e sister introduction
2024/4/05
The Qingming Festival movie review is here.
A few years ago, I would never have imagined that there would be such a thing as the "Qingming Festival". After all, April is the off-season agreed by the industry. During this period, low-cost films are generally produced. A good time to make big bets. In the past two years, the trend of movie consumption during the short holiday has become more and more obvious, and many movies even achieved unexpectedly good results during this period.
As a result, the "Qingming Festival" has gradually become one of the schedule choices that the industry will consider.
But if you look carefully at the recent new films, you will find that foreign films still account for the majority in terms of quantity and sales. There is even a film that has already locked the top spot in the box office on the second day of this schedule (this film I won’t tell you which one it is, but you already know which one it is). We will talk about each film in more detail.
would also like to say a few words aside from the topic. April is a good time of spring. Mountain flowers are blooming, grass grows and warblers are flying. It is the most suitable day to go outdoors for an outing, and it is also a suitable day to go to the cinema to wander around and dream (movie fans must have already I’m paying attention to the films at this year’s Beijing Film Festival).
Whether you watch a movie or not, go out to play or not, I hope everyone can live up to the good times.
Okay, these "nonsense" are over, then, this time we will also check out the "Qingming Festival" movies. We have selected the most discussed movies. We have not been able to record the movies that are still in theaters one by one. The following are Comments are purely tap reviews. If you have different opinions, please see the comment section:)
1 " What kind of life do you want to live ": Hayao Miyazaki's imagination of time
Title: What kind of life do you want to live
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Dubbing: Satoma Yamatoki, Masaki Kanada, Yuki Shibazaki, Yoshino Kimura, etc.
Type: Animation/Fantasy
- In-depth spoiler warning -
The title of "What kind of life do you want to live" It comes from the novel of the same name by Genzaburo Yoshino, and the story frame comes from "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly (Miyazaki Hayao wrote the preface for the Japanese translation of this book).
"The Book of Lost Things" tells the story of a boy, David, whose mother died and he moved to live with his father's remarried wife, Rose. David did not accept his stepmother and locked himself in Uncle Rose's room all day long. In this mysterious room, twisted people often appeared in David's dreams, telling him the whereabouts of his mother. Books also made sounds. Various visions led him to the garden one night and found the entrance to another world. The
movie "You" is also based on the story of a boy named Makoto "looking for his mother in a different world". It incorporates many of Hayao Miyazaki's autobiographical elements and also adds his perspective on time and history.
There are many interpretations of the historical metaphor of this movie on the Internet, but I am more interested in the time and space in the movie, and Hayao Miyazaki's imagination of "time".
Like "The Book of Lost Things", the real world, dreams, and other worlds constitute the triple time and space of the movie.
Real-world time is linear. Makoto's mother, Hisako, died in a bombing at the end of the Pacific War. His father, Katsuichi, continued to open a munitions factory to make money, and even married Hisako's biological sister, Natsuko. After Natsuko became pregnant, Masato was taken to live in the mansion where his mother's family lived.
Zhenren has always resisted her stepmother and has complicated feelings towards her father. Later, his stepmother Natsuko disappeared mysteriously. Zhenma followed the heron into the stone tower and came to another world to find the truth about the lives of his biological mother and stepmother. In the end, he reconciled with his father and stepmother, and chose to face everything in the real world and live a good life.
Dreams are the non-linear narrative part of the film.
Dreams are a bridge between the real world and another world, and are also a way for characters in other worlds to communicate with real people. There are two dreams I remember: one is a real person dreaming that his mother in the sea of fire smiled and told him, "Mom is not afraid of fire." (implying that mother Hisako exists as a fire girl in another world); the other is After the real person was captured by the Parrot Army in another world, he dreamed that he came to his great uncle, who revealed to him the secrets of the building blocks and the world (the great uncle communicated directly with the real person in the dream).
The dreams in the film appear in bulk, which is a kind of narrative trick that weakens the integrity of the story and paves the way for grand images and complex metaphors of other worlds.
Another world is an imagination about "time" in Hayao Miyazaki's works.
As early as in " Spirited Away ", I discovered that Hayao Miyazaki's view of "time" is similar to that of Proust and Benjamin. The old man likes to imagine time as a maze-like "space", which is the "different world" often seen in Hayao Miyazaki's movies.
