text | Linghu Boguang
The 2024 Spring Festival period is over. The 2024 Spring Festival period has been extended by two days, and has also set many records: a new high in the box office of the Spring Festival period in the history of Chinese film history, a new high in the number of moviegoers during the Spring Festival period in the history of Chinese film history, and a new record in China The Spring Festival screenings hit a new high in film history. According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, as of 21:00 on February 17, the total box office for the 2024 Spring Festival period was 8.023 billion, with a total number of moviegoers of 163 million and a total of 3.937 million screenings. in.
I think there are only three movies worth talking about during this Spring Festival, that is, the first three. Jia Ling 's " hot ", Han Han's " flying life 2" and Zhang Yimou's "Article 20". After all, "Bear Bears" is a masterpiece, a gatekeeper during the Spring Festival, and the only animated film during the Spring Festival. It is very special.
"Shake the Sun" failed miserably and has been withdrawn from the schedule, while " Mr. Red Carpet " was indeed not suitable for this schedule and failed miserably.
The first three movies are quite interesting. In terms of movie quality alone, whether it is the storyline or the movie language, "Hot and Spicy" has few advantages except Jia Ling, and its expression is also very controversial. "Flying Life 2" is obviously more complete, and the racing inspiration is also very passionate. In addition to the comedy elements of "Article 20", the script and expression are very shocking.
But they all lost to Jia Ling at the box office and to an indescribable new Chinese film track.
The most obvious player on this track was Kaixin Mahua, then Chen Sicheng, and then Jia Ling. But compared to Happy Twist's comedy and Chen Sicheng's suspense mystery film, only Jia Ling's two works have the worst quality in terms of the film itself, but they have the highest box office.
Which movie is the best during the 2024 Spring Festival? Zhang Yimou's "Article 20" won
"Article 20" does not tell the plot of the movie, its expression alone is already very profound and shocking. Let me say a few words, Article 20 of the First Criminal Law has always been there, why not use it? The law is correct, so what’s the problem? The problem lies in the focus of law enforcement.
There are at least two parties involved in a case. If one party is acquitted and the other party dies, will the dead party settle the matter? So will the trouble continue, and who will make the trouble? Whoever sues and who gets the verdict makes trouble, right? If the court wants to hit each other fifty-fifty, will the procuratorate shift the responsibility to one party?
Judging from this movie, it is self-defense. If you hit a pedestrian who ran a red light while driving normally, should the driver of the car be held responsible? Yes, right? The driver said that I didn’t know he was going to run a red light even though I was driving? That doesn’t work either. An old lady scavenging in Shanghai deliberately pushed over a high-end motorcycle, causing damage. The owner of the motorcycle demanded that legal procedures be followed. What was the result?
The old lady didn’t leave even after she died, why? Because of the trouble, between the endless troubles in the future and the truth, fairness and justice, is the right or wrong of the incident itself more important, or the thoughts of the law enforcers? Secondly, why in cases with the same circumstances, in some cases it is just self-defense, and in other cases it is intentional injury?
If the judge's discretion can be used at will, then how do you know that the judge did not take bribes as a result of the judgment? There is no bottom line for a judge's decision. He can decide whatever he wants. Will there be situations where power is used for personal gain and the law is used for personal gain? Is this a loophole in the rule of law? Can the third prosecutor be transferred to the position of judge, and can the judge be transferred to the position of prosecutor? Can the deputy director of the procuratorate become the deputy director of the court?
If they can be interchanged in this way, how can we ensure that what the court decides is not what the procuratorate wants the court to decide, or that what the court wants to rule is not what the procuratorate wants the court to prosecute? Is China’s rule of law issue just an Article 20 issue? Again, Article 20 has always been there. What really needs to be discussed is whether it is why it was left unused. right?
Some people think that "Article 20" always uses new evidence of deus ex machina to advance the plot, which feels very casual, and the first half is a mix of various Spring Festival Gala skits.But I personally think this is where Zhang introduces the chicken thief. The detailed description of the legal evidence chain will definitely be boring, serious and educational. How many people are willing to read it?
Therefore, Director Zhang skipped these details and let Han Ming's noisy family string together three cases of the same nature, directly hitting the question in the hearts of the people. Is it wrong for me to act bravely? If I am right, is the law wrong? Then use the incident of one death and one injury to tug at your heart, block your lung tubes, and make your heartache unbearable.
In the end, Han Ming's family was forced to give up the opportunity to live and study in a big city, and Article 20 was resurrected to give you hearty pleasure.
They are all pursuing ideals. "Flying Life 2" is indeed better than "Hot and Spicy"
The overall quality of "Flying Life 2" far exceeds "Hot and Spicy". The only highlight of the latter is that Jia Ling is extremely thin. If this point is removed, the movie will be useless. Just imagine that the protagonist did not really lose 100 pounds, but changed actors after losing weight suddenly, or like the Avengers did in the early stage to play a fat man in a prop suit and then took it off, what effect would this movie have -
So the point of interest is beyond Apart from the content of the film itself, the meaning of this film is more like Jia Ling’s fitness vlog. The audience came to see Jia Ling lose weight, not to see the story or character.
