text | Linghu Boguang
The 2024 Spring Festival is coming, and the most anticipated new film in this Spring Festival is Zhang Yimou's " Article 20 ". But I have written an article analyzing this movie before. If the full movie is like the trailer, it will be like a large-scale Spring Festival Gala skit about "making dumplings".
Zhang Yimou's " Azolla " was a box office hit last year, but its reputation suffered a waterloo, while "Sturdy as a Rock" failed to top it again.
At the same time, at the end of last year, Feng Xiaogang 's "If You Are the One 3" was released with a box office of only tens of millions. People say that the saddest thing about this movie is not its box office success, but that there is no splash, which means that young people don't want to talk about it at all. movie, combined with "Volunteer Army" which suffered a major blow during the National Day release last year.
The three major directors in Mainland China are obviously unable to do what they want. At present, Feng Xiaogang is the worst, Chen Kaige is the second best, Zhang Yimou is famous and controversial, but it seems that he is on the verge of being unpopular with young audiences. I think the Spring Festival release of "No. If "Twenty Articles" sucks and fails at the box office, this may be the dividing line.
It’s really time for these great directors in China to retire, really.
How miserable is Feng Xiaogang? People are not miserable, no one has watched the movie.
Feng’s affair with Xiao Cui, Bing Bing’s detonation in the Chinese literary and art circle, and the problems behind the Huayi Brothers have triggered a series of chain reactions. I won’t mention how brilliant Feng Xiaogang was at the beginning, but after his comeback, whether it was the movies he acted in, the two TV series he directed, or the new movie "If You Are the One 3", he still had no splash.
The indifference of young audiences and mainstream public opinion is very obvious. The saddest thing for a great director is this.
The problem is that treating a director like this has nothing to do with fairness or unfairness. It reflects the psychology of young people, not the ability of old people. Feng Xiaogang has many film works, and the "If You Are the One" series is a pornographic film that he himself despises. He has always claimed that he made it just to make money and meet the market (audience) demand.
Feng's films have formed his own characteristics. "Party A and Party B" has opened the Chinese New Year season, and the three films "Big Shot", "Cell Phone" and "A World Without Thieves" are phenomenal works in the Chinese film industry and even in film history. Feng Xiaogang has also been involved in the filming of films with serious themes. Such as "Assembly", "Tangshan Earthquake", "1942", "Youth"
Feng Xiaogang's films with serious themes have basically aroused long-term hot comments and debates in the Chinese public opinion field, and have driven the entire society to pay attention to the times and history. , reflections and debates in the humanities. Take a look at yourself and see for yourself, Feng Xiaogang, Jiang Wen and other fifth and sixth generation directors. Do these great directors now have the ability to influence the whole society through their literary and artistic works?
Feng Xiaogang is like an 80-year-old man. It is normal that he is dying now. This is because he has lost to the law of nature. But people did it well when they were young, and they were very good at it. It would be foolish and unobjective for us to use the past to evaluate the present, and to use the present to evaluate the past. Just because he was able to do it in the past does not mean he is able to do it. If he is not able to do it now, there is no need to deny that he was not able to do it before.
In the final analysis, their time has passed. The reason is very simple.
" Farewell My Concubine " was really not filmed by his father? Chen Kaige, ruined by pride
Let’s talk about Chen Kaige. Ever since Chen Kaige’s reputation collapsed in “Actors Please Take Your Place”, the overwhelming trend of following the trend is really hard to see. "Chen Kaige only has one film called "Farewell My Concubine", ""Farewell My Concubine" was filmed by his father," all kinds of mindless comments are flooded under various entertainment videos.
It is certainly reasonable for others to criticize Chen Kaige. I just think that Chen Kaige cannot be completely dismissed because of his unbearable performance on the show. No matter what Chen Kaige is like now, his early talent is unquestionable and stunning. Including his later bad films, many of them were caused by his change of mentality and intervention in screenwriting.
You can’t deny all his works just because of his later bad movies. There are even some people who say that "Farewell My Concubine" was not made by him just for the sake of disgrace.
If Feng Xiaogang is really on his last legs, Chen Kaige’s biggest problem is actually his “arrogance”. Chen Kaige is definitely one of the best directors in China. The depth of his talent is difficult for other directors to match, but he is too emotional and conceited. He absolutely needs to work with excellent screenwriters to polish a rigorous and good script + excellent actors to make another Farewell My Concubine. These conditions were not met later. .
After Zhang Yimou's "Hero" in 2002, all the major Chinese directors were making costume blockbusters. At that time, the three major bad movies were "The Night Banquet", "The Promise" and "The Golden Armor". My personal opinion is that "The Promise" is slightly stronger among them. , so I have a better impression of Chen Kaige.