The "Soup House" in "Spirited Away" is such a space that folds the past, present and future, and communicates the three worlds of humans, ghosts and gods. Everything that happened in the entire soup house and in the other world distortedly reflected the past, present and future of the real world like a distorted mirror: the luxury and money worship prevailing during the bubble economy period even polluted the pure faceless man, and the industrial The river god filled with garbage, the giant baby that symbolizes "Heisei waste"... What is the future?
"Future" is after Qianxun helped Bailong find his lost name. The past and present overlapped in Bailong, and the soul returned to its place and turned into a river. Just like his name - Zaomi Amber River, a life that has been lost will become an endless river. The "past" will never disappear, it will appear endlessly, waiting to be recognized by the "present", and then change. Become "the future".
"You" more concretely depicts "time" as a mysterious tower. From the floor of the tower, you can sink into a different world where the past, present and future overlap. In a different world, time appears in the form of space: on the other side of the sea is a cemetery with golden arches, the undead are turned into sails on the sea, and the fish in the sea use their internal organs to nourish the "warawara" who is about to fly to the air to be reincarnated...
The most obvious expression of Hayao Miyazaki's "time imagination" is the long hotel corridor in the temple of his great-uncle. There are many doors with different numbers on both sides. Each door leads to the real world and corresponds to a Different time and space.
How interesting is that time is not an endless line, but a complex and intertwined space. The past and the future exist at the same time, and they are not unchangeable. It all depends on the choice of the person who opens the door "at this moment". Masato and Natsuko chose to go back to the day they disappeared, but Hisako rejected Masato's invitation to "go back together" and opened another door - she calmly accepted that she would die in the Tokyo fire in order for Masato to be born. destiny.
By the way, there is another "evidence" for the "spatialization of time" in the film: the book "What kind of life do you want to live" left by his mother Hisako to the real person.
His mother's notes strengthened Masato's determination to follow Heron to another world to find his mother; in the other world, the girl Hisako (Fire Girl) also calmly walked into the door leading to death because of her encounter with her son, and gave Masato in advance. He left kind advice and blessings.
I am reminded of a passage by Benjamin:
"There is a secret agreement between the people of the past and the living. Our arrival is in earthly expectation. Like our predecessors, we are also endowed with a faint messianic touch." Power. "
Destiny is revolving, time is complex and intertwined, and the beginning of everything also contains the seeds of the end. But in Hayao Miyazaki's world, brave and pure young people are always blessed. They will eventually redeem the past, face the present, and move towards the future without looking back.
——e sister
2 " The World of Grass and Trees ": the fragmented anti-MLM theme "Landscape Volume"
Title: The World of Grass and Trees
Director: Gu Xiaogang
Starring: Wu Lei , Jiang Qinqin , Chen Jianbin and other
types : Plot
I have been watching the behind-the-scenes video of "The World of Grass and Trees" some time ago, the magical brainwashing MLM conference, the middle-aged woman who accidentally entered the MLM organization and was deceived into a mental disorder, the health care product scam that specializes in trapping the elderly...
includes movies The poster also clearly stated the words "Anti-MLM Movie" and "Watch the movie with the whole family, the whole family will be awake", so I took the whole family into the cinema.
2 hours later, I found that the director really showed me a lot of mountains and rivers? The plot of the movie
is roughly about the middle-aged tea-picking girl Moss Flower. Ten years after her husband He Shan disappeared out of thin air, she and her son were dependent on each other. However, she became increasingly crazy because of accidentally joining a pyramid scheme.
The originally simple tea-picking girl became a boss lady who talked about "success, success, success" all day long. She even sold her house in her hometown to purchase goods. In order to wake up his mother, the son staged a "Mulian rescues his mother".
Director Gu Xiaogang is good at oriental aesthetics that uses painting into movies. The scenes of tea mountains, forests, and the West Lake in the movie are extremely beautiful.
However, the plot of MLM is not integrated into it. The first part uses a relatively static way to explain the family relationship and obsession between mother and child. The MLM part in the middle advances at a fast pace, and the ending is full of imagery...the look and feel is relatively fragmented.
This leads to the fact that those who want to watch the second volume of "Spring River Plumbing" have watched the "All or Nothing" 2.0, while those who want to watch " All or Nothing " 2.0 do not know why they should take the elderly and children to watch a movie full of metaphors and images. A vague literary film...
As for the narrative of "pyramid schemes", it does reveal the truth, but it is not thorough enough, and some of it just touches the point.
