Like most people, Qingshi was originally looking forward to and worried about "Flowers".
On the one hand, Wong Kar-wai, who has produced masterpieces in the Chinese film industry such as "Ashes of Time" and "The Grandmaster", has a well-known market reputation at home and abroad.
This time he moved into the Chinese drama industry. Although it was his first time filming a Chinese drama, the cards were there and the expectations could not be lowered.
But on the other hand, the frequent failure of film industry professionals to move to the drama industry also makes people worried.
In recent years, senior figures in the film industry, including Zhang Ziyi and Feng Xiaogang, have tried their hand at Chinese dramas. However, despite their high expectations, they received only mediocre market response.
There have been failures in the film industry before. In addition, Wong Kar-wai's films have always been famous for being obscure and profound. Now that he has moved to the drama circle with a wider audience, it is obviously unknown whether he can make films that are understandable.
However, after the official launch, he showed off the blue stone of 6 episodes of "Flowers" in one go, dispelling the above concerns.
In addition to the plot becoming more and more interesting as it gets better, Wong Kar-wai's unique film aesthetics feels a bit like a dimensionality reduction in the Chinese drama circle. The quality reputation of
dramas is also directly reflected in the ratings.
In a ratings environment where "average breaking 1" is considered a good rating, "Flowers" has directly raised the industry standard.
Since its launch, the real-time ratings of each episode of the show have exceeded 2, which is a very strong performance.
There is no controversy. Wong Kar-wai's "Flowers" has become the most popular drama recently.
The first reason why "Flowers" is attractive is the card appearance.
From the script to the crew, is full of famous names.
The main script is adapted from the 2012 novel "Flowers" by writer Jin Yucheng.
This novel, which focuses on the life of all living beings in Shanghai over the past few decades, is not only a winner of the Mao Dun Literary Award, but was also selected into the list of "70 Classic Novels in the 70 Years of the Republic of China".
In the literary and art circles, the novel has extremely high reputation.
Critic Li Jingze compared "Flowers" with "Dream of Red Mansions" and believed that the novel is a work that truly captures the essence of "Dream of Red Mansions" and is a kind of inheritance of "Red Mansions".
Director Wong Kar-wai also couldn't put it down and praised this novel as the Shanghai version of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", becoming one of the earliest fans of the novel.
The story of the original novel focuses on the living conditions of Shanghainese in the 1960s and 1970s and the 1980s and 1990s.
takes the perspective of three Shanghai children of different origins: A Bao, Hu Sheng, and Xiao Mao. The unfolding of their respective life experiences outlines a picture of all living beings in Shanghai composed of hundreds of characters.
Combining the characters’ life ups and downs and disillusionment across time periods, the author also focuses on his insights on the various aspects of life.
For a masterpiece that has been certified by the market and experts, Wong Kar-wai, who bought the film and television adaptation rights of the work in 2014, is naturally reluctant to start filming hastily.
From 2014 to 2023, he, who has always emphasized that "good things come in hard times," worked hard for the show for a full 10 years.
In terms of lineup selection, Wong Kar-wai focuses on patience.
first invited old partners such as Bao Dexi and Chen Xunqi, and the behind-the-scenes team focused on a blockbuster configuration.
also includes slowly selecting the protagonist based on the criterion of "being able to speak Shanghainese". After many rounds of selection,
finally selected Shanghainese actors such as Hu Ge and Ma Yili as the leading actors. Although veteran actors such as You Benchang are not strictly Shanghai actors, they are also from the Wu language area.
In other preparations, Wong Kar-wai spent a long time.
In order to shoot the main scene of the whole drama "Yellow River Road", the crew directly built a "new street" at a 1:1 scale in Songjiang District, Shanghai.
In order to ensure that the scenes truly fit the era, the crew also solicited old Shanghai objects from the public. Even the main creators such as Wong Kar-wai and Hu Ge brought out old objects from their homes as support.
The script itself has its own highlights, coupled with ten years of meticulous polishing from the inside out, which has also raised the outside world's expectations for the script.
talked about so many behind-the-scenes preparations, so here comes the question.
After watching the previous episodes, did Wong Kar-Wai's filming meet expectations?
Qingshi first made a conclusion. In the filming of "Flowers", Wong Kar-wai retained the most self-conscious Wong Kar-wai, but at the same time he also made some compromises.
Let’s talk about the most “Wong Kar-wai” part first – the plot adaptation.
Yes, he made major changes to the script this time.
Just like the modifications that subverted the original work in movies such as "Ashes of Time", Wong Kar-wai also made major changes to "Bloom" this time.
The original work of "Flowers" has three protagonists. The story revolves around three Shanghai men, A Bao, Hu Sheng and Xiao Mao.
In the drama version, Wong Kar-wai only retained the protagonist Abao played by Hu Ge, and the story lines of the other two male protagonists were directly cut off...
In the story line of Abao, Wong Kar-wai also made A lot of adjustments were made, not only changing the role from a foreign trade merchant to a stock trader, but also "deleting" the first love Betty in the original work.
were replaced by three golden flowers with different images.
