At the beginning of 2023, on the honorary release night of the 6th Pingyao International Film Festival, a literary film called "Night is Coming" won three awards: Fei Mu Honor for Best Film, Movie Fan Choice Honor, and Tong Ye Honor. Director Suga Koudong took the stage to speak and asked a question first, "Are the bonuses real?"

At that time, Jian Haodong was heavily in debt, his online loan was overdue, his later payment had not been settled, and he still had countless debts of gratitude. For him, this movie was a bet that he could not turn back from.

On January 12, 2024, the movie "Night Is Coming" will be released nationwide. Less than 0.1% of the films were scheduled in theaters, and the box office was only 250,000.

Director Suga Koudong has been on this journey of chasing light from deep underground wells to cinema screens for 10 years.

"Night Is Coming" poster

Digging and digging for dreams 500 meters underground

"When you smell the thick smoke and loess from burning coal stoves, it's the familiar smell of your hometown." Haodong Suga described the place where he grew up.

His grandfather, father, and uncle are all mining workers. There is a small coal mine in the village, which is the source of income for everyone in the village. Working in the coal mine is recognized by the whole village as a "serious job." There was a time when Suga Haodong thought that was also his life. After graduating and entering the coal mine, if there was no accident like his uncle, he could see his whole life at a glance.

Haodong Suga has loved reading and writing since he was a child. Although he majored in coal mining in college, he signed up to join many clubs, including literary clubs, calligraphy associations, and art associations. One day, the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" was shown in the school auditorium. It was the first time that Suga Haodong actually watched a movie on the big screen. The poor and shining life in the distance deeply shocked the young man's heart. . Later, he also heard the inspirational story of Jia Zhangke, another director who was also from Shanxi, who took the Nortel exam for three years, became an auditor in the literature department, and became internationally famous for his independent films.

Haodong Suga found his lifelong passion.

He quit other societies and established his own film association. He attracted "artistic youths" who socialized in other societies to join the film association. He saved money to buy a DV, a tripod, and a laptop, and started image creation from scratch. He filmed the youth campus novel he wrote and also filmed music MVs to practice audio-visual editing.

After becoming obsessed with movies, Haodong Suga couldn't pass the exams for the mining major and failed several subjects. But when I study in a coal mining school in Shanxi, it is natural to be assigned a job after graduation.

In 2013, Jian Haodong joined the Wangzhuang Coal Mine of Shanxi Lu'an Group. Even a college student had to do purely manual labor on the front line. 500 meters deep underground, 12 hours a day.

"I just feel that the coal washer is going to wash away my youth, the coal surface is blackening my dreams, the loader is taking away my hope, the welding machine can't stitch up my sadness, the sledgehammer is knocking on my heart, The water pipe pressed down on my arm again and again. I fell asleep in confusion, dreaming that I was dancing lightly on the coal pile." Haodong Suga recalled his "underground" years in a short essay on Douban.

Suga Haotong, who once worked in a coal mine

Jian Haodong's uncle died in a mining accident, and he was well aware of the dangers of the underground world. But at that time, it seemed that the greater the sense of crisis, the more restless my heart felt the urge to create and express. Haodong Jian later recalled that without the support of dreams, it would be difficult for him to persevere, "Opening a road under the mine, every time I dig forward, every step forward, I know that I am closer to my goal."

At that time, he wore a face blackened by coal every day, thinking that he looked very much like Andy, the protagonist of "The Shawshank Redemption" - apart from his dark face, their greater similarity was that they had hope. During the one year and three months he worked in the coal mine, he worked hard without complaint and refused to accept the dirty work assigned to him. He knew in his heart that he would not stay here for long and had only one purpose here - to save money to make movies.

Even though he was so tired that he just wanted to sleep after taking a bath in the well every day, he still found time to write the script. At the beginning of 2015, Jian Haodong left the coal mine with the 50,000 yuan he had saved, returned to his hometown, gathered his partners, and started filming his first movie, "Light Blindness," a story about blind people in rural mining areas.

"Light Blindness" Poster

This experience was made into a documentary "Little People's Big Movie" by CCTV that year. In the movie, the young man with dreams in a coal mine searches for a path closer to his inner faith in a pious and clumsy way. The process is both passionate and somewhat embarrassing and sad. For example, the family's incomprehension, the fact that they were all out of place in the village and the mine, and the limited conditions of the "Grass Team" were all tied up in filming operations.

At the end of the documentary, "Light Blindness" was shortlisted for a niche film festival, and Haodong Suga left for Beijing to continue pursuing his dream. Now, six or seven years have passed since his next movie.

Screenshot of "Little People's Big Movie"

I did a job I liked, but it was only enough for food and clothing.

The days in Beijing are a different kind of life.

