Zhang Yimou is in his bones the "widow cow" of the movie and the "thousand fingers" of reality.
A filmmaker who has walked from the era of words to the age of images, a "national teacher" who has been recognized by hundreds of millions of parties, a director who has been scolded by the literary and art circles for thirty years, and an old man who has lived to learn from old age.
He is the leader of the fifth generation of directors, the traffic password of the sixth generation of directors, and the mainland director who has won the most awards at the three major film festivals in Europe, and he is also the most scolded director.
From becoming famous in the 80s to the current "national teacher", Zhang Yimou has been scolded enough to write a long novel.
"Alive" is highly acclaimed, some people provoke and expose scars; "No One Can Be Less" pays attention to education, and some people jump to beautify the country;
"Hero" opened the commercialization model of Chinese films, and some people made money by relying on movies, and they turned their heads and bit back; "On the Cliff" innovated again, and some people ridiculed Jiang Lang for his exhaustion.
Too many people only know that "half of the Analects rule the world."
Zhang Yimou's directing career was judged by a "Great Wall", so he gave a bad review to his film and Zhang Yimou himself.
But these people probably only know Zhang Yimou from "The Great Wall", but they don't know that Zhang Yimou's worst film is actually "Three Guns Shooting Surprise".
These people who have a fixed career, and those who have watched several bad films of Jackie Chan in recent years, and who deny Jackie Chan's international influence, should be a group of people.
They are kites, where the wind blows, they will drift, the person holding the kite line is themselves, those who chase the kite run fast, they can not catch up with the "laziness" in their hearts.
Many times, a little bit of action, check the information, over the wall, you can recognize the facts.
However, they think that the wellhead they see is the sky, and use this to carry out illogical sophistry, which is deeply rooted in Guo Jingming's true legend of "you can dislike it, but please allow him to exist".
Why do such people exist?
Luo Xiang said that there are two classes in criminal law, one about freedom and one about keyboard man.
Through these two lessons, it is clear that their existence is not justified, but because the anonymity of the Internet fuels their inner darkness.
Let them treat freedom as if there is no constraint, so they will always put on a high posture of "you taste it carefully, you know it all".
Let people who do not know the truth mistakenly think that they are all dashing immortals who are "my generation is a basil person, laughing at the sky and going out", in fact, they have not even seen "The Great Wall", let alone Zhang Yimou's other works.
There are three main points of their black art plot.
In the 1980s and 1990s, when photographing China's backwardness, he won awards abroad, and gave up art in commercial blockbusters, which was used by the state.
This kind of argument does not need to be brainy, more than two eyes to know that you can't stand, shooting bad habits to win awards is not art, shooting commercial films has become a abandonment of art.
So what is the art of giving up? Isn't it the so-called bad habits that those people criticize? Inconsistent arguments and arguments, the hat is not tightly buttoned.
They simply do not understand that Zhang Yimou, as a big domestic first-line director, is still tirelessly studying and making different films.
When filming "Return", Zhang Yimou made a special trip to the crew of "Wise Tiger Mountain" to ask Xu Ke for special effects and new photography techniques.
His directorial resume has the word "diligence" written on it.
"Red Sorghum", "Have Something to Say", "Hero", "Jinling Thirteen Chao", "On the Cliff" are all different types of movies.
Why Zhang Yimou can make so many different types of movies, it is a rare year and he is not retired to raise his life, and he can be praised as a god with his achievements.
Because he loves movies and doesn't want to leave movies, because he never fights unprepared battles, it seems that he has seized the opportunity every time, but in fact, he has made a lot of preparations every time.
Regarding his praise as a "national teacher", Yang Lan once asked him in an interview how he felt that everyone called him a "national teacher"?
He replied: "I am just an ordinary worker, I have seized the opportunity, the times have given me the opportunity, I never think that I am a cow, I am an ordinary film director." ”
In the face of "opportunity" Zhang Yimou has his own understanding:
"You have no way to discern what an opportunity is, no one can grow a pair of eyes, see the opportunity coming, you can only make all kinds of preparations, often after the preparation you make a temporary choice, do not know the depth of the decision." 」
It is these preparations that make your various choices and decisions change your destiny. When you look back over the years, you suddenly realize that what you seized was the opportunity. ”
Zhang Yimou's "that time" is "Red Sorghum", "Have Something to Say", "No One Can Be Less", "Hero", is "Zhang Yimou's 2008".
"Red Sorghum" is Zhang Yimou's powerful blow to those who say he only shoots bad habits.
In "Red Sorghum", there is an expressive use of color, which conveys the three different stages of the film through the gradient color of red.
The first stage is a dark red, representing the tragic fate of Jiu'er; the second stage is a red red, which represents a fiery red day; the third stage is a dark red, which represents hatred.
In the closing scene, the camera turns to the sun, the picture goes from black to blood red, and then the whole picture becomes red, with the meaning of endless anger and sadness.
Later, this wonderful "ending scene" was used by the lead actor Yu Zhan'ao in his movie "The Devil Is Coming", which was also placed at the end.
"Have something to say" is Zhang Yimou's powerful response to those who say he can't tell stories.
The story of "Have Something to Say" is witty and interesting, absurd without losing its seriousness, humor without losing its blackness, and the narrative logic jumps but it is tightly sewn everywhere.
Zhang Yimou used crying and laughing, forcing faces to laugh, laughing, laughing, and drawing swords to interpret sneers, laughter, bitter laughter, and ridicule, so that reality drove intellectuals crazy, and let humanity and the legal system redeem the little hooligans and intellectuals.
"No One Can Be Less" is Zhang Yimou's heavy blow to those who say that he only relies on filming to win awards.
This film was originally registered for the main competition unit of the Cannes International Film Festival, but because in the process of selecting the film, some people believe that the film is promoting the Chinese government.
So a few days before the main competition shortlist was announced, Zhang Yimou announced the withdrawal of the film and issued an open letter to the Cannes International Film Festival to express his protest.
Zhang Yimou then took the film to the Venice Film Festival, won the Golden Lion Award in one fell swoop, punched Cannes in the face, and also gave a loud slap to the malicious smearers.
"Hero" is Zhang Yimou's fatal blow to those who say he gave up art.
In 2002, the emergence of "Hero" made a huge change in Chinese films, and in this year, Chinese films changed from small to large, from the previous high and widowed to having money to earn and have food, and revitalized commercial films and literary films.
Two years later, the film was released in North America and was named the first of the world's top ten best films in 2004 by Time Magazine in the United States, which was the first time that a Chinese film was selected as the first place by Time magazine.
"Zhang Yimou's 2008" is Zhang Yimou's beautiful turn to those who say he was recruited.
Zhang Yimou does not need to explain a lot at all, after watching the documentary "Zhang Yimou's 2008", you will find out why so many big guys in the Olympic planning team have become Zhang Yimou's fans and fans.
The difference between Zhang Yimou and other Chinese directors is like the difference between Van Gogh and Picasso, and people who can't control their personal style may be the best geniuses, but people who can integrate into the public and the system are the masters who are truly universally recognized.
If you have had some doubts and criticisms of Zhang Yimou before, after watching "Zhang Yimou's 2008", it has become a five-body admiration.
Zhang Yimou is an old horse that is "determined to be in a thousand miles and has a strong heart".
Some people say that he is "poor in donkey skills", and some people say that he is "incorruptible and old", but after watching Zhang Yimou's movies, we know that we can't ask "can still eat".