[Writing/Observer Network Columnist Ling Yuzi]
The most surprising surprise in the domestic film market recently is the comedy "Two Tigers", which has high expectations due to its strong cast. Its reputation has declined after its release. . The comments on Douban and other comment areas are full of negative complaints of "awkwardness", "boring", and "full pee point". Of course, the main disappointment is still concentrated in three words: "not funny".
However, in the author’s opinion, although "Two Tigers" is not really a good movie, it can be called a good sample, a good model and a good case: its natural elements, the efforts made, the results The mistakes made inadvertently and the detours destined to take all reflect the biggest problems currently encountered by Chinese comedy films. At the same time, they also hint at a certain direction that is being discovered and the possibility of breaking through the circle in the future. .
"Dislocation" and "Double Dislocation"
Aside from the expected value bonus brought by the great gods Ge You, Zhao Wei, Fan Wei, Qiao Shan, and Yan Ni, just from the starting point of the story, "Two Tigers" also has one An extremely neat and emotional comedy setting:
In a failed kidnapping case, the roles of the kidnapper and the hostage are exchanged, the kidnapper is directed by the hostage, and the hostage is served by the kidnapper. What is
called? In a word: dislocation.
It is not difficult for viewers who are familiar with the language programs of the Spring Festival Gala to understand: "Dislocation" can be regarded as the most played and slippery thing in Chinese comedy for decades.
The role that should not be played by this person falls on this person; the position that this person is not suitable for is placed on this person's head; the responsibility that should not be assumed by this person is placed on this person's shoulders. As a result, everyone’s tacit rules of life are instantly out of order, and everyone’s comfortable life trajectory is instantly broken, and all plots, spectacles, effects and laughter can burst out in a cross section.
takes the three generations of leading figures in the skit field as an example: Chen Peisi’s unique skill is to act as a hero, which is dislocation; Zhao Lirong’s unique skill is to play fashion for half-aged women, which is also dislocation; Zhao Benshan Song Dandan’s unique skill is an honest farmer on TV. This is still misplaced.
What's more, "Two Tigers" goes further and richer.
When Zhang Chenggong, played by Ge You, played Yu Kaixuan, played by Qiao Shan, playing around (that is, when "the kidnappers are exhausted and run like hostages, and the hostages are like kidnappers", this dislocation occurs), but we can easily learn from the plot It was discovered that no matter how much Zhang Chenggong carried on the pretentious ease and command of “everything under control”, the depths of his soul were actually full of guilt, weakness, loneliness, and fear. His drive to Yu Kaixuan was only With the help of a third party who descended to the front, healed the wounds of those who regretted the past. In the reversal at the end, we further know that before he was accidentally kidnapped, he chose death for himself.
In other words, it seems that the strength of the kidnapping case is reversed: the robbers are worse than the hostages. Inside, there are the opposites of social status: the big brother is worse than the grassroots.
What is this called? Double misalignment nesting.
A comedy that can play "double misplaced nesting", of course, should be very proficient.
But why is it still "not funny"?
The core of tragedy is opposed to logic.
Many people are criticizing the director’s lack of executive power, obsessed with cheap and taken for granted spiritual chicken soup, inserting a very literary drama, and wanting "absurdity" (this word is for humor) , Undoubtedly very high-end) turned out to be "panic". These all make sense.
Many people have pointed out that this movie is actually supported by actors: the scene where Qiao Shan and Zhao Wei drink alcohol, the scene where Ge You and Fan Wei massage (one passively loses vision, the other actively loses language, all the past and the present are In the kneading of the palms and back), they are all wonderful and bearable. These are easy to see.
However, the root of the problem comes from another aspect of this movie. What is even more sighing or paradoxical is that this "other aspect" is precisely what makes this movie the most exciting and willing to play.
is only because of this aspect, not a comic aspect:
Zhang Chenggong and Yu Kaixuan, they come from two different worlds, they are completely different, the most intuitive label: red wine cigar golf VS chicken steak Erguotou instant noodles. He is not happy, he has no head, His city is stern and resourceful, he is stupid and stupidly stupid, even if he stifles in his blood, he will be tricked by the former.
, but they are all tigers, and their names have similar meanings ("success" and "triumphal"). To some extent, they are closer to a mirror image, a second personality, and a conjecture that they want to have but cannot achieve. ——He wants his material wealth, he wants his innocence.
’s internal similarity and “admiration for each other” removed them from the hostile relationship of kidnapping and being kidnapped, allowing the picture to move from the black humor of rope loops in abandoned buildings to driving side by side. Fulfill long-cherished wishes.
stood on the side of the road and peeed, lay on the open ground and talked back then, floated naked in the bathhouse and met frankly. The next second they all changed into suits to start a new round of tacit understanding.
"Forget what identity you are?" "You forgot first." The gap between wealth and class is eliminated here, leaving only concrete people and concrete lives. The disappearance of the
class has led to a reverse experience: I can see myself clearly in the role of others, and I can see the same loneliness and sorrow as myself in the person I want to be, while helping that person heal the sorrow. , Completed his own salvation and baptism.
"The best comedy has a tragic core", I agree with this sentence.
From the above analysis, it is not difficult to find that the tragic core of "Two Tigers" is complete and profound-so even if it is harsh like netizens, they are basically complaining about its lack of laughter, and no one is targeting this. A dark thread of tragicism. This dark line of
has placed too much hope and expressive desire on the director, so the film's attention and investment in it has completely overwhelmed the open line of comedy without knowing it. The trouble with
is that when we sort out this tragedy aspect with appreciation and gratitude, we can only reluctantly admit that it does not feed back the comedy aspect.
