In the past few days, the TV series "My Altay" seems to have suddenly airborne, shining in the field of domestic dramas with a "dimensionality reduction attack": the first long-form Chinese drama shortlisted for the main competition of the Cannes TV Drama Festival, and the first to land on the prime time of CCTV Comprehensive Channel This online drama is the first drama to be screened in the history of the Beijing International Film Festival. It is the highest-rated domestic drama on Douban this year. The Douban score of the drama has increased from 8.5 points at the time of the opening to 8.7 points... A miniseries with only 8 episodes, why does it have such a rare aura surrounding it?
A mini-series
set multiple records
In the past month, many domestic dramas have shown a trend of opening higher and lowering. Whether it is the somewhat mystical suspense drama " Newborn " or the less-than-expected "Harbin 1944", they are all mediocre works that are not considered blockbusters. There is a miniseries with only 8 episodes that has swept away the slump of domestic dramas and become the new favorite of drama fans, that is "My Altay".
Last year's hit romance drama "Go Where the Wind Is" is a hit drama set in a paradise like Yunmiao Village in Dali, Yunnan: the heroine Xu Hongdou (played by Liu Yifei) who quit her high-paying hotel job came here After adjusting, he met Xie Zhiyao (played by Li Xian), a local who returned to his hometown to start a business. After getting along with the locals, Xu Hongdou gained the strength to start anew. "My Altay" is a healing TV series similar to "Where the Wind Goes". The drama is adapted from the essay collection of the same name by writer Li Juan. The story told is also relatively similar: the heroine Li Wenxiu (played by Zhou Yiran) is A Han girl who grew up in Xinjiang came to Urumqi to work at the age of 19. She is introverted but likes writing. Originally bent on pursuing her literary dream in a big city, she repeatedly ran into obstacles in her hotel job and was forced to return to her hometown to depend on her mother Zhang Fengxia ( Ma Yili ) who ran a canteen. After returning home, she not only felt deeply connected, but also met the sunny Kazakh boy Batai (played by Yu Shi). Wenxiu gradually discovered the beauty of the local area in the pastoral life...
When a handful of urban dramas are being sold, they are still being sold. Anxiety, exploring vanity, and close-ups of career and emotional lines, "My Altay" quietly appeared and slowly flowed into the hearts of the audience with its plot and lines like flowing water. The adaptation of the series is unconventional, showing the daily life of nomads in a warm, healing, fresh and humorous way, revealing the strong vitality in a relaxed atmosphere, giving people the ultimate experience of watching the drama.
How much do viewers like the TV series "My Altay"? After the drama was broadcast during the prime time period on China Central Radio and Television Station's comprehensive channel, the live ratings of the first episode reached 1.9578%, ranking first in ratings during the same period, and the first two episodes directly won the national ratings championship. It is also the most popular video platform on iQiyi and the first on Douban’s real-time popular TV list. If you enter "My Altay" on the web page, the first popular related association that appears is "My Altay Douban score has increased." As of press time, the Douban score of the show has risen from a very high 8.5 points when it was first released to 8.7 points. A total of more than 70,000 people have rated the show. This score has become the highest score among all domestic dramas aired this year, and is the same as the score of the popular drama "Go Where the Wind Is".
No. 1 on Douban’s real-time popular TV list
TV station ratings
TV series with a cinematic quality
The reason why "My Altay" has received such a high rating is mainly because of its unique cinematic texture. As a mini-series with only 8 episodes, many viewers believe that "My Altay" is more like a super-long movie than a mini-series: it is adapted from a prose in a unique way. The collection is full of literary and artistic flavor without being mystical, telling dramatic stories without deliberately creating conflicts. All the main creative staff came from film production teams, and the image quality of the entire series is overwhelming, setting a new benchmark for national dramas.
Some Douban comments
From the original work, the author Li Juan used prose to outline the appearance of Altay from the late 1990s to the beginning of the new century, integrating the scenery, water, soil and humanistic life. The characteristic of prose is that "the form is scattered but the spirit remains." The drama basically follows this rule. While retaining the romantic and beautiful temperament of prose, it also adds documentary and story-telling, making the drama more watchable. Rather than a sugar-coated scenery film.
