The closing ceremony of the Film Hundred Flowers Awards came to an end. Movies focusing on realistic themes such as " Article 20 ", " Life Events " and "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" won different awards. " Octagonal Cage " and " All-or-Nothing " were also nominated for different awards. In recent years, realistic-themed films that express the basic direction and style of upwardism, kindness, and beauty have become a major feature of Chinese films.
Among these reality-themed movies, "Article 20" tells the story of prosecutors and ordinary people working together to defend social fairness and justice; "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" tells workplace stories in a dramatic form; "Life Events" tells the story with warmth The growth of ordinary people; "In the Octagon" creates a group of teenagers who do not succumb to fate and dare to pursue their dreams; "Desperate" focuses on real cross-border fraud cases. The film artistically expresses concern for reality and resonates with a broad audience.
Yin Hong, vice chairman of the Chinese Film Association and professor at Tsinghua University, believes that the artistic level and aesthetic ability of realistic-themed films that express upward style, good morals, forward society, and artistic beauty have been greatly improved and have become a trend in Chinese film creation.
In 2023, the Chinese film market will recover strongly, and a large number of commercial, people-oriented, and artistic films will be released. It ended with a total box office of 54.915 billion yuan that year. Among the top 20 box office movies, there are 11 reality-themed movies, focusing on suspense, crime, comedy, etc.
director Huang Jianxin believes that the greatest charm of reality-themed movies is that the works are closely related to people's living conditions and mental states, and can establish a close relationship with the audience in the broadest scope. The audience will bring their existing cognition and invest more emotions during the movie watching process.
"There are no major events in life except death." This classic line comes from the movie "Life Events" released in 2022. After the movie was released, it triggered a discussion about "life and death" on social platforms. Many netizens lamented, "Live in the moment and live every day well" and "Cherish the people around you." The film ranked fourth in the box office rankings that year and once again won recognition from the audience at the recent Hundred Flowers Awards ceremony.
"What the audience sees are not unfamiliar stories, but stories that are closely related to themselves. This is the people-centered creative concept we have always advocated." said Chen Gang, deputy dean and professor of the School of Art and Media at Beijing Normal University.
Yin Li, the 10th Vice Chairman of the China Film Association, also believes that Chinese films have always paid great attention to realistic themes. From "Romance in Lushan", "Wreaths under the Mountain", " Red Sorghum ", to " Operation Red Sea ", " I am not the God of Medicine ", " Young You "... Open the previous award-winning films of the Popular Film Hundred Flowers Award , all of which have the shadow of the times.
Of course, whether a work based on reality can achieve good results in the film market depends on whether the film has the ability to tell a good story and the artistic charm to impress the audience, which places higher demands on film creators.
The " Third Brigade " released in 2023 is adapted from real events. It tells the story of the Third Criminal Investigation Brigade who accidentally caused the death of a suspect while handling a rape and murder case and was sentenced to prison. After being released from prison, several people traveled around the country as ordinary people to pursue the murderer. In the end, only one person was left to persist in completing the mission. Zhang Ji, the screenwriter of
, mentioned that although imagination and fictional ability are one of the basic abilities of creators, everything is still based on field research. When creating "Third Brigade", he investigated and found that the direct actions and language in each policeman's life, as well as their relationship with their families, are important components of the character image. "We must always learn from the people with an open mind and have in-depth contact with them." , study our creative subjects”.
In this regard, Mao Yu, executive deputy director of the Central Propaganda Film Bureau, believes that Chinese films must grasp the mainstream of the spirit of the times, draw inspiration from the changes of the times, China's progress, and the call of the people, refine themes, extract themes, and conduct in-depth research through and careful observation to discover hot issues, conflicts and the brilliance of human nature in social life.
Industry insiders believe that young Chinese audiences have increasingly higher requirements for the level of film artistic creation and the diversification of film themes. "Especially since the reform and opening up, good themes have blossomed everywhere. Chinese filmmakers should continue to broaden their horizons, calm down, observe and think more." said Li Zhenlin, dean of the Film School of Shanghai Theater Academy.
