Zhang Ailing has a famous saying in "Genius Dream":
Life is a splendid robe covered with lice.
This sentence is slightly changed, which can be used as the overall evaluation of Xu Anhua's new film "The First Burning Incense":
A gorgeous robe crawled with lice. One star to Du Kefeng.
To be honest, before watching the movie, I also read some information, and I was somewhat expectant.
After all, the production team is really eye-catching:
Original, Zhang Ailing; Screenwriter, Wang Anyi; Director, Xu Anhua; Director of Photography, Du Kefeng; Costumes, Emi Wada; Music, Ryuichi Sakamoto...
The cast is not bad:
Yu Feihong, Ma Sichun, Peng Yuyan, Liang Luoshi, Zhang Junning, Zhang Jianning, Fan Wei, Qin Pei, Yin Fang...
The result? Solidly empty.
As soon as the end credits came out, I left the scene.
It's not my habit, but because the movies are too boring.
Why should I waste any more time waiting for it to really end!
Generally speaking, a theatrical film will have at least a few highlights.
But "The First Incense" from beginning to end, can you find out even if you lose it?
After thinking about it for a long time, I could only reluctantly convince Hua Dao and photography that it was okay.
As for the rest, see where "wrong" it is.
No wonder the Douban score was only 5.9 points, and it fell all the way to 5.6 points.
Undoubtedly, this is the most "bad" time since director Xu Anhua from the film.
"Dune", released on the same day, has a box office of 7 times that of "The First Burning Incense".
Obviously, whether it is word of mouth or box office, it has hit the street.
Since the casting was announced two years ago, the actor has become the biggest "controversy" of the film.
In a word, the "Camel Shoko" version of "First Furnace Steel".
Before the wave of "group ridicule", I did not care too much, always felt "unfair".
Although the casting is far from the description of the original work, I have not seen the finished film, and there is always hope.
When Xu Anhua filmed "Golden Age", Feng Shaofeng and Tang Wei played Xiao Jun and Xiao Hong.
At that time, many viewers also wondered, worried that the external image was not like, could it be performed well?
Facts have proved that Feng Shaofeng's "lover's eyes" and Tang Wei's "stubborn and arrogant" temperament have injected soul into the characters.
However, this time, Ma Sichun and Peng Yuyan successfully "won the lottery", and almost the whole network was in the "batch".
Ge Weilong in the novel said this:
Slender nose, small fat mouth. Perhaps her facial expression is slightly lacking, but only because of this sluggishness, it shows the gentle and thick ancient Chinese atmosphere.
Where is Ma Sichun "slim"? "Sluggish" does not have to be performed.
Her skeleton itself is relatively large, plump and even strong.
Otherwise, how can it be said to be a "tiger girl"?
If the image is not well considered is the responsibility of the casting director, then the acting skills should be the responsibility of the actor himself.
But after watching the film, you want to sincerely say, "Ma Sichun will admit it, the talent is limited!" ”
As Ma Sichun's famous work is also its highlight moment, "July and Ansheng" made her awarded the "Golden Horse Shadow Queen".
However, whether this honor is truly deserved is quite controversial!
Zhou Dongyu later at least had "Young You", what about Ma Sichun?
The gap between two people, needless to say.
In "The First Burning Incense", Ge Weilong just appeared in that section, and Ma's performance was acceptable.
The timidity and shyness of an untrained high school student are well expressed, at least the expression is credible.
It is only with the advancement of the plot and the changes in the environment in which the characters are located, ma Sichun can no longer "transform" with the characters.
Some people say that Ma Sichun is only suitable for playing a "well-behaved girl", she can only be a quiet July, and she can never be a rebellious self-ansheng.
Now, there is some truth to this statement.
When Ma Sichun met Ge Weilong, he had both the helplessness of innocent "lying guns" and the inevitability of his own limited ability.
Compared with the evaluation of the female one, the male protagonist Peng Yuyan is slightly better.
Although his muscular body lost its charm in the film, and even dragged his hind legs, fortunately, the brother he portrayed was still a bit "god-like".
Playboy Georgie Joe's profligate, greasy, cynical charm is still there, especially when the tendon flesh is not exposed.
It's just that he has always been known for his action scenes, and his strength is "heaven and earth", rather than falling in love.
He didn't have the white, thin, and somewhat gentlemanly demeanor that Georgie Joel needed:
Even the lips were pale, like plaster.
And the charm of both good and evil.
For the presentation of love dramas, Peng Yuyan is clumsy.
Coupled with Ma Sichun's lack of aura, the two could not rub a spark at all, only "embarrassment".
Even the passion scene is too obvious to finish the task.
Director Xu Anhua's scheduling is extremely rigid, the camera position is basically not moving, and the erotic scene is so boring.
Comparatively speaking, the aunt played by Yu Feihong, regardless of appearance or acting skills, is the most comfortable one.
It's just that she has not acted for a long time, and her desire to perform is too strong, giving people the feeling of either too much force or too contrived.
