The trend-setters in Shanghai are stirring up the storm, and the flowers are blooming. But after the storm, there is also a sad departure, and there are hurtful thorns hidden under the flowers. Although the ending is unknown, judging from Lingzi's retreat and Miss Wang's loss, the story between Mr. Bao and Li Li may be like what Baudelaire wrote: "Depressed in the sea of fog."
Wong Kar-wai's version of "Flowers" comes from Jin Yucheng's novel of the same name. According to Wong Kar-Wai's habit, the TV series adaptation will inevitably involve the "abolition" of the original work. So, what did he discard and what did he retain?
一
Jin Yucheng does not focus on one person or one incident, but the narrative spans 30 years.
If Wong Kar-wai wants to stir up "soft red and thousands of flowers like a sea" from it, he needs to capture a key role, and he will rise and end from him. The most suitable one can only be Abao. Because of the original work, only his title has changed: from Abao in the 1960s to Mr. Bao in the 1990s.
The story begins with a car accident. Mr. Bao, played by Hu Ge, is personable and full of style, but he is in trouble. By looking for the cause of the car accident, you can use suspenseful writing to trace the legendary history of a generation.
In the past, Po was ambitious and apprenticed to his uncle, and passed the three tests of character, courage and style. Then wear a suit, which is both famous and expensive. Once you enter the stock market, you will kill everyone. Taking advantage of the reform and opening up and the prosperity of Shanghai, A Bao became the all-powerful President Bao on the Yellow River Road.
In this world, intrigues are inevitable. Mr. Bao ascended to a high place and was tabooed by others, which made him fall into a dilemma between friendship and leaving. He temporarily retired from the stock market to focus on foreign trade. The car accident was just one of the sequelae of this turmoil.
In the foreign trade field, he defeated his competitors and used local Sanyang brand T-shirts to become a major national brand, making a lot of money.
But he still had regrets in his heart. One was that he was overpowered by the local strong dragon in the stock market; the other was emotionally. Although he had everything he wanted, there was some kind of secret lack behind it.
What forms this "missing" narrative are three female characters with beautiful eyes and different personalities.
Miss Wang, who works in a foreign trade company, is played by Tang Yan. She is fiery, frank and straightforward, and is Mr. Bao's right-hand assistant in his career. Her love is in actions, words, and protection everywhere, regardless of life and death. They look like girlfriends, but they only stop at friendship.
Lingzi, who opens a restaurant on Jinxian Road, is played by Ma Yili. She is well-rounded, calm about changes, always calculating, and even a little bit charming and "treacherous". She always asks for things from Mr. Bao, like the wife who controls the family's wealth. She wanted to be on equal footing with Mr. Bao, but finally realized that she was not Mr. Bao's first choice, so she left suddenly without sparing a glance.
Li Li, who suddenly lands in Huanghe Road to open a restaurant, is played by Xin Zhilei. She is dazzling, calm yet sharp, and cunning yet domineering. She and Mr. Bao occupy the top of the mountain, and they are both enemies and friends. Although the two have no clear feelings for each other, there is a sense of sympathy between them when they smile.
The three women are all based on the original work. Wong Kar-wai took the names, origins and relationships of some of the characters, and then used his own writing style to let them and Mr. Bao develop different emotions, thus unfolding a Shanghai drama of soul-crushing and crouching tiger, hidden dragon.
The protagonist is Mr. Bao on the surface, but in fact he is Shanghai. Three women, one on the Bund, one on the Yellow River Road, and one on the Jinxian Road. Mr. Bao, who wanders between the three places, fights for every penny in the world of money and wealth, is affectionate but ruthless, and is "full of confusion and it is difficult to clear up the gods and ghosts." In addition to Xuezhi played by Du Juan, You Benchang's uncle, Dong Yong's Mr. Fan, etc., all living beings, flowers everywhere, sounds of dogs and horses, create a dream-like "Shanghai Fu".
According to Wong Kar-wai's Weibo
, the character in Wong Kar-wai's lens is to take Jin Yucheng's seeds and bloom his own flowers, which is quite cynical. In fact, the way the images and plot are spliced in the drama version, that is, Wong Kar-Wai's narrative style, are more similar to that of Kim Yu-cheng.
