1980 My literary era

In September and October 1996, the Chinese film industry could not avoid the name Lin Weimin.

There was "Life is Beautiful" in early September and "There's Something to Say" in late September. Both films were adapted from Lin Weimin's novels, and both won awards at the world's top film festivals.

After being released in China, both films were warmly welcomed by the audience and achieved excellent box office and reputation.

"Life is Beautiful" has been in theaters for 35 days and has grossed a total of 123 million yuan at the box office. It has become one of the few films in the Chinese film market to have a box office of over 100 million yuan in recent years. China Film Group, which was responsible for the introduction, has made a lot of money this time. Cinemas all over the country Also benefited a lot.

During the film's release, many relevant domestic publications published critics' reviews of the film, which received almost unanimous praise.

"Let's Talk" was released immediately after "Life is Beautiful", and its box office potential has almost been exhausted. Looking at the current trend, the box office should be between 85 and 90 million before it is released.

As a domestic film, "Speak Well" rarely outshines imported blockbusters in terms of box office.

Some commentaries also put forward this view: It’s not that domestic audiences don’t like watching domestic movies, but the production level and aesthetic standards of domestic movies are still stuck at the same level as ten years ago and have not kept up with the audience’s aesthetic needs. It is at an absolute disadvantage in the competition with imported blockbusters.

It did not take long for this argument to be widely disseminated. The relatively objective remarks also allowed many practitioners in the film industry to clear away the fog and restore some confidence, and also boosted industry confidence in the entire film market. .

At the end of the release period of "Speak Well", "Qin Song" jointly produced by Xi Film Studio and Xiangjiang Film Company with an investment of 40 million yuan was officially released.

The film has a press conference and premiere in Yanjing. The press conference comes first and the premiere follows.

Lin Weimin has been friends with Wu Tianming, the director of Xi Film Studio for many years. Wu Tianming made great efforts to release "Song of Qin" this time and invited many friends to support it. Lin Weimin was also invited to participate.

The press conference had already finished when he arrived, and the premiere was about to begin.

When they met, Lin Weimin first greeted Wu Tianming warmly, and then saw the high-spirited Jiang Wen.

Jiang Wen has reason to be so public recently. "Speak Well" just won the Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and earned more than 80 million at the box office. Before it is released, he is now starring in another major movie The investment movie "Qin Song" is about to be released again. He has recently become the darling of many domestic media. Some media even shouted the slogan "Jiang Wenyue".

"Big shot Jiang!" Lin Weimin joked.

Jiang Wen nodded and bowed, "Teacher Lin, you are really good at joking. There are no big names in front of you. Xiao Jiang!"

Xu Qing on the side laughed out loud. She was the typical Yanjing beauty praised by Jiang Wen, Feng Xiaogang and others, but her appearance also had the charm of a Jiangnan girl. She was in her early thirties and full of charm. .

Lin Weimin nodded and smiled at her, and Xu Qing said hello quickly.

Lin Weimin said hello to Ge You again, and Lu Wei, who was standing next to director Zhou Xiaowen, said hello to Lin Weimin, the screenwriter of "Farewell My Concubine".

After chatting with acquaintances for a few words, Lin Weimin also politely chatted with director Zhou Xiaowen, and then sat down next to Wu Tianming.

The movie started to show, and the familiar title sequence started with the shocking double-N feeding scene.

Lin Weimin is no stranger to "Song of Qin". As a rare big-investment movie in the 1990s, there was news of being temporarily withdrawn and blocked. How could Lin Weimin not watch it as a movie enthusiast in the future?

If you put aside the director's perspective, the standard of this movie is actually not low. Simply speaking, it is a kind of enjoyment to watch the movie.

Of course, the most profound impression this movie left on Chinese movie fans was probably the actress who fed N at the beginning.

It is very full, very surging, with a kind of primitive vitality, and it has the flavor of Mo Yan's books. The director probably read it frequently, and here he refers to Mo Yan's books.

Speaking of actresses, there is only one actress named in the cast of "Qin Song", and that is the heroine Xu Qing.

As for the actress who feeds N at the beginning, there is no information about her from beginning to end.

Even after more than twenty years later, no one still knows the name of this actress.

This incident has also become one of the unsolved mysteries in the Chinese film industry.

The 130-minute film screening ended. As one of the guests invited to the premiere, Lin Weimin was invited to speak. He is familiar with business exchanges.

Besides, their movies are indeed good, but at most they are not commercial enough.

After the movie premiere, "Song of Qin" was officially released. Lin Weimin didn't take the movie seriously, but Yu Dong and Zhang Yimou were extremely nervous.

In the first few days after the release of "Song of Qin", Yu Dong made phone calls everywhere to inquire about the box office situation of "Song of Qin".

At this time, box office data statistics were not developed, so the easiest way was to ask people at the theater directly. However, the movie had just been released and the box office had not yet been counted, so people at the theater could only give Yu Dong a vague explanation.

The audience was not as large as when "Life is Beautiful" and "I Have Something to Say" were released.

After asking for two or three days, Yu Dong received the same news from theaters all over the country, and he felt relieved.

"Qin Song" has the same theme as "Hero", and even the plot is slightly similar. It is a direct competitor. If its box office does well, it will not be good news for "Hero".

Yu Dong was just relieved when, without warning, "Song of Qin", which was in full swing, was suddenly released. At this time, it was only four days since the release of this big-investment movie.

When the news came out, the Chinese film industry was in an uproar.

No one expected that a movie produced by Xi Film Studio with an investment of 40 million yuan and involving Jiang Wen, Ge You and many other big names would be suddenly withdrawn just four days after it was released. For a while, there were divergent opinions in the industry.

