Group Screenings

"Mama, Love Me Once More is a bold breakthrough on the Chinese screen! While the film's theme is not profound, it portrays the purest emotion in this world. It requires no elaborate embellishment—the simpler it is, the more genuine, and the more genuine, the more moving. For instance, when Dongdong falls ill and his mother, Qiuxia, kowtows with every single step on her way to the temple to pray to the deities, there is admittedly an element of women in the old society being poisoned by feudal superstition, but it also demonstrates the greatness of maternal love. Yesterday, this author watched the film in a cinema alongside the audience; when it reached this scene, the entire hall wept uncontrollably. It can truly be called the ultimate 'tearjerker'!" "Maternal love is a universal theme. This film strikes right into an untapped market, offering people an outlet to vent their emotions. Unlike any previous genre, it can be called a family drama!" "Yesterday, Mama, Love Me Once More premiered in Beijing. Director Wang Haowei, lead actress Gong Xue, and screenwriter Chen Qi visited Jiaodaokou Cinema to meet the audience. This unique approach won the affection of the masses, creating a lighthearted, lively, and enthusiastic atmosphere. Due to the overwhelming fervor of the crowd, some jostling broke out, and Gong Xue's shoe was even knocked off in the crush—a true Cinderella losing her glass slipper." "According to the manager of Jiaodaokou Cinema, the shoe has already been recovered, trampled beyond recognition. He expressed a willingness to compensate her with a new pair and offered an apology to Comrade Gong Xue..." At this time, an entertainment industry had yet to emerge in the country, let alone sensational celebrity gossip. Amusing little anecdotes like this served as the gossip of the 1980s, more than enough to give the masses something to chat about with relish. Especially when paired with a photo—Gong Xue leaning against a desk, one foot bare, wearing a dazed yet adorable expression—her approachability went through the roof. Approachability was what later generations would call "being down-to-earth." Ninety-nine percent of female stars would construct a down-to-earth persona to close the distance between themselves and their audience, and among them, ninety-nine percent adopted the persona of a foodie. Basically, every female star you looked at was a foodie; look at another, another foodie. No names mentioned here—yes, Dilraba Dilmurat! People in this era stood no chance against Chen Qi's cheap tricks. They thought they were reading the news, but in reality, they were reading content from a marketing account. Yep. Nobody even realized how, before anyone knew it, everyone had started talking about Mama, Love Me Once More. As word of mouth fermented and the buzz spread, practically every resident in Beijing had heard about it. The twenty meet-and-greets became hot commodities, with people pulling all kinds of strings to snap up tickets. And after every single event, some amusing anecdote would leak out: "An elderly woman was crying and shouting that she wanted to adopt Gong Xue as her daughter!" "Comrades from the Women's Federation declared on the spot that they would stand up for Qiuxia!" "The crowd grew so impassioned and agitated that Wang Yongge, who played the male lead, was nearly beaten up!" "Wang Yongge took a public bus and was berated by the entire bus of passengers for ten minutes, lamenting in grievance, 'I'm only an actor! I hope our audience friends can separate the character from the actor!'" Easy to say, but while young people were generally fine, the vast majority of middle-aged and elderly viewers couldn't separate the two at all. Even more than a decade later, Li Mingqi, who played Wet Nurse Rong in My Fair Princess, couldn't get a taxi to pick her up, and Feng Yuanzheng from Don't Talk to Strangers was forever suspected of beating his wife... ... At a certain work unit. Quiet chatter filled the office. A woman from the labor union suddenly walked in and said, "Hold on a second, listen up. The Municipal Women's Federation issued an initiative saying there's a film we need to organize group viewings for. In response to the call, the union got hold of some movie tickets, mainly for our female comrades—mothers with kids get priority!" "What movie?" "Is it Mama, Love Me Once More?" "Yes, yes, that's the one!" "Oh, that's wonderful! I was planning on going this Sunday anyway. Give me three—I have two kids at home." "I heard it's incredibly moving, not a single dry eye. I find that hard to believe, though. Can watching a movie really make people cry like that?" "You'd better believe it. My sister took her child, and the two of them wept in each other's arms—the entire cinema was sobbing together. My niece went home and started doing laundry and sweeping the floor, doing every chore imaginable, like she was a totally changed person." "And then?" "It lasted two days. My sister's beating her right