Looking around and calling for it, the first TV series "Flowers" shot by the legendary film director Wong Kar-wai has finally started airing!
As the most anticipated finale drama at the end of 2023, the audience's expectations for "Flowers" can be said to be fully met. How exaggerated are the
data? Just 9 minutes after the
series was aired, the ratings broke through 2. According to statistics from netizens, there were 9 commercials in the first episode alone, directly breaking the platform's record of 8 commercials.
Hey guys, are you here for the title of Drama King of the Year?
Of course, let’s not discuss whether it is a drama or not. As the director of the drama, Wong Kar-wai is the first to bear the brunt. After all, when Wong Kar-wai is mentioned, the audience also wonders why the outside world always "canonizes" him?
In terms of awards, he has won all the mainstream domestic awards, and he is also the winner of the Best Director at Cannes, awesome!
But in terms of box office results, he is also known as a box office poison. His movies have good reviews, but they just don't sell well.
We won’t look for the specific reasons.
To put it simply, his postmodernist style is destined to put him at the forefront of the industry, especially his non-linear narrative structure and fragmented editing techniques, which abruptly created his own "Wong Kar-wai style".
But again, TV dramas are not Wong Kar-wai's comfort zone after all. Whether "The King of Sunglasses" can continue to write legends in this field still needs to be proven by subsequent word-of-mouth.
As for us, we might as well watch the first 4 episodes of Judgment and see what kind of medicine Wong Kar-Wai is selling in this gourd!
1. Editing, composition, atmosphere, everything you know about Wong Kar-Wai's style is here.
As soon as "Flowers" opens, the camera brings the audience into the scene of old Shanghai beach through the beautiful scenery of feasting and feasting.
The male protagonist A Bao (played by Hu Ge) is also known as Mr. Bao among outsiders, a legendary figure who has grown from a common man to a business elite.
The story revolves around Mr. Bao's experience of making a fortune, but before the story begins, in the next second of the screen, a taxi speeds up and hits Mr. Bao who is about to get in the car.
On one end is the ringing of the New Year's bell, and on the other end is Mr. Bao's life or death uncertain. Is
an accident or a well-designed conspiracy?
Don't worry, with Mr. Bao being admitted to the hospital, another important figure appears.
Uncle, Mr. Bao’s leader in the business world. The next second of the
camera slowly unfolded from 6 years ago.
At that time, Hu Ge, who was still called Abao, found his uncle who had just been released from prison. What was his purpose?
- Learn to do business.
Why did you come to my uncle? What is my uncle capable of? Let me tell you in a few words and shots.
Faced with the olive branch extended by Abao, my uncle didn’t say a kind word, and scolded me in front of the screen to the point where I felt ashamed for Hu Ge.
Really want to learn? In three steps.
Step one: Borrow money from your family to buy a suite at the Peace Hotel, the best hotel in Shanghai, for $80 and two packages of Zhonghua.
Step 2: Find your best buddy, borrow 6,000 yuan of wife's capital and immediately lose half of it by trading in stocks.
Step 3: Continue to borrow money up to 10,000, make some small money, wait on the street for a day with the money, and let your uncle see your credit.
Seeing this, the beginning of Abao's fortune has been clarified, but the question is, who is this old guy who is so mysterious?
In fact, I told you at the beginning that in the first step, Po spent 80 US dollars and two packages to rent a suite in Zhonghua. It used to be a long-term rental house for his uncle.
So far, in just half an episode, Wong Kar-wai's style has been fully reflected in "Flowers".
is indeed a legendary director. His best multi-line narrative firmly grasps the rhythm. He really knows how to keep people's appetites whether he should say it or not.
2. With the blessing of a super cast, Mr. You Benchang is too strong.
Wong Kar-wai is well-known for his ability to make plays. The all-star cast assembled in the movie "Ashes of Time" 30 years ago is something that the entertainment industry has not been able to replicate to this day.
This is my first time filming a TV series, so the ranking obviously shouldn’t be too low.
Ma Yili, Tang Yan, and Xin Zhilei star in the leading roles, is it not enough?
Then add Tang Yan, You Benchang, Zheng Kai, Chen Long, Wu Yue, Dong Yong, Huang Jue, Fan Tantan, Lin Xilei, Yu Entai and other acting talents, is it enough?
Especially in the police interrogation scene after Mr. Bao’s car accident.
's characters appear one after another, and the look and feel is really smooth.
Oh, by the way, Tang Yan’s look is completely subversive.
It seems that Tang Yan has sacrificed a lot for this drama, and she also participated in it with the idea that it would be a hit.
Of course, for now, the acting skills shown by the leading actors still need to be referenced by the scenes.
But the uncle played by Mr. You Benchang can only use three words to describe
- too strong.
In the play, when Uncle Ye and Abao first started to cooperate, they specially invited a professional old Shanghai tailor to tailor a suit for him.
The splendid tailor wanted to fool my uncle at first, but as soon as he blurted out a few professional terms and dropped the material, his look scared the tailor to the point of almost incontinence.
This is the aura, the most professional performance of an experienced actor in front of the character.
Moreover, Mr. You Benchang has given the role of uncle a full sense of mystery.
Looking at A Bao's straight appearance when he put on his suit, his uncle's deep eyes were full of emotion. He seemed to see his previous appearance, high-spirited and arrogant, but now he is old. This Isn't it not that he is unwilling to accept his fate, but he is also reluctant to give up.
I can only say that the joining of Mr. You Benchang in this drama has definitely guaranteed the lower limit.
It is foreseeable that no matter how bad "Flowers" is, Mr. You Benchang's acting skills are enough to become a god!
3. Good news: Wong Kar-wai style, bad news: nothing else.
"Flowers" has been directed/produced by Wong Kar-Wai as the main promotion since its inception.
Judging from the content of the first four episodes, Wong Kar-wai's style is very obvious. Various shooting techniques belong to his sweet spot. It can even be said that he alone truly made the TV series look like a movie.
Formalistically speaking, this is a good thing.
But Wong Kar-Wai is still Wong Kar-wai after all. He can make a movie story of more than 100 minutes so that people can't understand it. He can also make a 30-episode TV series like this.
At present, the audience's evaluation of "Flowers" has always been polarized, with mixed praise and criticism.
As many people praise Wong Kar-wai's obvious style, there are as many people who criticize this TV series as being incomprehensible.
Wong Kar-wai made "Flowers" very suspended and ungrounded.
Whether it is the words and deeds of the protagonist or the supporting characters in the play, they are all fake and vain in a practical sense.
Perhaps this is Wong Kar-Wai's most unique white space shooting technique, but for the audience, this is also a very bad viewing experience.
From the perspective of watching the drama, "Flowers" does not have the so-called main plot and side plots.
dramas always move towards the same tone. The previous second and the next second may be completely different story directions, and there may not even be parallel connections between the characters.
To put it nicely, this kind of shooting technique gives a sense of high-end. To put it badly, it means shooting casually. Wong Kar-wai can shoot wherever he wants.
As for the others, I can only say that apart from Wong Kar-Wai, there is no one else.
In general, I briefly reviewed the first 4 episodes of "Flowers". I would say it is a good drama, but I don't understand the plot or editing, but I would say it is a bad drama, and it did produce other dramas. Something that doesn't exist.
Perhaps Wong Kar-wai is such a double-edged sword. As for whether the audience will buy it, we will wait and see.
