Peng's metaphor
It was wonderful working with my dearest movie friends, and after all the bloody hardworking afternoons, we met the hero finally one summer evening. Peng has a typical figure as the well known '山东汉子'(Shandong men, as in China known for generous character, honest, straightforward, tall and strong). What not surprised me at all were his words. Now he had a new partner, he thanked me for helping translating, and humbly asked me if his image was tidy and polite enough on big screen. I said: dont worry, your sense of humor and your Chinese character are beyond many. Actually his name shall be Pengfei, which means a flying roc and shall appear as above in the passport, yet we don't know why years after years it came into Peng, a single syllable name, most probably just because that the immigration officers separated the two words and never repaired it again.
His camera brings us many that we've not seen. He captured spring sunshine, bees buzzing among wild flowers when theres nobody else in a Sunday afternoon in an unknown French ville, and several Christmas and New Year Eves in the darkness of the streets. I still remember Peng's words from some unreleased scenaries. He sighed quite a lot, also quoted many famous ancient peoms, especially when he had enjoyed a good day or found something exciting, and sometimes that was really pushing some Spanish kind of melancholic mood. Usually a poet's imgae, like Li Bai or Du Fu, is just a lonely solely figure no matter wherever he is. Peng was all alone, too. He summarized in the third year that, now he was almost wordless after all.
We gossiped about his personal life! Apparently he was very homesick. And, he never mentioned a word about his divorce, we had to figured it out by noting the exact date of each piece of video. Then, we saw him holding the tears, and turned off the loud Madonna from the radio. Well, noticing some special dates, we saw how Peng spotted some events in history: worrying about his job when the background TV news reporting the Iraq war, first week in Spain enjoying the San Jordi feria in Barcelona, and celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year in Paris, France and in Barcelona, Spain. Actually one of the producers was very in fond of Peng, even announeced as his girlfriend. I think I could understand her, purely as a woman admiring a man who had encouraged himself and challenged a lot living in a different world.
Finally, the video stopped. As I know, his camera worked out and himself moved on for a next job. And he moved on. He left us some self sarcasm, some wishes, some ugly scars, and an endless cheer of his faith.
If you ever had chance, please watch Me Llamo Peng.
His camera brings us many that we've not seen. He captured spring sunshine, bees buzzing among wild flowers when theres nobody else in a Sunday afternoon in an unknown French ville, and several Christmas and New Year Eves in the darkness of the streets. I still remember Peng's words from some unreleased scenaries. He sighed quite a lot, also quoted many famous ancient peoms, especially when he had enjoyed a good day or found something exciting, and sometimes that was really pushing some Spanish kind of melancholic mood. Usually a poet's imgae, like Li Bai or Du Fu, is just a lonely solely figure no matter wherever he is. Peng was all alone, too. He summarized in the third year that, now he was almost wordless after all.
We gossiped about his personal life! Apparently he was very homesick. And, he never mentioned a word about his divorce, we had to figured it out by noting the exact date of each piece of video. Then, we saw him holding the tears, and turned off the loud Madonna from the radio. Well, noticing some special dates, we saw how Peng spotted some events in history: worrying about his job when the background TV news reporting the Iraq war, first week in Spain enjoying the San Jordi feria in Barcelona, and celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year in Paris, France and in Barcelona, Spain. Actually one of the producers was very in fond of Peng, even announeced as his girlfriend. I think I could understand her, purely as a woman admiring a man who had encouraged himself and challenged a lot living in a different world.
Finally, the video stopped. As I know, his camera worked out and himself moved on for a next job. And he moved on. He left us some self sarcasm, some wishes, some ugly scars, and an endless cheer of his faith.
If you ever had chance, please watch Me Llamo Peng.
Very good your point of view on the history of Peng, very important that you take into account cultural understanding, but ultimately we all share the same sufferings and joys. Peng is a symbol for me to go ahead no matter what happens, keep the faith everything will be fine.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Ian.