Text/Yangcheng Evening News reporter Li Li
A "blockbuster" movie was born, it is Zheng Xiaolong's "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell", which brings together jiang Wen, Hu Jun, Sophie Marceau and other big-name actors. As of 10:00 on October 21, the film had only grossed 17.147 million yuan in more than 6 days of release; although the Douban score was as low as 3.5 points, it was quite popular, with as many as 9453 people scoring and more than 4300 netizens commenting. However, a large number of comments are spit on, and even some netizens spoof the title of the film as "spitting and hiding".
The popularity and word of mouth are inversely proportional, some netizens said that the last time such a situation occurred was zhang Yimou's work "The Great Wall" released in 2016 - the film invited international stars such as Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal, but after the release, it encountered bad reviews and spoofs, and the Douban score was only 4.9 points.
1 Knowing that it is rotten, I still go to see it
"Zheng Xiaolong, that year the apricot blossoms rained slightly, and all the beauty brought to me by "The Biography of Zhen Huan" has now been paid off, and from now on, you and I will not owe each other." Douban netizen "became a small Yan Hongzhi" commented on "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell". In the Douban short comment area of the film, there are many comments like this with half jokes. This is not similar to another low-scoring movie released in March this year, "The Sun Never Sets on the Hotel", which has a Douban score of 3.0. In the comment area of the movie, many netizens were angry that they had been "deceived" - they who had come to Shen Teng were surprised to find that Shen Teng's role in the film was just a piece of cardboard that would change his expression. The audience of "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell" seems to be mentally prepared that the film may not be good. Netizen "Ssst" commented after reading it: "I knew it was a bad movie, I didn't expect it to be so bad!" (Knowingly)"
The film's first day box office also shows that the public has not been optimistic about this big-name work from the beginning. On the day of its premiere on October 15, "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell" received 7.068 million yuan at the box office, failing to cross the 10 million yuan mark. In stark contrast, "Chosin Lake", which had been released for 16 days at the time, continued to support the day with a box office of more than 100 million yuan. Another work that can be compared is "Lyceum Theatre" directed by Lou Ye. The film premiered on the same day as "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell", and the box office on the first day was only 4.072 million yuan, and the 5.7% of the scheduled films accounted for only a quarter of the opponents. But just a day later, the proportion of "Lyceum Theatre" rose to 12.5%, while Turandot: The Origin of the Spell dropped to 9.5% from the previous 20.6%, and the box office of the day also lagged behind Lyceum Theatre. After that, the single-day box office of "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell" fell behind, and as of October 20, the film even grossed less than 570,000 yuan that day.
2 better than 1% of romance films
As a fantasy love genre movie, why can't "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell" still spell the "Lyceum Theatre" with black and white picture quality, literary niche, and is jokingly called by some fans as "three times more than "Clouds Made of Rain in the Wind"? Many viewers said that after watching the official plot summary of the former, they already felt bad. The Great Khanate sent troops on a campaign, and the army accidentally brought back the ancestral tricolor bracelet of the little king, and a spell that eroded the empire was opened. In order to save his daughter Turandot, who is possessed by a spell, the proud emperor searches for the world's capable people to break the situation. Karaf, an orphan who had wandered to the khanate since childhood, met and admired the princess. Sympathizing with Turandot's plight, Calaf spares his life to save his sweetheart, unaware that the spell is closely related to his mysterious origins. At this time, the imperial royal family set off a bloody storm because of the spell, and the murderous general wanted to seek power with the power of the tricolor bracelet, and the monarch was about to strike. Everyone is faced with a difficult choice, and several forces are gradually involved in the center of the vortex because of the spell...
As the synopsis is, the development of the story is basically driven by external events rather than the inner motivations of the characters. The Great Khanate went out to conquer a small country only because Princess Turandot accidentally fell because of a hole in the carpet that happened to be missing from the map of the Khan's conquest of the world. The murderous general's rebellion is also suspected of lack of motivation, more like a villain obstacle created by the screenwriters for Turandot and Caraf's love. The love and killing of the hero and heroine is equally unconvincingly sloppy. Calaf fell in love with Turandot only because of a glimpse of inadvertently breaking into the royal garden, and the affectionate confession of "my name is Blue Eyes, because my eyes are like a small blue flower, and the name of the flower is Don't Forget Me" not only did not move the audience, but was also jokingly called "the long-lost QQ space literary style".
Under the collective score of netizens, the douban page of the film shows that its rating is only better than 3% of fantasy films and 1% of romance films.
3 Only Jiang Wen's double ponytail is right
Zheng Xiaolong, the director of "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell", has shot the Douban 9.3 score of "Harem Zhen Huan Biography", the 8.5 points of "Golden Marriage" and the 8.4 score of "Beijingers in New York", Turandot: The Origin of the Spell undoubtedly set a new low in the reputation of his career. Also "involved" are Jiang Wen and Sophie Marceau, two world-class filmmakers. Hu Jun, who just moved many viewers to tears in "Chosin Lake", has become the laughing point of many netizens in this film - in order to train the "body of King Kong is not bad", the general he plays twice took off to stand in the magic fountain that resembles a hot spring, although from the expression to the words are "fierce", the effect is unbearable.