Haodong Suga became a "film and television migrant worker." In Beijing, he met a group of friends who had also graduated and had just arrived in Beijing, and formed a small team. Some of them were photographers, others were producers, and Haodong Suga started recording. It happened that there was an online movie to start shooting, and Haodong Suga and his friends received the first job. "The members of the team are also very responsible and work well together. In addition, our labor is not expensive. If people have future films, they will come back to us, and we will continue to receive some shooting opportunities."

In the five years from 2015 to 2020, Haodong Suga worked with the crew in Beijing and filmed more than a dozen movies, mainly online movies, and also worked on small-cost art films with young directors. He works as a sound engineer, and sometimes also works as a documentary director and assistant director. "When I was with the team, I kept a very calm mind. I was just a staff member, completing my own job."

During this process, Haodong Suga was also on hand to watch how the director directed the play and how to cooperate with the actors. "It was a very good way of learning. In those years, I not only mastered the recording technology, but also watched so many movies." How does a movie start from the words on the script and be made step by step?”

During those days, Haodong Suga lived a fulfilling life. Now that I no longer work in the coal mine, my physical fatigue has been reduced a lot. Apart from shooting on the set, I have free time the rest of the time, so I can have a lot of time to write scripts. "It really opened the door to creation." He wrote three scripts during those days. Living close to his colleagues, he could often read scripts and give each other advice. During the process, he found that everyone's standards had improved.

"Night is Coming" work photos

The money you can make from recording is far less than what you can make in a coal mine. Haodong Jian recalled, "When I was in the coal mine, although I only worked for one year, we got bonuses every quarter, as well as half-year bonuses and full-year bonuses. I felt quite rich when I left. When I came to Beijing, I like this job very much, but the income is barely enough for you to pay the rent and have enough to eat. After eating this meal, you may not be able to live tomorrow, and you have to find another job to pay the next month's rent. "Like most Beipiao, his life has been struggling with food and clothing. "I never thought I could save extra money, let alone save it to make a movie."

Those were the years when Chinese films were booming. The industry was booming, box office records were broken repeatedly, and more and more film festivals and venture capital platforms were sponsoring a large number of newcomers to the industry. Many young directors were able to make feature films after graduation and won awards. Winning major awards or achieving box office success will be a blockbuster. But no matter how many opportunities there are in the industry, they seem to have nothing to do with Haodong Suga.

His script has also been shortlisted by some of these venture capital firms, and there are hundreds of projects. To reach the 20th and 10th is already a long and difficult process. He has to prepare a PPT presentation and deal with the judges' comments, but it is rare that he can finally get the bonus. After several rounds of venture capital, Haodong Suga found that even if he could win an award, the amount of more than 100,000 yuan given to creators who were working off-duty would barely solve their survival problems and would be of little help in making movies. He also had the opportunity to contact some investors and found that others were more interested in finding projects with commercial potential. He also tried to change the direction of his script, but ultimately wanted to stay true to his own feelings and expressions of life.

Stills of "Night is Coming"

"I don't pay much attention to this part of the film market. Although I will see it, I won't study it. I think it may belong to the production level. It takes a lot of time to study the market clearly. I still pay attention to it. It’s up to you, what stories you want to tell and what scripts you want to write.” Suga Haodong said that he thought clearly, “You can’t copy other people’s experiences, and my experience is something that others don’t have.”

How many means of transportation do I need to change to return to my hometown where I "buried myself"?

"Night is Coming" records a journey back home. During the epidemic, Liang Zhe, a young man from Beidiao, traveled back home because of his grandfather's death. The transportation changed from buses to trucks, to motorcycles. The cars became smaller and smaller, and the words of the people traveling with him became louder and louder. There are fewer, but the bond is actually getting deeper and deeper every time.

This is the real transfer route that Suga Haodong himself takes every time he returns home, and the feeling of being out of place and at a loss as a wandering wanderer returns to his hometown is also his true feeling.

Stills of "Night is Coming"

Therefore, in the movie, the audience can see the boundless enthusiasm and offense of the fellow villagers, the helplessness and estrangement between the little brothers, the ambiguity and unwillingness of the first lovers who want to talk about it, and the newly lost father. The father's body is close to him but he is relatively silent and concerned... On Liang Zhe's journey home, every encounter explains to the audience what a place that cannot be returned is called hometown.

In the movie, the male protagonist, who is over 30, has a blocked career, and is unmarried, is in the same situation as the creator. After his grandfather passed away, Haodong Jian remembered that the ride home on the bus was as long as ever.

Stills of "Night is Coming"

The starting point when writing the script comes from the touch of every emotional detail in life. For example, his luggage was thrown out by the landlord, or he was questioned in the car on the way back to his hometown. These are all his actual life experiences. "In terms of creation, I wanted to find a changing form to carry various feelings about life, so I decided to use the form of a road movie to incorporate various emotional relationships through changes in transportation."

Each means of transportation corresponds to different emotions, which is also a natural process. Suga Haodong said, "What affects people is nothing more than these emotional experiences, which interact with others and then reflect on themselves. And every time I go home during the New Year, The collision of these three emotions will appear, so I just put it in naturally."

