young director Gu Xiaogang earned a box office of 60.66 million yuan in five days after its release. Although this figure is not amazing, it is compared to his directorial debut "Spring River Water Warm" on online video platforms. The ending played above is already considered a good result.
This is first of all due to the addition of popular actor Wu Lei , who plays his son Mu Lian in the film. In recent years, popular young actors have joined in the creation of literary films, which has greatly increased the attention of the films. For example, Zhu Yilong starred in "The Mistake by the River" last year, which made this crime-themed movie full of pioneering consciousness finally earn a high box office of 309 million yuan. In addition, the interaction between Jiang Qinqin and Chen Jianbin on the video platform has also attracted attention. First, Jiang Qinqin won the Best Actress at the 17th Asian Film Awards for her mother Taihua in "The World of Grass and Trees", and then the couple The "show of love in the air" between them fits the plot of the old money played by Chen Jianbin in the film's crazy pursuit of Moss Flower, and has received a very good publicity effect.
"The World of Grass and Trees" is still a literary and artistic film at its core. It continues Gu Xiaogang's first film "Spring River Plumbing" in style, but the plot of "The World of Grass and Trees" is much simpler and more compact. The story of "The World of Grass and Trees" is inspired by the ancient Chinese fable "Mu Lian Saves His Mother". The film is designed into three sections: the first part is "the world", the second part corresponds to "hell", and the third part is sublimation To "heaven". The film has two story clues: one is the son Mu Lian's hard-working "search for his father", and the other is Mu Lian's "rescuing her mother" after witnessing her mother Tai Hua accidentally joining a pyramid scheme organization. The two clues seem to be independent, but in fact they are "ebbing and flowing". In the process of "saving his mother", Mu Lian gradually let go of his obsession with "finding his father", which symbolizes his growth and maturity. Of course, Gu Xiaogang also put a lot of personal thoughts into the film. These thoughts use physical objects like "tree roots" to express the metaphorical effect, which requires the audience to experience it carefully.
Many viewers who have watched the film have this feeling. The first and third parts are unified in style. It continues Gu Xiaogang's poetic and Zen-like depiction of Zhejiang's landscape in "Spring River Plumbing". The first part has a long shot shot from the air, giving a panoramic view of the tea fields hidden in the mountains and the team of tea farmers "calling the mountains" with flashlights, allowing people to see the endless development of "tea culture". But the second part of the film is the main body of the story. The film takes about an hour to tell the whole process of Taihua accidentally entering the MLM organization "Butterfly International". The content of this part is realistic and full of life details. Coupled with Jiang Qinqin's crazy performance, it forms a strong contrast between the "moving and stillness" of the first and third parts. This is also the reason why many viewers feel that the style of the film is "fragmented". one.
Just as Jia Zhangke’s films repeatedly depict people and events in his hometown of Fenyang, Shanxi, Gu Xiaogang, who was born in Fuyang, Zhejiang, is also full of emotions for the landscape of Zhejiang. It can be seen that he is trying to connect the landform features of Zhejiang with the people living on this land, and interpret the meaning of "the land and water support the people". Moss Flower in "The World of Grass and Trees" went from being a docile tea farmer who experienced a failed marriage, to her desire to become an "independent and confident" strong woman. The "tiger" was tamed and finally chose to be reborn. It is not difficult to see director Gu Xiaogang's true inner thoughts: Compared with a life of ups and downs, this kind of calm and practical life is the most ideal home for ordinary people.
The leading actors all contributed good performances. Jiang Qinqin's performance is full of explosiveness and penetration, especially Taihua's expression after falling into a state of madness, which is a bit like the "Joker" in the superhero movie " Clown". Wu Lei's performance is also natural and relaxed, showing the youthfulness that a college student should have, which is very rare.
In addition, the film music composed by Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi is amazing. The ethereal and trembling artistic conception perfectly renders the theme of the story.
Generally speaking, "The World of Grass and Trees" is a film with a strong personal style of the director. It is shot beautifully and poetically, but it still has a lot of room for improvement. How to better integrate the story theme and picture style? This may be an issue that Gu Xiaogang needs to consider more in his subsequent creations.
