text | Linghu Boguang
A few days have passed since the 2024 Dragon Boat Festival. Like other schedules this year (currently except for the Spring Festival period), the box office performance of domestic movies, including Hollywood blockbusters, is very sluggish. The highest box office of domestic movies is "" I Don’t Want to Be Friends with You ", the box office just exceeded 100 million in five days.
's other two films, " negotiator " and " anti-criminal ", also had a box office of over 100 million.
At this time, some people often say that who watches domestic movies, there are no commercial blockbusters. Here's the problem. The box office of the Hollywood commercial blockbuster "Mad Max 5" is only 30 million. The key is that it has a very good reputation. It has a Douban score of 7.5. It can be said to be one of the Hollywood blockbusters with the best reputation this year.
Similarly, there is , Hu Ge , which has the best reputation during the Dragon Boat Festival, and " Stop and Go " starring Gao Yuanyuan. The box office in five days was only 60 million, but the score was 7.9. Why does the box office get lower when the reputation is better?
If I want to give my personal evaluation, "Stop and Go" is actually similar to the author-oriented movies such as "Love Myth" and "Space Exploration Editorial Department" in recent years (it is no longer very literary), but the subject matter and techniques are still relatively good. It is a niche film, and it is not like the metaphor (interpretation) of "The Mistake by the River" or the roughness (refreshing) of "Away with Three Pests". The final box office of
is similar to that of " Love Myth " and " Universe ". The final box office is already in the tens of millions to hundreds of millions. It is actually the kind of good movie that fans call it (good quality), but it is not the kind of good movie that people think of (unpleasant, not explosive, not flammable, not bloody or exciting).
has a score of 7.9, and the box office is less than 100 million? Is "Stop and Go" a good movie?
I watched this movie in the early morning, and basically watched it alone. This film currently has a spot in my top ten Chinese-language films of the year. This movie is very life-like, and it is very detailed and realistic at the "down-to-earth" level. It is like a light comedy with good laughs. I have experienced the pissing, discrimination and embarrassing laughter every year during the Lunar New Year. The laughter setting of "Stop and Go" is really comfortable.
It fits the characters' personalities and meets the needs of the plot. Almost all the baggage was raised here. I haven't seen such a comedy in a long time.
Netizens often criticize domestic film and television dramas, but this movie is really natural and real in terms of life. It can be seen that the director and screenwriter are striving for authenticity. The director's setting of the scenes is very close to life. The art is well done. There are very few scenes, but it is full of life. The screenwriting skills are even more impressive. This family seems to be real. Same as my family.
Then the emotional expression is very restrained and there is no bloodshed. In the second half of the scene, Wu Di is lying on the massage chair and two scenes of reshoots. The average audience knows that in ordinary movies, this is going to be sensational. It is coming. . I also thought there would be some memories and bloody plots unique to domestic films.
As a result, the director showed great restraint, using a simple close-up of Lao Hu's face and a back view, and the music was very simple Goldberg Variations. All the emotions are given to the expressions and body of the actors, paired with simple music, and deliberately left blank, but as an audience, I can really feel the strong emotions. Unknowingly, my face burst into tears, not the kind of crying that I was hoarse at the top of my lungs, but silent tears.
In addition, Wu's father re-filmed the moment when Wu's mother turned around and the music started playing. Wu Di and Feng Liuliu were in a traffic jam on the bridge, walking in front of and behind each other. When I watched it, I thought it was going to be a sensational movie. After watching it, I felt very good about it. Personally, I thought it was a good movie.
"Stop and Go" is neither bloody nor sensational. Hu Ge and Gao Yuanyuan still don't fall in love?
"Stop and Go" is a very restrained work. There is no sensationalism in the whole film, no crying scene when parting, no heart-rending feeling of not being able to love, and no resentment of not being able to succeed without success.
Many netizens thought that the story of this movie was not strong and the plot was not compact, making them want to fall asleep while watching it.In my opinion, it is this kind of forbearance and restraint that makes me empathize with the characters in the movie. I like the traffic jam section at the end very much. Some people think it is a forced point. What I understand is that the relationship between people is like this, sometimes intersecting and sometimes parallel. It is difficult to have a deep friendship that lasts day and night. Most of the time, we meet by chance, and when the fate ends, we become estranged.
In addition, the restraint and forbearance brought about by this kind of chasing and pulling is also consistent with the emotional tone of the whole film (the parents each have an admirer, but in the end they are two people who will spend the rest of their lives together, Wu Di and Liu Liu have a good impression of each other, but their feelings are more than polite, and after the death of their mother) The family members were not heartbroken, only silent) in line. There are two little easter eggs at the end of
, which many people didn’t see. I really like the first easter egg, which is an interview with my father. "When I was young, I also wanted to write something. Later, when I joined the work unit, I wrote most reports." Just like ordinary mothers also have beautiful pasts, the old-fashioned father There used to be a lot of ingenuity, but they were all lost to time. In the end, "no more cards", which makes people feel even more regretful. "Life is not that good, nor is it that bad, but..." But what is behind it? It is left to the interpretation of the audience.
