The 8-episode mini-series "My Altay" starring Ma Yili , Zhou still and Yu Shi , Douban scored 8.5 points, which is the highest score for domestic dramas this year (2024)!
The picture quality is exquisite, and the plot and story are as melodious and melodious as the sound of the piano flowing on the moonlit grassland. This rating, "My Altay" is worth it!
If nothing else, the scene at the beginning of episode 3 where the women sing in unison in a public bathhouse is enough to make this drama a god!
In the past, the bathhouse scenes we saw in film and television dramas were usually men's scenes. Very few people can film women's bathhouse scenes in such a divine, warm and full of female power and glory.
is indeed a drama directed by a female director. With this scene alone, the drama deserves to be remembered in the history of domestic dramas!
Zhang Fengxia took her daughter Li Wenxiu and her mother-in-law to the bathhouse to take a bath.
The water in the bathhouse is warm and steamy. Three generations of women, old, middle and young, plus other women and children in the bathhouse, wash off the dirt on their bodies and sing loudly together. What they sing should be Kazakh folk songs, which can also be regarded as It is the finishing touch of "My Altay".
"Golden Altay, the spirit of mountains and rivers, green grass..."
The women's casual singing in the bathhouse is far more touching and has a warm and simple power than those singers on the stage.
This footage really shocked me. I replayed it several times just to see these scenes of the release of female souls and the manifestation of divinity, and to listen to the soft singing of the souls of these Altay women.
Li Wenxiu, played by Zhou Yiran in the play, is simply playing "me". The expression on her face is that she is deeply moved and shocked by this scene and the singing, and she is deeply immersed in it. It is very spot on. The shots of the female director
are delicate and precise. Although this scene was shot in a bathhouse, it does not give people a whimsical and vulgar feeling at all. Instead, it feels maternal and divine, as if it comes from the warmth and security of a mother's arms. feel.
Li Juan, the original author of "My Altay" is a female writer, and Teng Congcong, the director of the play, is also a female director, so female audiences will definitely feel more emotional when watching this play.
Because Teng Congcong, in this drama with only 8 episodes, used many details to pay attention to the situation of women, their survival dilemma, and their ideal pursuit and confusion.
For example, at the beginning of the play, when Li Wenxiu was listening to a lecture by a writer named Liu Haibo (it was later revealed that he was also an editor), there was a middle-aged woman in the audience who also listened very carefully.
Later, when Li Wenxiu was taking care of her grandma at the market, she slipped into an Internet cafe to type and submit a manuscript. The camera turned to an old building with the sign "Liyuan Publishing House" hanging on it.
At this time, the writer Liu was selling scrap products. This plot implies the meaning of "literary devaluation".
After that, Writer Liu handed over the 5 yuan from selling scrap products to another young male editor, Xiao Wang. Xiao Wang lamented that his hard work was sold at such a low price.
Later, Writer Liu found out that there was an author who had submitted a manuscript, and his writing was very spiritual. He was also the author who attended the lecture that day, so Writer Liu and Xiao Wang made an appointment with the female author.
When seeing this, I believe that many viewers had the same first impression as Lu Zhu, instinctively thinking that writer Liu Zhang Guanli was wearing it, and mistaking Li Wenxiu's submission as that woman's.
But if you take a closer look, you will see that Li Wenxiu is still typing awkwardly in the Internet cafe with one-finger Zen.
The shot was deliberately edited in parallel to create a contrast between the middle-aged female author and Li Wenxiu.
The female author has writing talent, but she doesn't take it seriously. Instead, she gives up writing so easily because of the complaints and accusations from her family and children, as well as her husband, which makes the editor Xiao Wang beat his chest with regret.
Writer Liu must have been used to this phenomenon. He said to the middle-aged female author with understanding: "Virginia Woolf said that every woman should have a room of her own."
Woolf She was an influential British female writer in the world in the 20th century. This sentence is her famous saying, which emphasizes the space and freedom that women need when pursuing self-development.
There is also a scene in the play where Woolf's portrait appears. At that time, Li Wenxiu saw that Woolf's portrait was crooked at the top of the stairs, and stopped to straighten it.
