Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Wang Jinyue
15 years ago, Feng Xiaogang teamed up with Ge You and Shu Qi to launch the comedy love movie "If You Are the One". It earned a high box office of 260 million yuan after it was released during the Lunar New Year, which also consolidated it as the "King of Lunar New Year Movies" status. In 2010, the original cast collaborated again on "If You Are the One 2". Now, for the third time, he collaborated with old friends such as Ge You and Shu Qi to release "If You Are the One 3". After the film was released yesterday, it only made 25.1 million yuan in box office in a single day, and its attendance rate ranked last among all new films in the same period. This result is disappointing.
Feng Xiaogang set the story in 2031, two weeks before the 70th birthday of Qin Fen, played by Ge You in the film. Obviously, he also realized that it would not feel right if the 66-year-old Ge You continued to romance Shu Qi on the screen. In order to make up for the discomfort caused to the audience, Feng Xiaogang designed a bionic robot Liang Xiaoxiao in the plot. This was customized according to the appearance of Xiaoxiao before he ran away from home, and the laughter of the story also comes from these two "real-life robots". The gap between "fake smiles" arises: one is a smile that shakes the face willfully and chokes Qin Fen at every turn; the other is a smile that is submissive and submissive to Qin Fen according to the computer program settings. . Even when faced with the most common theme of "bionic man" with a bit of science fiction on the big screen, Feng Xiaogang still showed an artist's keen observation. There are many golden sentences in the film about the characteristics of bionic man, such as "You (androids) are calculating, we (human beings) are calculating" and so on. The film also designed the use of "blowing" (androids can't blow), "number multiplication" (humans can't do calculations all at once), and whether there is jealousy (androids don't), etc. to test the authenticity of Xiaoxiao. These details They all have the characteristics of Feng's comedies in the past, which are not profound but have the function of making people laugh.
The difference from "If You Are the One" is that "If You Are the One 3" deliberately takes the "nostalgia card" to the extreme this time. At the beginning of the film, all the funniest and most touching scenes from the first two films were cut into the film. This deliberate amplification clearly shows that Feng Xiaogang really wants to get closer to the audience this time. The distance between them can even be described as "deliberately trying to please". In addition, the main actors from the first two movies such as Fan Wei, Li Chengru, Wu Yicong, Yao Chen, etc. all return, and even the scenes of the deceased Li Xiangshan played by Sun Honglei continue to appear during his lifetime. The only difference is that the founding of the People's Republic of China in the film is The actors Feng Yuanzheng and Liao Fan in the first two films were replaced by the current Chang Yuan. Of course, the advantage of this is that it can fully satisfy the audience's sense of nostalgia, but it also brings a very fatal flaw, that is, the story can only be advanced on the basis of the first two films. For example, in the new film, Qin Fen and Fan Wei play Compared with the old model's "rock, paper, scissors", compared to the clever trick of using "different terminals" to determine the outcome in "If You Are the One", the new trick Qin Fen came up with this time is not so impressive. After all, good ideas are What can be encountered cannot be sought.
The most exciting part of the film is Feng Xiaogang's insight into love. In the film, after Qin Fen and the android Xiaoxiao got along for a long time, the two also developed a true love. When he saw the "real Xiaoxiao", his swing between the two "real Xiaoxiao" and the balance of his inner emotions Feng Xiaogang grasped the pull very well. Of course, in the middle of the film, the identity of the real and fake Xiaoxiao is cleverly "displaced". I believe that anyone with a discerning eye can guess the joy caused by this dislocation.
Why is it that a romantic comedy that is above the standard suddenly fails to attract the audience? The author believes that there are two reasons: First, the actors in the film are too old. Even though Feng Xiaogang explained that this was "a dream" of the elderly Qin Fen, he still felt too old when he saw Ge You appear on the screen. Now, his facial expressions when acting in emotional scenes have completely lost the relaxed and casual sense of humor he had in "If You Are the One". After all, he was only 50 years old at that time.Another reason is more critical. During the movie watching, it was obvious that Feng Xiaogang was particularly cautious this time. The self-confidence and aura of the "King of Lunar New Year Movies" that he used to say "Who else would he give me?" were gone. The film quoted a lot of previous works. The images in the two works seem to be shouting to the audience: "Come and see, my previous works were so good!" Excessive tribute to oneself just reflects the lack of creativity and confidence. The former "King of Lunar New Year films" failed to save any face for himself this time.