Later I watched "Mei Lanfang" again, and was shocked by the scene in which Sun Honglei's character was walking on the streets of New York. I fell in love with this movie because of that scene, and even had a special liking for Chen Kaige. Including "The Orphan of Zhao" and "The Legend of the Demon Cat" are not bad movies. But later I saw that he was immersed in his own philosophical world, and now he has become known as the "elderly version of Guo Jingming", which is really sad.
is obviously a very talented, capable and thoughtful director, but now he has become a "bully"-like existence, suspended in mid-air with no life. No matter how profound the philosophical theory is, it all comes from the observation of life. Art can be higher than reality, but art that is not born from life will appear false and empty, leaving nothing but random thoughts.
After "Farewell My Concubine", Chen did not continue to explore the depth of his art. He stayed at an artistic level and waited for good writers and actors. When the background of the story is just right to cover up his nihilistic and unrealistic romantic structure, a good film may come out. This kind of director should have cooled down a long time ago and allowed him to see that he is down to earth, but in terms of art, there has never been a director who can replace him. He has been allowed to turn over and over again and still thinks of himself as a master.
Chen Kaige's mentality changed after he won the award. He is narcissistic, arrogant, small-minded, and cannot tolerate criticism from others. He can definitely produce excellent works. Taking "The Disciple" as an example, Er Dongsheng said that according to the investigation, drug lords all keep a low profile, and Chen Kaige's rigid facial makeup requires that villains should be arrogant and upstarts. When commenting on Wen's performance in "Parasite", it was even more clear that he had not even watched the original show and had no idea why the nanny fought back so hard. It was ridiculous to talk about ruining other people's family happiness.
Chen Kaige not only needs a good screenwriter, but what he needs most is a good producer or production director. His arrogance and inappropriate romance need a strong boss to suppress him. There are many screenwriters, but there are not many producers who can convince or surrender to Chen Kaige.
Feng Xiaogang is outdated, Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou are getting worse? It’s time for the fifth generation of directors to retire.
Zhang Yimou has written about this issue before. He has led Chinese films for more than thirty years. In his early years, Zhang Yimou had top-notch scripts such as "Alive", "Red Lantern" and "Red Sorghum", plus his early The aesthetics are indeed the image of a master. But in the later period, with all due respect, he was also washed away by the torrent of the times.
Of course Zhang Yimou has won many awards, but the awards and evaluations are not enough to comment on a director. They only reflect the market value of a director. This is the same as between actors and stars. The more Zhang Yimou invests in this market and the more he caters to this market, the more valuable he will be in this market.
Chen Kaige still maintains a personal literati mentality (which seems inexplicable to others). He is still trying his best to use his perspective to tell stories to the public, rather than fully embracing the market. In this regard, Chen deserves more respect than Zhang (whether he is bad or not is another matter).
But the best thing about Zhang Yimou is that he has a clear self-awareness and is not arrogant, no matter how the audience scolds or ridicules him. He doesn't even reply. Unlike Chen Kaige who is stingy and scolds others, he may also know that the commercial films he made are not good. Now if he doesn't pursue them, he has no pursuit. He only wants to make money.
While he was making commercial films, he also made literary and artistic films with good reputations, such as "Return" and "One Second". None of these have so-called group gymnastics performances.Chen Kaige is someone who doesn't want to please anyone in the arts or business. He wants to pretend to be a noble scholar, but he just sucks in variety shows. He also exposes his old habits of being petty, conceited, double-standarded, and good at sophistry.
But apart from Zhang Yimou’s recent three films, which was suppressed, I won’t talk about them. The other two films are completely close to the market and have no pursuit. "Man Jiang Hong" is a werewolf, and "Article 20" looks like a sketch movie, completely reducing it to Jia Ling's feeling.
From a master to a director of sketch films and commercial films, how can we not disappoint people.
Is the 2024 Spring Festival stall too weak? I found that "Volunteer Army 2" is really needed.
Chen Kaige's "Day Meteor" and "Changjin Lake" actually have nothing to say. After all, they are platter movies. But compared with "Man Jiang Hong" and "Article 20", I have an inexplicable feeling that "Volunteer Army" is quite uncomfortable. Whether this movie is good or bad, it is undeniable that it is a commercial special effects blockbuster.
Chen Kaige was ambitious in making this movie, and tried to make a macro narrative blockbuster that he is not good at. He is a director with distinctive enough characteristics, but as a man who is almost 70, he made a movie that does not allow any discussion on the theme. Commercial films with the main theme of space also do not have any space for personal expression (although the vast majority of viewers will only accuse it of containing private goods).
It is understandable that a director with such an idea can no longer do what he wants when he reaches the age.
Finally, the reason why I say this is that the 2024 Spring Festival schedule is indeed too weak. Currently, the two leading films are Jia Ling's new film "Hot and Spicy", not to mention remakes, and they are at most upgraded sketch films. The trailer for Zhang Yimou's "Article 20" is indeed the same, and it's really hard to break down.
"Feng Shen 2" and "Nezha 2" have not been scheduled. Whether or not "Volunteer Army 2" is pleasing to the eye, after all, it is a serious commercial blockbuster, and there is not even a top blockbuster in one of the most important schedules. , this is really the tragedy of Chinese movies.