On the way back home, from Hequ County to the village, there are many shadows of film masters in the rhetoric. Some people saw the sixth generation in it, and some people gave the evaluation of "Shanxi Abbas" after watching it. Haodong Suga also thought I want to pay tribute to my favorite director Ceylon, but more of my intuition may come from the accumulation of a lot of movie watching. "When you are actually filming, you don't even think about trying to pay tribute or imitate a certain director. At that time, you have to solve There are too many things going on.”

Film scholar Dai Jinhua commented on this film, "It has a clear positioning as an art film, but it does not deliberately search for the external form that a certain art film should have. It reveals itself very truly and captures reality at the same time. It’s something that everyone experiences and lives with in the situation.”

The male and female protagonists are all professional actors. The actor's father also worked in a coal mine, and the actress also came from a rural background. Suga Haodong said: "They are all people with a background in life. Their experience is different from those who have studied in this system of institutions from high school to undergraduate and directly engaged in the (actor) profession. It is also closer to me. .”

Stills of "Night is Coming"

When the credits roll at the end of the film, you can see a large list of names of "Jian" family members. The director used various relatives and acquaintances in the village to help act in the movie. In addition to my mother, who is also a producer, and the father who plays the role in the film, "The grandfather on the minibus handing the apple is my grandfather, the person gossiping behind is my aunt, and the pregnant woman with a big belly getting off the bus is my cousin. The truck driver pulling the coal was my cousin and the truck was his."

Although these non-professional actors cannot understand what Suga Kodong is doing in making movies, many of them are already "veteran actors" in front of the director's camera. When Haodong Suga started making short films 10 years ago, he would film them every year when he returned home during the Chinese New Year. "Over the past 10 years, we have established a very important tacit understanding. This time they were very natural and the cooperation was very smooth. They were fearless in front of the camera and their performances were very natural."

Haodong Suga in his hometown

Give yourself an explanation by making a movie

In an online post-screening exchange with Paragon Cinema audiences, some viewers pointed out that many people always have a happy and warm part when returning to their hometowns, but returning home in "Night Is Coming" seems so depressing and depressing.

Haodong Suga told reporters in the interview that it was indeed so "mourning" every time he went home for many years before. "Especially after the age of 30, life, career or marriage are all difficult, and there is nothing. When my grandfather was alive, the most regrettable thing was that he did not see me getting married and starting a business. My father was busy with my grandfather's funeral, and I seemed to be unable to help. What does he share?" In addition, from looking for investment before the movie was started, to owing a lot of money after filming, "you go home all the way and experience the discomfort that Chinese people feel when they go home during the New Year without a penny in their pockets. Everything is quite confusing. .”

All this anger turned into a desperate move for the movie, "As a creator, what I can do is to write this script and make this movie, so that confused people like Liang Zhe who want to find a destination or... It’s the answer to the situation, and I give myself an explanation in the way of making a movie.”

"Night Is Coming" filming location

In the movie, Liang Zhe, after experiencing all kinds of dissatisfaction, blurted out Fa Xiao, who was resentful of himself, "I might not leave this time." But in reality, Haodong Suga never felt this way, "I am A determined person. I have never thought of going back for so many years. Liang Zhe has my shadow in him, but it is not entirely me. This kind of meaningful swing is exactly what I want to convey in my movie."

Kodong Suga wrote in a recent article, "In the eyes of optimistic people, you see hope. In the hearts of sad people, despair always lingers." He quoted Meursault in Camus' "The Stranger" Used as the title of this article - "I know there is no place for me in this world, but why do you judge my soul?" 》

Last year, "Night Is Coming" won the award in Pingyao. When Suga Haodong's father received the call, his first reaction was that it was a scam and he hung up. The news quickly spread to his hometown, and some villagers said to Suga Haodong's mother, "How can there be a bonus of 1 million? It must be fake and a liar."

Pingyao won the award

After Pingyao's bonus was distributed, Jian Haodong paid off all his debts. "I breathed a sigh of relief," said Suga Haodong when he returned to the village. "Finally, I don't have to carry so much anxiety. People who lent me money, friends and seniors who invested money, at least I have an explanation for them, and I don't let them go." These people who believed in me are disappointed."

After the Pingyao Film Festival founded by Shanxi director Jia Zhangke became famous, another Shanxi director Ning Hao's "Bad Monkey 72 Project" also threw an embroidery ball at Haodong Suga and gave him a story about Shanxi coal mines.

The sincere Haodong Suga would also worry and ask when he saw Ning Hao, "The films made by directors before were quite commercial. I make literary films. You have also seen my movies. Are you sure you want to sign a literary film director?" "?" Ning Hao's answer to him was that if literary films can be done well, they also have commercial value.

After finishing the release of "Night Is Coming", Suga Koudong will start writing the next one. "I have experience in this area. No one is more familiar with life in a coal mine than me. I am confident that I can do it well."