Many plots give people a feeling that they are not explained clearly. For example, how did Butterfly International make its fortune? How exactly did the scam take shape? If there is no actual sweetness, how can a low-class woman like Taihua advance from the "testing water" of 79,800 to selling her old house to purchase goods?
actually needs to take a closer look at the topic of "MLM". Just the notorious project 1080 Sunshine Project has a lot to write about.
The bosses of MLM organizations also know how to disguise themselves better than in movies. For example, in real life they may be has-been celebrities living in a top-floor mansion on the riverside in Shanghai, and they rely on their has-been influence to gain trust and harvest leeks.
As for the more artistic and freehand part of the movie, the various metaphors are not difficult, but because I have been paying attention to the feelings of the family members who are yawning around me, it is really difficult to invest...
At present, the reputation of this film is very controversial, and it is unanimously recognized. It is the acting skills of teacher Jiang Qinqin that are extremely provocative when spreading "Success Learning" in the MLM team. The part where he screams to the sky in the rain reminds countless people of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker, which is the soul of the entire movie.
- rapeseed
3 Godzilla: If you argue with logic in monster movies, you will lose!
Title: Godzilla vs. Kong 2: Rise of an Empire
Director: Adam Wingard
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Kelly Hotel, etc.
Type: Action/ Adventure
is not for the audience of the King Kong or Godzilla series of movies, and is not a fan of giant monsters. I have not even watched the previous one. It was purely because a friend said that watching monsters fight without thinking was very relaxing, so I happily entered the venue with popcorn in my arms. After reading
, I found that what my friend said is absolutely correct. If you only have some brains, you probably won’t be able to laugh out loud. The story and drama of
can be said to be a combination of various Hollywood buffs, including a snarky black man + a ruffian veterinarian + a psychic little girl who seems to be a leader but is actually a tool + a kind-hearted white woman with high IQ. The elements are complete. Just looking at this configuration, you will Can know how the story develops.
The ruffian must be charming, and then there must be a section in the plot that seems unreliable, but when he is important, he is a little more reliable "contrast"; the little psychic girl must be key, although I don't know why she It can awaken the key beast, but if it is said to be awakened, it will definitely be awakened.
anyway, it doesn’t matter how human beings are, the focus of the film is the two monsters.
just focus on them and you will find that cpu processors under 8 years old are enough. Godzilla is a monster that insists on charging energy everywhere. He fights just to occupy a better place so that he can evolve into a pink limited edition and then become a tool beast for fighting.
King Kong is a little cutie who is troubled by dental inflammation, but humans can not only replace his teeth, but can also install physical plug-ins on him when he goes out to have a fight and fails to win.
In the previous movie, these two were fighting to the death. In this movie, they met an uglier-looking gibbon, so they joined forces to beat it violently, and at the same time rescued a beautiful and powerful monster who was controlled by a very high force value. .
Okay, that’s it for two hours of the movie. After writing
, I found that the 8-year-old CPU was still a little too high to read it, but the kid next to me really watched it with gusto. When he discovered that King Kong was not only powerful, but also knew how to lay traps to repel his pursuers, he even gave him a heartfelt round of applause.
is really fun to fight, with close combat and electronic light cannon-style attacks, and even King Kong wears boxing gloves.
But it’s true, for me, a non-behemoth lover, it’s a bit boring after watching it for a long time. I even want to say something to the villain of this movie, Scar King, that there is really nothing good on the surface of the earth. It is not as good as the environment and ecology in the center of the earth. I don’t know why I have to beg for nothing.
I ordered it because the popcorn is really delicious and the little monkey is pretty cute.
——Sweet Chili Sauce
4 "Kung Fu Panda 4": Teacher, why did our villain appear on stage and get a supporting role?
Title: Kung Fu Panda 4
Director: Mike Mitchell
Dubbing: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Dustin Hoffman, etc.
Type: Comedy/Animation
The online review of "Kung Fu Panda 4" is this The worst one in the series, mainly because the story concept and core are too shallow, so that the plot and characterization also seem thin. The first part of
is "Passionate Growth", the second part is "Self-Identity", and the third part interprets Chinese philosophy based on the "Qi" in Chinese Kung Fu.
