Chapter 233 Rooftop Postman (1)

Su Yun drew more than one concept poster for this movie.

In addition to the dusk photo, there is another photo with huge buildings and people’s backs as the main elements, but the difference is that this photo was taken at night.

This is a picture taken from a rooftop at night, looking down. The element of "human" is compressed into a tiny and weak existence like an ant. Coupled with the dark blue tone of the night scene, the four high-rise buildings and the central depression that are the main subjects of the picture seem to have turned into a bottomless abyss that swallows everything.

When the size gap between people and objects is maximized to the greatest extent in this way, the resulting shock can often further arouse the deepest fear in people's hearts.

Su Yun also used this technique once at the beginning of the film, as a preemptive focus of attention - at the beginning of the film, the male protagonist Jiahui, dressed in a cheap suit like a social animal, got on a taxi to the outskirts of the walled city accompanied by gentle background music.

Old Hong Kong films always like to use urban scenery as the background for the opening, with a classic operation of the cast and crew lists on the left and right sides. Su Yun is no exception this time: this shooting technique is a relatively cost-effective way to show the prosperity of the city.

The scene alternates between a prosperous modern city and a close-up of Jiahui sitting in a car, and then begins a pseudo-first-person perspective that moves through the car window.

On the evening streets, a young policeman who had just finished a day's patrol was led by his older seniors, gradually moving from the residential area with a strong sense of fireworks and age to the modern urban area.

On the contrary, the taxi Jiahui was riding in was heading from the urban area to the residential area.

When people and cars passed each other, the youthful vigor of the young policeman and the gloomy mood of Jiahui created a sharp contrast in this moment of intersection.

By the time the taxi arrived at the destination, it was almost dark.

Jiahui paid the taxi fare and got off the bus with his suitcase. He saw the street lights and the lights lit by shops and residents on the streets, forming a path of light that illuminated the transition between dusk and night.

Walking a little further along this light path, the picture that was originally slightly looking down and occasionally switching to close-up gradually turned into looking up at the front as the perspective moved upwards.

The disorganized buildings form a natural wall barrier. On the high and low uneven rooftops, the shadows of various objects sway gently in the night breeze, and the lights lit by the residents in the walled city are irregularly spread in the outermost high-rise buildings. The old years with fine dust seem to be vaguely visible in this blend of new and old buildings, allowing people to glimpse a corner of the traces of the torrent of history.

It was as if he was the boundary that divided an area that was so close to each other into two different worlds.

Behind is a new world striving to modernize, constantly on the road of development; in front is a deformed fortress forgotten by time and space in a corner, like a wounded giant beast lurking in the darkness, waiting to deliver the last blow before demise.

The impact of this scene was so great that foreign audiences who watched the premiere at the Berlin Film Festival were fascinated and talked about it endlessly.

The East Asia that most foreigners like to see is nothing more than this kind of backward, poor, pitiful and dilapidated modern Oriental sentiment.

Unfortunately, under Su Yun's high-tech shooting, this famous backward and dark area in Hong Kong seems to be infused with a vitality that transcends time and space, as well as an ancient and long-standing sense of mystery from the far East, because of the shooting technology and production that do not seem to belong to this era.

It is clearly a real place, and it is clearly a real-life scene shoot, but it is far more bizarre and psychedelic than constructed sets and fictional models.

So in this instant, a kind of numbness and madness, which is helpless because of the inability to change, blends into this strange intersection of history and future, light and shadow, civilization and primitiveness.

In order to avoid the same fate as "The Rooftop Postman" and its fellow film "Outcast", which were required to make various changes by relevant departments, Su Yun simply took advantage of Zhao's platform and her own popularity to directly bypass Hong Kong and send the film to the Berlin Film Festival as a selection for its premiere.

Although it is not as strict as in later generations, there is no mandatory requirement for films entered in film festivals to premiere in the corresponding regions during the competition period; but after it was discovered that films premiered at film festivals had a significantly higher chance of winning, sending them to the corresponding regions of the film festivals for premiere has become an unspoken rule.

Su Yun's previous participation in Venice was considered a newcomer's fish pond, and she barely took advantage of the loophole of the premiere in Asia and then in Europe and America; now this "The Rooftop Postman" is obviously made to win awards, so her attitude towards it is much stricter.

The reasons for choosing the Berlin Film Festival are, firstly, the style of the film is more in line with the preferences of the Berlin Film Festival, and secondly, the Berlin Film Festival is held in February. This way, I can have the opportunity to go to the Oscars to compete for the nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film after going to Berlin.

As for winning an award... considering the old-school white jury at the Oscars and the unspoken rule of looking at age and seniority, at Su Yun's age, there's no way she can even think about it.

The fact that it was sent to an Oscar was due to the fact that Zhao Rifu was the founder of the local film review department.

But after trying to get the nomination, a few years later, when she is older, those earlier "unspoken rules and regulations" will become the biggest help in her winning the award.

