1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 546 Mi Family Mountain

This man came with Xie Jin. He was under forty years old, round and plump, with a long beard, and wearing a rustic red T-shirt.

"Comrade Jiang Xian, I apologize for the intrusion." The plump man nodded politely.

"Oh, hello, hello."

Jiang Xian shook hands with him, then gave Xie Jin a questioning look, "What's this?"

"Let me introduce myself." The fat man with the beard smiled憨厚ly. "My surname is Mi, my given name is Jiashan, and I am a director at Emei Film Studio. I have directed several TV series before, such as 'The Winding Stone Path' and 'The Boat of Love.' I don't know if you have heard of them."

"Mijia Mountain?"

Jiang Xian thought for a long time before he remembered such a person.

Oh my, Mijia Mountain!

This can be considered the epitome of "left-wing" in this era.

When Xiang Zuo complained about others, he mentioned that he was Guo Biting's husband and Xiang Tai's son. He just didn't know that he was Xiang Zuo.

Mi Jiashan and Xiang Zuo shared the same fate.

Because his wife is Pan Hong.

Yes, that's the kind of actress who plays the wicked mother-in-law in later generations.

However, Pan Hong was still young at this time, quite beautiful, and she was playing leading female roles.

She became famous very early; in 80, at just over 26 years old, she starred in Chen Rong's famous novel "Middle Age," playing the role of Lu Wenting, the protagonist of the novel.

The novel was popular enough, everyone read it these days, and the movie was even more amazing when it was released, becoming a sensation. Pan Hong won the Best Actress Award at the 3rd Golden Rooster Awards for her role as Lu Wenting, becoming a Golden Rooster Best Actress.

Moreover, she is one of the rare actresses who won the Best Actress award but did not go abroad, continuing to develop her career in China, and has continued to do very well over the years.

She starred in the film "Cold Nights," adapted from the novel by writer Ba Jin, playing the female protagonist Zeng Shusheng.

She starred in the film "Fire Dragon" directed by Li Hanxiang, playing Li Shuxian, Puyi's wife who remarried him after his pardon and release from prison. For this film, she was nominated for Best Actress at the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards.

In short, she was one of the most popular actresses, equivalent to the status of Yang Mi in later generations.

With such a wife, Mijia Mountain pales in comparison.

Of course, one wife alone is not enough to compare with Xiang Zuo. The key is that Mi Jiashan's parents are no less powerful than Xiang Huaqiang and Xiang Tai. With such family connections, people will definitely have more of an impression of him as so-and-so's son.

"Please sit down, please sit down." Since they were guests, Jiang Xian invited Xie Jin and Mi Jiashan to sit down and quickly poured them two cups of hot tea.

“I graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Shanxi Academy of Arts in 76. Later, I was assigned to Emei Factory. At first, I worked as an art designer, starting from the last level of landscape painting. Back then, I would carry a bucket of paint every day. If the cinematographer said that this area was too light, I would brush it. If the director said that a tree was missing, I would cut one down and then lie on the ground to support the tree with my hands until the shot was finished.”

Mi Jiashan didn't stand on ceremony with Jiang Xian. He sat down, lit a cigarette, and slowly began to explain why he had come:
“Under normal circumstances, it would have taken me at least ten years to become a director. But thanks to a period of upheaval, the film studio was facing a talent shortage. When the studio was making a film called ‘The Daughter of a Slave,’ the assistant director and the lead actress were both fired. So I was given the position of assistant director. Two years ago, my colleague Han Sanping and I went to the Beijing Film Academy for two years of further study. After graduating, I returned to the studio and officially became a director. It was a meteoric rise, and I finally had the opportunity to direct a film.”

"However, the factory has a rule that employees' first film after graduation must be a joint production. Han Sanping from our factory and I co-directed a film dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Red Army's Long March, called 'The Unsinkable Horizon,' which was just released recently. I don't know if you've seen it."

"I haven't been watching many movies lately."

Seeing Jiang Xian's bewildered expression, Mi Jiashan knew what was going on and gave a self-deprecating smile. "I know you're just being polite. When I was writing this script, I thought the story was quite mainstream: an old Red Army soldier who had become a general returned to the grasslands and met four art students. While reminiscing with the young people, the old Red Army soldier remembered his own wavering during the Long March. In short, it uses a stream-of-consciousness approach to set up three storylines. The presentation is very avant-garde, and the content is very modernist."