Netizens reported that the more big names, the more "mash-up" the style of "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell". Douban netizen "Yun chen" described: "Jiang Wenhujun is playing a good court drama, Dylan Sparks is playing "Game of Thrones", Zou Zhaolong is acting in a martial arts film, Sophie Marceau and Vincent Perez are playing "Days on the Clouds", and Guan Xiaotong is showing his talents in "Ace to Ace". It is worth mentioning that the kings and queens of small countries played by Sophie Marceau and Vincent Perez, the CP from the classic French romance film "Fangfang", are indeed very different from the "painting style" of other characters, and the two are shrouded in a hazy filter similar to the Elven Kingdom of the Lord of the Rings from beginning to end.
It doesn't seem fair to blame only the actors for their performances. Although Turandot: The Origin of the Spell is an alternate story, it still needs a complete worldview and a matching aesthetic system, but the crew seems to have forgotten to spend effort on it. Netizen "Chainsaw Jue Luo Xuan" also commented: "Although this is a fictional story, it is also too imaginative for a group of foreigners to appear in the Yuan Dynasty palace wearing Song Dynasty official clothes." The most right person to wear in the whole film is the sweat played by Jiang Wen, whose two "twisted braids" have been criticized in the promotion stage of the film, but the double ponytail shape is actually quite common among men in the Yuan Dynasty. However, the princess Turandot, played by Guan Xiaotong, has a garland on her head, a fluttering white dress, and a significant eye shadow, and her father does not seem to come from the same country.
4 Mo Zai filmed "Fake Oriental Story"
The "super blockbuster" that gathers big directors, big stars and big investments was once a common product of the chinese film market in its early take-off stage. Zhang Yimou, the fifth-generation director of China, is good at scheduling big scenes, but his "Hero", "Full of Golden Armor", "The Great Wall" and so on have been controversial by word of mouth. In recent years, capital has gradually calmed down, and the number of similar "super blockbusters" has gradually decreased, but there are still one or two from time to time. For example, in 2018, the action fantasy love blockbuster "Asura" directed by Zhang Peng, the so-called "Hollywood's top Chinese martial arts finger and executive director", Liu Jialing and Liang Jiahui escorted the new generation of actors Wu Lei, but also because of the bizarre plot and the problem of style splicing, it was complained by netizens as "The Lord of the Rings+ "Avatar" + "Song of Ice and Fire" + "Pirates of the Caribbean" + "How to Train Your Dragon" + "Golden Armor in the City" + "Seven Fairies of Joy and Joy" + "List of Gods", and the final Douban score was 3.0.
Turandot: The Origin of the Spell is an adaptation of the opera Turandot, a three-act opera by italian composer Giacomo Puccini based on the fairy tale The Three Mysteries of Durandot, one of Puccini's most influential works and the last of his life. The show tells the story of an Oriental legend imagined by Westerners, which is why many Chinese audiences have not been optimistic about its cinematization from the beginning. The Disney live-action movie "Mulan", which was released in September last year, made the same mistake, it originated from the earlier Disney animated version of "Mulan", but in the process of live-action, it added a lot of Westerners' imagination of the oriental social background, so it was complained by Chinese audiences from Mulan's hometown that "completely unable to empathize", and the film finally scored 4.9 on Douban. "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell," which was brought to the big screen from the stage, also failed to deliver a qualified report card. However, the director and team of "Mulan" are both from a Western background, and in contrast, "Turandot: The Origin of the Spell" created by the Chinese team is still made into a "masterpiece of Westerners misreading Eastern culture", which seems more difficult to accept. Netizen "Tearing The Rabbit" commented: "The biggest problem with Turandot: The Origin of the Spell is that it should not have been filmed at all. Obviously, there are so many wonderful Chinese stories to tell, why tell a 'fake Eastern story' that has been misread by Westerners? A little cultural confidence! ”
Netizen comments
Lin Yiliang: Can cut out a "Shanghai Fortress" with his toes. "Asura" did not teach the truth of domestic filmmakers, and "Turandot" taught it again. When domestic filmmakers can understand, asking a good screenwriter is the most important. Jun, Wen, acted very well, let's not act in the future. Do you know where the best movies look? The reviews are the best, hahahahaha...
Curiositist KK: If I were 3 years old, I would love to watch it. But I'm 23, so sad, I don't deserve it, 55555.
Sleepyhead: A bloody case caused by a hole.
L:The story was so vulgar that my grandmother shook her head when she saw it.
Orange Seven Seven: Decent Bar Fireworks are pretty good.
Douban Road: Seeing it, Zheng Xiaolong wants to shoot Jin Yong.
Murder game console: Actually OK, almost 70-year-old Zheng Xiaolong really shot very seriously.
(The above comments are from Douban)
Edit: Popcorn