An in-depth interview with Li Yang, the director of Blind Road ｜ An underestimated movie master, who mortgaged his house to make a movie and wrote a letter to apologize to his fans, went against the w

　　In the interview, I said that I think I am quite stupid.

　　Four days after the release, Li Yang wrote a letter of apology to fans and sincerely said "I’m sorry to disappoint you".

　　Li Yang is writing an apology letter to the fans.

　　On February 2nd, the film "The Blind Road" was released, and Li Yang said that it was quite appropriate to release a film directed by the second director on such a "second" day.

　　Under the impact of several Spring Festival movies, Blind Road, which was released for six days, was not optimistic in several Spring Festival movies released at the same time. The proportion of film arrangement is 0.21%. As Li Yang said in an interview, "I have no expectations for the box office. I only hope that people with thinking can see this film. " Some fans criticized "the lack of sharpness, the warmth, and the dubbing of lines." Some fans questioned, "Where is the style that used to be as sharp as a scalpel? Why has Blind Road become so warm?" "Is Li Yang the last of Jiang Lang" and so on.

　　In the face of criticism from fans, Li Yang wrote a letter of apology to the fans. In the letter of apology, Li Yang wrote: "I admit that I made a lot of changes and compromises to meet the audience for this film. Many places are not satisfactory, and I am not very satisfied with this "Blind Road". I know you expect me to make movies as powerful as The Furnace and Su Yuan. Here I would like to make a deep bow to my fans and say I’m sorry! I let you down! !”

　　During the filming process, Li Yang used his little savings and mortgaged to borrow money to shoot Blind Road. During the filming period, the funds were broken and he was on the verge of bankruptcy. Finally, with the help of his good friends, entrepreneurs Su Tong and Guo Yukuan, and a famous entrepreneur who didn’t want to sign, he completed the production of Blind Road. Everyone saw some unnatural "Uncle Liang" in the film. Because of his low salary, the actor who promised to play suddenly changed his mind and didn’t have time and capital to find another actor. Li Yang went into battle himself and finished a film written, directed and acted by himself.

　　When I saw Li Yang in the interview, I almost called him "Uncle Liang". Li Yang revealed that the "stepfather" in the film is the prop master of the crew, and the "criminal Guo Wei’s wife" is the record of the crew. They have never acted.

　　Director Li Yang is on the set.

　　In an interview, Li Yang expressed his anxiety, "I’m worried that the film hasn’t been finished and the money has run out." Li Yang is very honest. He invested his own money to make a film, so it can’t be due at last. The film was not finished, so the crew couldn’t afford to pay. "

　　Can The Blind Road Measure Li Yang’s Real Strength?

　　Blind Tao tells a story of redemption and self-redemption. Jingjing, a blind girl, has been controlled by a human trafficking gang headed by Guo Wei, begging for money on the street. Jingjing and Zhao Liang encounter, and they repel each other and guard against each other. Through a series of warm stories, they move each other and get together. Jingjing is a blind girl who was sexually assaulted by her stepfather, trafficked and begged in the street. Zhao Liang was a once brilliant rock singer who killed his daughter because of drinking, went to prison, and after he was released from prison, his heart was blocked and he was unwilling to communicate with the outside world. The encounter between them made each other feel the warmth of human feelings and realized the process of self-redemption.

　　Jingjing played by Du Hanmeng in the stills of Blind Road

　　I once talked to my friend about Li Yang, and my friend asked, "Which Li Yang? Crazy English Li Yang? " Li Yang should have become a legend, but now he is still a minority.

　　A director who won the German Silver Bear Award, in China, outsiders may not be familiar with Li Yang. But when it comes to Tsui Hark’s "Taking Tiger Mountain Outward", everyone knows that Li Yang is the screenwriter behind "Taking Tiger Mountain Outward". As far as storytelling ability is concerned, Li Yang can earn tens of millions by writing plays, but he didn’t do it.

　　Wang Baoqiang "Silly Root" changed his destiny because of his performance in Blind Well, and won the Golden Horse Award for Best Newcomer and the Best Actor Award in French and Thai Film Festivals. Huang Lu also became famous at home and abroad for his excellent performance in Blind Mountain. Later, Wang Baoqiang was chosen by Xiaogang Feng and took part in world without thieves. Later, his works such as Soldiers’ Assault and Man on the Road were well known. On the choice of actors, Li Yang has a keen and professional ability to choose actors.

　　With the film market environment getting better and better, whether writing a script or making a commercial film, Li Yang can make a lot of profitable films with his professional strength and ability to tell stories. However, it took him 16 years to make three minority films, Blind Well, Blind Mountain and Blind Road. Every movie is my own investment, and I can’t make any money in China.