Some say it’s because the movie reflects politics, some say it’s because Xi Film Studio offended the film bureau’s leaders, some say it’s because the producer of Xiangjiang disliked the movie’s low box office and took the initiative to withdraw it...

The sudden release of "Song of Qin" has become a mystery in the Chinese film industry, just like the actress in its title.

But this mystery is not difficult to solve. After experiencing the confusion of various gossips in the first few days, the reason for the sudden release of the movie gradually became clear.

Since the film was released, some experts and scholars have criticized the film for its historical explanation problems. Although it has not been officially confirmed, the reasons are probably very similar.

The sudden release of "Song of Qin" made Yu Dong extremely happy. Although this attitude was a bit unkind, he couldn't help but be happy.

He also knows that his idea of ​​hoping that his opponent will make mistakes is very futile, but "Hero" is too important to him, to Wenhua, and even to Chinese movies, so he can't help but worry about gains and losses, and can't mention it. He has the so-called general demeanor.

It's November, and the crew of "Hero" has gone to Inner Mongolia for filming. The shooting location conditions are difficult, and the crew is in a hurry.

Yu Dong is going to visit the crew to cheer and encourage the crew.

Before going to the crew, Yu Dong said hello to Lin Weimin in advance, and Lin Weimin asked him: "Are you going like this?"

"How can I? I brought 10,000 yuan." Yu Dong said.

"There are so many people on the crew, what can you do with just that little money? Let the finance department get more. This is 'gas money' and cannot be saved."

It's not that Lin Weimin can't accept "there are fishes in the water", but the prerequisite is to do a good job and love money in an appropriate way.

"Hero" is the highlight of Wenhua Film and Television next year, and it will even affect the development process of Chinese films to a certain extent. At this time, morale cannot be discouraged.

Two days after Yu Dong left, Lin Weimin suddenly received a call from Shi Tiesheng and told him good news.

Shi Tiesheng's short story "Notes from an Old House" won the gold medal of the "East China Sea 300,000 Yuan Literary Grand Prize" sponsored by Zhijiang's "Donghai" literary monthly magazine, with a bonus of 50,000 yuan.

On the phone, Shi Tiesheng's tone was a little excited.

The reason why he was so happy was that he won the award, but more importantly, he received a bonus of 50,000 yuan.

Shi Tiesheng has been writing for many years, but his output is not very high. Many of his works have received good responses after publication, but the sales volume after publication are average. The 50,000 yuan bonus is almost equal to his two or three years of income. He has never been rich in life. For him, there was no better news than this.

Lin Weimin was also very happy for Shi Tiesheng when he heard the news.

Last year, "Everyone" magazine contacted Shi Tiesheng and proposed that as long as he published "Notes on Retreat" in "Everyone", he would receive 100,000 yuan from the "Everyone·Honghe Literary Award" co-organized by "Everyone" and Honghe Cigarette Factory. Grand prize.

But Shi Tiesheng felt that he might not be able to write many novels in his life, so he finally resisted the temptation of a huge bonus and submitted the novel to "Contemporary" for publication.

"Notes on Retreat" received an enthusiastic response after it was published in "Contemporary". Critics rated this novel very highly, but there were some mixed reviews among readers. This has a lot to do with Shi Tiesheng's creative method.

The novel was published a few months ago, and its sales were mediocre, and the income it brought to Shi Tiesheng was not huge.

Now "Notes from an Old House" has actually won another gold medal worth 50,000 yuan, which can be regarded as God's praise for Shi Tiesheng's persistence.

The two chatted on the phone for a long time, and Shi Tiesheng said that he was also planning to go to Hangzhou to receive the award.

In later generations, the name of the literary monthly "East China Sea" was not famous, but its history is actually very long.

"East China Sea" was originally the journal of the Zhijiang Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, called "Zhijiang Literature and Art". It was founded in 1951. It was renamed "East China Sea" in 1956 and ceased publication in 1964. Later, in 1975, it was renamed "Zhejiang Literature and Art", and in 1978 it was renamed "East China Sea". It is the only provincial-level literary monthly in Zhijiang Province to this day.

After the reform and opening up, this publication also regained its vitality, with sales exceeding one million copies at one time, and became the starting point for many writers in Zhijiang Province at that time.

In 1995, most domestic literary journals were facing difficulties in survival, and "East China Sea" was no exception. The magazine was losing money and people were distracted.

At this time, Zhao Ruiyong was transferred to the "East China Sea" literary magazine as the president and editor-in-chief. He donated a sum of funds from Li Shiqing, chairman of Yongkang Brothers Holding Group, and established the "Donghai Literature Award". The first prize was 300,000 yuan. The slogan "East China Sea Three Hundred Thousand Yuan Literary Grand Prize" was launched.

This slogan is a bit vulgar, but such a huge prize has indeed brought countless attention to "Donghai" magazine. It also made the "Donghai Literature Award" have a wide influence as soon as it was born, becoming the most popular in the domestic literary world. events of note.

"Okay, okay, you go and receive the award, and I will celebrate your success when you come back!"

The two talked again, and Lin Weimin was happy and decided to leave early and go to Shi Tiesheng's house to celebrate him.

When he arrived at Shi Tiesheng's house, many friends who got the news also came, and everyone was happy for Shi Tiesheng.

Cheng Ximi enthusiastically organized a sumptuous dinner.

That night, everyone gathered at Shi Tiesheng's home, chatting about literature and ideals, laughing and laughing, as if they had returned to that splendid literary era.

It was past 10 o'clock in the evening when Lin Weimin returned home, and he fell asleep with a bit of drunkenness.

At some point, a harsh ringing sound suddenly rang.