Reflections in the Lake (时间旅馆)

The train is approaching Nanjing South Railway Station.

We're very pleased

to have you here for today's event.

Our theme is LITERATURE AND FILM:

FICTION AND NARRATION.

And we're honored to have three guests today:

Young domestic director,

Wang Xiaojie.

And this is.

Professor Zhang Ping from the Academy of Arts.

Our third guest

is the young writer,

Li Tang.

But because of today's traffic jam,

he might be here later.

Okay. Let's welcome.

Prof. Zhang and Mr. Wang to start off

the conversation about FICTION AND NARRATION.

Today's topic

is actually a cross-border topic in literature

as we've mentioned before.

And literature,

as something we discuss and know very well,

is fictional in the first place.

The writer Mr. Li

is not here yet.

He'll be here soon.

I think we've all read his novels,

and most people are here today for him.

Excuse me, Prof. Zhang. He's here.

Speaking of the devil.

Please give Mr. Li

a round of applause.

A young writer who

just finished his new novel.

As literature enthusiasts, we know that

when writing Madame Bovary,

Flaubert once lost his emotional control

and burst out crying.

So I have a shallow question for Mr. Li:

Throughout your writing career,

was there a moment when you

emotionally resonated with

the character you created?

Like, truly empathized with what you wrote

or lost self-control over it?

Can you share with us?

Yes,

More or less.

I'd say

there is an old saying that…

When lotus root shreds and bean sprouts are fried together,

their bodies are entangled with each other.

Well, I'd say

any fictional character is born,

more or less,

out of the creator's personal experience.

When Prof. Zhang mentioned this topic just now,

I thought of an animal.

The trepang.

It's

very weak.

It can only defend itself

by spitting its guts out.

A writer does something similar

during the writing process.

He has no other weapons.

The third-rate novel is suitable for film adaptation.

Not your novel, of course.

Mr. Li's work is at least second-rate.

So whether it's suitable for adaptation or not,

I think it's still up for debate.

Is there any questions?

We have one here, the only one.

Hello, Mr. Li.

You once said that Nanjing is a city.

Of exile and transition.

It always gives shelter

to those collapsed Central Plains Regimes

to linger out their feeble existence.

For two thousand years, almost all the

dynasties that established its capital here

were like a stillborn child,

crying hurriedly on earth,

and then fleeting.

And the city is always overcast and rainy,

very much a sad place,

and the best match for a doomed romance.

I wanna ask, how did you connect.

Nanjing with romance and ex-lovers?

I was actually facing some creative bottlenecks,

and didn't know how to keep writing.

Then I just

cobbled things together.

-Can we take a photo together? -No problem.

How was it?

Hmm?

The screening and discussion this morning.

Well, the film's okay.

Hmm I don't like it. I think it's a lousy one.

Can't say it's very good.

It's just alright.

You guys said nothing during the Q&A,

I thought you liked it.

About my standard of “good”,

not so good is bad, you know?

But you can't be too straightforward sometimes.

Like, during our screening yesterday,

the audience quarreled with

the director right on the spot,

and the director left soon afterwards.

How vulnerable!

He was about to leave halfway through the film.

No I wasn't.

You were at yesterday's screening?

Yes, and I wasn't gonna leave.

I just needed a loo break,

then I saw the director taking a puff outside.

Then he just obstructed me there.

It was pretty awkward.

He just pees too frequently.

So how was the director at that time?

He was not in a good mood.

But I really went in to take a piss,

and he really stood at the door

waiting for me

and smoking.

So were the audiences very mean to the director or not?

Not very mean, I think.

He's too vulnerable to be a director.

Listen.

I've had at least over a hundred Q&A sessions

for all the films I made.

Yeah, something like that.

And I have a habit

of sitting in the back row for the screenings

to avoid giving people bad impressions.

As if you're fucking waiting at the door deliberately.

I'd rather let people believe the director's not there yet.

I counted roughly

among these over a hundred Q&As,

only three people left.

Only three.

And the others all fell asleep.

Talking about the assessment of a film's quality,

how about Last Year at Marienbad?

Don't tell me you won't fall asleep during that.

I won't believe you.

But can you say it's a bad film?

I think Li Tang you should write a script,

and Hua's here,

let her play the heroine.

And with Mr. Yang,

we can at least organize a screening

in the Yangtze River Delta region later.

I'll help you applying for film festivals.

Am I interrupting?

Please come here.

Let me introduce,

this is a friend's friend.

Her name is Gao Li. Please, please sit.

These are our guests,

Director Mr. Wang from Guangdong.

Nice to meet you.

And this is Prof. Zhang

from the Academy of Arts.

Nice to meet you, Prof. Zhang.

What are you doing?

And this is our local writer, Li Tang.

Nice to meet you.

And this is Mr. Yang.

A film curator.

And this is my friend, Hua.

Hello.

What an honor.

Welcome to Nanjing.

Well...

Let's dine together tonight.

You guys go ahead.

Come with us, since you're here.

Yeah, we're friends, good pals.

I'm embarrassed about that.

I think we've met before?

Nonsense. Where did you meet?

She just arrived.

I guess we've never met before.

He always says he's met beautiful girls before.

I'm just here to say hi.

It's alright. He always jokes around.

It's okay.

I need to take this.

Excuse me.

You startled her.

She just arrived. Met before? Bullshit.

She looks familiar.

How come？

I don't remember.

Okay, I need to go.

Hey.

Would you like one?