October 10, 2022 | Total Issue 3020
Last Friday, Geng Le , Song Yang , Zhu Yanmanzi, Gao Ye starred in the crime suspense drama " Obsessed Like a Shadow ", which was broadcast on Youku.
This drama is adapted from Leng Xiaozhang's mystery novel "Sin Addict". Judging from the few episodes that have been broadcast, the drama version does not retain the strong reasoning color of the original work, but is more inclined to criminal investigation and police and bandits in temperament. The first action scene in the opening scene is a gang fight, and the undercover officers desperately rescue the police brothers, which makes people jump to "The Apostles".
The main story of the show is still black and white drug detectives. Although it is more like "Apostle Walker", "Obstinence Like Shadow" is indeed a standard heavy suspense unit involved drama. In terms of the protagonist setting of
, the show continues the popular dual male protagonist setting. Luo Song (played by Geng Le) and Gao Chuan (played by Song Yang) are the two heroes of the police.
Gao Chuan has been undercover all the year round, and his personality is straightforward and paranoid; Luo Song is calm and reserved, and he has a little obsessive-compulsive disorder at work. The two are black and white, moving and still, and the actors' performances are just right. The rivalry between Gao Chuan and Luo Song is always full of sparks. In the first scene, when Gao Chuan saw the GPS box that Luo Song took out, his first reaction was, "After so many years, he finally confessed to me." Although
is just a casual one-liner, it can be vaguely felt through this line that the screenwriter has reserved space for imagination for the audience who are keen on Lalang. In the suspenseful works of
, the well-matched case-solving CP can really drive the popularity of the drama. From "Detective Sherlock" to the domestic " crime hunting guide ", the sympathy between detective partners attracts female audiences, and the friendly atmosphere of bickering and laughing in their lives can also ease the tension of the case.
For example, Gao Chuan would be disgusted when he saw Luo Song burning the vegetables; Luo Song would have fun when he heard the youngest son of the master's family calling him uncle or brother-in-law Gao Chuan. The small details of how these men get along are both realistic and vivid.
But the reputation of suspense dramas cannot rely on characters alone. From a narrative point of view, "Obstinence Like a Shadow" adopts the structure most commonly used in the dramas involved, where the unit case and the main line go hand in hand. The masters of Luo Song and Gao Chuan were killed in an accidental car accident. While solving the daily cases of the police station, they gradually discovered that there seemed to be a secret behind the car accident of the master.
looked through the short reviews of this drama on Douban, and the "slow pace" was the most criticized part. The reason is that there is a problem with the interweaving and matching of the main and auxiliary lines of the drama. On the main line of
, before the master Cheng Fenghua went offline, his appearance rate was low, and he did not participate in the key plots. Before the audience could notice Cheng Fenghua, he was already offline. Therefore, the true identity of this old policeman, both black and white, is not enough to support the suspense of the opening.
When the main line returns to Cheng Fenghua's "white cut black" identity, the timeline has progressed to the fourth episode. These four episodes are interspersed with the emotional scenes of many supporting characters and the workplace scenes of the police station. The loose main line is further diluted, and the sense of suspense is naturally greatly weakened. Most of the unit cases
intertwined with the main line are taken from social hotspots. The two that have appeared so far are the serial sexual assault and homicide case and the revenge case of Internet-addicted teenagers. Both prototypes of the case have sparked heated discussions on social media.
does not shy away from presenting the plight of the weak, "Youth is not measured by biological age", "We killed him, but he killed us a long time ago" and other generous and powerful lines, clearly said. the desperation of victims of violence.
It is not easy to draw materials from real cases, and it is necessary to be careful about the value output while taking into account the truth. The first two unit cases of "Obsession Like a Shadow" both fall on the torture of the evil of human nature.
Just like the "obsession" mentioned in the title of the film, the criminals in the first two cases were too obsessed with hatred, and eventually made a big mistake. There was a paranoid belief in everyone's heart, just like the Internet addict girl said when she pleaded guilty, the case will be closed sooner or laterend, but evil never ends. The idea and torture of
are thought-provoking, but it is the narrative style that ultimately determines the perception of suspense dramas. The narrative of the branch unit case in the play, like the main line, is too flat and straightforward, resulting in slow rhythm and low suspense. The excitement of
solving a case generally comes from the wits and puzzles of good and evil and the confrontation with force. Each group of must have at least a small climax of breaking the game, in order to maintain the audience's desire to continue watching .
Judging from the previous episodes, the main creator's arrangements for literary and martial arts are not very clever. Without the climax, the literary drama will look like it is in the water for a long time. For example, every time the camera turns to the emotional dialogue of the supporting characters, the words "too procrastination" and "so boring" will appear in the barrage.
In the suspenseful year when the dramas involved are frequently innovative, the flaw of "Obstinence is like a Shadow" also reminds the creators, don't sacrifice the rhythm of the drama for the idea and characters, fast rhythm and strong plot will always be the hard core The greatest charm of suspense.
【Text/Kwai Chung】
