In 2013, a "Never Expected" marked the official opening of the era of online short dramas and became a trend in the Internet world.
Nowadays, online short videos are "inner volume" enough to compete with film and television works. Looking back at the Wanhe Tianyi funny web drama represented by "Never Expected" and "Report Boss", it may issue a "but so" evaluation.
It is also this group of "but so" young people who have become a dark horse in the winter film market in 2021.
As of December 6, the movie "Fame and Fame" has grossed more than 760 million. Without any slot bonus, this is undoubtedly an excellent result.
Stills from "Fame and Fame"
So why is this movie "famous"?
1
A simple story under the shell of suspense
The story takes place during the Republic of China period.
Investor Lu Ziye, who intends to make the sensational "Three Old Cases" in Shanghai into a movie, invited a group of "non-mainstream filmmakers" to co-create.
These people include Zheng Qianli, the king of bad films, Li Jiahui, the screenwriter of Geng Zhi, Chen Xiaoda, the "returnee superstar" of Se Li Nei, Su Mengdi, a former actress, and Guan Jingnian, a former actor.
This is a group of gamblers who desperately need to "turn over" and hope to make a name for themselves with this movie.
In the process of excavating the case, the crowd inadvertently uncovered the truth of the "Three Elders Case" and became involved in a larger conspiracy.
It seems that "Fame and Fame" is telling a suspense story.
This is not the case.
The "Three Old Cases", which is the prototype, is a bloody case in which three big men in Shanghai Beach were inexplicably killed. Different from the "suspense story" in the public perception, the murderer of the three old cases is not suspense. At the beginning of the movie, the murderer Qi Leshan has appeared in front of the audience as a clear card.
The biggest suspense that runs through the film changes from "who is the murderer" to "why is he the murderer". In order to dig up the film material from the case, this group of filmmakers traced and restored the case at the scene of the crime.
As a suspense movie, "Fame and Fame" is barely qualified. The uncomplicated modus operandi and some logical loopholes make the audience who rush to reason quite critical.
But in fact, "Fame and Fame" is not a work of intrinsic reasoning at all, and what it wants to express is not the "brain-burning" and showmanship at the technical level.
As a murderer, Qi Leshan confessed to his crime on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was vague about his motives for committing the crime. The motive he wanted to hide was the real mystery of the murder.
Around this mystery, the story begins to lay out and lay the groundwork from the beginning: the orange with the belt of flesh, the story of the king and the nightingale, the portrait of the wig girl, the ballot box for the selection of the "flower queen"...
These clues seem to be scattered randomly throughout the story, but as the details of the case surface, Qi Leshan's motives for the crime gradually come to light.
The film begins with a joke, but it leads to a touching and angry story.
The protagonist of the story is a singer who has been humiliated by the powerful. As her guardian, Qi Leshan not only took revenge by hand-bladed the three elders, but also willingly stayed at the scene to wait for arrest, hiding the truth of the humiliation for her.
Because it involved the secret of the powerful and powerful, as a "flame of memory", Qi Leshan and the people who knew the details of the case were threatened by the National Government in Nanjing.
The police were brutally killed, and several filmmakers escaped. They decided to make the truth into a movie.
This group of filmmakers with justice and enthusiasm fled to Southeast Asia because of the pursuit of the Nationalist government. The film could only be released in Vietnam and did not fare at the box office.
But they used their actions to prove what a real "fame" is.
2
Old bottles of new wine, broken cocoons into butterflies
The director of "Fame and Fame" is Liu Xunzimo of Wanhe Tianyi. Eight years ago, he directed The Report Boss.
"Report Boss" takes four "extremely talented" filmmakers as the core characters, deconstructing the film assembly line through exaggerated methods and nonsensical techniques.
In 2013, mainland film and television gradually became modeled, vulgar and traffic-oriented. "Report Boss" was born at this time, and its sharp and explicit spit triggered wide resonance among netizens.
Report Boss poster
The first half of "Fame and Fortune" looks a lot like the high-end "Report Boss". Director Zheng Qianli described his film conception as a "play within a play", and the method was almost the same as that of "Report Boss".
The difference is that the funny eight years ago was "funny for the sake of being funny", while the spit eight years later was not "spit for the sake of spitting".
There are a lot of "bootlegs" in the movie.
