China's 5 landmark films: the first in history, unprecedented scale, Jiang Wen and Zhang Yimou "Qi Fei" new China's first film: "Bridge" new era masterpiece: "Furong Town" for the first time "debut" international: "Red Sorghum" recorded in the history of film transnational cooperation: "The Last Emperor" The first commercial blockbuster: "Hero"

Highest of the year... Fastest ever...

Although there are many "landmark movies" that keep appearing.

Unfortunately, they mostly refer to box office records.

From the first minute of the release, it is calculated to the fastest breaking of 100 million, breaking a billion.

In fact, the unprecedented and breakthrough of milestone significance is far more than the box office.

A piece of light and shadow, a memory.

There's nothing but love and hate.

The movie "The Vibrato of Life", the first film in New China with a kiss scene

There is also the grandeur of a country, the ups and downs of a nation.

Chen Kaige's debut work "Yellow Land"

We identified 5 films with real landmark significance in New China.

One by one.

From this, we can not only see the growth of the nation, but also find the customs and customs and life in our memories.

Every frame of light and shadow is worth cherishing.

Which of them have you seen?

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > the first movie in New China: "The Bridge"</h1>

There was a Yugoslav film called The Bridge.

Popular throughout China, it is the collective memory of the post-50s and 60s Chinese.

So far, the Douban score has reached 8.5.

The Bridge

Even those who haven't seen it must have heard its interlude "Ah, Goodbye Friend".

Oh friends goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

Bury me in, high hills

Coincidence.

The first film of New China, also called "The Bridge".

In 1948, the Northeast Film Studio made its first feature-length film since its establishment.

It tells the story of a railway factory in the northeast, in order to support the fierce liberation war, several workers took on a "hellish difficulty" work - to quickly repair the Songhua River Iron Bridge.

Stills from the movie "The Bridge"

The storyline is not complicated when viewed today.

But it was the first film in China to show the working class in a positive light.

The screenwriter is the famous playwright Yu Min.

Chinese mainland the most authoritative film award, the Golden Rooster Award, and he is one of the founders.

Yu Min

The movie "Bridge" features 8 workers with different upbringing backgrounds and personalities as the main characters.

They need to overcome practical difficulties and their own character shortcomings, and work together to complete a task that seems almost impossible to outsiders.

The story is a bit like the later costume film "Seven Samurai" directed by Akira Kurosawa, but the protagonist is a worker, and the goal is to build a road.

The Seven Samurai

Among them, hou Zhanxi, a riveting worker, is also the father of the famous comedian Chen Peisi, Mr. Chen Qianglao.

Chen Qiang plays Hou Zhanxi

On May 1, 1949, "The Bridge" premiered in the liberated northeast.

It has become the foundation of the new Chinese film industry.

It is worth mentioning that the filming location of "Bridge" was Hegang City, which is now known for its "cheap house prices" in the country.

What a vicissitude.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="60" > masterpiece of the new era: "Furong Town"</h1>

Before the 1980s, most of the new Chinese films had two themes:

The first is the novel, which originated from various novels that have a critical spirit of the old society in modern times.

Adapted from Lu Xun's film "Blessing", Xiang Lin sister-in-law

The second is the story that took place during the war years.

Movie "Tunnel Warfare"

Although it has produced the classics in the hearts of countless Chinese people.

However, due to the limitations of the times, the creation is relatively templated.

There are not many works of realistic reflection significance.

Movie "Red Lantern"

Reform.

In 1987, Xie Jin's "Furong Town" turned out to be a bright spot for the Chinese people.

The film is set in the 1960s.

In the town of Furong, Xiangxi, the rice and tofu snacks of female vendor Hu Yuyin are popular with the local people.

"Hibiscus Town"

In stark contrast, state-run restaurants are crackling because of their poor taste.

But Hu Yunyin's hard work and prosperity laid the fuse of tragedy for himself in the next decade.

A classic line from "Furong Town"

"Furong Town" is recognized as a large scale in the history of Chinese cinema.

It has a strong historical criticism and reflective significance.

Some viewers once recalled this:

"The film is like a black hole that sucks us into that familiar and unfamiliar era."

Director Xie Jin sang the praises of the greatness of laborers in the film and affirmed the industriousness and prosperity.

It is full of realistic fit.

Compared with the painlessness of several previous similar films, "Furong Town" undoubtedly has a strong milestone significance.

In addition to this, it is also a film of considerable commercial value: tightly paced, clear narrative and highly ornamental.

Jiang Wen and Liu Xiaoqing, the male and female protagonists, in today's terms, are countless fans.

The story of the two people's extra-dramatic feelings also became one of the few wonderful talking points in the Chinese barren entertainment topics at that time.

If you have not seen "Furong Town", the movie that swept the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards that year, I highly recommend you to give it a try.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="108" > the first "appearance" international: "Red Sorghum"</h1>

In 1987, Zhang Yimou, who starred Jiang Wen and directed films for the first time.

With "Red Sorghum", he won the Golden Bear Award, the highest award at the Berlin Film Festival.

This is the first time in the history of Chinese films in the three regions across the Taiwan Straits that it has won three major international film festival awards (Berlin, Venice, and Cannes are also called the three major awards).

It makes a lot of mileage sense.

Red Sorghum

Taking this as a watershed, in the next few years, Chinese films became uncontrollable and began to frequently win awards internationally.

In 1992, still Zhang Yimou, "Qiu Ju Fights a Lawsuit" won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival.

