Stephen Chow once said: "One of the biggest functions of comedy is irony." In 2016, the drama adaptation of the movie "Donkey Got Water" was extremely ironic, making this comedy that "makes you cry" a dark horse of the year.
As a classic produced by Happy Twist, "Donkey Got Water" abandons the comedy skills that Happy Twist is good at, and the deeper tragedy in the comedy core is magnified, and has achieved a good reputation.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a good movie born out of drama, flawed but flawed</h1>
As a film adapted from a drama, "Donkey Got Water" has a strong story. A large part of its success is due to the success of the original play. Since the drama version of "Donkey Got Water" was staged in 2012, it has received high praise, and Douban has given a high score of 8.5 points. Critic Dong Dong Gun praised the play: "Well-behaved, mature and solid. No spilling dog blood, no nonsense, no sensationalism, in the stage plays I have seen, there are not many such scenes. "
Good dramas are perfect presentations after thousands of hammers, perhaps the power of polishing, the film is a contradiction after a contradiction, laughter and tears will resonate with the audience. The loyal, elderly and wise principal, the overly straight Zhou Tienan, the cheerful and shrewd Pei Kuishan, the zhang Yiman who exudes style in the corner of his eyes, born out of the small theater's "Donkey Get Water", each character is alive and fresh, and this rich group portrait presentation is also one of the highlights of this movie.
In terms of plot, "Donkey Got Water" uses a non-stop conflict to render the entire plot of the film.compulsively. From the beginning of the plot, when teachers in remote mountainous areas defraud funds for "raising donkeys to fetch water", the core conflict of the film, the wrong thing for a good purpose, has begun to ferment.
Of course, the problem with "Donkey Got Water" as a movie is also obvious. For example: the performance is too hard, the line expression is more deliberate; the character change is too blunt, the character characteristics are displayed at a glance; the functional characters and plot are slightly symbolized, and the theme needs to be highlighted by means of coincidence settings... These are also the problems that are easy to appear in drama adaptations, but they are not enough to deny the rationality of the existence of the film version of "Donkey Kong Water". There are too many indoor shots, a single indoor shot scheduling, many medium and close-up scenes, and a general composition of photography, which is also the fault of "Donkey Got Water". But in most scenes, whether it is photography or composition, "Donkey Got Water" stands on the qualifying line.
As a movie on the big screen, "Donkey Got Water" still has the feeling and imprint of drama, but the story is good enough and the creator has enough sincerity. It does not have the various tricks commonly used in many domestic movies, but more of a natural simplicity, which makes the audience feel a fresh breath.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > debauched heroine and becomes the purest character in the whole play</h1>
Zhang Yiman, portrayed by Ren Suxi, is one of the most successful characters in this film, she is dressed in a cheongsam, her posture is beautiful, her laughter is cheerful, free and loose, there is no utilitarianism, and the so-called interests and a better future are just a piece of waste paper for him. Debauchery is probably the impression Zhang Yiman gave at the beginning. Full of tension and fearlessness, Zhang Yiman is so debauched that he is unpretentious and debauched enough to make people feel sincere.
Zhang Yiman is a rebellious character who rebels against the objectification of women by the traditional old system, and she uses a liberal way to fight against the conservative system. She freely spreads her beauty and satisfies her body's desires, a natural attraction full of positive femininity that is fascinating.
The film excavates the unique poetry of this woman who yearns for freedom, the narcissistic "I guarantee my beauty", the dance steps of holding the principal in the confused light... She has not hurt others, reveled in every bit of beauty in life, she just does not want to be bound, she can do whatever she wants, at key moments she is more responsible than men, and she is more able to adhere to the moral bottom line than those who are full of truth all the time.
Human nature is the most untested thing in the world, shameless people have also had moments of humanity flickering, and iron-boned people will also fall because of reality. The film sets off Zhang Yiman's "good" through the "smallness" of those men who are full of benevolence and morality.
The headmaster was weak, cramped and embarrassed, and finally knelt down to his daughter and begged her to get a $10,000 pension pretending to be the coppersmith's fiancée. Pei Kuishan is cautious and cautious, and must first protect himself when something goes wrong, and is an egoist who "why do you use your feelings to kidnap my interests?" Zhou Tienan is an angry youth, full of defiance, several times to roll up his arms and sleeves to uncover the deception, but after a shot passed, he immediately lay on the ground begging for his life, becoming a servile dark accomplice.
