Freedom

Gray clouds hung low in the sky, connecting with the distant mountain peaks.

A young man in tattered clothes walked on the gravel with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Occasionally, there would be bloody and rotting corpses on the side of the road, both adults and children. Their faces were pale and terrifying, and their flesh was frozen hard.The boy seemed to be used to it, he didn't take his eyes off the corner of his eyes at all, and just looked down at the road under his feet.

He didn't know how long he had been walking, the white breath he exhaled made the tip of his nose wet, and shattered ice formed on his eyelashes.

The boy never raised his head, he just walked along the mountain road covered with weeds, and the sky behind him was still full of stars. In the direction he was heading, the other side of the mountain slowly rose with blue and purple clouds.

"Cut!" the director yelled, "It's time to pass!"

The staff at the side hurried forward and put a thick down jacket on Mu Zhou.The temperature in the winter morning in the mountains is below zero. In order to capture the sky effect that meets Director Wu's expectations, he has walked on this road for more than an hour today.

Lin Miao handed him a large glass filled with hot water for covering his hands.

Mu Zhou stuck his finger on it, and his cold finger was tingling and numb. Before he could turn his eyes around the set, a tall man walked towards him.

Mu Zhou returned the glass to Lin Miao, and stood there without moving, just staring playfully at the man who came over.

Lu Qi didn't feel embarrassed when he was stared at. He just sped up his pace a little bit. When he stopped in front of Mu Zhou, he brought a little fresh smell, mixed with the smell of green grass, which made Mu Zhou feel his nose itchy, so he turned his head away. Sneezed.

"It's too cold outside, let's go rest in the car." Lu Qi said.

Mu Zhou nodded, letting Lu Qi grab his fingers and put them in his coat pocket.In Lu Qi's pocket was a rechargeable hand warmer, which was very hot and the temperature was right. He squinted his eyes comfortably.

"What time did you come here today? I don't seem to have seen you." Mu Zhou said.

"It's past five o'clock, and you'll have already started work when you arrive." Lu Qi said, "I brought breakfast over, let's eat together."

Lu Qi has been chasing him for more than seven months, from late spring to early winter.

Lu Qi brought over a box of freshly made snacks. The box was thick and delicate, and the snacks were still warm when the lid was opened.

"I cooked some sour plum soup, it should be enough for a day." Lu Qi took out a thermos and unscrewed the lid.

"Hot?" Mu Zhou raised his eyebrows.

Sour plum soup without ice is like soulless.

"It's winter, drinking ice hurts the stomach." Lu Qi said frankly.

"Okay, why are you like my grandma?"

Lu Qi smiled, accepting this "praise".

Mu Zhou took the cup, took a sip, and unexpectedly found that it wasn't bad: "What's added? It's quite delicious."

"Dried sour plums, rock sugar, hawthorn slices, orange peel..." Lu Qi said while taking out a food box containing vegetable salad and fruit salad, "...and dried roses and so on."

"It's so particular," Mu Zhou shrugged, "I always buy fans and go straight to it."

"That's unhealthy, is your manager willing to agree?"

"They don't know what's in my cupboard, and as long as they don't get fat, they don't care about it," Mu Zhou said.

Lu Qi nodded: "Okay, I'll cook it for you later."

Mu Zhou smiled, but didn't answer.

After breakfast, the assistant who followed Lu Qi took away all the things, Mu Zhou nestled in his seat and read the script, and Lu Qi turned on the computer to handle the work.

The next scene is not easy, and the filming is now approaching the end of the movie.

The character played by Mu Zhou is called Cheng Rong, who was born in a small isolated village surrounded by mountains, with a small lake and a river.The river is the only thing that leads to the outside world, bringing water from outside every moment.

Cheng Rong likes this river. He has three sisters and two elder brothers. His family is always chaotic and noisy. The hardships of life have sharpened his parents' temper. Escape from a boring home.

The river is not too fast, occasionally bringing a few green leaves, and the sand in the river is shining.

One morning, as soon as he came to his exclusive rock, he saw a person stuck in the river cave in the distance, and the corner of his clothes was washed away by the river water.

He rescued the outsider. The strange man was dumb. After waking up, he scratched his name on the ground. He said his name was Jiang Yue, but he couldn't remember anything else. He probably suffered a head injury.

Jiang Yue quickly integrated into the village. Although he could not speak, he was clever and dexterous, and he quickly gained the favor of the villagers.

Cheng Rong no longer sat by the river all day, he became friends with Jiang Yue, he said he wanted to go out and have a look, along that river.

Jiang Yue, who was originally gentle and gentle, became anxious after hearing what he said, and tried every means to prevent him from going out.It was also during this process that Cheng Rong discovered many strange things about Jiang Yue.

……

Cheng Rong went out anyway, he couldn't give up, the outside world stimulated his veins crazily, he couldn't help but go out.

The above is the part that Mu Zhou has already filmed. Director Wu doesn’t like to mess up the order of the scenes too much when making movies. Everyone’s performance must develop along the story line, and finally point to the inevitable cruel truth together. .

