The Spring Festival file has come to an end, and after fierce competition, the major films have finally settled the dust and waited for the report card. "Four Seas", which has attracted much attention, the box office and word-of-mouth seem to disappoint the audience, as of the date of publication, the cumulative box office is 500 million, the total ranking of the schedule is fifth, and the current daily box office has fallen out of the top six, with a Douban score of 5.6 and a recommendation of 45%, becoming the lowest rating of director Han Han.
"There is Liu Haocun resolutely not to look!" "Too little ton!" "Watching the movie where the protagonist dies during the Spring Festival is really obscure." "This is Han Han's worst movie." "The story is not convincing enough, and the director's narrative ability is too poor."
In the midst of resistance and complaining, Han Han did not choose to stand up and defend his work. To this end, Aoyi News reporter interviewed Mr. Cai Chongda, a well-known writer in China, as a close friend of Han Han who met from his youth, Han Han always looked forward to his movie evaluation.
Source: "Four Seas" Weibo
Initially, Cai Chongda confessed to reporters: I don't want to accept an interview, for fear that the talk will not be fair enough. But after much entanglement, Cai Chongda still decided to explore the director's perspective of "Four Seas". However, during the interview, he also repeatedly stressed: "There is no doubt that a writer can never ask the reader, and the film cannot ask the audience." The director made a film that did not get the audience, and the responsibility certainly did not lie with the audience, so I especially understand the public's surprise at the film. ”
Writer Cai Chongda Photo source: "Skin Bag" propaganda photo
Subheading
Han Han wants to express the impermanence of life, and the audience expects realistic comedy
Cai Chongda told reporters that Han Han actually wanted to talk about "the impermanence of life" through "Four Seas".
This point, the audience also has some experience, the reporter after watching the film, interviewed several passers-by audience, the protagonist is unlucky, the reality is cruel, became their consistent feelings, and then the reporter asked: "Director Han Han wants to express the 'impermanence of life', will you feel that the concept of bad luck and impermanence is similar?" The answer is the same – "almost."
Is Han Han's unsatisfactory performance in this movie simply because of bad luck? Definitely not. However, jumping out of the quality of the film content, first from the perspective of post-marketing publicity and public opinion evaluation, people have to sigh a sentence of "impermanence".
Left: February 10 box office ranking Right: "Four Seas" daily box office changes Source: Cat's Eye Movie
Before the release of the film, the audience felt that the main publicity was misplaced.
The film is named "Four Seas", but the scene only switches between the island and Guangzhou, and does not have the grandeur of the four seas as home, and the main theme of "impermanence" is not clearly expressed.
Cai Chongda also believes that this is a pity for the film: "The reason why the publicity result is misplaced may be that there is no time to communicate better with the publicity team, so that the audience thinks that this is not a more profound work." Because until a few days before the release, he was still in an all-night revision, too hurried, if there is a discussion, I would also suggest that he preview the concept of life and the core point of the film. ”
In fact, the original promotional video of Sihai seems to be trying to cater to the Spring Festival file, and the trailer frequently exports comedy synonym - Shen Teng, coupled with Han Han's humorous lines, making the audience naturally think that this is a comedy with a realistic theme. When the reporter interviewed the movie-going crowd, they also generally thought so.
"The film is a popular product, I may think that Han Han first took care of self-expression, when introduced to the audience, the expression is not accurate enough, resulting in a certain dislocation of the connection, and this sense of dislocation has become a sense of consternation, how can the story not be realistic? Why not the old age before the old age? Coupled with some negative factors, including the audience's comments on the heroine, etc., some emotional criticism has sprung up. ”
In addition, the film's dedication to the Spring Festival file is not conducive to the presentation of the story itself.
The reporter previously interviewed a number of film industry veterans, who all said that the current film market generally tends to be released in popular slots to reduce risks, coupled with Han Han's film has always met with the audience in the Spring Festival slot before, so it seems reasonable that the tragic core of "Four Seas" finally chose the Spring Festival slot to be released.
However, the background of the tragedy makes "Four Seas" seem out of place in the Spring Festival movies, which is also a reason why Cai Chongda believes that the box office of "Four Seas" is not ideal. Cai Chongda said: "Why choose the Spring Festival file, I did not ask him this question, but I understand that one of the possibilities is that the creators will actually know that they cannot do it, Han Han wants to try it, in the Spring Festival file challenge to present a different type of film, even if the result is not good, it can also stimulate the Spring Festival film genre to try." ”
However, rebellion often has a price, "the public's heart is thicker, more textured, can fully accept heavy expression, but under the general trend of the Spring Festival, not necessarily psychologically prepared, and the New Year context is not in line with, coupled with Han Han's communication with the publicity team is not very good, so that the audience finally holds a relaxed mentality to see, but is required to think about life, which will make the audience confused, and even have emotions, 'I am not going to see your thing'. Speaking of 'impermanence' should be quieter, or even relatively calm, during the Spring Festival, it is biased towards the carnival of the public."