When we sent the film to the Soviet Union, the chairman of the Soviet Film Association watched it and stood up, applauding excitedly for a full half minute. He even invited us to participate in the film festival on the spot. This participation led to a nomination for the Soviet Union's Best First Film of the New Decade.

When Mi Jiashan spoke of this experience, his face was full of nostalgia, clearly indicating that his time in Soviet Russia was a period he felt proud of.

"Later...sigh."

As he spoke, the excitement on Mi Jiashan's face disappeared, replaced by a look of frustration. He lowered his head and took several deep drags on his cigarette, the smoke swirling around his face, making him look disheveled.

"I'll say it for him."

Xie Jin coughed lightly and whispered an explanation to Jiang Xian:

"When the film was submitted for review in China, a problem arose. A film bureau leader who had fully affirmed the film's content before filming suddenly came to Jiashan and said, 'The situation has changed,' and 'The film needs to be drastically revised.'"

"Not only do we need to make changes, but we also need to change the areas that we want to emphasize."

Mi Jiashan picked up where Xie Jin left off, holding up his finger miserably to show Jiang Xian:

"Guess what? In the end, a total of 24 scenes were cut!"

"24 scenes! That means we'll have to cut over 1300 feet of film! That'll add 14 to the cost for nothing!"

"That's how it happened; we submitted it for review four times before it was approved."

After hearing what Mi Jiashan said, Jiang Xian roughly guessed why the film had flopped.

As the changes progressed, everyone in the crew was completely bewildered. With so many alterations, even the best film would be unrecognizable. What would be the point of watching such a movie then?

"Sigh, too many changes."

Xie Jin sighed, "The film 'Hometown' was originally an art film with exploratory significance, and as a stream-of-consciousness film, it should be rigorous. With this change, how can the audience understand it?"

"Don't laugh at me."

Mi Jiashan said, "My film only sold eight copies in the end, which was the last place on last year's copy distribution list. I lost more than 600,000 yuan to the studio alone, and to this day, the studio has not let me make any more films."

Seeing Mi Jiashan's dejected appearance, Jiang Xian couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.

This is a blow to everyone.

Think about it, as a new director, he meticulously crafted and produced a film that achieved great innovation in both content and form, and even won a major award nomination abroad, gaining international recognition.

To achieve such success with one's directorial debut, anyone would be thrilled.
Back in China, they're definitely eager to make their mark and achieve great things.

And that's what came head-on—a devastating blow.

So depressing.

How can the word "miserable" be used?

So you've come here.

Jiang Xian glanced at Mi Jiashan, who had his head down, then at Xie Jin, puzzled. Surely he hadn't come to complain to him?
If you want to vent, you should go to a "confidante," a "ge you," or a "li Dongbao."

Ask him for help?

The movie has been out for so long, even if he wanted to help, there was nothing he could do, because too much time had passed.

"I took a year off from making movies. Some time ago, I happened to read one of your novels."

Mi Jiashan stubbed out his cigarette, took out a copy of "Contemporary" magazine from his pocket, and saw that it was the issue featuring "The Playboy." He then moistened his fingers with saliva and expertly turned to a page:
"Ah, the three of you, how are you? You're all here today." Zhao Yaoshun entered with the air of a scholar, greeting everyone with a smile.

The three people inside fell silent and dispersed to their respective tables. Zhao Yaoshun walked to Yu Guan's table, sat down, and began fanning himself with a paper fan.

"Yu Guan, why haven't you come these past few days?"

Yu watched him and uttered an "Ah." She didn't say anything else.

"Xiao Ma, get me a glass of water," Zhao Yaoshun said, turning around. "You guys have a lot of free time today."

"We are attending a memorial service this afternoon."

Ma Qing placed a glass of water in front of Zhao Yaoshun, walked away, returned to his own desk, and looked over here.

"Who died?"

"A child who can't swim."

"Oh, do they really need to hold a memorial service for someone like that? It seems your daily work is really quite meaningless."

"It's really boring."

"That's not surprising. Young people like you, who haven't received much education, can't possibly have any future. You face discrimination in society, which is painful, but you have no choice but to put on a brave face."

Yu Guan slowly lit a cigarette, raised his face and stared at Zhao Yaoshun.

Zhao Yaoshun looked at Yu Guan earnestly: "This is not fair. Society should create better conditions for you. I want to speak out loudly and let the whole society care about you. I am no longer a youth, but I still have passion in my veins and I am still easily excited. These days, when I think of you, Ma Qing, Yang Zhong and other lovely young people, I can't control myself and I can't sleep."