The next thing to shoot is the highlight, the climax and the end of the whole movie.

Cheng Rong kept walking along the river, but the water in the river became less and less, and finally dried up. This turned out to be a river with a dry source!

Cheng Rong didn't stop, he walked forward along the dry river bed, bloody corpses appeared on the side of the road from time to time, and later turned into weathered bones.

I don't know how long it took, his feet stopped bleeding, the skin under his feet became rough and hard, his hair turned gray, his voice was no longer clear and clear like a rushing river, it became hoarse and dry, his memory It became a dilapidated and dilapidated house, and even became numb.

He finally arrived at a small town.

The small town looks quiet and peaceful, because all the houses in the city are in ruins, and lush green grass has grown on the mud and bricks of the ruins, and it looks like it has been deserted for a long time.

When he walked in, he felt strangely familiar, but his already chaotic mind couldn't remember why, until he saw a half-destroyed house.

The windows of the house have been squeezed into diamond shapes, but there are still several strings of bacon hanging from them.The bacon had turned into a thin strip, and the meat had been decomposed, weathered and shattered into gray dust.A string of sparks suddenly sprang up in his numb mind, and he counted the strings of bacon with his fingers, a total of nine strings.

He refused to believe it, and counted again, and it was still nine strings.

Every time Cheng Rong’s family makes nine skewers of bacon, no more and no less, exactly nine skewers, and hang them on the kitchen window to dry.

Cheng Rong started running on the empty street, every detail confirmed his thoughts.

He panicked and terrified, and kept screaming, but couldn't make a sound.

Suddenly, Cheng Rong seemed to understand something, and ran back along the dry river bed.

He ran over piles of white bones, over desolate icy mountain tops, and stepped on the tangled weeds without tears.

Gradually, the river bed became moist, the grass became more pliable and tender, and the water flow gradually increased, making a violent sound.

His feet were worn out by sharp stones, his vocal cords were like a bellows with holes, and he fell headlong.

The last shot is on the sparkling river at night, the stars are reflected in the water, a green leaf flows quietly in the broken star shadow, the water waves are as gentle as the night.

The later scenes were not easy to shoot. If in the first half of the movie he could express Cheng Rong in a variety of ways, then the following scenes only had actions and eyes.

He needs to move the story forward with walking and running postures, eyes and unvoiced whimpers.

Most importantly - it cannot be made into a horror movie.

Although Mu Zhou made his career in making movies and became famous in World War I, he didn't come from a major. He studied naval engineering seriously in university.Being able to come out to make a movie is also accidental.

Director Wu was auditioning for roles at the Film Academy at the time, and selected a few boys who met the requirements in appearance to prepare for further auditions.I took a few of them to dinner that night, and explained the audition matters and role considerations during the dinner.

Director Wu doesn't have the airs of a great director, and in order to better understand the characters of the students, he is willing to get in touch with them more.Xi Ba went back to school with the students, the boys all wanted to show themselves more, even though they didn't know each other too well, the atmosphere didn't cool down.

Snack alleys criss-cross in the university town, Wu Dao and students squeezed forward in the crowd.Suddenly, he saw a figure on the steps not far ahead.

It was a stall selling lo mei, the lights were dim, and people's shadows flickered.The boy seemed to be drunk, standing motionless on the steps holding a green wine bottle, but the light in his eyes was flickering and flickering violently.

Director Wu stopped the fellow boys and told them to go back first, and the boys said their goodbyes sensiblely and left.

He found it interesting, wandered over to the open-air stall next to him, and ordered a pot of crayfish. He didn't mind the greasy tables and chairs, propped his elbows and began to stare intently at the boy who seemed about to go crazy with alcohol.

As expected, the boy did not disappoint him. After standing unconsciously for a few minutes, he opened his hands, and the glass wine bottle fell to the ground with a thud, and the bottle rolled down the steps.

Someone started whispering about him, but the boy didn't know anything, he only kept his hands open, as if he was about to fly in the next moment.

He was thin, but his frame was beautiful. The white T-shirt on his body looked empty, blown by the night wind, like a gentle heartbeat.

The bracelet on his wrist is very unique, the silver thread is made into light blue, intertwined with each other, hooked into the undulating sea surface.When the wrist trembled slightly, the yellow light shone on it, sparkling sea waves.

Director Wu squinted his eyes and watched him, the noisy voices in the snack alley, the flashing lights of various colors, and the old and new buildings were all omitted from his vision, leaving only the young man with open arms and his side If there is a substantial wind.

What will he do?

Will he jump off, or turn around and walk in?

Are you going to be carried by the wind and dragged into the steep cliff, or will you finally wake up and return to life?

The moment the boy made his next move, the ending of the script that Director Wu had been weighing for a long time was finally finalized.

And for a long time after Mu Zhou became famous, he would be asked what kind of reaction he gave at the end of the movie, but Mu Zhou never answered.

It is also for this reason that at the end of the movie, the boy's gesture of hugging and breaking up left a beautiful gap in the history of movies.