1905 film network special "You are a teenager" was released for 2 weeks, with a box office of 1.2 billion, becoming a dark horse at the end of October. The films "I am not a medicine god", "children of the rivers and lakes", "find you", and "the nameless", which were successively released last year, have allowed audiences to embrace realistic themes or films with realism. The "2019 Chinese Film Art Report" released by the Chinese Film Association of
also pointed out that 2018 is the year of realism for Chinese films, and the appearance of many works shows that the realism of domestic films has become wider and wider.
market wind changes?
Realism will always be the mainstream of Chinese movies. The word-of-mouth and market success have also made more and more upcoming movies impatiently labelled with realism. When "The Beneficiary" premiered, the creators also introduced it as a realistic film. Now it is about to be released, the first day of previews accounted for 27%, the highest of the day.
This can't help but make people think that the film industry, which has a small change in wind direction in one year and a big change in three years, is not feng shui in turn, and this bowl of realism is starting to taste delicious again?
According to Wu Guanping, a professor at Beijing Film Academy, realism is the mainstream creative method of Chinese film and the most fundamental temperament and appearance of Chinese culture. In his opinion, an excellent realist film is "resonating with the times. When the times change fiercely, can the film show this change on the screen."
is at the peak of Wu Tianming's youth film that has just come to an end. This change is also reflected in the venture capital activities. Many of the projects and scripts of young filmmakers are based on the present and reflect reality.
Youth Creative Dilemma?
out of the small world thinking age
director Yang Mingming, who was shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival with "History of Tenderness", the new work is the story of a hockey team. With this project called "Centaur", she entered the stage of raising 30 million filming funds. .
"I am very fascinated by sports movies, not only because of the beauty of sports itself, but also because of the important meaning behind sports that gives everyone a stage of growth, customer service for weaknesses, newcomers to others, perception of limits and challenges to the impossible "Yang Mingming feels that the type of his youthful and inspirational film is very accurate.
The executive director of "Mermaid 2" Yang Yufei has finished his script "The Year of Abundance". This work is a bit complicated in the director's own explanation, but topics such as children going to school and old houses are still a reflection of reality. .
From the venture capital unit of the Shanghai International Film Festival to the venture capital activities of the Wu Tianming Foundation, the projects of young filmmakers have also changed from martial arts, comedy, and science fiction in the past few years to family, suspense, and youth growth. Perceiving changes in the world around them has become the focus of attention of young filmmakers.
Director Li Ruijun is deeply touched by this creative transformation. He made 5 films, almost all of which were done in his hometown of Gansu, telling the living conditions of people in this land of Gansu, but "Passing the Future" moved the geographical scene to Shenzhen. Li Ruijun feels that this is a creative change that can only occur when living in the present:
"It is difficult for everyone to separate from this society to talk about living conditions and emotional conditions, and there will be many connections with this era, "Passing the Future" more It’s about the state of urbanization. Urbanization has only begun in recent years. People on the other side of the city still come from the countryside. They just meet in another urban space from this land and enter the urban space with their footsteps. Facing various constraints of life or spirit." Li Yu, director of
, said: "Good creators must be sensitive to this era." Professor Wu Guanping is worried about the change in the types of young creators, in his opinion In the coming years, many young directors, although they are shooting realistic themes, are concerned with personal life and personal feelings in the small world: "After setting foot on the creation, not only must express oneself, but also observe life, think about reality, and think about our time. This is the quality that creators need now. "
Realism market is small? The distinction between
commercial films and author films
does illustrate part of the current situation facing film creation. In March of this year, three films, "Everlasting forever", "Over the Spring", and "On the Balcony" were released in a concentrated manner.Hong Kong girls and confused urban youth. Some media call this March the Xiaoyangchun of realism movies.
However, while these three films have gained reputation, the market has not given a warm response. Applauding and not being popular has become part of the symptom of realism movies. Director
Cao Baoping once said in an interview: “Realistic themes have always been a major means of expression and genre in movies, but Chinese movies have a long way to go. There are actually not many realist movies in the true sense, because realism first requires To express real touch and real feeling, I hope that more realist movies in the real sense will emerge in the future.”
Li Ruijun believes that he still faces such problems when preparing new movies. In his opinion, when realist movies touch on social issues, will they really attract audiences who think of entering a dream space in the cinema?
In Huang Jianxin's view, this is a classification problem of the movie itself. He divided the movie into consumer movies and author movies, and the two cannot be equal. After the box office success of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" and "Youth in Youth", many people think that such films have a certain indicator of realism. Huang Jianxin said that commercial films are also realistic, but commercial films will not affect your life, but only meet the psychological needs of the time.
Looking back at the current market environment, commercial movies are still popular, and pure author movies are still niche. But the audience's changes in commercial film tastes are closely related to China's development and changes. The rekindling of realism films also illustrates this point.
commercial film rubs against the reality label? The wonderful story of
is touching.
"I am not the god of medicine", in Huang Jianxin's view, is a literary and artistic film subdivided in the movie genre. On a forum about realism film discussions, he laughed and said that he was the only fifth-generation director who did not lose money, because he made literary and artistic films, while several other directors actually made films by the author. Although
is looking at reality, the expressions and appeals of the two are different. The novel framework and character prototypes he is based on are what audiences are willing to watch, not the author's complete self-expression in the film.
This is the opinion of the director who has supervised many successful films in recent years: For creators who want to succeed in the market, the current successful works actually point out a way-with a realist temperament, close to ordinary people Shape to tell an appealing story.
Speaking of contemplating reality, Huang Jianxin cited an example: "We found a new thing in our lives, such as Douyin. At the beginning, many people came out to criticize. Our lives are always full of this state. , There will be many views in the growing mind." In his view, the expression of this idea is also a reaction to reality.
Huang Jianxin also pointed out that the expression of film art should allow the audience to experience the changes of the times from a subtle perspective rather than an abstract perspective.
Looking at it now, not only commercial films such as "I am not the god of medicine" and "You are a teenager" have become a certain indicator of realism movies, but the National Day files "Me and My Motherland" and "Chinese Captain" are also based on reality. The theme is adapted, with a strong realism temperament.
Reflecting the era, thinking about the era, making the invisible reality the reality on the screen, instead of selling one more ticket through the label of realism, is the charm that really attracts the audience into the theater.
