Wen | Ling Fox Bo Guang
There have been two films released in the Chinese film market recently, but apart from the previous Hollywood blockbuster "Fast and Furious 9", there is nothing worth talking about.
Among them, there is a small-budget opera movie, but it has made a small fire on the Chinese Internet.
This movie is the opera movie "White Snake Legend " Love " directed by Zhang Jianfeng, written by Mo Fei, and starring Zeng Xiaomin and Wen Ruqing.
This movie said that the fire is indeed a fire, that is, you can see a lot of people in Amway on the Internet, saying that it is a "small fire" is just a shouting of netizens in the sales force, and it is not because of how much word of mouth has improved the box office (or there is still a certain improvement).
It's been 12 days since the film was released, but it's now less than 10 million at the box office.
Although the amway box office of amway netizens has risen to a certain extent because of word-of-mouth, a network platform predicts that the final box office is only more than 11 million, and I don't know how much investment in this film is not known whether to make money.
However, such a niche dialect movie, an opera movie, still makes many audiences cry in the cinema.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > pure oriental aesthetics, and traditional Chinese culture is intoxicating</h1>
I personally don't understand opera, and I'm fine for Cantonese movies, but I've been in tears several times in the cinema process, probably because of the very pure beauty of traditional oriental culture presented in the movie.
I wrote the recommendation for the movie "White Snake" earlier than many people, and re-watched the first trailer of this movie in December 2019.
I personally left a comment after seeing it, and it didn't take long to write a manuscript recommending it.
I was really excited when I saw the trailer for this movie, and the reason was that I had already said that it was rotten.
Since 2010, all kinds of costume films in China have not cared about the ideological core expressed in the film (they can't pull the core at all), because their superficial art aesthetics, costumes and special effects treatment methods have been widely reduced to copying the Western film and television industry.
For example, the well-known superstar-studded "Legend of the Fengshen Gods".
Mingming is an ancient Chinese myth, and as a result, the Shang Dynasty's Chaoge City was a Western castle, and the Chinese monster nine-tailed fox was shaped into Cleopatra.
Other myths, martial arts, immortals, fantasy, no matter what the theme, anyway, they will give you a copy of Western culture and the film and television industry.
In those years, Chinese costume films led by big Hong Kong directors, such as Zheng Baorui's version of the "Journey to the West" series, Xu Chengyi's "Catch the Demon Series", "Four Famous Catches", "Zhong Kui Voldemort", "Wulin Monster", "2017 Version of Qimen Dunjia", "The Legend of The Dragon Pearl" and so on.
It can be said that there is one that counts one, and all of them are not in the middle of the ocean, and there is no kind of art aesthetic.
Of course, the works of some big mainland directors are not much better, Zhang Yimou's "The Great Wall", and the well-known "Asura" and so on.
Among them, the best filmed by Hong Kong and Taiwan directors is Chow Sing Chi's "Journey to the West Series" and Xu Ke's "Di Renjie" series.
However, there is still a big gap compared with the costume films of mainland directors, because in the past ten years, we have "Daming Robbery" and "Liu Ruyi", Zhang Yimou has filmed "Shadow", and Chen Kaige has filmed "The Legend of the Demon Cat", which is still much better than that of Hong Kong and Taiwan directors.
Among them, Lu Yang, a young director in the mainland, from "Embroidered Spring Knife" to "Assassination of a Novelist".
While adhering to the aesthetics of oriental traditional culture and fine arts, he has a greater role in promoting the exploration, excavation and establishment of China's film and television industry.
At present, the top domestic commercial special effects blockbusters in addition to "The Wandering Earth" is "Assassination of a Novelist".
However, because of the theme of "Assassination of a Novelist", the art still has a feeling of clearly borrowing from the Western world, but it is set in the oriental ancient feeling. That is to say, the oriental aesthetic restoration of the film is very good, but you can also see the shadow of the Western film and television industry everywhere.
This is not to blame this film, on the contrary, I think the film and television industry exploration and oriental aesthetic aesthetics of "Assassination of a Novelist" are very worthy of learning, learning and copying from future domestic costume films.
However, the art aesthetics of domestic costume films after 2010 are far inferior to costume dramas in the field of oriental aesthetics.
Because after the restoration of the oriental aesthetics of the "Langya List" in 2015, we still have works such as "Army-Master Alliance", "Do You Know If It Should Be Green Fat, Red and Thin", "Chang'an Twelve Hours" and so on, even if the Qing Dynasty aesthetics are advanced, there are "Yanxi Raiders".
All in all, Chinese costume films have been too badly lost in the field of oriental aesthetics.
I personally saw the trailer of "White Snake Romance" for the first time, I don't understand opera, cantonese also has a certain sense of distance, but I am thrilled by the pure oriental aesthetics displayed in it.
After the movie was released, I went to the movie theater to see the movie, and when the scene came out, I saw the face of the little sister on the boat and burst into tears.
Lotus flowers and lotus leaves, carp in the river, little sisters support the boat to pick lotus, the most suitable for oriental beauty makeup and clothing, some gentle, some beautiful, some playful, the classical beauty of oriental women to the fullest.
