After Zhang Yimou turned 70, he ushered in the third spring of his career.
He has directed six films after the age of 70, with a total box office of 9.57 billion yuan. After the Spring Festival this year, his "Article 20" has surpassed the popular Spring Festival movies "Flying Life 2" and "Hot and Spicy" for four consecutive days to rank first in the single-day box office. Not surprisingly, after a while, Zhang Yimou will You can get his 10 billion box office results after entering his seventies.
Picture According to Maoyan Professional Edition, Zhang Yimou directed 28 movies with a box office of 13.448 billion
Moreover, during this period, he also served as the chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics; and supervised movies with a box office of 2.829 billion yuan. "My Hometown and Me"...
Zhang Yimou, who was born in 1950, started the third spring of his career with a craftsman spirit. The first spring is art films, the second spring is commercial blockbusters, and the third spring is now after turning 70, with rich genres, stable quality, and full of possibilities.
I am so old, but I am still better than before. "Article 20" was able to come from behind after being besieged by Jia Ling and Han Han. There is actually a certain inevitability hidden in the accident, which touches on Zhang Yimou's methods and care.
一
Use comedy methods as dumpling wrappers
Before its release, Zhang Yimou said in an interview that the laughter in "Article 20" is twice as funny as that in "Man Jiang Hong". The film's introduction also clearly lists two prominent words: comedy.
But the title of the movie refers to the legal provision of "justifiable defense", and the movie is also endorsed by real cases such as "Yu Huan stabbed a mother-humiliator to death" and "Kunshan anti-murder case". Such a story cannot be said to be a comedy, and he also said This film may have the most laughs in his career - either it is a promotional cover, or Zhang Yimou has a unique secret recipe that can make a pot of comedy soup under a serious and irrefutable topic.
After the screening, netizens reported that the first half was full of laughter and shock, and the second half was full of tears and laughter. In short, comedy is solid, consistent and worthy of the name.
Especially as the leading actors Lei Jiayin and Ma Li, the bickering between them "husband and wife" contributed almost 90% of the laughter in the whole film.
The two of them can quickly organize the "dislocation" even if it is a simple detail of "changing pure water": the man cannot move the water, but the woman quickly completes this "arduous" action. Afterwards, he immediately laughed at himself and said, "My waist is not tight" Well, "prominent". After
, playing cards were used to interpret the situation of family members, the suspicion and "jealousy" about the first love and colleague, the drinking and bickering surrounding the son's case, the two hilarious "quarrels" with the dean played by Zhang Yi, etc. Wait, it’s hilarious.
The creation and occurrence of comedy are completely based on the actor's personal charm and language rhythm. It can also be seen from the promotional materials and on-set behind-the-scenes that Zhang Yimou allows and welcomes actors to "hang out" under given drama tasks.
Especially the prosecutor general Han Ming played by Lei Jiayin, three "justifiable defense" related cases appeared around him, from the past to the present, from the public domain to the private sector, forcing him to fly between work and family, between human relationships and The tense relationship between law and theory, high-density dialogue, a large number of interior scenes, monotonous editing, and almost zero special effects give the entire film a TV series or sketch style.
This style is a little wordy, but very simple. Its atmosphere is harmonious and interesting, and it directly connects with the public's living context and people's daily family life, thus making a serious legal issue and heart-wrenching practical problem less cold. , not intimidating - everyone can find a suitable position in the film and embody their own emotions. At the same time, because of God's perspective, we can understand the difficulties of "justifiable defense" in real-life applications.
If it is not a comedy method, but other methods, it is difficult to imagine how to bring the audience closer to "Article 20", and it is also difficult to use a popular way to show the complex situation inside and outside the "Article 20" system . It can be said that Zhang Yimou's choice of comedy is almost inevitable.
Lei Jiayin and Zhang Yimou, "Article 20" press conference, photo according to Visual China
Of course, comedy is basically unavoidable when choosing a Spring Festival movie. Comedy is a convenient way to ensure "family fun." Watching movies during the Spring Festival is just a fun time with family and friends. To remain serious is to isolate oneself from the audience. Zhang Yimou is not stupid.
