidentally saw a picture of a rural area after relocation, with a cold atmosphere, dilapidated old houses, and desolation as far as the eye could see.
Only a few old trees at the entrance of the village always stand proudly, with their roots slightly bent and exposed on the soil surface, like a huge hand grasping the earth, desperately trying to absorb the last drop of nutrients to ensure that they Can survive.
Although it was winter at that time, the faint green emerging from the branches was so incompatible with the entire picture.
Seeing this scene, Han Jie suddenly had an idea in his mind. He wanted to make a movie about wandering between ideals and reality. Until "Brother Sharp" appeared, he suddenly seemed like It opened up his two channels of Ren and Du, and inspiration came instantly.
Taking advantage of this momentum, Han Jie wrote the script in one breath and gave it to director Jia Zhangke, hoping to use his "Additional Wings Project" to help complete his filming.
Before the script was approved, Han Jie couldn’t wait to start looking for a filming location.
He originally wanted to build one by himself, but the houses he built smelled of cement everywhere and did not have the atmosphere of primitive desolation. After traveling almost all over the Northeast, Han Jie finally selected a house. place.
This place is exactly like the scene Han Jie imagined. The only flaw is that there are no trees at the entrance of the village.
The tree at the entrance of the village is the soul of the entire film.
So Han Jie had someone transplant a tree from a distance, but after transplanting, it looked awkward.
So Han Jie waved his hand: "I don't want this place anymore, keep looking."
Then he found a suitable small mountain village near Pinggang Mine in Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province. Although the overall situation of the mountain village is not to Han Jie's liking, the tree at the entrance of the village is very suitable for the scene.
After the scene was set and Jia Zhangke personally served as the producer, Han Jie also invited Li Yaohui, who had filmed "Infernal Affairs" and "Initial D", to be in charge of filming.
It is said that Li Yaohui had just finished filming "October Siege". After filming "Hello Mr. Tree", he went to the set of "The Grandmaster" without stopping.
Han Jie knows very well that if a movie is compared to a banquet, all the staff are just appetizers, and the actors are the main dish.
Regarding the soul character "Tree" in the movie, Han Jie searched through the film and television circles, and it seemed that no one was suitable except Wang Baoqiang.
When Wang Baoqiang learned about this role, his first reaction was surprise, because this character was so distinctive and full of personality, which was very different from the roles he had played in the past, so he immediately accepted the role. movie.
But after he agreed, he was notified that the filming of his other drama "Western Wind" had been postponed, and it happened to coincide with the filming cycle of "Hello Mr. Tree".
Wang Baoqiang thought for a while and decisively rejected "Western Wind" and chose to cooperate with Han Jie.
Later Wang Baoqiang said: "The character Shu is so unique that I can't lose him."
The Shu in the movie is an image of a slovenly farmer who loves to smoke and drink. He has always been on the fringes of society, trying desperately to integrate in, but has never been accepted.
Wang Baoqiang has a peasant vibe. If this character were replaced, he probably wouldn’t be able to play this role.
In the movie, the character Shu is an old drunkard and smoker, but Wang Baoqiang himself is indeed almost a non-smoker in life, which makes Wang Baoqiang difficult.
Wang Baoqiang, who had almost never drank before, in the first few months of film preparation, drank wine every meal. Even if he didn’t want to drink anymore, he would drink it down.
By the time the filming of the movie was finished, Wang Baoqiang had developed his drinking capacity, and drinking half a pound in one meal was not a problem.
In order to reflect Mr. Shu’s role as an old smoker in the play, he not only smokes while eating and drinking, but also has a cigarette in his mouth whenever he is free. Sometimes he can smoke three packs a day. cigarette.
At that time, people from the crew laughed and said: "Wang Baoqiang is responsible for all the tobacco and alcohol for the entire crew."
Learning to smoke and drink are small things, but the most difficult thing is What Wang Baoqiang was in trouble for was the passionate scene between him and Tan Zhuo in the movie.