Although the original work touches on time and history, the scenes and actions are very limited.The whole novel is "said" and "eats". There are no exaggerated fortunes or magnificent passions, but only trivial, mundane, and eccentric life details, like an endless stream of flowing water. Fang comes on the stage, stirs up chopsticks, chats about the world, then leaves the table, replaces others, and the cycle repeats.
Looking back at the drama version, it seems that every move is full of legendary color, and the plot is also full of joy and sorrow. However, its grammar still cannot escape "speaking" and "eating".
Whenever the plot is about big times and big history, Wong Kar-wai uses montage, a group of fast-cut shots, accompanied by Mr. Bao's narration, and skips them quickly; he doesn't care about this, but stares at the characters' dialogue.
A Bao's transformation into Mr. Bao, Golden Phoenix's exit, Li Li's brokenness before leaving for Shanghai, Lingzi's departure and Miss Wang's despair were all foreshadowed by dialogue; the place where these dialogues took place was just a suit shop. , the back seat of a car, a corner of the coast, a corner of a restaurant, the world is turning around, as if they are just on a sofa.
Huang Ling as the Golden Phoenix
As for eating, it goes without saying that Mr. Bao and Miss Wang correspond to pork ribs and rice cakes; Mr. Bao and Lingzi correspond to a bowl of rice; Mr. Bao and Li Li correspond to the king snake. Yu Ze, Mr. Wei, Mr. Fan, etc. all correspond to "eating". Even the little Ningbo, who does not appear for a long time, has a huge ham to echo the role.
In Wong Kar-Wai's eyes, food means men and women. A dining table is filled with all kinds of charm.
The narrative skeleton of the sofa and dining table may be Wong Kar-wai's consistent creative technique; but it cannot be denied that Jin Yucheng relied on the sofa and dining table, as well as language and appetite, to complete the survey and mapping of Shanghai.
It can be said that Wong Kar-wai took the origin of Jin Yucheng's name and the way he created the story. This is his legacy.
二
In the latest episode, Xuezhi played by Du Juan appeared. She and Po fell in love with each other when they were young, and then went to Hong Kong with their parents and returned many years later. Seeing that A Bao was doing well, there was no trace of the old affection in his words. Po vowed that within ten years he would become famous and be better than her. Only then did he become a disciple, engage in business, and turn a dragon into a dragon.
It is mentioned in the play that Xuezhi changed her English name to "Betty" after arriving in Hong Kong. In fact, Betty does exist. She is Po's neighbor, his first love, and his only old dream. Facing Xuezhi, Abao is unwilling to admit her English name. This attitude is also a symbol of Wong Kar-wai's creation: he discarded the odd-numbered chapters about Betty's life and events, that is, the old events from the 1960s to the 1970s; he only retained the even-numbered chapters, that is, the events from the 1990s. Trendy.
This feels like tearing off half of "Flowers". But Wong Kar-wai has the right to tear up the book. For book fans, this is a pity; for drama fans, maybe not. Focusing on one era can focus more on the growth of characters and the evolution of relationships. What Wong Kar-wai wanted was a frozen "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", not a heavy custom comic strip like a calendar.
Only in this picture, he also left out two important characters, Hu Sheng and Xiao Mao. Unlike A Bao, Hu Sheng was born into a cadre family and his parents were both intellectuals; Xiao Mao's parents were workers. The three people have different identities, interests, experiences, and classes, but they come together and become friends. From the 1960s to the 1990s, everything about Shanghai is vividly revealed.
Jin Yucheng is neither thin nor partial, relying on his strong writing power and extraordinary experience to incorporate everything into it.
2017, Shanghai, Jin Yucheng, photo according to Visual China
In comparison, the drama version of "Flowers" has a dream-like life under neon lights, but completely abandons the lights and shadows, the other side of Shanghai. Wong Kar-Wai eliminates Husheng and Xiaomao, leaving only Mr. Bao. This creative perspective is equivalent to canceling the market and shady, leaving only lights, wine, prosperity and legend. No wonder some viewers believe that the drama is a Shanghai version of "The Great Gatsby."
