As someone who has worked in the film industry, I admit that I walked into the theater with prejudice. I had no hope for Jia Ling 's " Hot and Spicy ". Before
was released, 100 pounds of weight loss was a bit over-marketed, and the covertness of the promotional materials and the sketch-like narrative of the previous film made me feel vaguely uneasy, fearing that this movie was nothing more than "weight loss" and would be a waste. time and a movie ticket of 50 yuan.
Until the second half of the film, Jia Ling's transformation and rebirth hit the audience with a breathtaking chill. The laughter disappeared, and everyone was silent, with tears in their eyes, as if he was the one standing in the boxing ring and being beaten.
At that moment, I realized that prejudice is shallow and uneasiness is unnecessary, and Jia Ling once again stood on the victory ring and raised the trophy with her name engraved on it.
She took the road less traveled.
"The wonder, weirdness, and extraordinaryness of the world often lie in the danger and distance." She almost single-handedly created the "extraordinary view" of film creation. After crossing the "dangerous distance", she saw the "magnificent" scenery; at the same time, she herself became the scenery, and the fans were all witnesses and even participants.
一
Jia Ling, who continues to dominate the hot search list, has become the biggest winner in this year’s Spring Festival.
"Hot and Spicy" was released on New Year's Day, with a Douban score of 7.8, lower than the works of Han Han and Zhang Yimou; the box office was also overwhelmed by " Flying Life 2".
After that, the situation began to reverse. While the ratings and film schedules of other films declined, "Hot and Spicy" steadily increased, and with a Douban score of 8.0 and a box office score of 2.714 billion yuan, it became the double box office champion in the Year of the Dragon Spring Festival. Box office record for Spring Festival feature films.
The center of all the hot searches, topics, discussions and achievements is "weight loss" that is in the eye of the whirlwind. But Jia Ling posted, "This is not a weight-loss movie."
She not only refused to admit it, but also avoided this accusation from the beginning.
From a crosstalk actor, to a comedian, to a film director, she knows that the lifeblood of comedy lies in proportion: there is often a thin line between self-ridicule and offending others.
The proposition of "losing weight" extremely tests the creator's sense of proportion. As long as it is emphasized or highlighted, it may create a stereotype-obesity is a fault and the original sin, which will lead to body anxiety among some viewers and verbal criticism in the online world.
She must avoid this dangerous proposition and not put her creation in danger. As a result, the focus of the story quietly turned into an examination of laziness and decadence.
The protagonist Le Ying's mother, sister, ex-boyfriend, distant cousin, boxing gym coach, barbecue restaurant owner and all kinds of secret gazes are ostracizing, rejecting, despising, using and belittling her. And among these damages and insults, there are no extreme remarks about the body.
In other words, no one emphasized or attacked her for being "fat". However, the audience outside the show, the direction of publicity, and the stereotypes on the Internet can easily blame Le Ying's problems on being "fat." It’s just that if people don’t say it, the movie can’t say it either. This is a creative constraint.
And this sense of caution makes the hurt and denial encountered by the heroine not reach an unforgettable level. For example, like in the remake of the original " Hundred Yuan Love", the heroine was raped and unable to resist. The betrayal of the people around her was eliminated by too many sketch-style jokes, which seemed not hot enough.
In the second half of the video, Le Ying wanted to reach the weight limit for the boxing match, so she practiced boxing to lose weight. This setting also avoids "weight loss", or in other words, puts weight loss in an additional and secondary position.
Because of this avoidance, the story must find another strong support point, that is, the fragmentation and reconstruction of the self. In layman's terms, it means changing from pleasing others to living for yourself. The core of
can hit a wider group of people and connect to a wider group of people. It is safer and more advanced. The story has this moment where it really shows its arc and its moving aspects without offending any viewers.
Of course, to cancel "weight loss" and replace it with "self" requires narrative skills. It's strange that Jia Ling's skill is often reflected in the last 10 minutes.
