Shanghai filmmakers are the first to witness "The Treasure Land in front of the Door", at Xu Haofeng, the "Treasure Land in front of the Door" of the Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles | National | Cinematographers

A well-known filmmaker once said that it is difficult to truly establish a foothold in the national market without bringing works to Shanghai as a "dock". Director Xu Haofeng premiered his highly anticipated new film "Gate Treasure Land" at the Shanghai International Film Festival. On June 12th, he brought a group of creators to the "Gate Treasure Land" of the Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles to participate in the "Maritime Film Forum" event of the Shanghai Film Association at the Shanghai Art Hall.

Like Xu Haofeng's previous work "Master", "The Treasure Land in front of the Door" emphasizes the etiquette and rules of traditional walking. This gentle and well mannered director pays tribute to Shanghai, the origin and original intention of Chinese cinema, through more than an hour of in-depth communication with Shanghai filmmakers and audiences.

Martial arts films

"The Treasure Land in Front of the Gate" tells the story of the "Martial Arts" in Tianjin in the 1920s. Before his death, the head of the martial arts school planned a bank job for his son Shen An to leave the martial arts school, and decided to let his eldest disciple Qi Quan take over. Unexpectedly, Qi Quan's various new practices broke the rules of martial arts and caused riots. The older generation invited Shen An back, intending to use a martial arts competition to force Qi Quan to withdraw from the martial arts.

The movie spent a lot of space showcasing the fighting scenes between martial arts brothers, but it did not make the audience feel aesthetically fatigued by too many martial arts scenes. In the film, there are no anti human operations that challenge Newton's theorem and flashy twists and turns. The moves are sharp and straightforward, with each move aimed at attacking its key points.

Compared to kung fu and martial arts films, Xu Haofeng prefers to refer to his creations as martial arts films. "The term 'Wulin' imitates literati, including the construction of many rules in Tianjin's Wulin. In fact, it imitates private schools and colleges. The term 'Lin' has a symbol of cultural class, such as being called 'Cilin' when writing poetry. Wulin actually elevates the social status of martial artists in martial arts novels, but in the folk, they are ashamed to call themselves Wulin because they know they are not cultured enough, and are all called martial arts."

From a series of works such as "Master" and "Arrow Warrior Liu Bai Ape", it can be seen that Xu Haofeng is knowledgeable in martial arts and has "real kung fu". In 2006, Xu Haofeng created a documentary literary novel called "The Lost Wulin", which narrated martial arts stories to readers through more than 70 years of martial arts practice. As the main activity location of the Republic of China martial arts figures interviewed during oral history was in Tianjin, which was also the center of martial arts in the country at that time, "Master" and "Gate Treasure Land" both focused on the martial arts legends of Tianjin.

The chief producer and lead actor of the film introduced to Zuo that in order to shoot "The Treasure Land in front of the Gate", he specifically instructed Ye Wen's disciple Liang Shaohong to learn the Eight Slash Sword, which is a form and meaning sword taught by Xu Haofeng. "The long stick used in a fight scene was Cai Moqiang from my hometown, which was excavated by Director Xu. My father also came to the scene to give some guidance."

The Eight Chop Knife also appeared in "Master". At that time, the Eight Chop Knife was "guessed" by Xu Haofeng based on the concept taught by Liang Shaohong, while in "The Treasure Land in front of the Gate", it was "true". "This time, Master Liang wanted to make the Eight Slash Knife public, so he passed it on to Director Xu and also to me. We filmed it, and these two swords run through the movie from beginning to end." Xiang Zuo revealed that, like in the movie, there is a beautiful love story behind the Eight Slash Knife that Master "retrieved".

In the film, there is a bamboo weapon half hidden in the sleeve with a curved hook on the head, which is very similar to the fictional extraordinary weapon in Jin Yong's novel. The director Zheng Dasheng, who served as the host on site, couldn't help but be curious about its reality. Xu Haofeng popularized that this weapon is a real existence, named "Sharp". "That kind of bamboo has been specially processed, it is lighter than iron, and as hard as iron, it can be used to pick up knives and guns."

Caught between traditional and contemporary wedges

Watching Xu Haofeng's movies, while enjoying the thrilling scenes, there is always an illusion of improving one's martial arts level.

Xu Haofeng, with gray hair, exudes a strong sense of traditional literati, always smiling kindly without frowning or exuding a hint of solemnity, creating a stark contrast with his films. He speaks slowly, elegantly, and sometimes succinctly, as if teaching martial arts secrets. He needs to rely on himself to understand the underlying principles.

The lead actor Tang Shiyi and the special performer Jiang Zhujiu in "The Treasure Land in Front of the Gate" did not know kung fu before. One was a dance artist, and the other was a professional Go player. In the movie, they presented extremely exciting martial arts performances, showing no fear in every move.

Jiang Zhujiu introduced that he studied kung fu with Liang Shaohong for three months before filming, and Tang Shiyi was his "senior sister". "During the performance, the director repeatedly told me, 'Don't act, just take yourself out. Whatever you are in the world of Go, you act.' This gave Jiang Zhujiu great inspiration. He realized the similarities between Go and martial arts through his martial arts practice and filming. 'The things passed down from our ancestors are spiritually similar, and the more we reach out to the masters, the more we cherish each other. You expect a strong opponent to test you, and in the end, you will find that truly powerful people are actually very peaceful.'"

There is a line that Jiang Zhujiu particularly likes in the movie, and it wasn't until a party the day before that Xiang Zuo told him that it was specifically written for him by the director: "Wu Xing is a small wooden piece, a wedge sandwiched between the beam and the pillar, which serves as a stress relieving tool.". Nowadays, he often quotes this passage in Go classes, "The nine sections of Go are actually wedges between traditional culture and current children. When inheriting culture, they can play a role in making everyone happy, and my greatest goal has been achieved."

As the movie poster states, "A hundred meters in front of the door, there is injustice, and when going out, one must take care of it." The movie world constructed by Xu Haofeng is not an imagined world, and the people and things in the film are difficult to define with traditional right and wrong and black and white, but have another kind of real charm.

Some viewers feel that the film is not about the past, but about the present. At the end of the film, the junior brother who followed traditional rules won over the senior brother who wanted to break the rules and establish a new martial arts style.

The reporter is curious whether Xu Haofeng is using that great war as a metaphor for the impact of new media on traditional media, and asks him how he views the challenges of script killing and immersive drama to film art. Will he engage in such IP development? Xu Haofeng smiled and did not give a direct answer, but told a story.

"I first studied art and during my high school years at the Central Academy of Fine Arts Affiliated Middle School, it was a hub for trendy and modern art. When I came into contact with these, I was resistant to realism painting techniques. When I arrived at the film academy and received training in realism, I discovered how realism was so charming in movies. At that time, I set my sights on this artistic aesthetic as my ultimate goal when making movies in the future."