When did the rise of "Chinese blockbusters" begin?
From Chen Kaige's "Farewell to the Overlord" to Zhang Yimou's "Hero", Chinese cinema has entered a stage of explosive expansion after entering the millennium.
With movies such as "Wolf Warrior 2", "Nezha's Devil Boy Descending", and "The Wandering Earth" breaking box office records one after another, the number of "popular" movies has gradually increased, but we must not forget those "acclaimed" movies.
Therefore, we may wish to take a look at what are the ten best movies in the past decade.
(Considering the influence of the film and the credibility of the score, the following 10 movies are ranked according to the domestic cinema films with a Douban rating of 10W+.) ）
10. "Burst into Silence"
Release date: 2017
Douban score / number of people: 8.3 points / 390,000
A suspenseful crime masterpiece not to be missed.
In 2013, director Xin Yukun's debut feature film "Labyrinth of Hearts" was released, which was shortlisted for the Venice International Film Festival, Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards and other domestic and foreign awards, and since then he has also become a remarkable presence among young directors in China.
As his second work, "Bursting into Silence" is mainly about Zhang Baomin (Song Yang), a non-speaking miner, who embarks on the road to find his son after his wife Cui Xia (Tan Zhuo) tells him that his son is missing, and in the process, he uncovers the secrets of coal boss Chang Wannian (Jiang Wu) and lawyer Xu Wenjie (Yuan Wenkang).
The film's creative inspiration comes from social news, whether it is the bottom of the aphasia or the boss who eats lamb, it is full of symbols and metaphors, which is very intriguing.
It is worth mentioning that the popularity of Song Yang and Tan Zhuo at that time was not high, and the box office appeal of the whole movie from the main creator to the main actor was insufficient, so it only received 54 million box office that year, but with the fermentation of word of mouth, more and more people paid attention to this movie after this.
In general, under the cloak of suspenseful reasoning, the film actually has a fierce criticism of reality, although the plot has some logical problems, but it is still a relatively rare presence in Chinese films.
09. Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage
Release date: 2015
Douban score / number of people: 8.3 points / 590,000
A milestone in the rise of Guoman.
Although the slogan of the rise of the national comic has been shouted for many years, for Chinese animation films, "The Return of the Great Sage" is undoubtedly a work of pioneering significance.
This film tells the story of Sun Wukong, who has been pressed under the mountain for five hundred years, and after meeting the Tang monk Jiang Liu'er, he fights with the demon king and finds his original intention and realizes mutual redemption.
The storyline of the film has been mixed and turned, the narrative has been relatively mature, and the whole team has spent 8 years to make up for the gap with foreign 3D animation production technology.
In the process of production, director Tian Xiaopeng also went to his relatives to borrow money because of the shortage of funds.
However, it is the image of Sun Wukong, who is "the least like a monkey", with a little bit of laughter and tears, with excellent word of mouth plus tap water to sell Amway, and finally "miraculously" earned 940 million box office.
Because of the success of this film, it also gave confidence to many animated film creators and the market, and even the People's Daily considered it to be a rare phenomenon in Chinese animation films in the past decade.
Next, the director's self-written and self-directed new work "The Deep Sea", which is expected to be released in 2021, may be able to build on more innovations on the basis of the previous work.
08. "Donkey Got Water"
Release date: 2016
Douban score / number of people: 8.3 points / 730,000
Who would have thought that the absurd comedy of domestic movies could be made like this?
As the second big-screen work of Happy Twist, "Donkey Gets Water" is adapted from Zhou Shen and Liu Lu's drama work of the same name, telling a series of stories about a group of "misbehaving" teachers who falsely reported a donkey as a teacher's salary in a remote school during the Republic of China period.
Whether it is Zhang Yiman, played by Ren Suxi, or The fiery Zhou Tienan, the unscrupulous coppersmith, or the principal who seems to be a good father, the film shows the hypocrisy and viciousness of the so-called "intellectuals", and conducts a deep discussion of the complexity and darkness of human nature.
In addition to all kinds of baggage and meat strips in the movie, its means of borrowing ancient irony and present can't help but make people laugh bitterly, and the theme song "I Want You" sung by Old Wolf and Ren Suxi was also sung for a while.
However, the film's stage drama in the form of screen division and performance is stronger, and later, the second work "Half a Comedy" written and directed by Zhou Shen and Liu Lu continues the satire of reality in the previous work, and the "sense of film" is further strengthened.
Their next work is worth looking forward to.
