Five days after its release, the box office of "Hot and Spicy" has exceeded 1.6 billion yuan. Since "Hello, Li Huanying", many people predicted that Jia Ling will be short-lived as a director. There is no doubt that she has fought back beautifully. The "Hot Hot" posters surroundi

Five days after

was released, the box office of " is hot and hot " has exceeded 1.6 billion yuan. Since "Hello, Li Huanying", many people predicted that Jia Ling will be short-lived as a director. There is no doubt that she has fought back beautifully.

Poster of "Hot and Spicy"

The various praises and criticisms, support and doubts surrounding this film and its director Jia Ling are rampant, which further encourages the audience to enter the theater and contribute to the box office. From a commercial logic point of view, it is controversial Popularity is better than reputation without splash. Therefore, no matter how loud the public opinion field is, they are all free discussions about film works. Only when I saw a certain comment about "a 400-pound fat pig", my "400-meter sword" really couldn't suppress it. Come on, your likes and dislikes of works can be subjective, but you must have basic respect for others (especially strangers who have no grievances against you).

" Hundred Yuan Love " stills

From the perspective of "Hot and Spicy" itself, its shortcomings are obvious. Compared with the original "Hundred Yuan Love", the depth and delicacy of its script have declined. For example, in the original work, except for In addition to the heroine played by Sakura Ando, ​​she also showed great care and skill in shaping the supporting characters of "weirdos", especially the old woman who has been stealing expired food from the convenience store, and her final act of robbing the convenience store can be called a masterpiece in character creation. Come on. As for the role of the boyfriend, why the heroine likes him, why he is with the heroine, and why he leaves, every change in the psychological motivations of this group of characters is real and believable.

"Hot and Spicy" stills

However, in "Hot and Spicy", the portrayal of the supporting characters, including the male protagonist Lei Jiayin , is a bit rough, which leads to the dramatic role that the supporting characters can have on the heroine. Vague and suspicious.

For example, in "One Hundred Dollars of Love", there is also a scene where the heroine and her sister fight and her mother persuades her to make peace. The focus of the original drama is the collapse of the mother who has been tolerant and tolerant. The heroine cannot face this moment. She was ashamed and deeply understood that she was a burden to her family. Therefore, this was an important opportunity for her to leave home and live alone. However, "Hot and Spicy" focuses the drama of this scene on the comedy effect, and the characterization of the supporting characters is missing, which makes Leying's sudden departure from home after ten years of living at home a bit abrupt, even if there is a transfer of property. The child is in front of the audience, and its emotional persuasion is insufficient for the audience.

Stills from "It's Hot"

In addition, Sakura Ando's process of learning boxing is shown much more fully in the original work than in "It's Hot". Two of the plots - before learning boxing, the heroine was knocked down by a colleague, She was raped and had no power to fight back; after learning boxing, the heroine beat the annoying store manager to the ground. These two plots directly show the changes that boxing brings to the heroine: courage, strength, and the ability to fight back in the face of humiliation and injury.

One of the questions currently facing "Hot and Spicy" is "Am I paying for the ticket to watch weight loss?" When this question arises, from the perspective of the script, the problem should be that the dramatic logic between "boxing to lose weight" and "changing life" is not intuitive enough. If you use the most WYSIWYG dramatic scenes to establish this With logic, this doubt will not arise. (But Jia Ling used a more internal way to establish this drama logic, which we will talk about later.)

As a commercial film, "Hot and Spicy" also has problems with its narrative rhythm and story structure. For example, the protagonist Le Ying has several The changes in personal choices are slightly abrupt. The first half of the story lacks a clear dramatic purpose, resulting in the characters' motivations and actions being vague. The second half only uses a set of montages to show the boxing and weight loss process, which makes it more difficult for the audience. As a result of this process, the actions and purposes of the characters in the film's front and back stages are not uniform enough. To put it simply, the story is scattered.

Stills of "Hot and Spicy"

If we use the Hollywood commercial film story model to make "Hot and Spicy", we can give an example: On the day of her wedding, Le Ying, a fat loser, was betrayed by her fiancé and saddled with heavy debts. Lose 100 pounds in one year to challenge a TV show for a chance to win a NT$1 million bonus.In order to pay off her debts and restart her life, Leying started this counterattack. During the year of losing weight, she encountered a series of ridiculous and difficult hardships such as a weight-loss drug fundraising scam, a shocking run at the gym, and the withdrawal of funding from TV programs. However, She overcame everything and successfully lost 100 pounds through boxing. In a boxing championship, she reversed an upset and won the championship. She won a million-dollar prize and gained the love of a handsome boxing coach who has always been by her side.

This story at least meets the basic requirements of a commercial film: the first 10 minutes give the character's dilemma, the next 10 minutes establish the character's goal, and then use a series of crises to prevent the protagonist from achieving the goal. Finally, in the trough, the protagonist rebounds and is in despair. When he is alive, the story turns around and he wins the final victory, gets rich and brings back the beauty. Is the story corny? earth. Are you bored? boring. But is it easy to do? Really easy to do. Coupled with Jia Ling's comedy creation experience and ability, is there hope for such a story to explode? have.

