Chapter 38 Overseas People Can Talk About the Preservation of Ancient Things, and when the Rituals Are Lost, They Can Be Found in the Wild.

In the box, waiters came in one after another and served some special Hong Kong-style snacks and two pots of hot tea.

Wu Yuan and Zhang Guorong were not in a hurry to get to the point, but first talked about the film industry in Hong Kong Island and the mainland, and talked about some classic movies.

While chatting, the two were also looking at and testing each other.

In Wu Yuan's eyes, Zhang Guorong was definitely as gentle as jade, gentle and elegant, with a gentleman's demeanor, and he was very cheerful and talkative, and his words were also humorous.

If it weren't for the memory in the dream, he really couldn't believe that such a warm and cheerful person would eventually leave this world because of depression.

In fact, Wu Yuan also hesitated. He was afraid that he could not change Zhang Guorong's future. Instead, because of his intervention, his condition worsened, which would make Wu Yuan feel guilty.

So he actually persuaded himself in his heart.

If Zhang Guorong did not agree to this meeting and was unwilling to see him, then he might not need to rush to intervene in Zhang Guorong's life.

However, the fact is that when Zhang Guorong heard that Wu Yuan wanted to meet him, he readily agreed.

Then Wu Yuan had nothing to hesitate about, and it can only be said that the two were destined to have this fate.

"Mr. Zhang, I want to meet you this time because I have a script that I want you to act in." Wu Yuan smiled and handed out a script from his shoulder bag.

Zhang Guorong had long guessed the reason why Wu Yuan wanted to meet him. Since he agreed to meet, he must be willing to read the script.

After the contact just now, Zhang Guorong also had a good impression of Wu Yuan.

He became famous at a young age, his first movie had a box office of over 10 million in the mainland, won an award at a Class B film festival, and was invited by Hollywood to direct a movie.

If it were someone else, they would not say that they were arrogant and did not put others in their eyes, but they would definitely be complacent and self-inflated.

But Wu Yuan was not like that. Although he also had a high-spirited temperament, he was still neither humble nor arrogant in dealing with people, and he spoke very humbly. He did not think that he had made any extraordinary achievements, and he was very down-to-earth and steady.

Zhang Guorong took the script from Wu Yuan and started reading it on the spot.

"Departures?"

Yes, the script Wu Yuan brought out this time was "Departures", which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars and dominated the Japanese film industry.

The original movie was adapted from the novel "The Coffin Man's Diary" by Japanese writer Aoki Shinmon.

The movie was well made, a typical Japanese healing style movie, using "death" to explore the importance of "life" throughout the movie, which is very literary.

However, Wu Yuan still had no idea of ​​copying it.

Not to mention the large amount of Japanese cultural background and plot in "Departures", let's just say one thing, does China no longer have the profession of undertakers?

Since the release of this movie, for some reason, the Chinese Internet has been circulating that this is a Japanese profession.

Even searching for "Departures", the regular encyclopedia actually says that this is a profession that mainly appeared in Japan and later entered China!

Are you kidding?

"Departures" has existed since ancient times!

The profession similar to the undertaker was recorded in the "Three Books of Rites" in ancient China, "Yili·Sangli for Scholars", "Liji" and "Zhouli", and was a very important part of the funeral ceremony.

This profession in China can be traced back to the Xia and Shang dynasties.

For example, "Liji·Wen Sang" records: "The body is buried three days after death". People are not buried immediately after death, mainly to wait for the resurrection of the deceased.

If the deceased is not resurrected, a funeral ceremony will be held to clean the body, cut the hair and cut the nails for the deceased, indicating cleanliness and returning to the original.

Until now, this ritual has not been cut off.

For example, the "yin and yang masters" in the northeast, the "caifu" (people who specialize in handling funerals for others) in the folk rural areas, the coffin carrier (workers who carry the coffin), and the "second leather craftsman" who sews the corpse.

At the beginning, this kind of thing was generally handled by the children and relatives of the deceased.

However, as the ritual system developed more and more complete, filial sons and grandchildren no longer changed the clothes and washed the body of the deceased in person because of other things to entertain, so some special people were needed to help.

So there are professional undertakers.

At least in the Ming and Qing dynasties, undertakers who changed the deceased's birthday clothes, took care of their appearance, and put them into coffins were already common.

Until now, most funeral homes have a professional team of undertakers to do facial repair work for the deceased before cremation.

Why did Wu Yuan copy the Japanese version of "Departures"?

The script he took out combines the core story line of the Japanese version of "Departures", that is, "from the perspective of a novice undertaker, observe various deaths and gaze at the loving people around the deceased." Then integrate the story of the Chinese background and specific funeral culture.

After a while, Zhang Guorong, who had been reading the script in silence, raised his head, clapped his hands with excitement and exclaimed: "Good script!"

"In Eastern culture, since death is relative to life, topics such as funerals are actually taboos, and death is more dark and negative."

"Few directors will focus on this subject."

Zhang Guorong shook his head and sighed: "But we just need a movie that tells the view of life and death in Eastern culture."