07. Operation Red Sea
Release date: 2018
Douban score / number of people: 8.3 points / 870,000
One of the representative works of China's main theme blockbuster.
Following the success of "Operation Mekong", Lin Chaoxian, who "went north" to shoot the main theme film, proved his strength, and thus could cost up to 500 million yuan when shooting "Operation Red Sea".
The inspiration for the film is also derived from reality, telling the story of the 8-member team of the "Jiaolong Commando" of the Chinese Navy who smashed the conspiracy of terrorists in a harsh environment during the evacuation mission.
As the "devil director" of the actor's mouth, Lin Chaoxian has enough hardcore action scenes in his works, so in the film we can see many shocking scenes shooting including sea, land and air three-line scheduling.
Under the rain of bullets and artillery fire, the cruelty of the war is intuitively presented in front of the audience, but the plot from the beginning to the end of the film will give people a cool feeling while also making the audience fall into some fatigue.
At present, the film ranks fifth in the Chinese film box office list with 3.65 billion yuan at the box office – and we finally have enough hardcore military action blockbusters.
06. "Young You"
Release date: 2019
Douban score / number of people: 8.3 points / 1.23 million
Directors in Hong Kong, China, also have successors.
Following the emergence of "July and Ansheng", director Zeng Guoxiang brought another annual topic work.
The film focuses on the story of Chen Nian, a high school senior who encountered bullying on campus, and after meeting Xiao Bei, the two triggered a series of chain reactions.
Among them, the lead actor Zhou Dongyu boldly shaved her head, and contributed to a unique crying scene, from the Hong Kong Academy Awards to the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Award, this role allowed her to take the "queen of the film" to get soft;
And the four-character brother who dedicated the first kiss on the screen, the big screen debut showed that he was out of control, and since then he has joined the new generation of acting schools.
In addition to the starring actors who are very brilliant from image to acting, the film combines cruel youth with school bullying, and also has a certain depth in the presentation of college entrance examination elements and class differences, which has resonated with many people.
The phrase "You protect the world, I protect you" is full of youthful spirits - this is also a story about growth and the dignity of teenagers.
However, it should not be ignored that the original novel created by Jiu Yuexi fell into the controversy of "melting the stem", which also affected the reputation of the entire film to a certain extent.
05. "Love and Affection"
Douban score / number of people: 8.4 points / 150,000
Such a family drama should appear on the big screen in China.
Zhang Aijia, who has entered the film industry since the age of 19, integrates singer, actor, screenwriter and director identity, and is one of the representative figures of the Taiwanese film industry, and "Love and Affection" is the 10th film she directed.
The screenplay of the film originally came from the story of screenwriter You Xiaoying's own family, and then it also incorporated Zhang Aijia's personal experience, which took a total of 4 years to polish.
The film starts from a "grave removal" incident, showing the love story of three generations of women, from husband and wife to family relationship, experiencing a series of events, they finally understand each other from contradictions and differences.
It can be seen that Zhang Aijia, with her unique female perspective, makes the emotions of the whole film delicate and sincere at the same time, but also satirizes the reality of the media and cumbersome certification, which is more thick.
In addition to Zhang Aijia, the film brings together Tian Zhuangzhuang, Wu Yanshu, Li Xuejian and other old drama bones, but also Lang Yueting, Geng Le, Liu Reuying, Wang Zhiwen to join, and all the leading actors have contributed superb acting skills in the film.
Among them, the most memorable is the couple's dialogue:
"Why are you always so happy when I'm angry?"
"Because I know you care about me."
04. The Piano of Steel
Release date: 2010
Douban score / number of people: 8.4 points / 290,000
A grossly underrated small-budget film.
Zhang Meng, a director who grew up in the old industrial zone in northeast China, brought this self-written and self-directed "The Piano of Steel" and sang the elegy of the working class.
The film takes place in the early 1990s, after chen guilin (Wang Qianyuan), a former steel factory worker, was laid off, his wife Xiaoju (Zhang Shenying) prepared to divorce him, facing his daughter Xiaoyuan, whose parents were fighting for his custody:
Whoever buys me a piano, I will follow.
As a result, the poor Chen Guilin, unable to afford to buy a piano, after failing to steal the piano, sets out with his girlfriend (Qin Hailu) and the good brothers of the steel factory to prepare to build a piano.
As a film about the joys and sorrows of small people under the trend of the big times, the film uses non-linear narrative techniques, interspersed with surrealist situations, contains a vibrant sense of humor and humanistic care for the working class, and the rough industrial punk style makes the whole film unique.