If Mrs. Liang's role is replaced by someone else, perhaps the effect will be much better, such as:
He Saifei, Tranquility, Jiang Wenli.
To tell the truth, Yu Feihongsheng is not good at appearance and acting, but he still prefers to see her on the cover of the magazine.
The three leading actors are generally dissatisfied, not only in age and appearance are not suitable for the original work, but also the performance method is more modern.
However, several supporting roles are "points of view".
Teacher Fan Wei, who won the Golden Horse Film Emperor with "No Problem", once he encounters an inappropriate role, he is also weak.
The Situ he plays wanders between aunts and nephews, and is the "party A" that they can parasitize.
However, the visual sense of "the next person" and "clown" was performed, and the only laugh point in the movie was also contributed by Teacher Fan Wei.
Zhang Junning and Zhang Jianning playEda and Xiao'er respectively, they are two maids with different personalities.
Whether it is demure and non-committal or open-minded and fierce, both of them act well.
Unlike the "acting" of the three leading actors, the harder they work, the more they prove that they are not in the state.
For a film, the performance is floating on the outside, and it can be most immediately perceived by the audience.
It is precisely this superficial layer that "The First Incense" failed.
The actor does not meet the role, and can not be saved in the acting skills, and the play has become inevitable.
This also includes the fragmentation of lines and the lack of uniform style.
The first half mostly copied the tone of the original novel, and the traces of Zhang Ailing's imitation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" can be clearly felt.
For example, Ge Weilong said to Wei'er:
Who among my aunt's friends? It is not a young man who is like a slippery dancer, or a master of the three palaces and six concubines. Otherwise, it was the British soldiers. Officers above the rank of lieutenant are not willing to deal with the yellow race! This is Hong Kong!
The original lines in the second half are so blunt that they taste the same as chewing wax, as if they have traveled to the twenty-first century.
For example, when Georgie Joe flirts, he says:
I can't give you love, but I can give you joy!
Nima, isn't this Guo Jingming?
As a period drama set in the colonial era of Hong Kong, cantonese and Shanghainese actually appear in the film.
However, the mixture is Mandarin and Taiwanese.
The "mistakes" of the casting, the mediocrity of the performance, the actors do not present the complexity of the role at all.
As a result, the characters cannot stand up and are in a "floating" posture.
In terms of narrative rhythm, it is very stable, and it is impossible to perceive the change of starting and ending.
In short, the look and feel of this movie is that after watching it, there is no empathy for the characters, and I can't remember which scene is impressive. 、
I can only sigh at the 144-minute duration, what exactly was filmed?
The root cause is the director's misinterpretation of the original work, and the screenwriter's adaptation did not dig into the things behind Zhang Ailing's text.
Zhang Ailing is not a writer who says everything clearly, she is used to hiding.
Through the love desire of men and women, it reflects the dazedness, loss, and depravity of human nature in the face of the big times.
The surface is flashy and glamorous, but the inside is wrapped in the alienation of human nature intertwined with materialism, love, and class.
Xu Anhua abandoned the "fullness" and complexity of the original work, and only tried to interpret the love in it.
This simplistic treatment, although clear in the focus of the story, is much less interesting.
As a result, we see that the three protagonists in the movie are all driven by lust.
Regardless of gender or age, they all "hunt" like hunters, especially Georgie Joe and Mrs. Leung.
In essence, the three are one kind of people, that is, "parasites" attached to others, using each other, but seeking to maintain the luxurious life in front of them.
The pity is that it has lost the support of an independent personality, has a rotten body, and has no human soul.
Therefore, beneath the surface of the golden jade, there is a twisted mind.
Mrs. Liang borrowed a rich merchant man to ascend to the throne and inherited the inheritance, and she could squander money and squander time in the "Little White House" in the mountains.
Georgie Joe's mother died early, and his rich father did not like it, he knew that he had no money and no ability, and could only rely on his skin bag and mouth to fool around.
Ge Weilong has nothing, but he longs to step into high society and wants to get the love of men.
Is it sad or stupid to willingly put out a moth to a fire when you know that you are not married, and then become a tool for collecting wealth?
Compared with the involuntary and unconscious complexity of the characters in the pursuit of materialism, class leaps, and even erotic pursuits, the fierce confrontation between the characters' struggles and a strong sense of destiny, they are only soberly degenerating in the film.
If you compare the works of the other three directors about that era, the disappointment will be even more explosive.
Hou Xiaoxian's "Flowers on the Sea" is particularly outstanding in its accurate capture of the life atmosphere of people in the old era.
Guan Jinpeng's "Ruan Lingyu", Maggie Cheung and Wu Qihua's casting is in place, completely releasing the style of the characters.
Ang Lee's "Color, Ring", the delicate revelation of the psychological changes of the characters, and the elaboration of the Costume Tao, are unforgettable.
And Xu Anhua's "First Burning Incense", what is it?