Why do you think I am looking forward to it? has the Mao Dun Literary Award. Is the Lu Xun Cultural Award enough to support it? Why am I excited? is the first TV series produced by the famous Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai who has been in the industry for 40 years. Is the reason for sufficient?
It made me very excited even before it was aired. is known as the New Year's Eve drama that once again set off a boom in Chinese culture. is a remake of Jin Lao's novel " Blossoms ".
The reason why I have been looking forward to it for a long time is because I had read "Flowers" by Jin Lao as early as 2015.
This novel was published in 2012, and it has won many heavyweight awards in the literary world. I was reading the first edition at that time. presented the entire city as an artistic form, and re-depicted the golden period through the perspective of montage. During this special historical period, gave me the most immediate spiritual shock, and also helped me reshape my world view of that period of history in old Shanghai.
Later I learned that Director Wong Kar Wai had obtained the rights to adapt the film and television drama "Flowers", and that Mr. Jin personally instructed . This is a kind of recognition and a kind of trust. In fact, there is a certain relationship between the two in the creation of the work. Certain connections and resonances.
After a long wait, the TV series version finally met the audience, but I was not in a hurry to watch it. wanted to catch up on it after all the updates were completed.
After more than a month of suffering, set out to love this novel, I finally opened "Flowers".
But after watching the first three episodes of , I had a strong sense of gap. The disappointment of was like cold water.
has mixed feelings in his heart, why is this happening? I repeatedly asked myself, what went wrong?
I began to hesitate, whether I should continue to pursue it, think about it, or watch a few more episodes before making a decision. After all, after waiting for so long, I suddenly had an epiphany about until the eighth episode!
I found the problem that makes me feel conflicted, I shouldn't watch this TV series with preconceived notions about novels, because they are completely different works.
When I let go of my obsession and started to watch it again, actually saw a lot of different things. Although "Flowers" directed by Wong Kar-wai has some subtle connections with the original work, the overall expression of the play still has something unique to him. After re-creation of the artistic characteristics, 's TV drama version of "Flowers" has become an independent work. This is Wong Kar-wai's world of flowers.
People who have written scripts should know better that the more is adapted from a classic, the more difficult it is to adapt it to film and television.
So Wong Kar-wai gave up the structure of the original work, and only extracted the story clues and character relationships of the original work.
He reorganized and depicted the unwritten characters in the novel, integrated and reshaped the multiple characters, and the film became another story. So, what will present next is the visual style of director Wong Kar-Wai.
As the series progresses, gradually makes me feel familiar with , and what impresses me most is the image style of this drama.
uses a lot of lens language to show characters through mirror reflections or reflections. uses color tones and clothing to hint at characters' personalities, emotional changes, and the complexity of their identity.
We can also see many blurred prospects in the drama. is like seeing flowers in the fog, finally separated by a layer.
This is a typical Wong Kar-Wai film style. The scene scheduling and the characters in the scene are all integrated.
is a multi-faceted presentation. Whether you understand it or not, can capture the high-end sense of his shooting style. Wong Kar-Wai still adheres to the very strict requirements of previous film works in the audio-visual aspect. has high requirements for image quality. high standard.
The difference in characters is even greater.
If Jin Lao contributed a Shanghai Bao in the great era, then Wong Kar-wai turned him into to be closer to the Shanghai Bao that our audience expected.
The only overlap between the novel and the drama version is that uses the growth body as the narrative structure to advance.
How the hero and heroine seize opportunities, how to work hard and change their destiny, finally achieve self-growth.
In addition to Mr. Bao completing the advancement, other characters also have their own destinations , especially the three women Lingzi, Li Li, and Miss Wang. Compared with the characters of the same name in the original work, the TV series version Tang Yan , Ma Yili , Xin Zhilei should be more lively and lovely.
They are actually very lucky to be able to appear in Wong Kar-Wai's films. Director Wong Kar-wai has always been partial to female images in his works, such as Maggie Cheung in "In the Mood for Love", Carina Lau in "Days of Being Wild", There is also Brigitte Lin in "Chungking Express". Every female character in is so three-dimensional, like a flowing time elf.
As a representative of the first generation of independent women, Ms. Wang, who has just entered the workplace, uses her strong self-confidence in the workplace to form an antagonistic relationship with the system she is in. The attributes of a strong woman give her special rights. She wanders among them, sometimes Confused, sometimes sober, finally finds balance and reconciles with the meaning of life.
And Lingzi played by Ma Yili is very life-oriented. She is older and has a deeper understanding of the hardships of life. She accepts reality but does not follow the crowd.
From her, the audience can feel the strong image characteristics of Shanghai women. is very real and can find the shadow of most Shanghai women. She is a very likeable character.
Li Li, I think she is the most "Wong Kar-Wai" character among the three female images. Every time she appears on the stage, she has an ethereal feeling. Her posture, angle, and even lighting will create a special atmosphere for her. The atmosphere of reality and fantasy is more sophisticated than a movie. allows Xin Zhilei to freeze every frame of her appearance to achieve the best effect of artistic presentation.
The origin of Li Li is unknown, and his past life is unknown, making him appear very mysterious. This is the shooting method that Wong Kar-Wai is good at.
maximizes the charm of female characters and whets the audience's appetite step by step. Although later explains her life experience, this explanation still leaves a lot of room for imagination. naturally leaves the opportunity for the audience to fill the gap. .
Let’s talk about the series “Flowers” itself.
It was actually built according to the technical specifications of the film. Director Wang, who is stubborn and eccentric, made changes and adjustments without coming to the mainland for filming. But what surprised me was that director Wong Kar-wai was able to give everyone a very clear picture. The fate of each character in the play can have a clear whereabouts.
As long as you have watched Wong Kar-wai's movies, his stories will never clearly tell you what kind of ending will develop between the characters. It must be ambiguous, vague, hesitant, and unclear. It’s also unclear.
Wong Kar-wai did compromise on this point, but he still retained his little willfulness. The final finale of "Flowers" settled in the form of an "anti-climax", and brought down the curtain of history. All expectations for
were disappointed again. Wong Kar-wai is still Wong Kar-wai . Everything has to be imagined by yourself.
Maybe A Bao will be good with Miss Wang, but not, then take a step back, maybe Wei will always be with Miss Wang, but it will not happen. All your expectations have not happened, after all, it is a dream, a dream It's smoke and mirrors.
Director Wang's charm lies in this. He is distant and illusory. He breaks the shackles of concepts and tells an equally wonderful story in a different way from the original novel.
