/Yang Wenshan
After 21 years, the film "Sea Pianist" directed by Italian director Giuseppe Tonadore has achieved its "premiere" in China in the form of a 4K restoration. Although many fans have watched the film on the big screen through film festival screenings, academic screenings and other channels before, this is the first time it has been screened in commercial theaters on a large scale.
In the four popular films premiered today, "The Pianist on the Sea" performed well at the box office, and the latest Hollywood commercial blockbuster-"The Charlie's Girl", was beaten by 15.4% of the lineup and 23% of the lineup. Up to now, the box office of "Sea Pianist" is only behind the new domestic film "About Winter". Four days before the release, the film released a commemorative poster in China, which was produced by the famous poster designer Huang Hai himself. The picture uses iconic elements such as ship windows, the sea, the full moon, New York, and the top hat, showing the extraordinary spiritual world of the talented pianist.
This is reminiscent of the "operation" before the release of "My Neighbor Totoro" at the end of last year and "Spirited Away" this summer. Huang Hai also designed Chinese posters for these two films. Although the genres and countries are different, these three films have one common feature: they are all ranked in the top 50 camp of Douban scores, and they are "classic films" in the eyes of Chinese audiences. With so many high-scoring movies on Douban, do they all have the opportunity to be shown online in Chinese commercial theaters? Why is
"Sea Pianist"?
Tonadore may be an Italian director most familiar to Chinese audiences. He may even be more famous in China than Bertolucci, who has filmed "The Last Emperor." He has three films on the Douban Top 100 list. People are used to calling his three works-"Paradise Cinema", "Sea Pianist", and "The Beautiful Legend of Sicily" as the "Trilogy of Time and Space".
In Tonadore’s trilogy, "Sea Pianist" ranked 15th in Douban's top 250, with the highest score. In the impression of many people, "The Pianist on the Sea" can be called a "classic classic in the history of world film". But if you take a closer look, you will find that the fame of this film may only be a "god-making movement" of Chinese audiences. "More than one friend asked me puzzled:'Why is "Ambush on Ten Sides" so popular in the United States?' I blurted out:'Why is "Sea Pianist" so popular in China?'" red? In the film review of ", the famous film critic Zhou Liming opens like this. This is an article explaining why "Ambush on Ten Sides" has a stronger response overseas than in China. To make it easier for Chinese audiences to understand, Zhou Liming compared it with "The Pianist on the Sea", which is well-known among Chinese audiences. Although "Sea Pianist" has won many awards in various European and American film festivals, the weight is not heavy enough. The only relatively heavy weight is the "Best Soundtrack" of the 2000 American Golden Globe Awards. On the well-known overseas website IMDb, the score of "Sea Pianist" was 8.1, and the number of ratings was only 50,000. On the Douban website, more than 900,000 netizens participated in the score, with a score of 9.2.
Zhou Liming believes that "Sea Pianist" is almost a Western version of "Ambush on Ten Sides", "It is luxurious, romantic, and heart-warming, but it is actually a bag of grass in its stomach. This is not derogatory, but it really lacks connotation. After consulting professionals, I learned that even the repeatedly flaunted piano skills are not a real art of performance at all. They are just playing tricks on laymen." But precisely because the film is very shallow and looks very exotic, So we are easy to digest and we will never choke. Zhou Liming also concluded, "A sweet way to cross the country is: the story is very simple, there is no symbolic meaning, the theme is simple, and it is kept at the initial stage of love, hatred, and hatred, but the style is very dazzling, especially the use of late romantic methods. , To strengthen the elements of color, music, modeling, etc. "
Due to cultural differences, coupled with the imagination of exoticism, people's acceptance of literary works will be very different. Therefore, Tornatore’s "Paradise Cinema" is just right for Western audiences, but "The Pianist on the Sea" is too much; "Ambush on Ten Sides" is an embroidered pillow for many Chinese audiences, but it is just right for Western audiences. Let’s not talk about how "over-famous" "The Pianist on the Sea" is, but it must be admitted that when Chinese distributors choose the film, they have a unique vision-this is a small language film in which Chinese audiences participate in "the construction of the status of film history."
From "selling wonders" to "selling feelings"
looks at the "new releases of old films" on the Chinese market, and it has probably gone through two stages: from selling wonders to selling feelings. The reason why old films can be released is inseparable from the rapid growth of the Chinese film market. Only by making the cake bigger can we achieve diversification. With the release of "Avatar" in 2009 as an important node, many movies with 3D gimmicks have begun to "re-screen". "Avatar" really popularized 3D in China, and even once gave many viewers the illusion that "only watching 3D can be worth the money".
