"The Hottest Good Guy" (2024) In 2024, the 67-year-old Ge You ushered in a "blowout period" for his works. "If You Are the One 3", "The Hedgehog" and "Breaking Good Guys" starring him were released in three major schedules: Lunar New Year, Summer and National Day, taking advantag

2024-11-04 04:21:05 entertainment 5609℃

"The Hottest Good Guy" (2024)

In 2024, the 67-year-old Ge You ushered in a "blowout period" of his works. "If You Are the One 3", "The Hedgehog" and "Breaking Good Guys" starring him were released in three major schedules: Lunar New Year, Summer and National Day, taking advantage of the right time and place. However, the box office and reputation of these three works did not meet expectations: "If You Are the One 3" had a box office of 102 million yuan and a Douban score of 5.4, "The Hedgehog" had a box office of 144 million yuan and a Douban score of 7.3, and "Breaking Good Guys" had a box office of 26.9 million yuan ( According to the 27-day data on the release of , is still being released at the time of publication, with a Douban score of 6.1.

For Ge You, who has been silent for a long time, this is a somewhat embarrassing comeback report card. As Asia's first Best Actor at Cannes and synonymous with the Lunar New Year, Ge You is an artist with both quality assurance and box office appeal in the minds of Chinese audiences. But as of press time, the box office of Ge You-starring movies has accumulated to 10.513 billion, ranking 30th in the Chinese film market, far behind leading comedians such as Shen Teng, Huang Bo, and Wang Baoqiang. Of course, the box office of

is not enough to explain everything. The more intuitive feeling is that Ge You's characters can no longer make people empathize or make people laugh. Coincidentally, the characters played by Ge You in these three movies are all "stuck" images. What "stuck" them may be love, character, or traffic... Whether they like it or not, they have been abandoned by the times to a certain extent. Compared with reality, this feeling of being "stuck" seems to hint at Ge You's current situation.

Among Chinese actors, Ge You can be regarded as a miraculous existence. He has no outstanding appearance or eye-catching topics. All the praise he has received is purely based on his acting.

"The Stubborn Master" (1988)

Taking his screen debut "Midsummer and Her Fiancé" released in 1985 as a starting point, in Ge You's nearly 40-year acting career, his roles can be roughly divided into two types: 1. They are comedy characters full of tragedy and joy, and common people, such as Yang Zhong in "The Stubborn Master" (1988), Li Dongbao in "The Story of the Editorial Department" (1992), and a series of characters in Feng's comedies. As netizens said, "When I see Ge You, I want to celebrate the New Year" or "If I can't see Ge You, it can't be considered a New Year event"; the other is a complex character who carries the pain of the times, such as Fu in "Alive" (1994) Gui, Fourth Master Yuan in "Farewell My Concubine" (1993), the second child in "Kara is a Dog" (2003), etc. There are very few actors in China who can play both types of roles to the extreme, and Ge You is one of them. And to this day, he is still exploring and performing these two types of roles in new works.

However, when viewed in the current context, especially in the context of comedy, Ge You's groping seems somewhat "out of touch". In the context of the diversified development of entertainment products, the audience's threshold for laughter is constantly being raised, and they are more likely to be touched by the funny mechanism of strong emotions. Ge You's slow humor, where "characters naturally reveal themselves according to the plot", is Because of its shallow stimulation, it was not considered funny enough by the audience.

I have to admit that actors are a passive job type and are always being selected: selected by the director, selected by the market, and selected by the times. Therefore, the current situation of Ge You being "stuck" also reflects the changes in domestic film creation to a certain extent. Ge You is far from the only one left behind by the times.

"The Story of the Editorial Department" (1992)

Civilian image

Ge You has a face that is naturally suitable for playing small characters. He has no star appearance, no handsome appearance, and no sense of alienation. Therefore, the civilian characters played by him are often very convincing, making the audience feel involved and touching people's hearts. In 2003, when director Lu Xuechang and the crew of "Kara is a Dog" participated in the Berlin Film Festival, some foreign audiences even seriously asked the director "whether this actor (Ge You) is a specially recruited amateur actor."

Ge You's position as a civilian in the movie just fits the image of a small character described by Wang Shuo as "cold-faced and enthusiastic, willing to help but unable to help".This provided him with an opportunity to become famous. Some people call 1988 the "Year of Wang Shuo's Movies". In this year, four works of writer Wang Shuo were put on the screen: "The Stubborn Master", "Reincarnation", "Big Breath" and "Half Fire, Half Sea Water". Among the four films, "The Stubborn Master" directed by Mi Jiashan is the most famous. Also becoming famous along with the movie is Ge You, one of the leading actors.

