On March 15, the second volume of Shanshui Tu, “The World of Grass and Trees,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, was officially launched in Hangzhou. Volume 1 “Plumbing in the Spring River” won the Best Feature Film Award, Best Director Award at the 13th FIRST Youth Film Festival, and the Film Channel Media Award at the 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival.
Gu Xiaogang, a young director born in the 1980s, graduated from the Costume Design Department of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. After graduation, he taught himself film art because of his love for it. In 2019, he made his debut in the film industry with his feature-length feature film “Plumbing in the Spring River”. This time, “The World of Grass and Trees” was co-written by writer Guo Shuang and director Gu Xiaogang, winner of the second “Zhongshan Star Literature Award”, and Wang Xufeng, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Award, served as a literary consultant.
The cast was also officially announced at the opening ceremony. “Ancient costume goddess” Jiang Qinqin and “post-95 student” Wu Lei will play mother and son in this film. What is even more surprising is that the art director of this film is Chen Jianbin, who is in the film. It will also play an unknown role, which is worth looking forward to.
“The World of Grass and Trees” start-up group photo
The story of “The World of Grass and Trees” is inspired by the legend “Mulian saves the mother”. “Mu Lian” is a Buddhist disciple. Her mother was tortured in hell following her death because she did not do good deeds during her lifetime. After learning regarding it, Mu Lian broke into hell to save her mother. After some hard work, the mother returned to the world but turned into a dog. After several lifetimes of probation efforts, Mulian finally returned to the world as a human body.
Jiang Qinqin plays the mother Moss Flower, and Wu Lei plays the son Mulian, set as the “Son of Nature”, full of exuberant and strong vitality. The names of the two characters are very suitable for the movie name “Grass and Trees”.According to director Gu Xiaogang, the name of the mother “Moss Flower” was taken from the poem “Moss flowers are as small as rice, and they also learn to bloom like peonies” by Yuan Mei, a poet in Qiantang.
The indomitable, enterprising and endless praise of life in traditional culture will also be presented in this film.
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The tea culture that began in the Shennong period has a history of more than 4,700 years. As an indispensable part of the Chinese tradition, “tea” has an irreplaceable position and influence in the hearts of Chinese people. In ancient times, the Silk Road promoted tea culture. In modern times, there was the “Tea War” (Opium War), as well as the comfortable life of “chai, rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar tea” and “qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine and tea”.
The story of “The World of Grass and Trees” takes place in the West Lake Chashan in Hangzhou City.
In order to find her father who left home and went to Hangzhou and lost contact for ten years, Mu Lian went to Hangzhou to study alone. In order to take care of her son who is regarding to graduate from college, her mother, Taihua, went to Hangzhou to pick tea for a living. The originally peaceful days were turbulent. Moss and the tea-picking owner had an emotional change. Moss strayed into a fraud organization. Mulian tried to rescue her mother, but fell into an even more desperate situation.
As early as January 10 this year, director Gu Xiaogang released the first concept poster of “The World of Grass and Trees”. The well-known poster designer personally wrote the title of the film.
The posters for such excellent films as “I’m Not the God of Medicine”, “Big Fish and Begonia”, “I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City”, “Pianist at Sea”, “Spirited Away”, and “My Neighbor Totoro” are all from the designer Huang Haizhi hand. In the poster of “The World of Plants and Trees”, the main vision uses black, white and gold to outline a mirror image that is symmetrical up and down – in the upper part, the cloud peaks are towering, the vegetation is lush, and the barefoot teenagers are running; in the lower part, the clouds The peaks are low, the Chashan and Leifeng Pagoda block the buildings, and the women wearing hats are reflected in the water.
Yellow Sea Designcalligrapher Xu Jing wrote the title
The masterpiece “Plumbing in the Spring River” is ahead, and I believe “The World of Grass and Trees” can definitely satisfy the expectations of art film fans. In addition, unlike Volume 1 “Plumbing in the Spring River”, “The World of Grass and Trees” adds criminal elements on the basis of family affection. Gu Xiaogang + genre films, I believe they can collide with different sparks.
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So what kind of landscape painting is director Gu Xiaogang’s debut feature film “Plumbing in the Spring River”?
In 2019, as the closing film of the 58th “Critics’ Week” section of the Cannes Film Festival, “Plumbing in the Spring River” attracted the attention of the industry and the audience. The young director born in the 1980s won two awards for Best Feature Film and Best Director at the 13th FIRST Youth Film Festival with this landscape painting.
“Plumbing in the Spring River” not only attracted attention at home, but also emerged abroad, becoming the top ten films of the French “Cinebook” in 2020, ranking seventh. This is the first time that a Chinese director has been selected into the “Film Manual” once more following a lapse of 7 years. This selection is a highlight in the history of Chinese film.
In fact, before “Spring River Plumbing”, Gu Xiaogang had directed three documentaries. One of them, Planting Life, won the Best Documentary Feature at the 9th FIRST Youth Film Festival in 2015. Until 2019, when “Plumbing of the Spring River” came out, Gu Xiaogang, with his unique narrative technique and style, made Chinese landscape and market culture flourish once more.
Such an achievement is not so much a talent as it is a matter of accumulation.
“Plumbing in the Spring River” tells the life challenges faced by three generations of a family on the banks of the Fuchun River in Hangzhou in the form of a landscape scroll, and the family’s choice in the fireworks of the world. It warmly presents ordinary people’s beautiful yearning for life.In order to pursue the real natural changes of the world, director Gu Xiaogang spent three years making this “landscape painting”. There is a 12-minute long shot in the finished film, which reflects the change of the four seasons by the Fuchun River in the past three years.
Stills of “Plumbing in the Spring River”
The original inspiration of “Plumbing in the Spring River” came from the ancient Chinese landscape painting “Across the River during Qingming Festival”. Director Gu Xiaogang applied the art concept to “Plumbing in the Spring River”. Aesthetics emphasizes the unity of the whole, and the integration of landscape and scenery in the film just reflects the director’s unique aesthetic style.
Therefore, “Plumbing in the Spring River” is not only an excellent film, but also an art painting for appreciation.
From the banks of the Fuchun River to the Chashan Mountains of the West Lake, the story under the lens of director Gu Xiaogang continues. I am very much looking forward to the release of “The World of Grass and Trees”, and I also hope that this film will continue to go international in the future, so that more people can see the Chinese landscape painting.
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