In addition, there is another point, comedy can create a "roller coaster" experience: "Article 20" itself is not as topical as Jia Ling and Shen Teng, but its emotional intensity is not weaker than them at all. The whole article has the feeling of suddenly losing control in the midst of comedy, suddenly being shocked after being funny, and feeling like is making a fuss after tears. The most typical scene of
is Han Ming and Li Maojuan bickering. When they heard that their client was going to petition, they drove to chase him and opened the window to call him. Their movements were synchronized and their voices were the same, just like two "idiots". The theater laughed one after another. The next second the person involved was hit and killed by a truck.
5 seconds, from joy to sadness, how sad.
There is also the scene in which the disabled mother played by Zhao Liying jumps off the building. From a tearful complaint to reaching out and giving up on committing suicide, she suddenly reversed into a decisive attitude and simply jumped down decisively to make her ambition known to death.
This is the other side of comedy. It allows the audience to relax their vigilance and suddenly give you a knife while laughing and joking, thus maximizing the emotional ups and downs. The emotional expectations of watching the movie were completely satisfied.
Zhang Yimou, who uses comedy as his method, seems to have a universal recipe. Even diners from all over the world can have their fill of wine and food.
二
Using realistic "concern" as dumpling filling
Comedy is only an auxiliary, the core is still about "legitimate defense" in Article 20 of the "Criminal Law". This subject matter has strong realistic meaning and is too close to the present. In the words of director Wang Jing, it is very "sharp".
A successful director has no need to touch "acute" subjects. But Zhang Yimou rose to the challenge. His experience and skills are enough to match his focus on reality, enabling him to work with ease within a constrained thematic framework, such as a cook and a cow.
The movie revolves around three "justifiable defense" cases.
Han Yuchen (played by Liu Yaowen), the son of Han Ming, resisted school bullying and injured the bully, putting himself in danger of being put on file.
A bus driver (played by Yang Haoyu) discovered that someone was molesting a woman in the bus. He went to stop him, but was beaten and fought back, which eventually caused the molester's skull to be fractured. Was this a act of bravery or intentional injury?
And the most important case, the village bully (played by Aruna) violently collected debts, abused disabled couples, repeatedly insulted the man (played by Pan Binlong), and raped his wife (played by Zhao Liying). The man, filled with grief and anger, rose up to resist and stabbed the village bully 26 times. , resulting in his death from serious injuries. Was the man's behavior intentional homicide, excessive defense, or legitimate self-defense?
Zhang Yimou focused the three cases on one person, the prosecutor Han Ming, with intricate relationships between the characters, and presented a drama that awakened the original intention and consciousness of conscience - his son's plight was his personal pain, and the death of the driver It was his historical illness and the "Zhao Liying" character's "sacrifice for the law" that finally prompted Han Ming to no longer seek to be flattered, but to face the powerful trial practices and make a "legitimate defense" appeal.
When he shouted, "The law makes it more costly for criminals to commit crimes, rather than making good people pay a greater price," the film finally completed the perfect interpretation and final argument of "Article 20".
Zhang Yimou fought a beautiful "law popularization" battle. But his focus on reality is only a projection of reality, not the whole picture. This is reflected in his "soft" strategy.
The most basic thing is that behind the "justifiable defense" cases that attracted widespread social attention, in addition to the public prosecutors and the law, lawyers, scholars, media and netizens were also inseparable. Their persistence and defense are exactly what Han Ming said at the end, the simplest emotional expectations from the people. But obviously, Zhang Yimou only allowed the audience outside the film to act as "common people", and there was no, or in other words, very few people's voices that had nothing to do with the case in the film.
Therefore, the cause and effect of a society has almost transformed into individual conscience and persistence. If Han Ming loses his role as a heroic protagonist, what will be the ending of "Pan Binlong"? Therefore, this film does not fundamentally break away from the stereotype of the public case novel "calling on the great master Qingtian to make decisions for the people".
In addition, Zhang Yimou’s several silences are also quite thought-provoking.
When Han Ming wanted to intercede for his son by using his status as a prosecutor and his brother-in-law's relationship as the captain of the criminal police, the police said, "Filing a case is filing a case, and Team Li (his brother-in-law) is Team Li. What do you think?" Han Ming was silent.