At that time, Ge You was selected by Mijiashan, all because of a photo - "A group photo of four people in a bunk bed. Ge You was sitting in the back with a small head. When I saw him like that, I felt very funny. ." Mi Jiashan fell in love with Ge You's temperament at a glance and decided on the role of "Yang Chong" for him.

"The Stubborn Lord" tells a series of stories about three unemployed young people who founded a 3t company that "takes care of your worries, solves your problems, and takes the pain for you." Yang Chong, played by Ge You, appears sincere but is actually cynical. He was suspended in the era with a playful and scolding attitude. Whenever someone sneezed, he would describe it as "nasal mucosa irritation and aerosol phenomenon." When others were worried about him, he self-deprecatingly warned, "I'm just a fool, don't worry about me." This performance method, which blended the relaxation of comedy with the absurdity of reality, later became Ge You's comedy performance A major feature of it. The audience can catch clues of this kind of performance in characters such as Li Dongbao, Yao Yuan, Liu Yuan, You You, Qin Fen, etc. In this regard, Feng Xiaogang once commented: "He always plays a person who is not good at all seriously, and he always says some things that are not good at all sincerely."

"The Stubborn" failed to help Ge You win the award, but But it helped him impress Feng Xiaogang, who was still working as a screenwriter. Feng Xiaogang approached Ge You and warmly invited him to star in the new drama "The Story of the Editorial Department" that he co-wrote. After careful consideration, Ge You accepted the play and transformed into the sincere and enthusiastic Li Dongbao - an editor who works at the "Guide to the World" magazine, solving problems and guiding the direction for countless confused young people. Playing this role, Ge You blended the kindness of an intellectual with the poor talk, winning the love of many audiences and winning the Best Actor Award at the 10th Golden Eagle Award.

After "The Story of the Editorial Department", Feng Xiaogang quickly became the most important partner in Ge You's life. Feng Xiaogang's most popular New Year's comedy, all the male protagonists are played by Ge You. As the saying goes, "Ge You is the iron man, and Feng is the smooth girl." "Party A and Party B", which was released in late December 1997, was the "love film" between the two. It became the box office champion of Chinese movies in 1998 with a revenue of over 30 million yuan, and established itself as a "Lunar New Year movie" in the mainland film industry. concept.

"Party A and Party B" (1997)

Ge You has the ability to break people's illusions. No matter how dramatic the scene before him is, he can always gently remove the exaggeration, allowing people to return to life itself without any hindrance. Feng Xiaogang borrowed this ability from him in "Party A and Party B". "Party A and Party B" tells the story of four young people who jointly founded the "Good Dream One-Day Tour" business to help people realize their dreams. In the film, the bookseller played by Yingda is not addicted enough to be a general, and directly says, "Isn't it good for a ten-day tour of Sweet Dreams? You guys set a price, set a price." At this time, a spoiler is needed to politely refuse and break this "sweet dream". Yao Yuan, played by Ge You, assumed such a function. He comforted the booksellers, "Just have fun. In peacetime, the real Barton has to stay at home. The police will still catch him if he acts unruly. Sell your books well and be your good citizen." " - "sincere", "serious", a bit "nonsense", not very emotional, but enough to bring back the characters and plot, and enough to make the audience smile.

Not only that, in Yao Yuan, the audience can also feel Ge You's unique comedy rhythm. Once Yao Yuan was hit on the head by a flowerpot. Zhou Beiyan, whom he liked, cared about him and asked him "does it still hurt?" Yao Yuan first shook his hands, then pursed his lips, and then paused before spitting out one word: dizzy! There is actually something hidden in this pause. Ge You has an excellent grasp of the sense of proportion and rhythm of the performance.

"Party A and Party B" won the first battle. Ge You and Feng Xiaogang collaborated on seven more films in 10 years: "See You or Be Parted" (1998), "Endless" (1999), "Big Shot" (2001), and "Mobile Phone" (2003), "A World Without Thieves" (2004), "The Banquet" (2006), "If You Are the One" (2008). These movies have done well at the box office, winning two annual box office championships, three annual box office runner-ups, and two annual box office runner-ups. The box office dominance is extremely strong.

During this period, Ge You's image in Feng Xiaogang's movies became more and more varied - Yan Shouyi, the lier, Uncle Li, the leader of the theft gang, and the fatuous Emperor Li who kept saying, "Integrity is the foundation of our great country." Under Ge You's interpretation, their "evil" characters also have Ge You's characteristics, which are wilting, calm, and quite recognizable, such as the gentle line "Uncle Li is very good" in "A World Without Thieves" "If you get angry, the consequences will be serious" became a buzzword that year.