You're saying we're suffering inside?

"Of course it's too obvious, I can feel it even if you don't say it."

What if we weren't suffering inside?

"This is impossible—this is illogical. You should be in pain. Why aren't you in pain? Only through pain can you be saved."

"Then I'll tell you, we're not in pain."

"Really?"

"real."

"That only makes me feel sorry for you. It only shows how numb you have become. This is not rebirth, it is decadence! You should cry yourselves."

"But we're not crying, we're happy."

"The proletariat has only broken free of their chains..."

“Listen, we can endure all sorts of inconveniences and be content because we know that nothing is perfect, and everything is the same everywhere. We have no demands on others, meaning that even if our lives are not going well, we don't blame others, and in fact, we can't blame them anyway, especially since we don't feel wronged. Our cynicism is unfounded. When we are successful, we help others; when we are unsuccessful, we cultivate our own virtue. Since we are not capable of achieving anything, we would rather quietly wait until the end of time. You know how you can politely ask someone you dislike to leave?”

"It's best to remain silent to show that you've lost interest in him."

"..."

"I'm leaving."

"I want to hit someone, I fucking really want to hit someone." After Zhao Yaoshun left, Ma Qing jumped out from behind the table, rolled up his sleeves, and said with a fanatical glint in his eyes.

“I also want to hit someone, I want to beat someone up.” Yang Chong said, his fists clenched and trembling. “If I hadn’t kept telling myself that if I hurt someone, I would have to go to the police station and pay medical bills, especially for an elderly person, I might have to support them for the rest of my life, like having another father for no reason, I would have rushed up long ago.”

"But I really want to fight. I can't care about anything else. I have no choice but to fight the two of you."

“Alright, let’s do this.” Yu Guan suddenly stood up, raised his fists and walked out. “Let’s go to the street and find those well-dressed, plump gentlemen to provoke.”

"This feels so good, so good. I haven't done this in ages."

Ma Qing and Yang Chong, rubbing their hands together and jumping excitedly, followed behind.

"Did this offend you?" Jiang Xian asked tentatively as he looked at the passage.

"No, you misunderstood."

Mi Jiashan shook his head, then pointed to the line where Yu Guan was filled with anger and nowhere to vent it, shouting, "I want to hit someone, I really fucking want to hit someone."

"I really feel like you captured my feelings perfectly, you know? When the movie had that incident, that's exactly what I was thinking. I really wanted to punch someone."

Reading your novel felt like I suddenly found an outlet. I needed a way to express my frustrations, a way to vent my anger and resentment, not so seriously, but through satire and banter, to release the pent-up emotions of society. I can't quite explain it, but my inner world completely overlapped with yours when you wrote "The Playboy." I felt like your novel was written for me. I wonder if you understand this feeling.

"."

Jiang Xian understood. He glanced at him, then at Xie Jin. "I get it. So, you two came here today, saying all this, just for my novel, 'The Playboy'?"

Seeing that the conversation had reached this point, Mi Jiashan followed up on Jiang Xian's words and stated his purpose, "Comrade Jiang Xian, those things we talked about earlier happened more than a year ago. What I had to let go of, I have let go of, and I had no choice but to let go. I'm not here to complain to you today. I just want you to know that I understand 'The Troubleshooters.' Among all the directors in China, probably no one understands the novel 'The Troubleshooters' better than me."

"Forehead"

Hearing these Sichuan-style words, Jiang Xian didn't know how to respond directly for a moment, so he tentatively said, "Isn't the novel 'The Troubleshooters' suitable for a movie adaptation?"

"Ah."

Xie Jin immediately nodded in deep agreement. When Mi Jiashan asked him to help introduce him to Jiang Xian and explained his purpose, Xie Jin had mentioned that, based on his many years of directing experience, a novel like "The Troubleshooters," which had almost no main storyline and typical characters, was not very suitable for being adapted into a film. Even if it were adapted, it would probably be very difficult to film.

"Comrade Jiang Xian, please rest assured."

Mi Jiashan stood up abruptly, his face resolute, looking as if he wanted to slam his fist on the table.

"If you're willing to hand over 'The Troubleshooters' to me, I'll give you a solemn promise: if I don't make a good film like 'The Troubleshooters,' I'll never make another movie!"

(End of this chapter)