But Jia Ling chose a more difficult path. No more pretense, let's show off (Shen Teng's tone). Emotionally speaking, I like "Hot and Spicy" very much.

"Hot and Spicy" stills

"Hot and Spicy" is the most successful adaptation compared to "One Hundred Dollar Love", which is a change in concept. In the author's opinion, "Hot and Spicy" is closer to "The Life of the Disliked Songzi" in terms of concept. "If you had two apples, one big and one small, which one would you give to your friend?" "I gave them both before, but now it depends on my mood." This conversation between Le Ying and her father has highlighted the theme: the desire to be loved. After being recognized but disappointed again and again, how to piece together the fragmented self and learn to be self-consistent. The theme of

was put by Jia Ling into a series of flashbacks on the boxing ring at the end of the film to reveal the answer: the betrayal of her ex and her best friend, the dispute with her sister, the use of her cousin, the denial of her boyfriend. Every time she was let down, Le Ying was disappointed. Repay kindness, only to be hit head-on again. She also knows it herself: "I feel like I'm good to people, but I always get hurt." So why do she have to repeat this process again and again? Is it simply due to a "pleasant" personality?

Stills from "The Life of the Disliked Songzi"

In "The Life of the Disliked Songzi", Songzi spent her whole life, almost pathologically, pursuing "being loved" and "accepted". Her pain aroused the resonance of many viewers. Affection. In my opinion, the underlying reason for the obsession with seeking recognition and love in relationships is that it is relatively possible for the weak.

In studies and work, even if you work hundreds of times, it may not be able to offset the vagaries of fate and the tide of the times, but the recognition and acceptance from an individual can be as warm as a few words or a hug. spring. Even if this kind of warmth is false, for people who are suffering from failure and low self-esteem, it has an excellent analgesic effect and is easy to become addicted.

Therefore, Leying has repeatedly released her kindness and made huge concessions due to other people's occasional acts of kindness. In addition to her kindness by nature, I think it is her desire to be recognized and loved. What changed was that she was repeatedly knocked down. After she attempted suicide, she said "it hurts so much" and cried loudly, which had some overlap and reflection with the character image of "Song Zi". But "The Life of the Disliked Matsuko" tells the story of tragedy, and "Hot and Hot" tries to answer how to change.

Yesterday I saw a comment saying that if Leying wants to change herself, she should do something more "practical", such as making money, studying further, or even like her sister said: "Quickly find a good man and marry her even if she wins." "Every time" is more "realistic". This is undoubtedly very practical advice, but I can understand the necessity of "weight loss boxing", a seemingly unrealistic action, for Le Ying.

Screenshot of the trailer of "Hot and Spicy"

To use realistic logic, for example, I have been exercising for seven years. When I was at my most strenuous, I would train six times a week, eat chicken breast five times a day, and my peak deadlift was only 70 kilograms; Jia In just one year, Ling lost 100 pounds and gained muscle to be able to deadlift 120 kilograms. Only those who work out will understand the content that makes people cry, and then they can understand: This girl in the movie can do this, can If she changes herself, grits her teeth and develops such self-discipline and strength, what will she not be able to do in the future?

Why can Leying do this? I saw a very interesting explanation, from a half-Buddha who also had the experience of losing hundreds of pounds: "What is the reason why you, who are old, useless, have accomplished nothing, and are despised by everyone, go into the ring under the pressure of committing suicide? What is it? It's hate, it's hate, it's endless, complete hate."

simply couldn't agree more. When people are completely confused and desperate, full of pain and hatred but don't know who to roar at, they just You can choose something that is visible and tangible, something that will completely overthrow and rebuild you, direct your hatred at yourself, use it on yourself, and punch your life. Then in the process of self-repair, long dormancy, and twists and turns, we are waiting for an opportunity to fight back against fate.

Stills from "Hot and Spicy"

After entering the world of adults, one of the first things I understood was that not all efforts will result in positive feedback, not work, not study, not feelings, but not fitness. Others did not give Le Ying positive feedback that she was recognized and accepted, but every bit of progress, every muscle, and every completion of difficult movements in the process of weight loss and boxing were positive feedback, and these positive feedbacks were all given to herself. , in which she also completed her acceptance and recognition of herself. Therefore, in the corridor facing the competition field, the former Le Ying was reflected in the mirror, who once looked at her current self, smiled and gave a thumbs up.

I really like how in "Hot and Spicy", after the storm, Le Ying cried in the mirror after her suicide attempt, "It hurts so much", which reminded me of a certain moment when I set out, who had also worked hard with hatred. Heart-breakingly painful. So her weight loss journey, in my understanding, is an attack with hatred. If there is no love, just hate boldly. Strong emotions encourage people to make progress. If you hate scientifically and rationally, you can become stronger. Of course, you won't necessarily become happy. Before

went on the field, the children were chasing each other in the corridor, and soap bubbles were flying all over the sky. Just like this game, no matter whether you win or lose, it is just a bubble in an instant. It cannot change real life and cannot point to the road to happiness. But becoming stronger and more focused, at least when Le Ying met her ex-couple, when she saw her cousin's show on air, she ran over expressionlessly, leaving the pain and humiliation far behind her. It doesn't matter if you are happy, it doesn't matter if no one understands you, straight punch, uppercut, move forward, move forward!