But compared to these gray-scale characters in the vanity fair and on the road, the image of Ge You that is more remembered by the audience is the bored "Uncle Ge" in daily life scenes.

In the Internet era, Ge You has two emoticons that are most popular: one is "Ge You Paralysis" in the TV series "I Love My Family" (1993), which is called "the most ecstatic lying posture" by netizens; the other is the movie "Kara is "Chewing cucumber" in "A Dog" brings out the decadent atmosphere of silence that is better than sound. The sense of helplessness and silent resistance contained in this "lying down" complements the current mental state of young people "lying flat" and "anti-involution", and is unexpectedly stitched into the times.

Through these two emoticons, we can summarize Ge You’s comedy style—a kind of cold humor with a deconstructive meaning. Unlike Chaplin, Jim Carrey, Stephen Chow and even the popular Shen Teng, his performance does not have too many exaggerated body movements and expressions, but is relaxed and natural, calmly silencing the audience. There is a famous scene in the movie "See You or Be Parted". Liu Yuan, played by Ge You, pretends to be blind and confesses his love to the heroine. At first, he said it sincerely and moved many people. But as he was talking, a busty beauty walked past him. , Liu Yuan's eyes immediately drifted over. He half realized that the secret might be exposed and quickly took it back. A series of actions were completed in one go. In just a few seconds, Ge You performed the funny joy that ordinary people have.

Ge You has been acting in comedies and small characters for decades. Little people rise and fall with the times, and Ge You also shows their versatility and growth: young people in the early days of reform and opening up, free and unemployed vagrants, who have opened a company, been to the United States, worked as a taxi driver, even if they have worked After being laid off, life seems to be nothing serious, but it is lively and enjoyable. In the background of a prosperous era where anything can happen, Ge You and his inexplicable encounters made the audience laugh. When Ge You got older, the young people back then were no longer young, so Ge You became Qin Fen, a middle-aged man with financial freedom but lack of love in the "If You Are the One" trilogy, and Ning Hao who used three movies ( " "My Motherland and Me", "My Hometown and Me" and "Breaking Good Guys" ) create "Zhang Beijing": living in a hutong, driving a taxi, divorced, not considered a successful person, but still able to live freely Entertain yourself.

The story also takes place in Beijing. Zhang Beijing is completely different from the "recalcitrant image" created by Ge You in his youth. Back then, he had no so-called rules in his eyes, only clever ridicule and indifference. Now he has become a representative of tradition and a citizen. The spontaneous order of the hierarchy coincides with the "Old Paoer" played by Feng Xiaogang earlier. It is intended to tell the audience: The uncles are old, but your uncle is still your uncle, and they still take charge and take care of things.

"Big Shot" (2001)

Tragedy Core

Feng has done so many comedies that people label Ge You a "comedian". But in fact, acting in tragedy is also his specialty. Acting in comedies has made Ge You popular among the audience, while acting in tragedies has given him greater influence. He occupied an important position in the artistic exploration period of Chinese films in the 1990s and the market exploration period in the early 21st century.He is one of the few actors who has collaborated with many fifth-generation directors, and has collaborated with Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen, and Gu Changwei more than once.

Interestingly, Ge You's cooperation with fifth-generation directors did not start with literary films, but with commercial films - in "Codename Jaguar" (1989) directed by Zhang Yimou, Ge You played a robber who hijacked an airplane. Full of hostility. Ge You later recalled that because he regarded Zhang Yimou as a master, he did not dare to neglect and worked hard to study how to play a bad guy. Fortunately, the hard work was not in vain, and the performance directly reached Zhang Yimou's heart: "It's amazing, Ge You, this guy, a born villain!"

Thus, the movie "Alive", in which the two teamed up for the second time, was born. "Alive" has special significance to Ge You. Not only did he become Asia's first Cannes Best Actor, it was also regarded by the audience as the "peak of his acting skills." The character Fugui he plays in the film has experienced ups and downs in life, from rich to young and poor. Ge You used his performance to clearly separate the two life stages of "rich" and "poor" in Fugui: when he was rich, he was addicted to gambling, with pride in his eyes, and all his money was gone; after he fell down, his eyes no longer Satisfied, but a little confused and timid, his cheeks were sunken, and his whole body shrank.