This action also implies Li Wenxiu’s correct attitude towards literature and his never giving up on literary ideals.
Li Wenxiu returned to Altay, and according to what writer Liu said, she loved, lived, and was "injured", and has been pursuing her literary dream. This is in sharp contrast to the middle-aged female author.
Regarding the pursuit of dreams, one has given up and the other has been on the road. The play not only shows the dilemma of women pursuing their ideals, but also shows that there are still many women who have not given up their pursuit despite setbacks.
There is also a recurring detail in the play that is also worth mentioning.
is Token’s washboard.
Token's husband Mulati, Batai's brother, died unexpectedly due to drunkenness. In fact, before his death, their relationship had been at odds with each other for a long time, and Token had long wanted to divorce her husband.
After Mulati passed away, Token wanted to remarry. In fact, she already had a man she liked, Chao Ge. However, Token and Li Wenxiu explained that when her husband was alive, she never said a word to Chao Ge or did anything to regret her husband. She only wanted to remarry after her husband died.
And the Mongolian Chao Ge also liked her very much.
Batai's father had no objection to Token's remarriage, but he firmly disagreed with Token taking away the two children.
It seems that no matter which nation you are from, you attach great importance to your children. In the traditional concept, women are not important, children are important.
In order to keep the child, Ba Tai's father even wanted Ba Tai to marry his sister-in-law.
In the play, Token complained to people many times that Mulati did not buy her a washboard until his death.
Token is responsible for all the housework of washing and cooking at home, but her husband is not willing to buy her even a small washboard.
Even after Mulati's death, Token complained to his brother-in-law Ba Tai about the washboard. Ba Tai went to Zhang Fengxia's canteen more than once and never thought of bringing a washboard home for his sister-in-law.
The detail of the washboard appears repeatedly, which is a metaphor for the neglect that married Kazakh women receive in their families.
Her demands and worries were ignored by the men and ignored.
Of course, at the end of the finale, Batai’s father, Su Litan, finally began to reflect on himself and was willing to make concessions. He agreed to his daughter-in-law Tuoken to take the two children away, and no longer insisted on asking his youngest son Batai to leave the racecourse and come back to inherit. Father's business.
As a female director, Teng Congcong’s humanistic care for women is reflected in every detail of "My Altay".
But, let’s talk about “but” next.
Next I want to "criticize" the director!
That is, I, like many readers who have read Li Juan's prose, do not understand: Why should the identity of "grandma" in the original work be replaced by "grandma"? ! The replacement of
really dissatisfies all female readers and viewers.
Girl, mother and grandmother, three generations of women, maternal inheritance, connected by blood, very worthy of writing. Moreover, mother and grandmother are also the two generations of women that Li Juan focuses on depicting in her original work.
However, changing the grandmother to grandma in the drama version is equivalent to splitting the three-generation maternal line into the relationship between mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and grandparents and grandchildren. The cultural meaning of the spiritual and spiritual inheritance represented is completely different.
Moreover, grandmother, mother, and daughter represent matrilineal inheritance, but behind grandma, the metaphor is a symbol of paternal lineage and even paternal authority.
Although the drama does not show the bad side of the grandmother as the mother-in-law to the daughter-in-law, I still feel that it is completely unnecessary to change the grandmother to the grandmother.
Maybe the director doesn’t want this drama to be labeled a “female drama”?
After all, female dramas have become so popular now, and their reputation is not very good.
However, the original author of "My Altay" was originally a woman, and the person written in the book was originally "grandma". There is no need to worry too much and replace grandma with grandma.
Moreover, whether it is a drama focusing on women or men, as long as the content is of good quality, the audience (regardless of the gender of the audience is male or female) will naturally like it from the bottom of their hearts.
Generally speaking, "My Altay" is a breath of fresh air among domestic dramas. It is a rare masterpiece that expresses cultural fusion. It is also a good product adapted from prose into a TV series. In terms of flaws, it feels like "Grandma is changed to Grandma" "This is the biggest flaw of the show.
(text/first drop of dew)