The sense of despair created in the first half of the film is not strong enough, too tame and weak. Until Leying changes from static decadence to dynamic passion, the rhythm of the sketch is interrupted, and the narrative plummets.
When Jia Ling fell in the boxing ring, in a cold moment, the screen suddenly revealed the broken past one by one. It turned out that she had transferred the real estate and attended the betrayer's wedding. She was fake dizzy on the stage... This kind of The reversal quickly and powerfully highlights the theme: a sensitive good man, who still has good intentions after being insulted and harmed.
When she stood up with a new look, what we saw was a three-dimensional, complete, unyielding, and capitalized person.
has nothing to do with gender, fat or thin, it’s just a person.
Jia Ling hides "weight loss" and rebuilds "self". This is the wisdom of narrative strategy; more importantly, her skills and abilities can support this difficult proposition.
This is indeed not a weight-loss movie, but a drama movie like "Hello, Li Huanying", which despite its flaws has completed its expression and created miracles.
二
is not a "weight loss movie", but the imprint of weight loss is very heavy and no one can ignore it.
For creators, they need to deal with it carefully; for the audience outside the play, this is an excellent target, and anyone can shoot their darts at it.
There was a lot of noise and chatter. Everyone has to judge whether
is good or bad. But as far as "weight loss" is concerned, the creator Jia Ling did not let herself take desperate risks, but the real person Jia Ling pushed herself to the edge of the cliff from the beginning - she made herself the biggest bet on the fate of the entire project.
Just like the first song "Everything Comes in Time" written by Jia Ling for the movie, Jia Ling, who has a delicate face, a long yellow dress, and long wavy hair, is going to transcend time and space with the plainly dressed and slightly tired Jia Ling. Duet.
Just like the boxer Le Ying in the movie, before taking the stage, she had to walk and interact with her 200-pound self.
For such plots and promotional materials, it is necessary to complete the filming of "200 Jin" first, and then wait for Jia Ling to lose weight successfully before making up for it. This means that the necessary and sufficient condition for the entire project is "weight loss."
But this is easier said than done. Don’t forget, Jia Ling not only has to deal with ultra-intense fitness training, but also has to complete director, producer, screenwriter, actor, editor and other related work. She has to control all progress, changes and emergencies of the project. She was not allowed to slack off in any aspect. At the same time, you must isolate yourself and not expose yourself, including vulnerability and collapse.
This is one man's war. She can't lose, and she can't afford to lose.
From the first time she turned on the phone, Jia Ling sat in a rescue capsule that was penetrating the atmosphere. There was no one in the passenger seat. She has to deal with all the complex system data, intense high-temperature friction, possible meteorites, as well as horrific mental consumption and desperate loneliness.
Either land safely or the plane crashes and everyone is killed. She did it, and she did it well. After five starts, there are changes every time. The entire crew sighed and rejoiced. I lament that Jia Ling is not easy, and I am glad that the project is still alive.
Some netizens said that she has a team, she has money, and she has a box office of over 3 billion yuan, so she can lose 100 pounds in one year. "If it were me, I could do it too."
This is a big lie. Firstly, weight loss goes hand in hand with an ultra-intense workload; secondly, weight loss is dangerous for Jia Ling. Because what she has lost is the medal of glory that has been proven in the past, she is a comedy image that has achieved success, and is one of the sources of many variety shows, comedy and popularity.
Sketch "Hello, Li Huanying", 2016 Zhejiang TV's "Comedy Story"
In short, her chubby figure was an important weapon for her to pass through the comedy world and gain a place. In the Spring Festival Gala productions, variety shows and film and television dramas that brought her aura in the past, there were too many hot jokes, jokes and jokes about her body.
Now, she insists on losing weight, which means taking the initiative to take off her halo, subvert her personality, put herself in a desperate situation, endure everything, and then complete it.