In recent years, "old films and new releases" are not fully counted. However, although there is strong demand, production and supply are not high, this provides many old films with an opportunity to fill the gap by converting to 3D. Of course, 3D is also the biggest package for the re-screening of old films. As a result, Chinese films such as "The Great Master", "Kung Fu", and "Havoc in Heaven" have been re-released in 3D. But the ones that really sold high box office were Hollywood blockbusters with special effects and spectacles, such as "Titanic" and "Jurassic Park." Since it is unable to compete with Hollywood re-releases in the audiovisual spectacle, "selling feelings" is undoubtedly a major advantage of Chinese films. Ever since, Stephen Chow, Wong Kar Wai, and Leslie Cheung have become the three "feeling killers" in Chinese films.
Among Chinese films, "Laogang films" is a magical existence. Although people have received their nourishment through many channels in the process of growing up, few people actually watch these films on the big screen. To a certain extent, mainstream movie audiences and Hong Kong films have a "presence gap", and most people come into contact with these films through "patches." In addition, Hong Kong movies are more entertaining, rich in types, and easier to attract audiences. The market-oriented reform of Chinese films was officially launched around 2000. Although Chinese audiences grew up with it, many people grew up in the atmosphere of complaining about domestically produced commercial films and were unable to have "feelings" for these Chinese blockbusters.
and "classic old films" before 2000, because of complex reasons, many of them are so-called "banned films", it is difficult to re-show in theaters. Therefore, the "selling feelings" of Chinese films can only be the lead of "Laogang films". "Red Sorghum" is an undisputed film and television classic, but when it was re-screened in 2018, the box office was only 860,000. But if the Chinese film "Farewell My Concubine", which is ranked top 250 on Douban, is re-screened, the effect will be different. In fact, the most important criterion for evaluating the "goodwill" of an old film is the Douban score. Although "Red Sorghum" has won many international awards, its Douban score is only 8.3, not even in the Top 250. On the other hand, most of the Laogang films re-released, although many of them are commercial films, their ratings are very high. The
Douban Top250 list is a ranking that imitates the IMDb website. The ranking order is not only related to the score, but also related to the number of people participating in the score. The top ranked movies are the most popular movies with Chinese audiences.
What old movies can you see in China's commercial theaters?
In the Chinese film market, although "old films and new releases" have become accustomed, "Sea Pianist" still has its particularities. In addition to Hong Kong films, some foreign films are indeed regarded as "old film re-releases", such as "Titanic" and "2012". They have indeed been screened in China. The Chinese re-releases are also part of Hollywood re-screening in the world. Including "Jurassic Park", although it was released in China for the first time, it has also been screened in the United States. But from "My Neighbor Totoro", "Spirited Away" to "The Pianist on the Sea", these three films are all "old films and new releases", and they are provided by Chinese distributors in the form of "batch films" for the Chinese market. "Special offer" screening.
When "My Neighbor Totoro" was released in China, under the guise of "the 30th anniversary of its release", "Spirited Away" entered Chinese commercial theaters without any gimmicks. The release of "The Pianist on the Sea" in domestic commercial theaters marked the beginning of Chinese filmmakers seeking the possibility of "new releases of old films" in addition to Hayao Miyazaki's animation. Compared with "new batches" of uneven quality, this may be a huge potential market. In addition to the relatively high ratings on Douban, the three films "My Neighbor Totoro", "Spirited Away" to "The Pianist on the Sea" actually have one thing in common: they cannot be seen on domestic video websites before they are released in China. In fact, most of Douban's top-ranked movies have been copyrighted by domestic video websites. Take Douban top50 as an example, there are 35 movies available for free or in the form of membershipWatch online.
It can also be seen that Douban top250 is definitely an important reference frame for evaluation when video websites purchase classic old films. It is conceivable that if "The Pianist on the Sea" has a good box office performance, it is not impossible for "Paradise Cinema" to be released in China. "Spirited Away" was obviously pulled into the Chinese market by the market performance of "My Neighbor Totoro". Since China officially opened the film market in 1994, American blockbusters have gradually entered the daily lives of Chinese people. In addition to imported films, pirated discs and Internet resources have enriched the cultural life of generations and shaped the aesthetic taste of Chinese audiences. And Douban, as a distribution center for movie fans, its ratings and rankings have influenced many Chinese people's movie-watching tastes to a certain extent.
If you want to do a good job in the business of "new releases of old films", in addition to looking at Douban scores, you also have to see whether the subject matter and type are consistent with China's national conditions. Of course, because many old films are very long, it is also very important to have a moderate duration. It is estimated that it is difficult for a 4-hour feature film like "Once Upon a Time in America" to enter Chinese commercial theaters. At the end of 2018, the National Film Administration issued the "Interim Regulations on the Re-screening of Domestic Movies" to effectively manage the frequent "shifting" and "re-screening" of domestic films in the market. If overseas "old films and new screenings" become a certain scale, I believe that supervision will also come soon.