" Flying Life " is the complete opposite, pulling the audience into an independent and immersive story, savoring the twists and turns of the plot and the ups and downs of each character. Compared with Hot and Spicy, "Flying Life 2" is a commercial movie in the strict sense, and it is also a commercial movie with a high degree of completion.
What I also want to mention is the choice of BGM in the two movies. "Hot" is really far inferior to "Flying Life 2".
The tone of the BGM in the first half of Hot is cheerful. I think the choice does not match. The long sequence of scenes of Jia Ling shopping at the beginning of Hot. I think the theme is to highlight the protagonist's confusion in life. But if you give me such a cheerful song, is she happy or unhappy?
"Flying Speed 2" does this well. A live version of Queen's "Someone to Love" plays, and the audience's attention is attracted from Uncle Mercury opening his voice, to the emotion brought in when the prelude sounds, it is all the time. It pulls the audience's ears to feel the atmosphere.
The English name of "Hot and Spicy" is yolo, which is the abbreviation of "you only live once". It can be understood as "to be happy in life". But I think Hot and Hot's interpretation of this sentence is not even as good as "Flying Life 1", really.
Zhang Chi truly implemented this creed as a racing driver. From the first part to the second part, from "I don't have to win, I just don't want to lose" to "seize the two or three fleeting opportunities" and fight hard. He fatally conveyed his love for racing to the audience. After going through the ups and downs, he still said "I still like driving." This is called yolo, risking everything for his love.
In "Hot and Spicy", the one who is slightly related to this sentence may be the new life that Leying fell from the fourth floor without any injuries!
During the Spring Festival in 2024, Chinese movies are really too "magical"
As a movie fan and a film and television self-media worker, I would like to say a few words from my heart and support the domestic film and television dramas in recent years. Because 2023 is indeed very exciting, with movies like "Apotheosis", "The Wandering Earth 2", "Space Exploration Editorial Department", "The Mistake by the River", "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop", "Keep You Safe", etc., TV series "The Long Season" Needless to say, "Flowers"?
However, Chinese film and television dramas are full of "traces of capital". Most of the TV dramas are leftovers of the traffic economy (idol dramas).
Then some kind of "capital speculation" in domestic movies is becoming more and more obvious. Nowadays, when making movies, they like to study "social topics, fandom traffic, off-screen marketing", and many high box office results come from this. What do people discuss and like? Whatever you listen to, these film and television creators will make whatever they want. Anyway, everyone likes it. They make money and get a good reputation, and they no longer care about the "movie itself."
Most famous directors themselves have some skills. In order to cater to the market and to become famous, they are afraid of falling behind others. Some of them cherish their feathers and hold back a little for fear of being popular and ugly, and some directly become "financial masters". ", which has received immediate word-of-mouth and box-office success. It doesn't show you any pictures, acting skills, or exciting plot. It just gives you emotions, makes you hold back your energy, and when you think of a sentence, you are full of doctrines and business in your heart.
There are also those who really want to make movies, but they are almost dead on the beach. Nowadays, no one dares to invest in directors whose movies cannot win high box office. Making social topics is a good thing, so that the public can increase their awareness and understand the situation. When this is supposed to be serious, with social topics at the forefront and movie quality at the top, box office is the next best thing.
Since the past few years, many movies have almost become TV series. There is no movie language and few movie shooting skills, just like watching TV series. I hope that in the future, watching movies in theaters will not be like watching short videos from self-media, just like Amitabha. . The domestic film market is like this...and the same goes for TV series. It's more important to capture public sentiment and subject matter.
Most of my country’s movie audiences, especially those who support high box office, do not watch movies themselves. I will only read if it is popular and topical. For example, "She Disappeared" and "All or Nothing" are actually typical. There is no essential difference between the remake of "Hot" and the remake of "Super Family".
If you have the right subject matter and the right mood, you can make a lot of money by talking about a powerful topic. This group of audiences who really support the high box office does not sound good because they lack the aesthetics of the movie. They just go to see it for fun. So is it wrong to say that it is for fun?
That’s right, who isn’t? The problem is that while watching it for fun, you also want to dominate the evaluation system when you don't understand the movie. They won't care about your transitions, storyboards, montages, slow motion, close-ups, echoing this and that. If it caters to their emotions and values, it's a good movie.
It doesn’t matter what shooting skills or script arrangement, there’s nothing we can do about it, and it’s the same in the Chinese music industry. The audience just loves to hear that 4536251, what can be done? Let’s not talk about marketing. There are many people at home and abroad who have worked hard to lose weight and gain muscle in making movies. Others only mentioned it as behind-the-scenes gossip and serious marketing with 800 front pages and big covers. Jia Ling is the only one.
Audiences go to theaters to consume movie content. Marketing to a certain extent can, should, and even must be provided, but if you play it like this, I think Chinese movies have emerged from the traffic economy era, but they have entered another The era of "capital speculation".
Again, none of the ten "Hot" films has as much influence as "The Wandering Earth", "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes to the World". If you want to say that the latter is different from industrial blockbusters, then "The God of Medicine" is still at the top of China's box office among feature films, and it is far inferior.
If you still want to say that they are not the same subject, then the problem arises.
remake + realistic topics + massive marketing = an inspirational movie of mediocre quality. Apart from box office records and Jia Ling’s ascension, what does it bring to Chinese movies?
