Explanation from the director of the movie "Grain Rain"

I thought about the title of "Grain Rain" for a long time before settling on it. Due to my experience growing up in the countryside, I have a deep understanding of things like solar terms, farmers' proverbs, plants, Insects and birds all have inexplicable emotions, which are kind and warm. In recent years, I have often thought of my childhood rural life. People say that recalling childhood means that the subconscious mind is escaping from the present, and it also proves that I am already old. Maybe, both are true, at least I am already aging before I get old.

When I read the word "Grain Rain", I feel soft in my heart, as if I have seen the rain, the wind, the smoke and the boats, the large areas of fresh green, the mixed peanut trees, and the flying orioles in my nose. Smelling the fragrance of freshly turned soil, the chirping of "cuckoo cuckoo" birds and the rustling sound of drizzle like nibbling could also be heard in my ears. This was the original intention of deciding on the title "Grain Rain" - the story has been written long ago, but Choosing a name requires a lively and three-dimensional impression. The name may not be very good, nor may it impress the audience. These are things that can happen but cannot be desired, so just follow your own feelings. Of course, the name "Grain Rain" also has some metaphorical meanings that may not be very subtle in terms of the theme of the film. I made it clear in the inscription after the title: "In the middle of the third month of the lunar calendar, the fingers are fighting, which is the Grain Rain solar term. The season is here. As precipitation increases, hundreds of grains will sprout." The protagonist in the film, the supporting teacher, is named Gu Yu, and the only student in Taohuayu Primary School is named Chun Miao. This little girl has a miserable life experience and is helpless. It is self-evident what the arrival of Teacher Gu Yu means to her. The initial idea for the script came from a news report that a female college student who was teaching as a volunteer was hit by a falling rock and lost her life. This impermanence of life prompted me to try to explore the experience and psychological development of young people who support education. When searching for information, I found that although there are not countless similar videos, they are commonplace and have too much similar content. So I planned to make the volunteer education environment more extreme. Extreme hardships are not uncommon. Almost all volunteer education films describe the hardships of life in remote rural areas and the impact this has on the volunteer teachers. I had to change another perspective. Of course, the living conditions are still difficult, otherwise there would be no need to support teaching, but this is not the key, and there is no need to elaborate. What I want to think about is what will the supporting teachers do when they encounter spiritual loneliness? Who will win in this struggle between loneliness and her lofty ideals? If ideals can win, by what means can they win? Strong will and noble sentiment? Or is it because of other variables? It must be admitted that there are indeed people who defeat themselves with strong will and noble sentiments, but they are always a very small number. Otherwise, we would not worship the heroic models. If we follow the common human nature and explore downward, it is probably other variables that combine with the power of will to push the ideal to the lofty palace. Gu Yu is not a very small number of role models, but a member of the majority. She is not a tall image, but an ordinary girl who cares about her own feelings and the feelings of others. We don’t even know her history. What is the reason for teaching? Because that’s not important to the film—achieving an ideal? Impulsive? To escape from what? Lost in love? Or something else. Even Gu Yu's agreement to give Chun Miao away was motivated by his own selfish desire to escape from Taohuayu - if we still have undistorted values, these reasons will not offset Gu Yu's final sacrifice of his life to save Chun Miao. This kind of greatness, this kind of greatness that is humanly flawed rather than lofty, is human greatness, not divine.

Based on the above reasons, the film is set in Taohuayu Primary School where there is only Chunmiao as a student. Moreover, Chunmiao is lonely and has no one to rely on. She has been abandoned by three or four teachers. The arrival of Teacher Gu Yu makes She was overjoyed and soon became spiritually dependent on Teacher Gu. For Gu Yu, being in a school by herself was definitely beyond her expectation. She had already prepared for the embarrassment in life, but the mental loneliness caused by the empty school made her at a loss. Soon she thought of leaving. This should This is a normal reaction of an ordinary support teacher or even an ordinary person, and is beyond reproach. But she is facing a lonely little girl named Chun Miao who is so eager for family, friendship and knowledge. Can she bear to leave? What's more terrible is that Chunmiao is kind, enthusiastic, diligent and cute. Her sensibleness and precocity are heart-wrenching, and her concern and care for Teacher Gu are touching. The story unfolds in Gu Yu's contradictory mentality of wanting to leave but not being able to leave, wanting to stay but being unwilling to do so. The children of the poor have become parents early. The sensitive and intelligent Chunmiao is aware of Teacher Gu's ambivalent mentality. What she does to impress Gu Yu is completely genuine. This allows Gu Yu to grow up in the economic desert built by money and steel and concrete. She found a touch of green outside the urban jungle, and the feeling of being needed was something she had never experienced before in her life. This seemed to be particularly important for a girl, because the other person was a child, which inspired Gu Yu's maternal nature even more. In this way, Gu Yu and Chun Miao formed a relationship that was both teachers, friends and relatives.

This film is a typical emotional literary film, with a single-line narrative, slow pace, downplaying the plot, focusing on emotion, not spoofing, not commercial, not vulgar. It is not intended to be a grand narrative, nor is it a popular comedy theme, nor does it involve a fashionable sad love story, but it is a touching story about two strange girls, one big and one small, slowly building up a sincere friendship and even family affection in loneliness. The story reflects the beautiful emotions of interdependence and mutual needs between people, and touches on the "empty nest" phenomenon in rural areas and Shandong folk customs.

Due to various reasons and constraints, the eleven-day and one-morning shooting cycle resulted in some regrets, which can only be judged by the audience themselves while watching the movie.

Finally, please allow me to quote a sentence from the film as the main theme reflected in this film: "We are all angels with one wing, and we can only fly if we embrace each other." At a time when resources are severely scarce, vicious competition is intensifying, and trust is lacking, this kind of emotional relationship is rare but extremely needed. From this, I believe that this film may bring a little spiritual touch to the audience.