Last year, a small-budget comedy "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" showed the bitterness of social animals in big factories.
This year, there is another black comedy that tells the history of blood and tears of migrant workers in film and television - " Galaxy Writer ". The film
was a hit at the First Xining Film Festival, winning the Jury Prize and the Best Screenplay Award. It received numerous praises upon its premiere at the film festival.
Directors and screenwriters Shan Dandan and Li Kuo are a husband-and-wife team who have been deeply involved in the film and television industry for many years. They stuffed their own and their friends’ Beidiao materials into the story. The starring actors are popular comedians from the " annual comedy competition ": Song Muzi , He Wenjun, and Li Fei of the "Three Dogs".
What story does "Galaxy Writer" tell?
simply said, "One script, two screenwriters, three revisions of the draft, changing seasons, mixed flavors."
To put it more complicatedly, the story starts with two young screenwriters who were not recognized for their talents and their immature scripts.
——(There are slight spoilers below, please skip if you mind)——
Zhang Yi (played by Song Muzi) and Sun Tan (played by He Wenjun) are the low-level screenwriters of Beidiao. Like most of their colleagues, they have the ambition to make movies. The great ideal of the film shocked the four gods. They had a flash of inspiration and came up with a movie script called "Nine Seconds Man" and believed that this project would be successful.
They began a long journey to find investors, but were repeatedly frustrated and deceived. It was not until a friend introduced me that the script was finally picked up by a film and television company. The two of them began to plan for a bright future, but who knew that this was just the first step in a long journey of thousands of miles.
The company that bought their script asked them to revise the script over and over again. Every time they were not satisfied, they only had extremely subjective and unhelpful suggestions. As Party B, Sun Tan and Zhang Yi have completely different attitudes. The former believes that "it has to be changed over and over again, even if the second male lead is changed from a human to a dog." The latter believes that "my hard work cannot be trampled on. They don't understand what a movie is." ".
Although Zhang Yi was unhappy, he still actively worked with Party A in the early stage. The reason is simple. They have neither connections nor resources, and they have no mines at home. If they want to get ahead, they will have to endure hardships.
After a whole year of revising the draft, they also witnessed the changes in the lives of people around them such as Keke, Pest (played by Li Fei), Da Liu, Xiao Rui, Boss Cai, Zheng Fei, etc.: Someone got the signature of the fourth screenwriter of the Qing palace drama Right, some people work as scriptwriters in the online drama industry that they despise, some people's venture capital funds are just empty promises and they get drunk in the entertainment industry, and some people fail repeatedly and end up sadly committing suicide. In comparison, the comings and goings of love are just the most insignificant changes.
When Zhang Yi and Sun Tan are pushed to the extreme by Party A's company, and trouble occurs in the script adaptation, how will they respond? In such a big city, a few people realize their dreams, and many more people have unfulfilled ambitions. Ordinary individuals are still on the path of mediocre pursuit of self-worth.
The story of "Galaxy Writer" takes place near Changying in Beijing. Because the rent is relatively cheap and there are many cultural and creative industrial parks, it has become a gathering place for film and television people. Coding in the Manga Cafe, discussing projects at the Three Brothers Barbeque... This is the daily life of migrant workers in the film and television industry. Shan Dandan and Li Kuo are also among them. The script was originally titled "There is a Changllywood in Beijing".
They said very sincerely in the interview, "Many young people today have a hard time going to work every day. No one talks about ideals, they all talk about survival. But in this current situation of survival, young people insist on using a kind of self-mockery. "
If you use L. Herman's theory of nine plot patterns to reflect on "Galaxy Writer", you will find that it is essentially a story about "'s rapid rise (but failed) ", The protagonists who have ideals are never able to get what they want, and the film records their many attempts to succeed.
However, the tone of this kind of dream-chasing story is often gloomy, which is contrary to the comedy that the creators want to do, so they chose to combine brother comedy (friendship between two or more protagonists) and anecdotal comedy (unmodified daily life). story) grafted with it.
The "Three Dogs" chosen as the leading actors in "Galaxy Writer" completed the performance tasks in a satisfactory manner, which changed people's view of so-called variety show stars. It's not that their acting skills are impeccable, but that the creators made full use of the inherent chemistry between them.
The "Three Dogs" in the "Annual Comedy Competition" are good at sketch comedy that emphasizes improvisation, and can use the simplest settings to create the most hilarious jokes. This episodic comedy exercise also laid a solid foundation for their appearance in "Galaxy Writer" to some extent.
"Galaxy Writer" is a good comedy, but the Douban score of 7.3 also reminds us: not everyone can get the fun of the film, and not all viewers will buy it.
This involves a new question - the main creator's attempt to have bottom screenwriters radiate all workers, was it successful?
Unfortunately, I personally don’t think so.
In the final analysis, "Galaxy Writer" is a love letter to workers in the film and television industry. Only those who have experienced it can taste its ups and downs: in order to avoid risks and rush to register the copyright, send it to yourself by registered mail as a double layer of insurance; The venture capital investment shocked everyone, and the pursuit of the final payment broke the bank... These scenes resonate most with film and television people.
The ingenuity of the film is also full of special offers for movie fans: for example, the interpretation and reproduction of "Save the Cat", which is regarded as the bible by the screenwriter, such as the Godard posters taped to the bedside and the Nolan's high-priced tickets that are mentioned in the mouth. , another example is the tribute to " the shining " when he simulated typing in the air, and the light of the dragon logo flashed in his eyes... Insiders smiled knowingly, and outsiders watched it in amusement.
received much better reviews at the First Film Festival than in theaters, which proves this truth, because most of the people attending the film festival are industry insiders, and everyone can get a glimpse of the industry ecology and reflect themselves in "Galaxy Writer".
"Galaxy Writer" is difficult to truly break through, which is different from last year's hit comedy "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop". The latter story takes place in a large factory. Although not all viewers are from a large factory, they can relate to their own joys and sorrows in the workplace from the simplified scenes of job promotions and promotions, annual party performances, etc.
In other words, ordinary viewers who watch "Galaxy Writer" will not have the feeling of "Ah! My life is being acted out", but will have the idea of "Oh? So the daily life of a screenwriter is like this".
In addition, "Galaxy Writer"'s missteps in portraying female characters will also lead to its divided reputation among movie fans.
The relationship between Zhang Yi and Zhou Keke in the film was somewhat poorly thought out: the two met in the Beijing Film Festival ticketing group, chatted about movies from the theater to bed, and watched Nolan's " The Dark Knight" 》The intimate relationship took place after that.
The film may want to prove that they are soul mates who came together because of their common interests, but as a movie fan, the main creator should know better: it is too common to exchange tickets for the Beijing Film Festival, and all the people who come are movie fans, and they fall asleep immediately based on their common interests. It's so uncommon to get together. The plot setting here is blatantly offensive to female movie fans and will also cause discomfort to some female viewers.
Overall, "Galaxy Writer" is a comedy that is full of little fun without force but cannot really scratch the itch of the public audience. It still has room for further improvement, but it is a relatively unique existence in the Qingming theater chain that is filled with mature blockbusters.
Amy
editor-in-chief Chen Lingling
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