Needless to say, the second easter egg is that my mother won the award, and a warm feeling surged into my heart.
The death of the mother in the movie comes unexpectedly. Life is often like this, very sudden. When a loved one dies suddenly, many things remain unfinished and have no ending. Life is not like a predetermined road, smooth to the end. When you grow up, you have to accept death slowly and calmly, and accept turbulent emotions calmly, because you think about them all the time. Just like what is said in the movie, success is not necessarily gold, failure is not necessarily shit, stop and go, that's it.
saw the ending of the protagonist and could only sigh. It happened that I was faced with some choices some time ago and started to think about the meaning of hard work. It’s not that hard work is useless, but hard work may not necessarily bring good rewards. But in the face of this kind of risk, should you choose to work hard or stay calm? If you try hard, can you accept unsatisfactory results? The movie discusses more about how to be self-consistent and how to follow your heart. Life is not just about beautiful success, it is also one of the required courses in life. The lyrics of the ending song of
are also very touching: "I just want to have the ability to be happy, and I don't need to be trapped in anyone's expectations, even if that person is myself when I was a child." Maybe many people will feel sorry when they grow up. When I was a kid, he seemed to be telling me: It doesn't matter.
html box office of 60 million in 355 days? Hu Ge and Gao Yuanyuan are really wasted if they don't fall in love.
Over the past few years, domestic film and television dramas have actually become very commercialized, using the capitalist decomposition formula (that is, popularization), which has resulted in many film and television dramas actually being very commercial. It's ridiculous, very cliche, and very boring.
For example, if you talk about ancient puppets, do you want to buy IP+popular starring actors+good production and service? In the end, there are various interesting settings, but all kinds of uninteresting love affairs, and then overwhelming marketing, hot searches, short Where is the video so sweet, where is it cruel, where are the famous scenes, which sister and which brother are popular in domestic entertainment -
For example, if you talk about a comedy movie, find a few comedy stars to remake the IP, and then add gags in the story and plot, and then say something that you think is funny. At the end, there are some exaggerated and embarrassing intense plots, and in the end, the mood of "making dumplings" sublimates.
Let’s take a look at police and gangster movies (and suspense movies), and then look at urban professional dramas (all kinds of suspended professions fall in love, and the heroine has to wake up all day long) -
I believe that even if you don’t pay attention to these things deliberately, but Just go through the domestic film and television dramas of the past few years in your mind. Not to mention all of them, more than 90% or even higher are all these things.
But the audience just likes to watch bloodshed, because everyone is tired and does not want to think about and be recreated by real works again.
For example, in "Stop and Go", if Hu Ge and Gao Yuanyuan were to have a vigorous love affair, a typical example of a domestic commercial romance film in the past few years would be " Beijing Meets Seattle ", which is about the love between the driver and the mistress. Then in " and then we ", the two almost had an affair and made complaints about it.
There is also the typical commercial romance film " Your Wedding ", as well as a large number of bloody commercial romance films like "The Ex 3".
The problem is that everyone complains about these romantic movies, but they have high box office. Movies like "Your Wedding" and "Ex 3" are criticized when mentioned, but their box office is more than one billion, which proves What?
Generally speaking, "Stop and Go" is a good low-cost independent comedy film. What is rare is that the comedy part is not deliberately clever and funny, but the creator's understanding and perception of life-like scenes. Hu Ge basically does not use it. It’s safe to say that Jin Jing, who played the role of the younger sister, was also very impressive throughout the whole performance, and the parents’ role was even more wonderful.
The ending is emotional. If you lower your expectations, it will be a surprise movie. The shortcoming is the overall pacing. At least it is the best film during the Dragon Boat Festival. It has depth and is not preachy. There is no possibility of other films hitting the mark. The gap is relatively large. "The Myth of Love" is not very similar. It is difficult to find analogies.
In the end, this movie is actually not very to my liking, but this kind of movie is still worth isolating, and in the end, the box office of over 100 million is not bad. This movie is just a bit more expensive than Hu Ge and Gao Yuanyuan, so the investment cost is not too high. It also struggled to translate quality into box office.
Most people like popcorn movies. This movie is bland and a little funny. The funny in it is not the kind of comedy in a sketch, but a kind of banter about life. It has a light humor that makes people understand. A smile; there is something funny and touching in it, and the back view of Father Wu in the back makes people’s noses sore.
I feel that the box office will not be very high in the current environment, but good movies are sometimes like this. High box office does not necessarily mean gold, and low box office does not necessarily mean history. Just like Wu Di in it, you don’t have to live for other people’s expectations. , live according to your heart, life is just stop and go.