Su Yun's plan in mind is quite clear, and the plot of the film, as Su Yun sets it, gradually shifts from the huge building complex back to the characters.

The male protagonist Jiahui was walking in the narrow alleys of the walled city. The suit that looked cheap and rustic outside became a high-end item that was out of place inside the walled city. Thanks to his grandfather, Old Man Cao, who came out early with a cane to take him home, he was not stared at by the neighbors like a monkey.

Mr. Cao broke his leg a few days ago and is temporarily unable to work as a postman. However, he has found someone to take his place in the meantime. So he has been delivering mails slowly with a cane these past few days, which looks very difficult.

Just when he was worrying about it, he received a call from his grandson saying that he wanted to stay with him for a while, so the old and the young hit it off and agreed on a time to meet.

However, considering that few people who left the walled city were willing to come back, Uncle Cao still tentatively asked him the reason when Jia Hui was packing his things.

Ka Fai's father was sent abroad by Mr. Cao to study a long time ago, and then settled abroad. Jiahui returned to Hong Kong after studying abroad, and also joined the well-known real estate company Hongfa Real Estate. Why did he suddenly resign?

Jiahui's tone darkened, and he told his grandfather about the serious seniority-based discrimination in the company. As a newcomer, he was suppressed by his seniors and his manuscripts were stolen by his colleagues, so he quit his job in a fit of anger.

But his momentary enthusiasm could not fill his stomach. He could not find a job after resigning, and was too embarrassed to ask for help from his parents who settled abroad. After enduring for a while, he had no choice but to seek refuge with his grandfather who still lived in the walled city.

The reason why Mr. Cao still lives in the walled city is not because his children and grandchildren are unfilial.

On the contrary, Jiahui's father had repeatedly urged him to move out, but he was always worried about his job as a postman, as no one was taking over. In addition, he was reluctant to leave his old neighbors, so he had quarreled with Jiahui's father several times.

In the end, Jiahui's father was so angry that he let him stay in the walled city, and declared that if he didn't come out, he would never go back.

"Alas, you have lived here for so many years, and have worked here for so many years, how can you let go all of a sudden?" Old Man Cao sighed as he looked at his grandson whom he had not seen for many years. "You have a rare opportunity to come in, and I will take you to get familiar with the Walled City. Although you were not born here, the Walled City is still your grandfather's and my roots."

"But places like this should have been demolished long ago. Look at these, here, and there..." Jiahui frowned, looking reluctant.

"How can it be so easy to demolish it?" Old Man Cao sneered, "They said they would demolish it decades ago, but it still hasn't been demolished yet - besides, who dares to demolish it?"

"Grandpa, times have changed now. Once it's agreed upon, it can be demolished at any time...ah!" Before Jiahui could finish his words, he was hit by Uncle Cao's cane.

After being beaten with a cane and scolded, Jiahui reluctantly followed Uncle Cao and began to get started: after all, the fundamental reason why he came to the Walled City was to take over Uncle Cao's postman job.

On the one hand, it allows Mr. Cao to have a good rest, and on the other hand, it allows me to earn some salary to support myself.

"It's good that you came back. You're the only one willing to work in the Walled City. We will definitely not let you go hungry, and most people won't deal with the postman." Uncle Cao rambled on. "Like those big companies outside, each one is more unscrupulous than the other. For example, your previous company, Hongfa, oppressed the orphans and widows left behind by the workers more than ten years ago. It was only after the people in our Walled City protested together that we helped the widow get back her husband's death pension..."

It was not uncommon these days for workers' death pensions to be withheld or embezzled after accidents on construction sites, so Jiahui, who was not at all interested in this, just responded with a few perfunctory remarks and followed Uncle Cao out.

Before going out, Mr. Cao asked him to put on a hat.

Jiahui shook his head repeatedly: It's already dark enough in this walled city. If I wear a hat, I probably won't be able to see the road clearly.

Moreover, his outfit of a brown shoulder bag, white T-shirt and sports pants already looks like a postman from the Walled City. Add a duckbill cap and it's a complete set of three. It's very lifelike and stylish...

He was only here temporarily for some reasons, but he had no intention of staying in the walled city forever like his grandfather, Uncle Cao.

Although this job is called a rooftop postman, how often do you actually spend your time running on the rooftop?

Aren't the places where most people walk still those strange and mysterious roads, such as alleys, stairs, wooden springboards illegally built by residents, scaffolding made of bamboo poles, and windows of all sizes everywhere?

Since we don’t have much time to get in the sun, why bother wearing a hat?

Jiahui was thinking this when suddenly, as he was following Uncle Cao through a narrow path, he was hit by a "flying arrow" from someone on the upper floor.

Looking at the thick green phlegm that was almost wiping off his forehead, and then looking at the look in the eyes of Mr. Cao who was looking back in front of him, which showed "If you don't listen to the advice of the elderly, you will suffer the consequences", Jiahui endured it again and again, and finally managed to hold back the urge to scream out loud on the spot.