Zhang Yiman used the image of a pure slut to force out the hypocrisy and cowardice of these men around him. She didn't care if she had her long hair cut off; she didn't care to be denigrated by her former admirers. The sudden change in the surrounding interpersonal environment after the storm showed the unyielding side of Zhang Yiman.
The pursuit of freedom, then and now, is a heavy task. Such a heavy image, and let a romantic and light woman carry it, it is inevitable that it will be even heavier. She really couldn't bear such a heavy freedom, not to mention that even Zhou Tienan was on her knees. The so-called madness is that Zhou Tienan, who once protected her with righteousness, has long lost her soul, and the principal who once tolerated and understood her compromised, which eventually destroyed the freedom That Zhang Yiman wanted step by step. She was as crazy as she was.
Like The Ball of Mutton Fat and Anna, Zhang Yiman destroyed herself in the way she opened herself up, and her tragedy was the same as theirs. The nobles whom the mutton fat ball met were "exquisite egoists", and in their minds there were only "two whatevers"—anything that could increase their wealth and anything that would benefit their careers. In their view, morality and conscience can also exist, but they are only tools and means of achieving the individual.
And the principal, Pei Kuishan, and Zhou Tienan, whom Zhang Yiman met, are also out-and-out hypocrites, believing that as long as they yearn for the light, even if the heart is dark, they also symbolize the light, and they also have the right to criticize those who look inferior to themselves. But what they cannot imagine is that even if they now seem to be successful and just, this situation cannot last forever, and the so-called whitewashed crows are not strong, and their words, no matter how noble, are only self-deception.
It's just a pity that garlic leaves are not snowflakes after all, and Zhang Yiman, who freely spreads his beauty, is broken. Like the ball of mutton fat, in that patriarchal society, women always bear all the guilt.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > "Donkey Got Water" will make you laugh, but it's a tragedy</h1>
Audiences love comedy, not only because comedy can make people laugh, but also because most movies use the shell of comedy to satirize reality, and "Donkey Got Water" is a typical representative of it. Its story is simply a story about cheating on each other. But this is also a movie in which everyone can see themselves, and a few western volunteer teachers with beautiful ideals are determined to change the backward cultural education in rural China at that time, and want to save and educate the ignorant peasants, but in the end, they abandon their original selves in one lie after another, interests, and reality. All of them went against themselves in self-compromise, powerlessly becoming what we, what we hated.
A phrase that constantly appears in the film is that those who do big things are informal. But if a big thing is to be done by deception, betrayal, and betrayal, whether it is still a big thing, and whether such a group of people can teach children to "learn to be human" without shame.
Director Zhou Shen once said: "We want to make "Donkey Got Water" into a movie that can be watched from sweeping aunts to university professors, first of all, so that everyone thinks it is good, funny, and fun, and secondly, we hope that people can get some touches from it. However, it doesn't matter if it doesn't touch, as long as the audience laughs and sighs, it is worth the money to buy this movie ticket. "In fact, with the ups and downs of the film itself, coupled with a strong sense of style and the personal expression of the creator, it is difficult for the viewer not to be touched.
Today's audiences have long been aesthetically tired of brainless funny comedies, and the popularity of "I Am Not a Medicine God", "The Richest Man in Xihong", and "A Good Drama" in the past few years shows that the audience's aesthetic degree of new irony comedy is getting higher and higher from different levels. People no longer limit comedy movies to entertainment projects that vent and decompression, but want to draw nourishment from laughter and even tears.
The biggest feature of "Donkey Got Water" is the satire used in the film. Throughout the film, the director uses the inner monologues of different characters, and the characters portrayed in different forms to make sharp contrasts, satirizing this group of people who refuse to admit mistakes.
The film is cloaked in external absurdity, but it has inner delicacy and accuracy. Like dominoes, every link of the layer of advancement is properly in line with the logic of life. In the movie, they are lying, greedy, cowardly, and unfree, and they are very similar to us at a certain time. What everyone values will be stripped and destroyed by the darkness of reality or by the pressures around them. Finally, rely on one lie after another to comfort and make up for the hearts of people who have long been devastated. One wonders: How did we become the kind of person we least like?
I have to say that "Donkey Got Water" is a good movie, which uses the most intuitive story to let us see how human nature is depraved. I only hope that there will be fewer and fewer people who grind away the edges and corners in order to adapt to change, or become the kind of people they once hated.