Among them, Qin Hailu not only starred in zero film remuneration, but also paid for the film when it was about to fail to shoot due to lack of funds, but due to the lack of traffic stars and publicity, the film finally only received about 6.5 million box office.
The industrial memory that never fades, although the narrative and structure are slightly loose, but it should not be forgotten.
03. The Twelve Citizens
Release date: 2014
Adaptations can also produce great works.
The 1957 American film "Twelve Angry Men", with a score of 9.4 on the Douban Top 250 list, is a classic in film history that cannot be missed, and "Twelve Citizens" is based on it.
The film sets the scene in the mock court of a university, around the "20-year-old rich second generation father killing" case, 12 parents of students from different classes formed a jury, in order to make the opinions reach an agreement, everyone began to analyze all the clues, and the story behind each person also surfaced.
In a fierce debate, the film involves practical issues such as the gap between the rich and the poor, regional discrimination, etc., which can be called a reflection on the judiciary and a reflection on society, and the story has a lot of localization.
Among them, because the story of the film basically takes place in an indoor closed environment, relying on the character's large lines to develop the plot, including he Bing, Han Tongsheng and other powerful actors, the 12 jurors in the film are all from drama actors.
However, although there are many Chinese adaptations of the film, the overall skill is still slightly inferior to that of the classic.
02. "Dear"
Douban score / number of people: 8.4 points / 430,000
A heavy tear gas.
After "China Partner", the old duo of Chen Kexin and Zhang Ji paid attention to the social problems of child trafficking and created this "anti-abduction theme" movie "Dear".
The film revolves around the parents who lost their children led by Tian Wenjun and looked around for their children, and the perspectives of Li Hongqin, a rural father and daughter who raised abducted children, and the plot is full of contradictions and tension.
Among them, Zhao Wei, who refused to act many times, finally provoked the beam and appeared in the film with a full vegetarian face, a messy short hair, and rustic clothes, and the whole film spoke the dialect of her hometown Wuhu, which was a great breakthrough for her.
The most tear-inducing scene in the film is the painful scene of Li Hongqin, who is not her biological mother, being taken away by the police and inseparable from her children.
Regardless of blood maternal love, the conflict between law and love is shown to the extreme here, coupled with the addition of Huang Bo, Tong Dawei, Hao Lei, Zhang Yi and other acting schools, the whole movie makes the audience have a full sense of substitution.
Of course, compared with the real "human tragedy" of child trafficking, the film is generally more sensational and less intense.
01. "I Am Not a Medicine God"
Douban score / number of people: 9.0 points / 1.66 million
Nearly ten years of domestic cinema film reputation ceiling!
Following "Crazy Stone", "Crazy Racing", "No Man's Land", and "Heart Flower Road Release", the five-degree cooperation between Ning Hao and Xu Zheng, a good brother, once again surprised everyone.
The film is adapted from the real story of Lu Yong, a slow-grain leukemia patient who buys anti-cancer drugs on behalf of him, telling the story of Cheng Yong, the owner of the shen oil shop who lives a nest life, after inadvertently becoming the exclusive agent of the Indian generic drug "Glenin", after saving countless people, he became a "medicine god", but he fell into a dilemma.
From the perspective of the starring actors, there is Tan Zhuo, who has practiced for less than 20 seconds of pole dancing drama for a month and a half, and Wang Chuanjun, who jumped rope 8,000 times a day, lost more than 20 pounds, and did not sleep for two days for a play;
Judging from the story plot, there are laughs about selling fake health care products, tears about leukemia patients living and dying, and pain points that can't afford genuine expensive drugs:
"There is only one disease in the world, and that is the disease of poverty."
It can be said that the whole movie is almost impossible to fault in all aspects from the actor's acting skills, storyline, and ideological value, which can be called a realistic theme masterpiece.
Therefore, the film not only won 3.1 billion box office, but also became the 44th place in the Top250 with a Douban score of 9 points, and also let the young director Wen Muye have a name here.
The existence of "I Am Not a Medicine God" shows that censorship production is not an excuse, and China can still make a highly complete film masterpiece.
In general, among the ten best-known films in the past decade, there are films with suspense, comedy, animation, emotion and other themes, including blockbuster films such as "Red Sea Action" and "I Am Not a Medicine God", as well as relatively unpopular films such as "Love and Affection" and "The Piano of Steel".
However, most of the word-of-mouth works are closely related to reality, which shows the continuation of the realist film tradition in China.
So, which of the ten movies you haven't seen yet?
Bluestone Film Editorial Office | Morning
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