When the driver’s daughter cried and asked Han Ming, if you were my father, would you be as brave as him? "Honestly, is my dad guilty? Is his sentence fair?" Han Ming was silent.
When the character "Zhao Liying" said before jumping off the building, "You can protect me for a while, but the days are still long." These words were shocking. The village bullies were always there, and Han Ming could not solve her "concerns".
When his son asked Han Ming what he thought about his mother being detained, Han Ming said that the law was correct. The son asked, "The law is right, so who is at fault?" Han Ming could only remain silent.
Han Ming’s silence is Zhang Yimou’s silence. In this silence, there is an appropriate creative compromise and an avoidance of complex reality.
Zhang Yimou chose Huairou when he could go to war. This creative method is safe and effective, puts less burden on the crew and team, and lowers the threshold for viewing movies. It can be said to be handled appropriately.
When cooking, you need to pay attention to the heat. "Article 20" has just the right amount of heat. Even if there are regrets that it did not reach the level of a masterpiece, one cannot deny that Zhang Yimou is a good cook.
三
"At seventy, do what you want and never go beyond the rules."
After the Spring Festival, there were more and more discussions about the film, and word-of-mouth fermentation drove the box office to rise. This is Zhang Yimou's victory. He found the only image solution for "Article 20" - the texture of a TV series, a sketch style, lines to build the plot, not to mention lens language, techniques, colors, etc., a simple and slightly naive story, but It also revealed problems and confusions, and conveyed voices and demands.
Zhang Yimou uses comedy methods and filial piety as the dumpling wrappers, and uses realistic concerns and tenderness as the dumpling fillings to cook a pot of fragrant dumplings.
This "cooking" technique is not used for the first time. It was already practiced in "Man Jiang Hong" directed by him during the Spring Festival last year.
"Man Jiang Hong" is a comedy suspense ancient costume theme. It tells the story of a group of small people risking their lives to get close to Qin Hui, just to find an important Yue Fei poem. "Dumpling skin" is a large number of laughs created by the comedian group led by Shen Teng; "dumpling filling" is a deeper power. Zhang Yimou believes that written works can transcend history, good and evil, and power.
is just this power, there is still room for discussion. Plots that are reversal for the sake of reversal, and comedic details for the sake of comedy, will weaken the depth of the topic; the ritual scene of the whole army reciting a poem will not contribute to the theme except to promote the mood. What’s more, this theme is worth pondering: This poem is important, but is it worth so many people dying for it?
Zhang Yimou cannot answer. He didn't need to answer. "River Red" and "Article 20" are commercial films. They have enough reasons for the audience to enter the theater, and they also provide realistic projections for discussion and thinking, attracting a wider range of scholars, netizens and some professionals. Entering the topic is already his success and the moral responsibility he can shoulder.
I have to say that Zhang Yimou, who was born in the 70s, is able to make films "according to his heart", and uses his unique experience and the wisdom given by time to see problems while "not overstepping the rules". Although he cannot reach the level of a top master, he is still the most worthy One of the most respected filmmakers.
The key is that he has been making movies for 40 years. His past works, achievements and reputation, allows him to get the best "ingredients" to complete this feast .
Let's look at the cast of "Article 20". The three generations of young, middle-aged and young people are quite popular among the people, as well as the actors from the hit dramas "Hurry Up" and "The Long Season". They gathered together and contributed enough exciting performances. Acting. The same is true for "Man Jiang Hong". Shen Teng, Yi Yang Qianxi, Zhang Yi, Yue Yunpeng, Guo Jingfei, Ou Hao, etc. have a luxurious lineup and each has their own responsibilities.
Zhang Yimou, who is not deeply involved in comedy, delegates the creative power to the actors and lets them bear the responsibility of the comedy dumpling wrappers. He controls the realistic dumpling fillings. In this way, why worry about a good meal?
To a certain extent, Zhang Yimou is indeed the best "chef" in the Chinese film industry, bar none.
Red Star News movie commentator Li Ruifeng editor Zeng Qi