　　In the first twenty years of Li Yang’s debut, only two feature films were left, Blind Well in 2003 and Blind Mountain in 2007. Some reports commented on Li Yang: "These two films alone are enough to occupy a place in the history of Chinese films, because from these two films, we can already see that his narrative talent, sense of social responsibility and criticism of reality have few opponents among contemporary directors."

　　Many fans expect Li Yang to make a movie like The Melting Pot. Li Yang told Entertainment Focus: "I can make a shocking movie like The Melting Pot at the right time and with permission." Under the existing conditions, he really tried his best.

　　Stills of the movie "The Blind Road"

　　It is reported that watching the blind road is like watching the report of Southern Weekend, and the source of the film Blind Road is a report about begging children in China that Li Yang read in Southern Weekend more than ten years ago. Li Yang visited more than half of China, interviewed schools for the blind, chatted with them, and even went to the juvenile detention center to get in touch with the minors who committed crimes, so as to understand their growing environment, and thus understand why these left-behind children committed these unbelievable criminal acts such as robbery, theft and beating. Their hearts are simple and contradictory.

　　If you have the ability to make money from movies, why not make commercial films?

　　When I was a child, my family was superior, and Li Yang, who had grown up in the entertainment industry, made a lot of money making commercial films, both professionally and storytelling. However, Li Yang chose to pay attention to the disadvantaged groups at the bottom, starting with Li Yang’s growing experience.

　　Li Yang was born in a drama actor’s family in 1959, and both his father and mother were drama actors. My father used to support the northwest as an expert. During Li Yang’s one-year-old to eight-year-old years, his family conditions were superior and he was influenced by art since childhood. However, during the Cultural Revolution, Li Yang’s father was persecuted to death, when Li Yang was only 13 years old. Compared with before, Li Yang’s life suddenly fell to the bottom. This also gives Li Yang the opportunity to reach out to the bottom and vulnerable groups, and is more sensitive to social injustice.

　　Mapping to the movie "The Blind Road", Zhao Liang, played by Li Yang himself, is a once brilliant down-and-out rock singer. From his glory to the change of life, it seems that his story is alluded to the movie plot. It is also a challenge to write, direct and perform, and to change roles between actors and directors. In order to save the cost, I have to do it myself. Only this sincerity should make the audience who spit out Li Yang’s acting more understanding.

　　"Blind Mountain" was shortlisted for the "One Concern" unit of the 60th Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of female college students being trafficked to a French-blind mountain area and rescued many years later. Some reports commented on Lust Caution and Blind Mountain: "If Lust Caution shows the helplessness of the entanglement between men’s and women’s lust and sadness and state affairs through bed play, Blind Mountain is a modern evil expression of the rape of the heroine by all members of the family who are ignorant of law and barbaric."
Li Yang said that the topic of trafficking in women is not new, but he is concerned about the people behind the incident. At the beginning of 2006, Li Yang made a special trip to Chengdu Jintang and Zhongjiang, and spent more than two months interviewing the rescued abducted women’s living conditions and writing a script.

　　This year’s Blind Road has softened a lot, not because of Li Yang’s softening, but because of Li Yang’s compromise to show it to everyone. Otherwise, we may not even have a chance to see it. After the film was released, Li Yang apologized to the audience sincerely. Li Yang wrote in the letter of apology: "The film is not perfect because of economy and various reasons, and there are many regrets. But with the support of my friends, I went against the wind in an era when such flashy, illusory, spoof and hypocritical movies filled cinemas. I am worthy of my conscience and this era.

　　Postscript-It should be a legend, but it is still a niche.

　　Li Yang, who is nearly 59 years old, has bright eyes when interviewed. During chatting, he will also turn sideways to the reporter and say that he can’t hear clearly, so that the reporter can speak louder. We have seen Li Yang’s sincerity to reporters and audiences. It should be said that he is sincere to this era.

　　A former actor and professional director, relying on his own savings, mortgaged his house to make movies, and had no expectations for the box office. Just to let more people know about a social phenomenon. In Li Yang’s view, it is not terrible to have social trauma, but the most terrible thing is to cover it up. Let everyone see that our society will be better if we work together to solve bad things.
The feature of Li Yang’s films is to face reality directly, not to whitewash it.

　　In the film works of the past year, several word-of-mouth films, such as Gangrinboqi and Fanghua, which reflect human nature and are well-received, have appeared. Li Yang believes that fans will become rational and people themselves need spiritual needs. This trend in movies this year is a return of humanity and rationality.

　　The Blind Road is the final work of Li Yang’s "Blind" series. In the future, Li Yang will also make valuable commercial films. As Li Yang said: Our film and television works are not scratching, and movies are cultural products. I am totally opposed to art films and commercial films. All films are commercial films, and they are commodities from the day they are born, but they are commodities with cultural value, and the films themselves are cultural. "