One of the key lines in the play is "to live, to love, to get hurt", especially the last word, which emphasizes that to become a real person, you must go deep into life and allow yourself to be "hurt" in life, just like Birds want to be in the wild, not canaries in cages. In order to show this theme, the series starts from the perspective of Li Wenxiu who wants to be a writer. By showing her returning home to collect debts with her mother, going to the summer pasture with the team, escaping from a wolf, and falling in love, etc., it depicts the lives of three generations of women, including grandparents and grandchildren. The daily life in the pastoral area allows a young girl to enjoy the experiences that life has given her by "living, loving and getting hurt", and becomes an independent person who has truly experienced life, and is able to make a living through writing. writer.
Director Teng Congcong was nominated for four important awards at the Shanghai International Film Festival and the China Golden Rooster Award through a film " Send Me to the Blue Clouds " that explored women's repressed desires five years ago. This time she served as the director of the film The directing and screenwriting work is concentrated, and there is more space for creation. Her unique female perspective obviously adds a lot to the show, and her skills are also well received by the audience. The cast is also one of the highlights of the show. "My Altay" not only has experienced actors such as Ma Yili and Huang Xiaojuan, but also up-and-comers such as Yu Shi, Zhou Yiran and Jiang Qiming.
In addition, "My Altay" is well deserved to be selected into the recommended list of the "Travel with Micro Shorts" creation plan deployed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television this year. Many travel platforms predict that after " Blossoms" made Shanghai's Yellow River Road popular earlier this year, the tourism industry in the Altay region of Xinjiang will also reach a higher level because of this drama.
Outstanding character setting
Stable performance of the lead actor
Another highlight in "My Altay" comes from the character setting and actor selection, especially the heroine Zhang Fengxia and the hero Batai.
When talking about Ma Yili, most viewers will think of the image of an urban woman and associate her with big cities such as Shanghai. Especially her performances in "Struggle", "My First Half of Life", "Love Myth" and "Flowers" were so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that after her appearance in "My Altay" this time, many viewers Didn't recognize her. This time, she plays the role of Zhang Fengxia, the mother who runs a canteen, and is also the female lead in the show. Just like Qiu Ju, a village woman from a small mountain village in northwest China played by Gong Li in " Qiu Ju's Lawsuit ", Ma Yili's appearance in "My Altay" this time is equally amazing.
Zhang Fengxia is a rural woman whose husband died young. She raised her daughter independently and took care of her dementia mother-in-law. Her troubled life has led her to have her own way of survival. In order to deceive others, she lies straight out of her mouth. She can also teach Kazakh women to say Chinese swear words. He has dark, rough skin without makeup, and his messy hair is braided into two braids. He drinks and gets drunk when he has nothing to do, and eats melon seeds with his mouth tilted.
However, the biggest feature of Zhang Fengxia is her optimistic, open-minded, free and easy personality. She is a person who can fall into a deep sleep even if the bed collapses at night. When her daughter lost her grandma and felt very guilty, she could answer lightly: "I often lose her. Wouldn't it be nice if I picked her up again?" When she knew that her daughter was not doing well in the city, she said, "What do you mean by being useful, Li Wenxiu? Were you born to serve others? Look at the trees and grass on this grassland. Some people eat it and some use it. It's called useful. If no one uses it, it's fine just staying on the grassland.It's free and easy, isn't it? " Zhang Fengxia's words pointed out the core of the play. It not only comforted the daughter, but also triggered the audience's thinking, and launched a diversified discussion on the Internet about the word "useful" in the play.
It can be said that such a majestic female character not only subverts and pioneers Ma Yili's image in past TV dramas, but is also rarely seen in previous domestic film and television dramas. It can be said that the role of Zhang Fengxia is the first female character design in domestic TV dramas. A breakthrough.
Yu Shi
Another eye-catching role is the Kazakh youth Batai played by Yu Shi in 2023. According to Sina micro hotspot data, in all the information related to "My Altay", the words related to "Yu Shi" are mentioned very frequently. It can be seen that Yu Shi, who has a good image and temperament, is "My Altay". It brought a lot of heat. When he first appeared, he was wearing a simple black half-sleeve and jeans, training a horse in the open space, as if it was a graduation show from the "Feng Shen" movie training camp, showing off horse riding and archery. After that, he The play continues to exude charm. For example, in the sheep-robbing scene at the end of the fifth episode, when he cheers heartily on horseback, the wildness of the Kazakh boy is naturally revealed, galloping among snowy mountains, grasslands, and streams. .
Proofreading: Gaoxin Reporter: Xing Yuan Editor: Xing Yuan