"Death-related behaviors in the Western world often involve religion, but our Eastern culture is different."

"The attitude of Eastern people towards death is not to be relaxed and liberated, let alone to go to a beautiful paradise."

"For the living, death represents solemn mourning and is heavy, but for the deceased, death is another new life and the beginning of a new reincarnation."

"But the concept of new life and reincarnation does not exist in Western religions."

"Christ does not talk about new life or afterlife, but only about salvation and waiting for the so-called Last Judgment."

"Westerners believe that death is to throw oneself into the arms of God, to enter heaven and enjoy a happy life, and it is a kind of salvation. What belongs to God belongs to God, and what belongs to Caesar belongs to Caesar."

"So at Western funerals, you can even see family members chatting about the stories of the deceased in a relaxed manner, and there are some humorous jokes and ridicules."

"This is impossible to see at funerals under Eastern Confucian culture. This kind of behavior is Disrespecting the dead is also disrespecting death. "

"Because in Confucianism, death is the continuation of life and the beginning of another new life."

"Confucianism emphasizes the importance of respecting the dead, that is, carefully handling the funeral of relatives and worshiping the ancestors piously."

"Death in the Eastern concept means that although the body dies, the soul is immortal. The dead are blessing the living relatives in another identity."

"So we should treat the dead with the same importance and respect as when they were alive, and we should often hold memorial services and worship them."

"This is what is called the dead are the greatest."

"The script explains this unique view of life and death in Eastern culture very well! Many plots are very touching!"

Zhang Guorong's summary is very accurate, and Wu Yuan nodded in surprise.

As expected of a talented actor, his ability to review scripts is indeed very high.

"The movie "Departures" is actually a story about the Eastern people's concept of life and death and funeral culture from the perspective of "Departures".

The story itself is easy to understand, with funny and sensational moments. It uses the stories of the dead to show the affection in different family relationships.

The core of the story seems to be talking about different deaths throughout the whole story, but in fact it reminds the living that only by not fearing death can they live better.

This is also the most important part of the Confucian concept of death, that is: the dead are gone, and the living are gone.

Death is not scary. Everyone will eventually die. The living only need to respect death and enjoy the process of living.

In fact, Wu Yuan's version of the script, except for changing the background of the story and the funeral form to pure Chinese style, other places are almost the same as the original film "Departures".

Then it became a very authentic movie full of Chinese cultural charm.

This is the sad part!

The core of the original "Departures" is all Confucian connotation culture, which is part of Chinese classical culture, but after watching it, countless Chinese people find it novel and respectable.

This is called "overseas can talk about the preservation of ancient things, and when the rituals are lost, they are sought in the wild."

China's own cultural concepts, on the contrary, need to be understood and learned from foreign movies

And after learning, we have to praise others for being great

This is originally a part of our own culture.

The concept of life and death under Eastern culture, we Chinese can also shoot it ourselves!

So Wu Yuan wants to shoot this "Departures" by himself, so that his daily life will not be the only thing in front of him!

Of course, the more important reason is that if this movie wants to be performed well, the male protagonist must integrate into the profession of "Departures" and experience life seriously.

If Zhang Guorong wants to shoot, he must stop all the work at hand, go to some funeral homes in the mainland, and experience this job in depth as an intern undertaker, at least for two months!

It is said to experience life, but in fact it is to reduce his burden, take him out of his busy work, and have a breathing space.

In the subsequent filming, Wu Yuan will definitely not let him overlap with other roles, and he must stay in the crew honestly.

In total, six months is enough to give Zhang Guorong a break to recuperate.

Yes, for Zhang Guorong, only one movie shooting in half a year is already a vacation.

The premise is that he is willing to make such a sacrifice.

"Mr. Zhang, this script is good, right?" Wu Yuan looked at Zhang Guorong with a smile and said slowly: "This male lead is prepared for you."

"But if you want to play this movie well, you must give me the next six months."

"You are not allowed to hold concerts, release new albums, or accept other movie notices. You only need to do one thing for the whole six months, and shoot this "Departures."

"What I can promise you is that if you follow the crew seriously for half a year, I believe that the film we shoot will bring you a Cannes Film Emperor. ”

“You have reached the pinnacle in the music industry and have won all the awards you can get.”

“But in the film industry, you still lack a heavyweight Best Actor trophy.”

“I heard that you want to become a director and don’t want to work in front of the camera so frequently.”

“Before that, I think using a Cannes Best Actor trophy as a curtain call for an acting career is the most perfect farewell ceremony.”

“What do you think?”

Every time I write about a movie to be made, I need to introduce the content of the movie and discuss the script first, which may seem a bit boring to everyone.

But there is no way. Since the protagonist is a director and wants to make a movie, the content of the script still needs to be written. Otherwise, the dry two sentences “The script is very good, Zhang Guorong took it” would be too cliché.

Of course, I will try my best to control this kind of narrative content within one chapter and not make it into a long article.

When writing about the crew's filming process, I will use the characters to write the specific plot.