They are named Lingzi (played by Ma Yili), A Bao's business partner, Miss Wang (played by Tang Yan), a white-collar worker who has a close relationship with A Bao, and Li Li (Xin Zhilei), a new workplace woman from Huanghe Road. The people who correspond to the roles The setting background is also somewhat different from the original work.
Under the main framework of the original work "Flowers", Wong Kar-wai even mixed other works.
According to official reports, the drama version of "Flowers" refers to four works related to Shanghai culture, including "Guys and Dolls" and "Savage Growth".
From this perspective, this is more like a new script that retains the core core of "Flowers" and rewrites it.
I have to say that Wong Kar-wai has indeed changed to his past style.
The most unlikeable thing about Wong Kar-Wai is the look and feel of the drama;
Anyone who has seen Wong Kar-wai's past works knows that Wong Kar-wai's films focus on the obscure and profound.
Due to the various splicing of the plot, the main theme of the story often requires a long period of careful study to understand.
This kind of filming is certainly "high-end" in the film industry, but when put in a TV series with a wider audience, it is really easy for people to understand.
At this point, Wong Kar-wai obviously made a "compromise".
changed from the obscure style of "click to stop" in the past, Wong Kar-wai's plot line this time is very clear. After watching the first four episodes of
, he clearly explained the three core issues related to the male protagonist Abao in three scenes.
The first question is, how does the male protagonist start his career?
The story begins with the male protagonist Abao in 1987 who has not yet made his fortune.
Wanting to do business, he visited Uncle Ye (You Benchang), a well-known local expert in Shanghai, hoping to ask him to help.
In the beginning, he was penniless and was criticized in various ways by the other party.
But this smart young man immediately touched the old man with his sincere gesture.
Under the three major tests given by his uncle: "raising 6,000 yuan in a short period of time", "buying stocks to cultivate patience" and "holding on to temptation after making money", Abao, who was ready to use tricks, gradually impressed his uncle, and finally got received the other party's great help.
found reliable teammates, which was also the beginning of his fortune.
The second question is, who are the teammates around Abao?
explained how the male protagonist became successful, but Wong Kar-wai did not follow the process of getting rich in a routine manner, but cut the plot line to 5 years later.
At this time, the male protagonist has grown into a well-known businessman in Shanghai, and his title has been promoted to Mr. Bao.
In the past 5 years, apart from his uncle, what other help has the male protagonist received from his teammates?
To solve this problem, Wong Kar-wai used a car accident scene as an introduction. In the plot of
, Po was hit by a car on New Year's Day and the police also began to interrogate the people around him.
Around this interrogation, various characters around Po also appeared, and their different reactions can also reveal their corresponding personalities and relationship with Po.
The brains behind Abao Uncle Ye was calm at this time, and even calmly introduced the identities of other people to the police, completely looking like an old man who had seen the world.
Abao's business partner Lingzi responded confidently.
He has a professional smile and a calm and decent style. He has obviously seen many storms.
Xiao Taotao is infinitely relaxed. When
was questioned by the police, he started talking a lot, almost spilling out the gossip.
In contrast to the free-spirited painting styles of the above three characters, characters such as Commander Wang and Fat Aunt, who have worked with Po for many years, appear in a restrained and cautious style.
are all partners, but it becomes clear which teammates Abao will choose as his core partners.
The third question is, does the male protagonist have any "business skills"?
Similarly, Wong Kar-Wai also captured Mr. Po's methods in one scene concisely and clearly.
Story background: Mr. Bao’s business partner Mr. Fan (played by Dong Yong) came to Shanghai to negotiate with him with an 800,000 silk weaving order.
But this business is full of variables due to the hidden agendas of many forces.
Mr. Fan seemed honest, but in fact he tried to increase the bargaining chip of the order by delaying and pretending to be confused, so the negotiation never came to an end.
Seeing this situation, Mr. Wei (played by Zheng Kai), a Shanghai capitalist, wanted to raise his profile and invited Mr. Fan to a dinner to steal Mr. Bao's order business.
Li Li (played by Xin Zhilei), the female owner of the new restaurant Zhizhenyuan, took over this "troublesome" dinner.
In order to open up the name of the new store, Li Li also took advantage of the excitement and sent an invitation to the male protagonist Mr. Bao.
She also wanted to use Mr. Bao, who has a high status in Shanghai, to increase the reputation of her hotel.
Faced with threats from three parties, Mr. Bao also played with great skill.
Not only did he refuse to change the venue of the dinner to Zhizhen Garden, he also lowered the price of Mr. Fan's order. With this operation of
, Mr. Fan was right because he did not have the confidence to hand over the order to Mr. Wei, whose identity was unknown. He just wanted to raise the price, and he was sure that Mr. Wei did not have the financial resources to take the entire order.
helped, and he also pried away the customers of Li Li Restaurant as a small counterattack. After this operation of
, the image of a decisive young overlord has now become clear.
Compared with previous film and television works, the context of Wong Kar-wai's filming this time is indeed quite clear, and it can be regarded as a small "compromise" for a big shot in the film industry to move to the drama industry.
It can be said that this time Wong Kar-wai's new achievement has been achieved.
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