Ge You conquered the audience with an extremely restrained performance. He played Fugui's grief without roaring, bursting into tears, or sobbing silently, but instead performed an unexpected and heavy feeling of being hit by bad news. There is a scene where Fugui was happily performing a shadow puppet show when he suddenly learned that his son Youqing was crushed to death by the courtyard wall. Everyone else ran to look at the body. Fugui stood there blankly for a moment, his eyes filled with disbelief. After he came to his senses, he tremblingly ran to Youqing's side and stretched out his trembling hands to test. After it was confirmed that Youqing was dead, the veins in his neck bulged, and he lost his voice due to despair and sadness, leaving only helpless roars. In this performance, Ge You's physical, emotional, and vocal sadness progressed step by step. His emotions were so delicate that people unconsciously mourned along with Fugui.

This performance method is still used by Ge You to this day. This year, in "The Hedgehog" directed by Gu Changwei, the audience can vaguely see similar expressions. In the movie, Wang Zhantuan, played by Ge You, is a character whose age spans as long as thirty years. He has been diagnosed as a "mental patient", but he still maintains a sense of independence in troubled times. This is a somewhat crazy character. It is difficult for the audience to tell whether he is sad or happy at first. It is not until they get deep into his heart that they can understand his helplessness and incompatibility. Ge You used his performance to separate the "madness" and "awakening" of the character, and performed different levels: when his wife gave him sleeping pills, Wang Zhantuan's hair was unkempt and his beard was unkempt; after he stopped taking the medicine, he would tidy up again and twist his beard in front of the mirror. . Quiet when in chaos, cunning when awake.

"If You Are the One" (2008)

Ge You also has a unique acting ability. He is good at transforming tragic characters into absurd screen images on the surface, while making the characters not lose their depth and weight. This precious and complex quality is most vividly highlighted in "Let the Bullets Fly" (2010). In the film, he plays the role of Ma Bangde, the county magistrate who buys an official position. He is robbed on his way to Echeng to take up his post. In order to save his life, he pretends to be a master and assists the robbers in becoming the county magistrate. This character has multiple levels: he is greedy, and just after entering Goose City, he talks about ways to make money on his knees; he is traitorous, and is reluctant to part with money and life, he is used to being a wallflower, and always pretends to be confused while pretending to understand; Sad, he lived humbly to the end, and finally lost his wife, children, and life. It wasn't until he was about to die that he confessed a few true words: Listen to me, never go back to Goose City, you can't defeat Huang Silang ( Goose City Overlord ). It looks hateful, pitiful, and somewhat cute.

There is a classic line in the movie "Farewell My Concubine": "People have to fulfill themselves." Ge You is the practitioner of this sentence. This is inseparable from Ge You's temperament of pondering. For an ordinary line, he can think of several different tones: how to say the first half of the sentence and what emotion to express; how to say the second half of the sentence and whether the character's mood has changed. Li Chengru, who worked with him on "Big Shot", once said that "when I got the script, I couldn't wait to look it up in the dictionary word by word."

In screenwriter Bo Bonnie's exclusive interview with Ge You, he said that sincerity is the duty of an actor: "To be sincere as an actor, you have to be worthy of the audience. The audience likes you and has expectations for you, and you can't destroy these expectations. There is absolutely no actor who can play any role. At best, he is a performing artist, and at worst, he is an actor. You have to be responsible even if you are not popular. The duty of an actor is to act, act well, and act well. "

Good acting skills, plus keeping his duty as an actor, make him famous in the eyes of future generations. Established a benchmarking existence. In 2014, at the press conference of the movie "The Flower of the Heart", a reporter once asked Huang Bo, "Can you surpass Ge You?" Huang Bo said, "This era will not stop you from shining, but you can also It can’t cover anyone else’s glory. They are the filmmakers who created the era. We are just some juniors who continue to move forward. We dare not make mistakes.”

Huang Bo’s words are not an exaggeration. In 2010, Ge You ushered in the peak period of his acting career. That year, he shouldered three Lunar New Year blockbusters, "The Orphan of Zhao", "Let the Bullets Fly" and "If You Are the One 2". He collaborated with three powerful directors at the time, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen and Feng Xiaogang, and grossed 1.274 billion yuan in box office. It is a "box office guarantee" with extremely high national popularity.

"One Step Away" (2014)

A helpless move

In 2011, the Emperor paid a high price to sign Ge You away and announced that they would cooperate with him in three films, with a total investment of more than HK$500 million. This means that Ge You will be separated from Feng Xiaogang and his affiliated Huayi Pictures, and will have more autonomy in scripts. However, this kind of commercial value has not brought the same artistic value and reputation to Ge You. Several of the films he collaborated with the Emperor on for free were disasters: "Battle of the God of Cookery" (2017) with Douban 4.6, Douban 2.9 "The Dangerous Journey to Treasure in Fragments" (2018), "Two Tigers" (2019) on Douban 5.8.

