friends, our film and television industry is quarreling again.
Can you believe it? .5 billion in investment, .2 billion in announcement, and 23 years of html production.
invited world-famous directors and top actors to film the past in Shanghai in the 1990s.
I thought it was a five-star chef cooking, but when it came to the table, I found that it was all pre-made dishes.
"Fraud! Scam of the year!"
What I'm talking about is the whole network waiting for it, 800 hot searches in one night, and finally the collective curse -
"Flowers".
Whether "Flowers" should be criticized or not is actually difficult to say. Firstly, it is not a mindless drama that insults IQ. Secondly, it has a unique style.
What everyone is arguing about is actually "aesthetic" . (Because there is nothing much to say about the plot)
First of all, the production of "Flowers" is definitely , the highest level of Chinese TV dramas.
The original work is a Shanghai-language novel written by Shanghai writer Jin Yucheng. It was a masterpiece that won the Mao Dun Literature Award.
Wong Kar-wai , who produced "In the Mood for Love" and "Chungking Express", directed a TV series for the first time.
Even the photographer is Oscar-winning Bao Dexi , plus Hong Kong film soundtrack master Chen Xunqi .
is simply awesome.
The starring cast is hidden and hidden. How many domestic entertainment niches want to take a bite of this pie.
But Director Wang: can’t speak Shanghainese.
As a result, Hu Ge, Tang Yan, Ma Yili and other Shanghai factions stood out.
Even the supporting characters are Shanghai-based artist You Benchang (grandfather of "Jigong"), the number one Internet celebrity papi Jiang (?).
The only exception is the great beauty Xin Zhilei, whom Director Wang loves.
It can be seen that the director used movie standards to shoot the drama. It took 3 years to shoot 30 episodes. Tang Yan did not hesitate to look ugly. One scene was reshot 80 times...
It was finally filmed ( In the director's mind) the feasting and feasting of Shanghai in the 1990s was like this -
All the images were golden and sparkling, with that kind of carefully crafted beauty.
But you said this was Shanghai in the era of reform and opening up. I disagree. It was more like the 1930s when people were living in a world of luxury and luxury.
Cutting to the Yellow River Road where there were many restaurants back then, it was even more exaggerated. I thought that when I arrived at the Hong Kong movie scene , my eyes were smeared with gold powder.
The male protagonist encounters a car accident, various slow motion + "Auld Lang Syne" slowly sounds, and I have no problem with the song "Time Cooks the Rain".
Gorgeous transitions and dances, wine exchanges and banknotes scattered all over the floor.
Guo Jingming read it and called him an expert: "The Flowery Era of Small Times".
is beautiful, but it doesn’t look like a TV series anymore. It looks like a super-long commercial that cost a lot of money to create.
The scenes are misplaced, and so are the characters. Everyone only sees shots of with the "accent" of .
The male protagonist A Bao, played by Hu Ge, has made some achievements in the Shanghai stock market and foreign trade circles, and has become a well-known Mr. Bao. He appears in suits, backpacks, wine glasses, smoking, and various promotions and slow motions.
is not stylish enough.
But, director, don’t you think this scene is familiar? It looks so much like the Tony Leung Chiu Wai you filmed 30 years ago...
That's not all. When I watched Hu Ge, I always felt that it looked familiar. Then I thought, isn't this DiCaprio?
Hu Ge, known as Shanghai Gatsby.
The hotel proprietress played by Xin Zhilei has flaming red lips, big curly hair, and full aura.
She was so beautiful that Director Wang scolded her and filmed her hundreds of times, making her the only popular character in "Flowers".
Of course, Abao’s other two women, Ma Yili and Tang Yan, and even the guest star Papi Jiang enjoy the same courtesy as Estee Lauder.
is beautiful, but no matter how you look at it, looks like a fashion magazine advertisement.
In addition, every actor worked very hard in their acting. Wong Kar-wai's iconic desire to speak and refrain from speaking has completely disappeared in "Flowers". Everyone read their lines as if they were firing a machine gun.
Before the broadcast, Tang Yan's transformation and acting skills were so popular that she boasted so much before the show started. Are you talking about this little girl who makes a fuss?
Some people said: Why are we talking about the pictures and actors, but not the plot at all.
is hilarious, there is no plot at all.
As netizens said, it was about the business war in Shanghai, but html plays music every 23 minutes and narrates every two minutes , relying entirely on the concave shapes of the characters to drive the story.
Everyone is saying incomprehensible words under the carefully arranged lights and shadows. You can taste these lines.
Overall, "Flowers" has beautiful graphics that could be used as wallpaper, a gorgeous commercial, and a photo album of the lead actors.