now!" ... "The little birds lead the way ahead, the gentle breeze blows upon us, like spring we arrive in the garden, out onto the green grass..." On a sunny afternoon, elementary school students wearing bright red scarves sang "Happy Holiday," a song born in the 1950s, as their teachers led them to a cinema. "Mark time—march!" "One, two, one! One, two, one... Halt!" "Line up to enter in a moment! Don't push or break formation, mind your discipline!" The teachers directed the lines, and the children filed in row by row to take their seats. They were from an elementary school in Xicheng District. The authorities had recently issued an initiative calling for maternal-love educational activities through film viewings, so here they were. Inviting comrades from the Women's Federation and the education system to screen the movie hadn't been for nothing. They had been utterly captivated by it, wishing they could get everyone in Beijing to share their feelings... The domestic film market had a unique phenomenon: group screenings. These were primarily organized by government bodies, work units, and schools, and practically anything went—they would show kids absolutely any film. For example, the original Taiwanese version of Mama, Love Me Once More actually contained passionate love scenes, and in the late 1980s, elementary school students were even organized to watch Men Behind the Sun! Today was one such school group screening. One teacher brought up the rear, entering the lobby only after all the students were inside. There was a concession stand in the lobby, and the clerk immediately called out, "Teacher, would you like to buy a handkerchief?" "You sell handkerchiefs here too?" "We just started selling them, and business has been booming! Grab one—otherwise, once you start crying, you won't have anything to wipe your tears with." The clerk showed off an array of colorful handkerchiefs, recommending them enthusiastically. "No thanks, I won't need one." The teacher shook her head, thoroughly baffled. Buying a handkerchief just to watch a movie? Did people have money to burn? Half an hour later. "Waaah... waaah... It's so heartbreaking!" "A handkerchief! Does anyone have a handkerchief I can borrow?" Once again, the cinema turned into an ocean of tears. The teachers wept, and so did the children. Elementary schoolers were old enough to understand the plot, and they were equally helpless against it. Of course, there were those who felt nothing at all, which made sitting among the crowd rather awkward. One chubby boy watched the girl next to him sobbing breathlessly, then looked around at the teary-eyed classmates surrounding him. Feeling that not crying made him stand out, he vigorously rubbed his eyes, trying to squeeze out a few tears. There were also children from single-parent homes, or unfortunate kids who had never experienced maternal love, who felt as if they were sitting on pins and needles. There was no helping it. Mama, Love Me Once More was an ode to maternal love. By the same token, there were films dedicated to celebrating paternal love, or films praising universal compassion; no single film could encompass every single audience member. When the movie ended, the elementary school students emerged with red, swollen eyes. Back at the school gates, the ordeal was not over yet; there was still an assignment: "Here's your homework! Everyone is to write a reflection essay at home, or you can write about a story between you and your mother. No fewer than five hundred words!" "Whaaat?!" Groans and complaints erupted instantly. At the elementary school level, a five-hundred-word essay was like an insurmountable chasm, bound to leave them scratching their heads in agony. ... "This is infuriating!!!" In the Beijing Film Studio tongzilou, Liu Xiaoqing threw a massive tantrum in her dormitory room. She had immense pride and was incomprehensibly competitive, with the sole goal of becoming the most famous and best actress in China. She had finally landed a major role in Li Han-hsiang's grand production, only to find herself firmly eclipsed again in the blink of an eye. She had gone to see Mama, Love Me Once More and voiced utter disdain, claiming how she would have handled the role if she had played it... Unfortunately, there were no "ifs." That Chen fellow simply didn't think much of her. Meanwhile, Li Xiuming was equally vexed. It was currently April, and the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers were set to take place next month. Xu Mao and His Daughters had earned rave reviews, giving her high hopes of winning at the Golden Rooster Awards, yet now she wasn't getting any attention whatsoever. Gong Xue had swept all the limelight away in one fell swoop. The media and the public in Beijing talked of nothing but Qiuxia this and Dongdong that... Li Xiuming was also somewhat worried: when they traveled to Xi'an, she desperately hoped it wouldn't turn out like Beijing, where everyone else was reduced to mere background decoration.