Ethical stories and fables about family and country—"Spring in a Small Town"

?Perhaps no other film in the history of Chinese films has experienced such ups and downs as "Spring in a Small Town". In the 1940s, director Fei Mu's exploration of the path of film art was temporarily interrupted. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he was able to regain his film dream. In 1948, an era of heavy artillery fire and impending drastic changes, Fei Mu completed the filming of "Small Town". "Spring"; it is indeed a complete anomaly. It has nothing to do with politics or national affairs. It only has the slow love between children and endless ruins. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the attendance rate of the film after its release was "the highest." The box office revenue was so low that it broke the record of all films since the establishment of Wenhua." As a result, it seemed to be forgotten by the world and slept quietly for thirty years. In 1983, "Spring in a Small Town" was screened at the "Retrospective Exhibition of Films from the 1920s to 1941". Since then, its fortunes have suddenly changed. Its artistic features have been greatly praised, and its ideological content is no longer considered negative and backward. Since the 1990s, Years later, its reputation reached its peak and it was recognized as a classic of Chinese cinema, ranking first among the 100 best Chinese films of the century.

As Huang Jianye said: "The situation of "Spring in a Small Town" in the history of Chinese films is somewhat similar to Orust's "Reminiscence of Lost Time", which cleared up the fog of its own era. , ahead of the mainstream attention at the time, allowing the audience to listen to bursts of depressing and gorgeous emotional monologues, so truly revealing the hesitation and depression of an intellectual, Ling's original art form and accumulated cultural reflections. The transcendent artistic belief allowed it to self-containedly form a small universe of great charm. Decades later, it emerged from the dust of history and inspired a new generation. It should not be accidental. ”

< p> "Spring in a Small Town" uses its modern consciousness and modern form to downplay the color of drama, and at the same time integrates the essence of traditional Chinese opera culture, forming an artistic feature that combines modern character and national style.

An important feature of modern films is their focus on revealing complex human nature and the deep psychology of characters, while traditional Hollywood films are good at setting up dramatic plots, resulting in suspense, intense conflicts, tense rhythm and fascinating people. Conflict is the internal driving force of story development, and it is generally expressed through the actions of characters. Conflicts in ethical melodramas mostly occur between people and their environment, and between people and others, with less focus on inner conflicts. In "Spring in a Small Town", the pace is slow, what is seen is the lack or delay of action, and the conflict is concentrated in the inner world of the characters. Unlike Cai Chusheng and other filmmakers who are good at expressing moral sentiments through legendary plots, Fei Wenke downplays the plot. Deliberately depict the characters' painful struggle between love and etiquette.

A successful work of art must contain two levels, namely the apparent text and the underlying text that constitutes contradictory tension with it. As an old Hollywood saying goes: “If a scene tells what that scene tells "If you don't know anything about it, then you've fallen into a cesspit." It is through the contradiction between the inner monologue and the character's behavior that "we can continuously see through the character's face and activities until they have not said anything." She is conscious of her deep inner thoughts and emotions. "The contradiction in Yuwen's narration voice gives the audience insight into her inner conflict. Should she settle for the family role of a good wife and loving mother, or should she pursue personal emotional happiness? She seems to have no way out. Can go. The irreconcilable contradiction between socialized masks and personal desires makes inconsistencies a normal part of life. The film does not carry out various narrative experiments like many modern films that followed, but is more focused on paying attention to the plight of life with compassion.

The film's technique is concise and concise, using mostly line drawings to depict the characters, but it has lingering sounds and endless aftertaste. Naturally, monologues and music play an important role in it. Fei Mu believes: "In order for a movie to capture the audience, it must assimilate the audience with the environment of the characters in the play. To achieve this goal, I think it is necessary to create the 'air' in the play." "Personally, I think that creating the atmosphere in the play is 'Air' can be obtained in four ways: first, it is obtained due to the performance of the camera itself; second, it is obtained due to the object of photography itself; third, it is obtained due to insinuating ways; fourth, it is obtained due to the sound "If "Spring in a Small Town" is "like a landscape sketch" full of meaning, then it can be said that the use of sound turns the film into a flowing poem, which enchants the audience.

Fei Mu used movies to depict various aspects of life and think about the meaning of life. He said in the article "The Director's Words of "Life": "Huxley said: 'The greatest terror of all types of organisms is A feeling of paralysis. Paralysis is not the same as being disabled, but only being unconscious, unconscious, useless, and useless—essentially corrupt. Therefore, the horror of paralysis is essentially the same as being disabled. There is also a kind of paralyzing horror - an unconscious, unconscious, futile and useless existence. "The Xiaocheng and Dai family in the film show such a state of existence. The characters in the film are not clear-cut between good and evil. As many commentators have pointed out, the film expresses women's repressed erotic desires extremely well and expresses deep sympathy for Yu Wen. However, at the same time, Fei Mu also expresses compassion for Liyan, who is regarded by commentators as a representative of the declining class. , and showed him to be so kind. Everyone in the film struggled to make changes, but in the end they still couldn't get out of the long city wall.

The conflict between love and etiquette is an eternal theme in art. In facing up to and presenting complex human nature, the film surpasses a large number of works of the same era. It has valuable psychological depth and modern character, and also reflects Fei Mu's consistent humanitarianism. feelings.