These are all excellent, I would like to call them Shanghai version of "The Pretend to Be Apocalypse" .
only two words: is exaggerated.
It is conceivable that the controversy surrounding whether "Flowers" is good or not will continue.
Not only is it a rare large-scale production, but it also has the gimmick packaging of "Wong Kar-Wai's first TV series". At the same time, everyone is full of concerns about the evolution of a literary work into a video.
In fact, "Flowers" is also very ambitious.
What Wong Kar-wai originally wanted to photograph was the city of Shanghai, the people living here, and their daily lives.
In TV dramas, it is difficult to see traces of ordinary people. The imaginary high-profile of the upper class fills the entire scene.
The feasting and feasting can indeed represent Shanghai, but not entirely.
also filmed stories of this era. The 1994 movie "Stock Madness" and the TV series "Debt" showed more realistic urban scenes. The details of life in urban transformation recorded by
are more representative.
In comparison, "Flowers" goes too far.
Some people will say that it is too harsh. There are so many bad dramas produced by domestic entertainment every year. "Flowers" at least has a good-looking picture.
Please don’t mistake the concept of “good-looking”.
Indeed, Wong Kar-Wai is good at photographing all kinds of people, and all kinds of actors look their best under his lens.
"Flowers" is no exception.
Take Xin Zhilei for example, she was a female star when she was filming commercials, but under the camera of Wong Kar-Wai, she was a radiant beauty.
But skin is not enough.
The pictures are beautiful and don’t delay the telling of the story. They often use close-ups and overhead shots. They are very beautiful, but this kind of beauty is ineffective. What role does it play in the plot?
To take a step back, doesn’t it look good when Guo Jingming shoots handsome guys and beauties? Is it because his works failed to become classics because the audience was too harsh?
evaluates the "good-looking" quality of film and television dramas from a macro perspective. Characters, plots, lines, music, shots, etc. all play a comprehensive role in the work.
The reason why "Flowers" is disappointing is not only the lack of narrative, but also the serious degradation of Wong Kar-wai's style . What is the purpose of the
filter with the highest saturation?
Take Wong Kar-Wai's own works as an example. His aesthetics used to be quite unconventional.
"In the Mood for Love" is full of various characters, still life, light and shadow, slow motion, and atmospheric close-ups, but you clearly feel that these shots serve the story itself.
For example, Su Lizhen and Chow Mo-wan live in an apartment in the 1960s. The camera shows the ambiguity of their extramarital affair as they look sideways at each other on a narrow staircase.
The erotic flow of is ready to come out.
The figure of Maggie Cheung in a cheongsam is shown swaying step by step. The cheongsam is integrated with the environment and mood.
The suppressed emotions and bound feelings are shown in just a few shots.
At that time, Wong Kar-wai showed the soul of old-school Shanghai, but is not using various golden filters. While
captured the film beautifully, it also did not forget to tell the story. The pain of two people having an affair was condensed into extremely concise lines.
Who doesn’t feel profound?
In "Chungking Express" , he used the frame extraction technique to shoot the modern side of Hong Kong.
In the fast-paced Hong Kong, the lost protagonists appear even more confused in front of the camera.
Wong Kar-wai best captures the characteristics of each person, Tony Leung is melancholy, Faye Wong is smart, Takeshi Kaneshiro is cute, and Brigitte Lin is mysterious.
The leading actors each play their own roles, but they are also so harmonious.
Back then, who among the big stars wouldn’t want to film his works? Even Michelle Reis showed great acting skills under his lens.
Not only are the shots beautifully shot, but as a procrastinator, Wong Kar-wai will most likely be able to polish every work into a classic, so stars have to bite the bullet even if they make a movie every three to five years.
It is precisely because everyone has expectations for him. Then compare with "Flowers" which was filmed for three years, and you will know how low the current evaluation standards are and how much water is added to the so-called gold content.
Even if it is placed in domestic entertainment with increasing traffic, how many people are proud of filming Wong Kar-wai's works? Tang Yan sacrificed her image to look ugly and filmed this movie in 3 years. The current effect is a matter of opinion.
In today's domestic entertainment, most filmmakers have bet on their reputation for half their lives and flocked to the television industry, but they are all unaccustomed to it.
No one can rest on their laurels forever. In this era, it is difficult to spend several years sharpening a sword, and not everyone has the tenacity.
But as long as it is a work, it must withstand scrutiny. Whether the flowers bloom or not depends on the audience.
Finally, Wong Kar-wai said in the movie, "Only when there are shortcomings can there be progress."
Let's encourage each other.