Ge You's career decline can be traced back to the box office failure of "One Step Away" in 2014. The film's box office was expected to be 2 billion yuan, but it only received 513 million yuan after its actual release. As the second part of Jiang Wen's "Republic of China Trilogy", Jiang Wen had a great time filming it, but the audience was confused. After "One Step Away", affected by various factors such as industry and family, Ge You began to actively reduce production and withdrew from the "male protagonist first camp" of domestic entertainment commercial blockbusters. The invasion of

capital and traffic has plunged the domestic film industry into drastic changes. The entire industry is shrouded in chaos. From a certain perspective, Ge You's production reduction can even be regarded as a "strategic retreat." Take 2009, a year with frequent bad movies, as an example: Zhang Yimou made "The Surprise" which was rated 4.8 on Douban; "Searching for Jackie Chan" starring Jackie Chan was scolded by the audience as "not a movie at all"; directed by Wang Jing, "Ouchi Agent Rei Ling Dog" made the audience who entered the theater feel that they had been deceived; many people were confused after watching "Breathless" starring Ge You... The "Golden Broom Award" to select bad movies came into being this year. born.

"If You Are the One 3" (2023)

Echoing the chaos in the industry is the decline of the older generation of creators. Feng Xiaogang, known as "Little Steel Cannon", once had an ugly relationship with the outside world. He denounced Douban film critics for "always being at odds with you" and also denounced the audience, "Chinese movies are now so full of garbage, it must have something to do with the large number of garbage viewers." He didn't realize his limitations then. But the audience's eyes are sharp, and Feng Xiaogang's "changes and changes" are seen by everyone: from "Party A and Party B" to "Private Customization" (2013), the funds have been superimposed, but it is still a "good dream" The template of "One Day Tour" does not have any in-depth exploration; from "If You Are the One" to "If You Are the One 3", the status of the protagonist Qin Fen and the routine of "the drama is not enough, love comes to make up" seems to have never changed, and the audience has long been concerned about this Bored. "The audience will always need comedies, but they will not always need Feng Xiaogang's comedies." This is Feng Xiaogang's realization after recognizing the reality.

Each generation has its own taste. For older generations of creators, disconnect is inevitable.Take comedy creation as an example. The point of laughter is actually the point of pain, and only those who are really in pain can grasp it. What are the pain points of young people today: pressure to get married, unemployment, 996, daddy... Audiences are not interested in the warm routines and reunion endings of the older generation of creators. With "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop!" "" and "Catch Me" are two comedies that have been successful at the box office this year. They are both ironic - the former ridicules the corporate system, and the latter questions the education of suffering. When Zhang Beijing defended the traditional order as if he were maintaining dignity in "Beijing Good Man", young people had already gone in the opposite direction, sharply pointing out the hypocrisy, alienation and collapse behind authority and order.

The context has changed, and so has the audience. The changing times are an unavoidable test for creators. Now it seems that Zhang Yimou is one of the few who has withstood the test. Although he has also experienced Waterloo, he has been calibrating again and feeling the pulse of the times.

"Hedgehog" (2024)

But after all, there are very few creators who can turn around in time. As an actor, Ge You seemed particularly passive at this time. The top resources in the Chinese film market will always be in the hands of Mesozoic actors. Ge You's decadent energy has already emerged as a successor, such as Lei Jiayin, an old acquaintance from the Lunar New Year festival in the past two years. Even the last clip of the movie "Breaking Good Guys" is like a strange handover of missions between two generations of filmmakers: Zhang Beijing shouted "Come on" to Zhang Yimou and Lei Jiayin in front of the camera. Zhang Yimou is still the same Zhang Yimou, but the actor next to him is no longer Ge You.

The artistic vitality of an actor is limited, and it does not mean that continuous output will not decay. The times are changing so fast that people have to admit that it is not easy for the generation of "old" actors represented by Ge You to become great actors across the ages. But admiration is also sincere admiration: even though you have reached the age where you can retire after success, you are still struggling, probably because of love.

(Reference materials: "Chatting with Ge You in the Past 30 Years: Life Turns and Benefactors", Blog World, 2014; "Ge You: An Ordinary Life of a Big Shot", Qingzheng, 2009; "A Man's Sincere Life", Baidu Bonnie, 2015; "Ge You: The Story That Must Be Told", Esquire, 2010; "Plastic Surgery with Acting Skills, He Becomes the First Person in Heaven", Ten O'Clock Movies, 2016; Feng Xiaogang's "I Dedicate My Youth to You", etc. The box office data appearing in this article are all referenced from Maoyan Professional Edition.