Although "self" is the core proposition of the story, if there is no "weight loss", how weak the persuasiveness of that "self" will become. At least it won't be more convincing than Jia Ling's current presentation. How indestructible her "self" was that she could swallow the cost, danger, and pain of weight loss. From the first time
was turned on to the release of the movie, there was a thorny place in between. Only Jia Ling knows how painful it is to step on it. But she walked over. Because this is the only way to complete the movie, it is the confidence to challenge Zhang Yimou, Han Han, Shen Teng during the Spring Festival, a battleground for military strategists, and it is also the only way for Jia Ling to win this war.
三
The traditional stage is a "three walls" setting. The audience is on the fourth wall and does not participate in or interact with the actors.
Later, some playwrights and directors tried to break the "fourth wall" and let actors talk directly to the audience. This technique is not new and is often used in sketch stages. For example, Jia Ling's master Feng Gong said, "I miss you so much."
"Hot and Spicy" also broke the "fourth wall" and smashed the wall. Smashed. The function of "hammer" is to "reduce weight". It's just that Jia Ling's "dialogue with the audience" does not stop at the literal meaning, but creates a strong sense of interaction, almost canceling the boundary between reality and movies. It's like tearing down the stage, so Jia Ling becomes Le Ying in the movie, and Le Ying is Jia Ling in reality.
Jia Ling The story of "Hello, Li Huanying", China's
film debut, originated from Jia Ling's mother. Jia Ling also adapted it into a stage sketch before the movie. Before most people watch a movie, they already know the general plot and how they will be emotionally hit. After "Hot" was released on New Year's Day, her fitness photos were everywhere, which effectively eliminated the biggest suspense of the film. However, the audience still flocked to the theater to see how she did it.
She may not have superb skills, but she is sincere enough to take out her heart and show it directly to the audience. All the pain, anxiety, hurt, damage, torture, growth, and glory are presented one by one. Even though her movies look like sketches, with clumsy laughs, slow pace, and various creative problems that have been criticized by professionals, she is just real enough, so real that people cannot argue with them, and they are so real that people can relate to them.
When we viewers watch Jia Ling's movie, we are watching a "reality show" movie, in which there are "real people" and "shows".
The term "reality show" movies is neither derogatory nor complimentary. It is just a new narrative method full of power and emotion, and it is difficult for others to copy it.
In the past, there were roughly two forms of Chinese movies. Most of them are traditional honest Bajiao narratives. In recent years, especially last year's "The Vanishing Her", "All or Nothing" and "Fengshen Part 1" and many other films, they have gradually responded to the hustle and bustle of this era and the carnival of the Internet, and opened up a second type of film form - - "Hot Searching Movies". "Hot-searched movies" must create emotions and create topics. Whether it is the movie itself, the actors, or the marketing promotion, we must do our best to be on the hot-search list, either actively or passively.
When it comes to "It's Hot", it is of course also a "hotly searched movie", but it has unknowingly evolved into another form, which is a "hotly searched reality show". "Real person" Jia Ling is on the hot search list; her movie, that "show", is also on the hot search list. Hot searches are traffic, traffic is the audience, and the audience is the box office.
The topic of "Jia Ling" on Weibo is basically discussed with hundreds of millions of views.
This new movie form was created by Jia Ling on her own. The creative process was very difficult. She had to show her heart to others and sacrifice her life to achieve charity, but she did it. It's a miracle.
Of course, this form also requires vigilance, because others cannot copy it, not even Jia Ling herself can do it. Her third film tells an anti-MLM story that is no longer "real".The first two films were sincere enough to cover up the technical flaws; the third film was a test related to the film itself. Moreover, "evolution" that is too obedient to the laws of the times may also destroy the normal film creation ecology. For example, when everyone tries their best to imitate Jia Ling’s grammar, they may end up mass-producing a bunch of cultural garbage.
text/Li Ruifeng editor Zeng Qi
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