In fact, a complete Shanghai is far more than the scenery in Wong Kar-wai's eyes. It should also include some chapters in Mu Xin's "Shanghai Fu", "the view is dark and creeping, and the forest is endless."
Mu Xin's "Reflection of Columbia", "Shanghai Fu" is from one of them
In addition, Wong Kar-wai's adaptation of existing drama characters is also intriguing.
Take Miss Wang as an example. In the original work, she had a brief business relationship with Mr. Bao. Seeing that Mr. Bao had no interest in him, he turned to another place. Her husband is a public official and they have one child. She wanted to have another child, so she faked a divorce from her husband. At a banquet, she had a relationship with Mr. Xu while drunk and became pregnant afterwards. The fake divorce turned into a real divorce; the saddest thing is that she was pregnant with a two-headed monster.
's original work is full of Ms. Wang's "inaccuracies". Its joints are evil, its nutrition is vulgar, its sound is obscene, it is the success and failure of desire, badness and emptiness.
In the drama version, Ms. Wang is innocent, passionate, and quite correct. Her filter is like first love, not a worldly woman; her desires are so clean that they do not cause dust, and the company she works for is "straight but not crooked" ”, all kinds of things are covered by the golden light, the gorgeous layout fills the screen, and the complex scene swallows everything, like a carefully crafted kaleidoscope, a swaying mirage, a dreamy fireworks show.
There are only storms, but there is no darkness after the storm. Although the series has not yet reached its ending, perhaps at the end, we can also see the blooming and failing flowers. But what the original work touches on is far more than just flowers, there are also wild flowers...but Wong Kar-wai only takes one branch and one leaf. Is
OK? sure. Regret? A pity indeed.
三
Jin Yucheng likes to use "no sound". The word "无声" appears more than 1,300 times in "Flowers". Silence is the silence of the characters, the pause in dialogue, but also the fluctuations of emotions and weak protests. As the narrative progresses, whenever there is an obstacle, someone will "silence" to show their intolerance, unwillingness, anger, and injustice. It is in the thousands of "silences" that Jin Yucheng hid a more complex and rich human world than the "rings".
Wong Kar-Wai's adaptation occasionally has "no sound", but overall it is still too "loud", crackling and mesmerizing.
In 2000, Wong Kar-wai, according to the visual China
Lingzi on the road to success, spoke as fast as a bullet, always quarreling with Mr. Bao; Miss Wang on the Bund, spoke as fast as Lingzi, chattering like a train, Always galloping on the track; as for Li Li on Yellow River Road, she is a heroic proprietress who doesn't speak much but is powerful, and her every word is as sharp as thunder; and on Yellow River Road, another hotel proprietress and Dong played by Fan Tiantian The textile factory boss played by Yong has a mouth that is like clockwork, and he never stops talking. His words are almost quarrelsome, and sometimes too noisy.
Pictures According to Fan Tantan's Weibo
Hu Ge once read "Flowers" eagerly. He said frankly in the interview, "It complemented my cognitive puzzle of the 1960s and my memory puzzle of the 1990s." In his opinion, the color, rhythm, and state of the play are closely related to his understanding of that period. The feeling of the times and the memory of the Yellow River Road are unified: exciting, full and exciting.
Wong Kar-wai also expressed a similar meaning, saying that "Flowers" complemented the look of Shanghai after he came to Hong Kong in the 1960s. There are references to Shanghai in "In the Mood for Love" and "2046". It is a natural progression for a famous director with a Shanghai plot to fall in love with "Flowers", one of the best works depicting the world of Shanghai.
"2046" stills
He rejected the "no sound" of the original work and replaced it with the "ring" of Xingxing Honglang. This is probably what Shanghai is like in his impression.
This is the Shanghai that Wong Kar-wai knows. He used his usual lens language, such as character narration, blocking photography, golden lighting, close-up shots, etc., to capture every character and every scene in a graceful and charming way. This is his aesthetics and skills, his memory and writing, and his unique "Flowers".
It can be said that both Wong Kar-wai and Jin Yucheng are doing one thing: spending their whole life writing a book that only they can write. Their grammar is unified. The current mixed reviews are nothing more than temporary ridicule. They are completing themselves.As an audience, we can "ring" or "not ring" as we please.
Text/Li Ruifeng Editor Li Jie
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