This part tells that A Bao was asked by his master to advance in spiritual practice and become the spiritual leader of Taiping Valley, so A Bao needs to find a suitable successor to inherit the skills of the Dragon Warrior and fight alongside him this time. His little friend is Xiaozhen, a fox who grew up in the Valley of the Wicked where dragons and snakes are mixed (the appearance is like Nick in "Zootopia" + Judy's fur color)
As for the big boss of this movie, he is "Phantom Monster" "After", her true form is a chameleon, with the ability to transform into each of Po's old enemies, including Snow Leopard, Prince Shen and Tiansha. At first she could only transform into their appearance, but with the help of Po's scepter and the red moon With her mysterious power, she can gain the same abilities as her old enemies.
Since all kung fu relies on stealing, the personal charm of the chameleon villain is basically invisible. It also allowed the previous villains to come all the way from the spirit world to act as a sidekick. The process of Po defeating the villain also lacked a climax, and everyone could not imagine it. Just like the previous game, you are plunged into the survival crisis of Taiping Valley and Panda Village.
However, the friendship line between Po and Xiao Zhen is quite interesting. In the Valley of the Wicked, the villain's logic is full of "violence, violence, violence", but he always does the right things for the wrong reasons, which is quite contrasting and cute.
Some viewers have opinions on the Mandarin dubbing. They think that the voices of Huang Bo and Yang Mi are too familiar and make people laugh when they hear them. Since I am watching in Cantonese, I don’t have this interference. Instead, I did a lot of Cantonese memes in the translation. The dialogue just got funnier.
Also, the Cantonese version of the Chameleon Queen is voiced by Hong Kong actress Liu Yali, the same one who sang "You, you, you are not calm tonight for love" in "I Have a Date with Spring". Her voice is deep and magnetic, adding to the villain A lot of charm.
The children are quite satisfied with "Kung Fu Panda 4". Watching this movie with the expectation of family fun will not be a disappointment.
—— Rapeseed
5 "The Oriole Behind": A large-scale emotional novel that does not make sense
Title: The Oriole Behind
Director: Xu Wei
Starring: Feng Shaofeng, Tao Hong, Huang Jue, Su Xin, etc.
Type: Drama /Crime
If you want to watch this film as a crime suspense film, you will be tortured by the director's shooting skills, which are like a crash course in New Oriental.
If you want to watch it as a family film, you will be so disgusted by the family relationship that the poisonous insect bets on dogs that you won't be able to eat.
In fact, the case itself is interesting. It is a case within a case caused by manslaughter, and the evil that spreads out of the terrible family love of East Asian parents who get involved with their own lives and kill their children as long as they are good. There is a lot worth discussing and filming. place.
But the excitement of this kind of film lies in the precise small buttons that are connected one after another. As long as one link is made rough, the overall visibility will be greatly reduced (just like watching "The Invisible Guest", and then If you look at the reverse design of "Crossing the Sky", you will feel like a stick in your throat or a ray of light on your back).
The director also needs to consciously deceive the audience from the beginning. A more suitable example may be Xiao Yang's version of "Manslaughter". It is not an exquisite design that people are buried alive and suffocated to death, but it is enough for ordinary audiences. .
It is a pity that this film is in these places. The audience has long been unable to sympathize with the gambling father and the unclear son. But I saw Tao Hong working so hard in the performance, and I felt aggrieved by the plot of the two fathers wiping their butts.
Moreover, Han Yan, a "tear-jerking" director who shoots cancer patients, knows how to keep it in the shaking sun and not be too sensational. Director, you packed so many sensational scenes into a crime suspense film. What did you want to do to sensationalize it?
reminds me of the bad memory of being tortured by some large emotional books that have no logic and no crying points.
has done quite well in popularizing the law, so that’s it.
——Sweet and Chili Sauce
6 "Let's Shake the Sun Together": A regrettable work that does not match the box office and quality.
Title: Let's Shake the Sun Together
Director: Han Yan
Starring: Peng Yuchang, Li Gengxi, Xu Fan, Liu Dan, etc.
Types : Love/Family
Finally, I would like to give a heartfelt shout-out to "Shaking the Sun". Last week we booked the theater and watched it again with our readers and friends.
It's still so impressive. The director must have his reasons for putting it on the Spring Festival schedule. The schedule will affect the box office, but it will not affect the quality of the film itself.
Which movies did you watch during the Qingming festival this year?
Which movie do you think is the best one you have seen so far?
Come to the comment area to leave a message and discuss!
(You can also nominate those that Sister e did not mention)