Yu Kaixuan is too two-dimensional, Zhang Chenggong is too high and unattainable, we regard them as symbolic metaphors, we feel the helplessness of life, but we have never been able to realize the sense of substitution, self-discovery and self-deprecation in their plight.
Therefore, the tragedy, which serves as the core of comedy, is not logically self-consistent with comedy. It is more similar to a thing that is derailed from comedy and exists alone. It has never become an internal driving force and promotes the dark of fate. Irony has never become a "laugh with tears"-as many masters have done, whether it is Chaplin, Jim Carrey, Mr. Bean, or Stephen Chow.
In the end, the director can only forcibly insert some blunt sections to complete the work of the "funny" comedy. For example, Zhao Wei's in-play scene on the set was played with extremely cheap "Cantonese-flavored Mandarin" stems. , Old-fashioned and boring.
Finally, "Two Tigers" is not so much a comedy, it is more like a literary film.
The current bottleneck and breakthrough efforts
return to a bigger topic: Chinese comedy movies. The position of
comedy in the history of contemporary cinema is naturally not to be underestimated.
After all, it was Feng Xiaogang's New Year film that introduced imported blockbuster movies in China Film and the domestic market was quickly occupied by Hollywood. It was the most desperate moment of domestic films to save themselves and even laid the concept of "Spring Festival" in one fell swoop.
is Ning Hao's "Crazy Trilogy", which completely broke the myth of a generation of "breaking 100 million" after Zhang Chenfeng, and found the code for a win-win between art and the public in one fell swoop.
"33 Days of Broken Love" opens up another possibility for urban themes to be broadened from small to small. "Tai囧" realizes a foreign narrative and broadens the imagination of Chinese road films. "Donkey Gets Water" and "A Spoon" have become topics that arouse widespread discussion and touch reality criticism. Each medium-cost new work produced by Kaixin Twice has steadily achieved box office expectations.
and even the habit of "funny people are not good at producing and incubating celebrities because they often self-destroy their images" has been broken time and time again. Bai Baihe, Wang Likun, Zheng Kai, Deng Chao, and Gu Li Nazha all started from romantic light comedies.
But today’s Chinese comedy still faces many bottlenecks:
, for example, in an era of intensive and even explosive jokes, the public’s growing joke-the end of Feng's New Year's film has been announced, relying solely on "Beijing-style poor mouth" The pleasure of language is amused, and it is simply unsustainable in front of this group of audiences.
for example,You can't deny that compared to the time bonus of "an old song can be listened to for a lifetime and the more you listen to it, the more moved you are", the "joker" is always one-off, and it needs to be continuously generated and supplemented.
For example, humor relies heavily on the cultural common divisor, that is, the similar cultural growth environment and cultural decoding ability within a specific community. However, China's large geographic space creates many natural cultural divisions, such as Northeast, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong. It is difficult for the comedy to go beyond this gap to achieve full coverage of traffic.
For another example, the original impression of comedy is very dependent on originality, but in fact, the degree of dependence of domestic comedy films on adaptation, the misappropriation of brother art categories and the degree of transplantation of overseas IP is extremely high:
is like a novel text "Dulala's Promotion" and "33 Days of Broken Love", "Charlotte Trouble" and "Shameful Iron Fist" from the stage play, "Let's Get Married" from the TV series, "Pancake Man" from the online variety show , "Sewing Machine Band", "I Know Women's Heart", "Bride Fight", "My Best Friend's Wedding" from overseas classic movies...
"The Richest Man in Xihong City" directly purchased Universal Pictures' 1985 film " The copyright of The Winemaker’s Millions of Fortunes is locally adapted. "Beijing Meets Seattle" directly pays tribute to "Night Sleep in Seattle". "Crazy Stone" has been regarded as "Two Smokers" from the very beginning of its birth. "" and "Stealing, Robbery and Kidnapping."
To sum up, the original ability of Chinese comedy is still relatively short, which makes the entire industry in the anxiety of peace of mind-when economic gains are not a problem, what they think is that once the Chinese film market enters a period of rational stability, After harvesting new audiences in cities below the third tier and relatively inadequate viewers, how to conduct self-certification with a more slender and sustainable value-proving that oneself is neither a low-level fun feces, nor an elongated comedy sketch , Douyin Kuaishou.
After all, Chinese people love to watch comedies—we need to laugh, but Chinese people often despise comedies—just laughter, not for real.
Therefore, what Chinese comedy is eagerly waiting for is to convey more delicate and richer love and pain, more multi-dimensional emotional appeal, more dense narrative clues, and more sophisticated structure. It is "the best comedy, all with a tragic core. "The high-level and high-profile story.
Chinese comedy is the most eager comedy in the world to turn itself into a literary film.
"Two Tigers" is obviously aimed at this goal. It's just that haste is not enough, or ideas are greater than skills. I wanted everything, but I didn't really want anything. Fortunately, "want" is always the premise of "want to". Knowing what you want, there is a direction to work hard. In this sense, "Two Tigers" still has an encouraging spirit and attitude.
Remember the famous Pushkin song that Yu Kaixuan loves to recite:
"If life deceives you, don't be sad, don't be anxious, you need to be calm in a blue day."