If this matter had been placed on other actors, they would have happily agreed, but it was different with Wang Baoqiang.
After Wang Baoqiang debuted, from "The Blind Shaft" to "A World Without Thieves" to "Soldiers Assault", he filmed all the scenes with Yishui's old men. He never filmed any emotional scenes at all, let alone Passionate play.
When he learned that he had passion, Wang Baoqiang was instantly dumbfounded.
So I coyly told the director about this and suggested that the passionate scene could be deleted.
The director thought about it for a while and said: "This scene cannot be deleted. It is a symbol of Shu's mental disorder."
So the director went to the heroine Tan Zhuo to discuss it, and then decided to do this. In the scene, Shu is passive and Tan Zhuo is active.
Before the filming started, Tan Zhuo was extremely nervous. After all, it was his first time working with Wang Baoqiang and they were not very familiar with each other, so the two of them drank half a bottle of Erguotou before they got married as we saw. At night, Tan Zhuo takes the initiative to work for Wang Baoqiang.
Good works always have real scenes. Coupled with serious directors and actors who are dedicated to acting, this is how long-lasting film and television masterpieces appear on the screen. .
In 2011, the movie "Mr. Hello Tree", directed by Han Jie, produced by Jia Zhangke, starring Wang Baoqiang, and took 40 days to shoot, was officially released.
After its release, it not only won the Best Director Award and Best Actor Award at the Vladivostok International Film Festival in Russia, but also won the Best Director Award at the Shanghai Film Festival. However, the reputation of this film has not Not as beautiful as imagined.
Audiences criticized it as a bad movie, saying they "couldn't understand" and "what the hell was being filmed." In the end, the movie's total box office was only 2 million.
If the investment is based on a commercial film, then the producer will probably have to lose all his money.
But is this movie really that bad?
No, that shouldn't be the case.
Jia Zhangke has been researching this movie for a long time, Han Jie has been busy working on this movie, and Wang Baoqiang has been regarded as a god in the film and television industry for 10 years with just a smoking scene.
When this movie reappeared on the Internet 10 years later, those who had criticized the movie apologized:
"This is simply a masterpiece of gods"
“It’s not that the movie is bad, it’s just that I didn’t understand it”
“I seem to have seen my former self”
Good works are like fine wine, the better they get. The more pure, good film and television works, you can have different insights every time you watch them, just like "Westward Journey" and "Ming Dynasty 1566".
It can make film critics change their minds one after another, from criticizing it as useless to praising him to the top. What is this movie about? Maybe we can learn from its protagonist "Mr. Tree" Find out.
"Shu" is a slovenly old bachelor in a mountain village. Regardless of whether they are adults or children, they will call him "Shu Ge" when they see him. As for whether he is "Brother", no one ever thinks about it.
He wears what he considers to be the most appropriate old-fashioned suit every day, with a pair of hands holding a cigarette that has nowhere to rest. He can say hello to anyone he meets, and others will greet him respectfully when they see him. As for whether they say "Brother Shu" sincerely, only they themselves know.
And he is like an excluded person, desperately trying to integrate into their circle, but others never accept him.
In the village where the tree is located, most people have moved away due to demolition, but the mother is unwilling to move. The younger brother has come back many times to persuade the mother to move in with him, but the mother just laughs. He smiled and said: "Your second brother (that's Shu) is still here!"
When Shu was fired by his boss and wandering on the street, he met Erzhu, the brother-in-law of Gaopeng and the village chief. When the group of people saw Shu, they all stood arm-in-arm and insisted on going to the tavern to drink with him.
However, at the wine table, Erzhu always criticized Shu, saying that he was incompetent and could not do anything and was only qualified to guard the door for others.