"Qiu Ju Fights a Lawsuit"

In 1993, Chen Kaige's "Farewell to the King" was the only time in the entire Chinese film that it won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

"Farewell to the Overlord"

In Taiwan Province, across the strait, in 1989, Hou Xiaoxian's "City of Sorrows" also won the Venice Golden Lion.

City of Sorrows

"Red Sorghum" will be a local story, shooting a unique sense of beauty and poetry.

It is not only the "open doorman" of China's world-class film awards.

It also brought out Gong Li, China's first international female film star.

Mo Yan, the original author of the story, later became China's first Nobel Prize winner in literature.

Mo

People in the world often compare Zhang Yimou with Chen Kaige.

If it is for Chinese films, Chen Kaige's "Farewell to the Overlord" is the ultimate.

The first time zhang Yimou won the award for "Red Sorghum" was to reach the peak.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="146" > transnational collaboration in film history: "The Last Emperor"</h1>

In the summer of 1986, filmmakers from China, France, Britain, Italy and Japan gathered in the Forbidden City.

They will make a movie called "The Last Emperor" that tells the life of Puyi, china's last feudal emperor.

The Last Emperor

The film was unprecedented in scale, with an investment of $25 million in the late 1980s.

A total of 19,000 extras were gathered and brought together the film elites of China, Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan.

At the same time, "The Last Emperor" also has unprecedented "production specifications"

In terms of actors, in addition to the Chinese star Zun Long from Hollywood, and the old drama bone Peter Otto, who has been nominated for the Oscar 7 times.

Playing the role of the prison warden in the film is the veteran artist Ying Nuocheng (the father of the famous director Yingda) who was the vice minister of culture at the time.

"The Last Emperor" Inno Cheng

At that time, Chen Kaige made a cameo appearance in it as a janitor guard.

"The Last Emperor" Chen Kaige

Since the story mainly takes place in the Forbidden City, "The Last Emperor" became the first film after the founding of the People's Republic of China to be filmed in the Forbidden City with the permission of the Chinese government.

The filming period coincided with the Queen's visit to China, and even the Queen did not visit the Forbidden City for filming.

The Last Emperor ended up with a double harvest of artistic and commercial value.

At the 60th Academy Awards in 1988, the film swept the film industry, winning 11 awards, including best picture and best director.

Film music produced by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has also become a classic in film history.

Although as early as 1958, the Beijing Film Studio and the French Film Company filmed the film "Kite", which was the first co-production film in New China with a foreign country.

However, this "The Last Emperor", directed by the famous Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, is the first time that Chinese films have truly been in line with international standards and left a name in film history.

Chen Chong, who plays Wanrong in the film, has also become another international actress from China after Gong Li.

"The Last Emperor" objectively presents the life of the last emperor Puyi.

It has positive significance for restoring that period of history.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="191" >'s first commercial blockbuster: Heroes</h1>

If you look back decades from now, you will look back at the first decades of the 1980s to the 21st century.

Zhang Yimou's contribution to Chinese cinema goes far beyond "art and winning awards".

In 2002, it was the most pleasant time for Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping to cooperate.

One person is responsible for shooting, and one person is responsible for throwing money.

Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping

The two share the same vision to make a blockbuster that rivals Hollywood's Chinese.

So the movie "Hero" was born, a "Rashomon-style" hedgehog story.

Heroes

Unprecedented investment.

Today, it seems almost impossible to reproduce the starring lineup: Chen Daoming, Jet Li, Liang Chaowei, Maggie Cheung, Zhen Zidan, Zhang Ziyi.

With unprecedented scenes and marketing means, it has reshaped the commercial ecology of Chinese films.

Over the years, the historical status of "Hero" has become more and more prominent:

It ushered in the era of blockbusters Chinese mainland, or the whole chinese film.

The domestic box office of 250 million has greatly stimulated the favor of capital for the film industry.

Chinese films that were once short of money began to receive a steady stream of "blood transfusions".

Taking this as a watershed, with the flavor of the Hollywood film industry, huge Chinese commercial blockbusters have taken the stage.

《Letter of Submission》

Because of the catalysis of "Hero", the commercialization of the Chinese film market has also landed rapidly, and the cinema line has entered a period of prosperity and expansion.

It was in 2002 that the total box office of the Chinese mainland film market has maintained positive growth every year.

At the same time, "Hero" is also the first mainland commercial blockbuster to go to the world.

So far, it has grossed $177 million worldwide, but it is still untouched.

It is the only mainland film in more than 20 years to be nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in American Cinema.

American film critic Roger Ebert once said of "Hero": for the first time, martial arts movies have a poetic meaning.

Looking back at those milestone films in the history of Chinese film, which one is not thick and thin?

From technical adventure to artistic exploration, he gradually formed his own film industry system and expression style.

Hidden behind.

It is a craftsman spirit of Chinese filmmakers.

When "The Bridge" was filmed, there were two stories like this:

The first is Yu Yang, who plays a worker, and the costume is borrowed directly from the worker.

It turned out to be a lot of lice inside.

In order to restore the living conditions of the workers at that time, Yu Yang insisted on wearing this dress to shoot the whole movie.

Second, when shooting the molten steel from the flat furnace, the splash of high-temperature steel splashed on the photographer and lit the cotton suit.

But at that time, the film was so precious that he continued to shoot until three colleagues covered him with wet quilts and the fire was extinguished.

Bloodthirsty, a movie.

Think of the current film and television industry", "special effects buns", "Mr. Digital".

At the crossroads of art and commerce in the world of cinema.

In the future one after another "new" mileage cards ahead.

Have we forgotten something?

Text/Porco Rosso Watch Movie Editorial Department: Polluk

(Image from network infringement deleted)