Later, Xu Xian and Bai Niangzi met the scene, the hazy mountains in the distance, the clear lake nearby, and the faint Chinese architecture, constructed a landscape painting that seemed to be one after another.
Later, the color of the wedding dress and the composition of the building, and then to the matching of the home appliances and so on.
Of course, there is also a battle scene praised by netizens, the scene where the White Lady steals the Lingzhi, the costume of the two fairy children of the crane and the deer, and the fighting method of the White Lady, which truly shows the imagination and charm of Chinese mythology.
Later, the special effects of the scene "Water Flooding Jinshan" that was praised by Wen Wei were also the same, and an opera movie with little investment actually made a myth of Chinese imagination, the scene of the Fairy War.
What impressed me most personally was the scene between the White Lady and the Eighteen Arhats.
The momentum of the Eighteen Arhats when they appeared really made people feel the majesty of the Dharma; and the white lady's trembling cloud sleeves were as beautiful as the flowing water of the clouds.
Anyway, if the regret of traditional Chinese aesthetics is probably only two points.
The first is the less serious demonization of the wings of fahai flying in the west (I think it should be better to change to Buddha's light), but it is not a big problem when you think about it.
Second, the courtyard where the White Lady and Xu Xian are located is a typical Japanese dry landscape, and it is a pity that the Song Dynasty landscape garden has not been restored.
But no matter what, the restoration of the Chinese oriental aesthetics of the film "White Snake" and the excavation at the film and television industry level are inexhaustible, and the most important one may be an opera film of about ten million.
It restores the oriental aesthetics, and the special effects hang a lot of costume blockbusters that have invested tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, are the most ironic.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="61" > Whitesnake is doomed, but we need more Whitesnake</h1>
To be objective, the viewing artistry of Cantonese opera is very different from the Cantonese drama series (such as Hong Kong opera) that everyone usually goes to see.
After all, Cantonese opera is a local drama genre, which is essentially not much different from Yue opera, Sichuan opera, Peking Opera, Huangmei opera and Kunqu opera in other parts of China.
For people who are not Cantonese-speaking areas or Cantonese, "foreigners" may not be able to grasp the charm of the singing tone in Cantonese opera.
The drama of a place must be closely related to the humanistic environment of this place, without the "edification" of the humanistic environment of this place, or without a long period of listening, you are unlikely to appreciate the charm and charm of this drama.
For example, Cantonese people may not understand the charm of Qin.
Moreover, compared with other "Mandarin" local operas, Cantonese opera is not like Yue opera and Huangmei opera, compared with Cantonese opera, Cantonese opera does not have a broad provincial base, which in addition to language reasons, but also has a lot to do with the audience of local dramas.
For example, when everyone mentions Peking Opera, they know that it is a "national essence", which has a lot to do with publicity and positioning.
Cantonese opera is not to say that for the vast number of Chinese audiences, it is also a "rare music" version of the existence of young people in Guangdong today.
In addition to listening to and singing a few modified Cantonese opera minor keys and popular music, how many young people can listen to the real traditional Cantonese opera and singing voice?
This Cantonese opera version of "White Snake Romance" can make a small fire, and I personally feel that in addition to the heritage of traditional culture itself, the beauty of traditional aesthetic culture brought by the film and television industry Sinochem.
One of the more important reasons is related to the fact that teenagers are increasingly fond of traditional culture. At the same time, because of the "capital feeding that" in the market, the audience is forced to make a choice.
In terms of traditional culture, this year's "Tang Palace Night Banquet" at the 2021 Henan Spring Festival Gala, and now "White Snake Romance", are all proofs of restoring the aesthetics of traditional culture.
As for what the capital feeds, the special effects invested in hundreds of millions of dollars are actually not as good as an opera movie, and it is needless to say.
Many of these commercial blockbusters have also publicized what China's first blockbuster, what Chinese cultural export, and as a result, even the aesthetics of Oriental art have not been done in the middle of the world, not in the same category.
Personally, when I watch this movie, I always think that if we have enough capital, the film and television company is like "Whitesnake".
There is enough investment to polish the script, polish the plot, polish the special effects, polish the music, and with the really powerful actors, what kind of films can we make?
"White Snake Romance" is the answer in my mind, pure oriental aesthetics, oriental stories with a foundation, the actor's makeup is perfect, the music is straight to the soul, the pure special effects are powerful, a random screenshot is a perfect wallpaper, the emotional expression is too strong and full, I almost tear while watching.
When I saw the White Lady stealing immortal grass, the White Lady Cloud Sleeve Fighting Eighteen Arhats and the Water Flood Golden Mountain Temple, I was so excited that my whole body trembled with goosebumps, and the tears could not be stopped.
Of course, "White Snake Romance" is an opera film after all, and it is destined to be very small in the current environment.
But if we use the attitude and technology of "White Snake Romance" to make film and television dramas, Chinese mythology, Chinese immortals, Chinese martial arts, Chinese fantasy and Chinese fantasy and so on.
Why can't we recreate the glory of Hong Kong costume films in "Ghost of a Woman" and "Green Snake"?
He Shuo truly established a film and television culture with Chinese aesthetics in the new era, and He Shuo exported Chinese popular culture——