Shu couldn't refute, so he could only pick up the wine glass and drink to relieve the embarrassment at this moment, but Erzhu's group was laughing. At this time, Shu had a lonely smile on his face and Erzhu's face The unrestrained smile on their faces was the complete opposite. They were obviously not a group of people, but they insisted on sitting together, making them look even more out of place.
Shu who came out of the tavern fell in love with Xiaomei at first sight, but when they went to Xiaomei's house to see each other, Xiaomei clearly rejected Shu.
The failure in his career and the obstacles in his relationship made Shu even more confused. What happened at Fa Xiaogaopeng’s wedding became the last straw that broke his heart and made him understand completely. own status.
At Gao Peng’s wedding, Shu accidentally stepped on Er Zhu’s foot. Er Zhu refused to let Shu kneel down to apologize. At Fa Xiao’s wedding, in full view of everyone, Shu knelt down. He fell at Erzhu's feet and completely trampled his dignity into the mud.
So Shu made up his mind to escape from the city, so he got on the train going south to join another friend, Chen Yixin.
So a very interesting thing happened in the movie, that is, no matter what plot happened before, it can be linked to the plot behind it.
Before Shu decided to defect to Chen Yixin, he was wandering alone on the hillside outside the village. At this time, a car passed by on the street in the village, and at the end of the film, the same scene appeared , that car is still running on the street.
Everything that happened in the middle was just the tree's imagination. Whatever happened before, there must be something corresponding to it later, and the result was exactly the opposite.
In Shu’s eyes, Chen Yixin is a successful person with a successful career and a happy family. However, Shu discovers that Chen Yixin is not what he imagined and is having an extramarital affair. So in the dream, Chen Yixin After his extramarital affair was found out by his wife, he caused a huge commotion and eventually ended in divorce.
At this time, Xiaomei, who had rejected herself, actually took the initiative to exchange text messages with herself, agreed to her pursuit, and finally married herself. After the marriage, everything focused on herself.
At Gao Peng’s wedding, Shu was once forced to kneel down to Erzhu in public, completely trampling on his face and dignity. When an accident occurred at the mine, Shu had become a Feng Shui respected by everyone. Master, Erzhu could only kowtow in front of him, but he knelt down willingly.
Erzhu once laughed at Shushang for having no future and was only qualified to look after the gate. However, when the mining industry reopened, the boss personally invited Shushang to cut the ribbon and cordially asked him about future cooperation matters. At that moment, Erzhu could only applaud desperately from below.
Not long after, my mother went to live in the city with her younger brother. Sitting in his younger brother's car, my mother didn't say a word, just wiping her tears desperately.
As the old saying goes, if people move, they will live, but if they move, trees will die.
On the surface, you move from the countryside to the city. If the roots are in the countryside, will the tree still survive if you move to the city?
At the end of the film, Shu seemed to see workers in the factory leaving work and heading home. However, at this time, the sky slowly turned from white to red.
When Shu worked in the auto repair shop, his eyes were burned. At this time, his sky turned red, which without exception no longer proved that he had completely fallen into his own world at this time. Can't pull it out.
In the village at this time, the car passed through the street again, exactly the same as the previous one, which proved that everything was just his personal imagination.
In real life he is a loser, in imagination he is a successful person.
When "Hello Mr. Tree" was promoted, it was said to be a black comedy film. However, after it was released, the audience discovered that it was a magical and surreal film.
It wasn’t because we couldn’t understand the movie, but because we were too young at that time and didn’t even know what the movie was about.
Just like a tree walking at the crossroads of a street, with "People's Street" on one side and "Freedom Avenue" on the other, where should I go?
No one can tell us.
After many years, each of us ended up living the way we once hated the most, always wandering on the edge of this society, trying desperately to integrate into this society, but what we encountered was that the society was trying to hide our faces. A severe beating.
When you first hear it, you don’t know what the song means, but when you listen to it again, you already know the meaning of the song.
It can only be said that this movie was released 10 years ago. If it were released now, it would definitely not be the same as it was back then.
However, is this really the case?