Screenwriters have no right to sign because they have offended people, and can only be plagiarized; silent film superstars (metaphorical voice actors) have appeared in their original form in the era of sound films; the "returnee superstar" name seems to be loud, but in fact it is just a marginal martial artist in Hollywood; everyone is swaying the direction of the script for their own interests, and the screenwriter is regarded as nothing.
The target of these taunts seems to be the characters in the movie, but in fact, every sentence is like a sharp blade, pointing directly to today's film and television industry.
Perhaps out of some jealousy, the film's ridicule is not enough to be full of vigor, and it seems to be a little shallow, itchy and unfinished.
But being willing and daring to bring these to the screen is a significant step.
The spit of "Report Boss" stops at the audience's point of view. In contrast, "Fame and Fame" is more spicy, more profound, and closer to the perspective of film and television practitioners. That may be where growth comes in.
3
Heads-up and respect, metaphor and sublimation
As an IQ bearer, Lee Ka Fai can be described as the core of the movie. Born as a journalist, he was jealous and hateful, so he lost his job and turned to screenwriting. Because I don't know which big guy I offended, I was implicitly banned by the industry. Cannot be signed as a screenwriter.
In the movie, Lee Ka-fai shows extraordinary courage and wisdom, leading the crowd to peel back the cocoon and gradually approach the truth of the murder, which is a positive image of being upright, not afraid of power, bold and careful, kind and brave.
In contrast, humanistic care focuses on actress Su Mengdi.
The charm of Su Mengdi lies in seeing the photos of the girl Nightingale's strong style, but she can feel the difficulty of the Nightingale; it lies in the fact that when the crisis comes and everyone is in danger, she can still maintain her concern for the weak (the comatose Chen Xiaoda); it lies in the fact that when his fans are dying in the sea, the strong tolerance and sadness leave a smile for him.
Heads-up and respect are everywhere. The film teases the cunning of these little people in a playful tone, but it is never mixed with half a point of ridicule.
Zheng Qianli used "fist" and "pillow" as the master key to the assembly line of the rotten film, but at the critical moment, he did not care about the previous suspicions and saved Guan Jingnian, who had an old grudge.
Guan Jingnian was arrogant when he was popular, scolding the scene, and now he has tasted the cold and warmth of the world, and he can also be relieved when Su Mengdi is sad.
Chen Xiaoda, a timid embroidered pillow who is afraid of things, can resolutely stand up in the face of real enemies.
These scrupulous little people have always adhered to principles. They submit physically, but not in their hearts.
The so-called "fame and fortune" is not so much an expectation of fame and fortune as a praise for these excellent qualities.
The story is good enough to be called good, but the movie doesn't stop there. The real serendipity is the metaphor and sublimation of the film.
In the story made up by Qi Leshan, the singer Nightingale, who was oppressed by the magnates, died tragically on the night of the crime. However, the truth is not so, Qi Leshan has a big circle to guard not the name of the nightingale.
The nightingale did not die. He exchanged his life for a nightingale to escape the day of his birth. This truth is known only to Li Jiahui, but he finally chose to be silent and continue to keep this secret.
In the hint at the end of the film, this group of embarrassing filmmakers seems to have failed to escape the pursuit and killing of the powerful, but this film that exposes the evil deeds of the powerful exists in the hearts of many people in the form of memory, becoming a flame that the "fire extinguisher" cannot extinguish.
The metaphor of cinema doesn't stop there. In the description of QileShan, Nightingale is the daughter of an officer of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. In history, the Nationalist army suffered heavy casualties in its operations into Burma, and the culprit was the Nanjing government, represented by the eight divisions of the "fire extinguishers."
This dark line, which is not declared in the mouth, seems to be deliberately left for the audience to dig. The "memory" to be erased may not only be the evil deeds of the Shanghai magnates in bullying men and women, but precisely behind this one case, the corruption and dimwitting of the National Government.
In that era when there was no torch, this group of undesirable filmmakers has become the light.
In the film, Li Jiahui and others did not achieve "fame and fame" in the secular sense, and the response outside the film was good, which can also be regarded as an extension of creation.
The reason why this movie is "famous" is precisely because of the "small people" characteristics.
The brushstrokes are delicate but not craftsmanship, the angle is humble and not inferior, the irony is spicy but not cynical, supplemented by excellent story structure and lens language, thus obtaining a double harvest of word of mouth and box office.
The success of this film may also give a little inspiration to the contemporary film market.
How can a movie make a name for itself? Just be unashamed.
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