Source: Zhihu
Finally, it is necessary to mention the uncertainty factors that have caused the problems caused by the film box office.
One of the reasons why "Four Seas" was on the cusp of the storm before and after the release of the film was as netizens said: "The stock is too high." The major platforms of the film publicity and comment area are almost full of "unfortunately, there is Liu Haocun." "If you have Liu Haocun, you won't look at it." Sound.
What did Liu Haocun, the "girl", do wrong? Make the audience so repulsive?
Liu Haocun just debuted in Zhang Yimou's many movies, and also played the heroine with Yi Yangqianxi, which can be described as a star. However, not long after, some media broke the news that Liu Haocun's parents, as public officials, illegally operated a dance training institution, and due to improper teaching, resulting in a girl's lower limb paralysis and permanent disability. And after the court awarded compensation, Liu Haocun's parents repeatedly appealed and refused to compensate the amount. The dispute lasted for 6 years, until Liu Haocun was identified by Zhang Yimou as the heroine of the film, and the victim received compensation. Liu Haocun's parents explained that funds were tight before.
The dispute put Liu Haocun on the cusp of the storm, it is worth mentioning that when this incident was exposed, the movie "Four Seas" was only about a month away from the end, and it was not easy to change the heroine. But now "Four Seas" has been questioned by a huge network because of Liu Haocun's part of the reason, is it unexpected? Will investors reassess the impact of the controversial artists on the box office? "Four Seas" has become a phenomenon worth exploring, even if it cannot give a rigorous data answer.
Liu Haocun attended the party Image source: Screenshot of the program
"Four Seas" is an allegorical film, but this breakthrough is not a success
For this movie, Han Han said: I want to express many of his views on life in recent years.
Among the many criticisms, the main voice is still questioning Han Han's control of the story, believing that he is good at prose, not narrative, resulting in the whole story not close to life and unconvincing. "Small-town youth don't even use a room card." "Han Han still hasn't been to work and doesn't understand the real society."
Therefore, it seems that "Four Seas", which wants to expose the cruelty of real society, is naturally defined as a realist film, but Cai Chongda told reporters that in fact, "Four Seas" is originally intended to be an allegorical film, not to express a story, but to express a certain feeling of the creator, the mode of understanding of the world, and then to reverse the construction of the world.
Source: Official Weibo
Han Han hopes to use the film to tell the story of the relatively scarce domestic, at this point, Cai Chongda, who pursues objective and calm discussion, chooses to directly "speak" for Han Han, refuting that Han Han is not sincere and lazy to evaluate the film.
"In my opinion, Han Han's first few films are relatively easy to make, because they are based on their own lives, including "Flying Life", which is a tribute to a real person, based on archetypal transformation, or based on the characters around his life. But he could have continued the old way, and the film chose to try to break through, based on some metaphor for the world, to construct the story backwards, and from the creator's point of view, it is good to try to break through. This film is his most sincere. ”
However, sincerity is not necessarily perceived by the audience, trying to break through is bound to be risky, Cai Chongda also objectively affirmed the flaws in "Four Seas": "The work has regrets and flaws. We looked for a lot of external reasons, but there must be his own problems, allegorical stories, han Han chose more realistic material, making it more difficult for the audience to enter this setting, resulting in confusion and understanding bias. In addition, many expressions just open a head, the production is not in place, the skeleton is intact, but the flesh and blood do not grow well, so that the audience feels scattered. ”
Left: "Miracle" Right: "Watergate Bridge" Source: Official Weibo
In fact, not only does Han Han want to try something in the Spring Festival file, Cai Chongda also mentioned in an interview that in fact, the entire Spring Festival film has made breakthroughs in various latitudes. In terms of production, the producer of "Chosin Lake" initially advanced money to shoot in winter, challenging to find three directors to make a big production in the context of the epidemic, and now it is turning against the wind. In terms of actors, top star Yi Yi Qianxi also tried to choose a more artistically challenging script, "not only good taste, but also taking on the responsibility of an actor."
"From the perspective of the creator, a group of Chinese films are trying to explore and break through, all trying to get rid of the original inertia, which is very meaningful, and it is also the meaning of "Four Seas", right? Crouching down to jump higher, and sometimes being stunned is not a bad thing, it is better than being static. ”
Maybe "Four Seas" for Han Han is like the hero who finally wants to challenge the leap over the Pearl River, although he reached the other side, he also fell to the ground, it is difficult not to be considered successful, and then will continue to leap and challenge success? I am afraid that it is necessary to look at the works he will hand over next, so that the audience and the market can evaluate, after all, the film has always been the art of the public, not the author's personal expression.
Aoyi news reporter Liu Jie