Three stations simulcast, the ratings broke one, and the premiere ranked second in the country.
Countless viewers sighed: What drama is so large, and why is this new drama simulcast by three stations (Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong) so "arrogant"?
Don't sell Guanzi, it's just online —
"Counting the Merry People"
Since last year, several excellent main melody works have completely flipped the public's cognition of the three words "main theme".
Although 2021 has passed, the excellent genes of the main theme are still there.
The main creators who are full of emotions, the excellent Chinese opera actors who present the image of great people, and the history that shines are all valuable assets of domestic main melody dramas.
With these, it is not afraid of no good drama, and "Counting The Flow of Characters" is the master of the main theme.
This name, everyone should be familiar with, every time you hear it, there will always be passion in your heart and ripples.
The phrase "counting the popular characters" originally came from the famous article "Qinyuan Spring snow" that we are familiar with in junior high school.
"Pity the Qin Emperor Han Wu, slightly lost the literary style; Tang Zong Song Zu, slightly inferior. A generation of heavenly pride, Genghis Khan, only knows how to bend the bow to shoot large eagles. Count the popular characters, and look at the present dynasty. ”
Rugged, atmospheric, bold, confident, both the great man who points out the country and the mountains, and the pride of riding the wind and waves.
Since this famous sentence is used as the title of the play, it determines that the play itself is mainly presented with "people".
In fact, the play has a 30-year time span, it is the same as the "Age of Awakening", it is based on group portrait drama, but not only group portrait drama, but takes us to really enter the magnificent facts and touch the vein of history.
The opening chapter is Li Dazhao 's (Zhang Hongrui) speech, the podium is crowded, the crowd is familiar to us, they are the "post-90s" at that time, but also the most vigorous, energetic, looking for a way out for China.
After the speech, Li Dazhao and the young Mao Zedong (Hou Jingjian) talked freely at the Peking University Reading Hall late at night, and finally decided to return to Xiangtan, Hunan Province, to do research and found the Xinmin Society.
Subsequently, the "May Fourth Movement" broke out, and the national student movement surged up.
Chen Duxiu (Li Naiwen) was arrested and imprisoned for distributing the Beijing Citizens' Declaration on the roof of the building.
From Beijing to the national academic circles began a campaign to save Chen Duxiu, and even some old-school scholars participated in it.
After his release from prison, Chen Duxiu realized his danger, but his views did not change.
He discussed with Li Dazhao the matter of "party building," and on the carriage out of Beijing, he agreed on this matter, which is what we know as "Southern Chen and Northern Li, meet to build the party."
Although its main story line is similar to that of "The Age of Awakening", the narrative method based on the group portraits of the characters accelerates the progress of the story and is full of attraction.
The first episode is still in the May Fourth Movement, and the second episode is a big one of the CCP.
The popular characters in the play are naturally the focus of the audience's attention. After brushing four episodes, Tomato Jun was deeply impressed by the actors in the play.
Those familiar images of great men were thus presented.
What makes Tomato Jun the most amazing is that there are four actors.
Some of them are old drama bones, some are powerful, and some have just been well known to the audience for playing great people. But in "Counting the Merry People", they are like an organic whole, like the "post-90s" who really lived in that era.
Here, Tomato Jun may wish to take stock of the four most outstanding actors in the play, ranking in no particular order, we start from the first:
1. Li Naiwen (as Chen Duxiu)
Chen Duxiu, not good at acting.
Not only because of Yu Hewei's perfect portrayal of Chen Duxiu in "The Age of Awakening", there have been countless well-known actors who have played Chen Duxiu, such as Qin Hao in "Revolutionary", Feng Yuanzheng in "The Great Cause of Party Building" and Chen Kun in "1921".
It is not an exaggeration to say that there is pressure in front of the pearl jade.
However, in "A Few Merry Figures", Chen Duxiu, played by Li Naiwen, has his own performance characteristics, which injects real vitality into Chen Duxiu.
In fact, Chen Duxiu has two obvious identities, as long as he plays well, the role can stand.
The first, of course, is the leader of the "New Culture Movement", the dean of liberal arts at Peking University.
When playing a leader, Chen Duxiu has a unique temperament, he has full of enthusiasm, but also has a torch-like eyes, a look, as if he can see through the essence.
Educating students, he spoke fiercely and vigorously.
I don't want the students to be arrested by the military police, so they simply go to the streets as professors to hand out leaflets, and then they are not in a hurry to be arrested, and they use the "prison" as a "research room".
When his wife came, he sat on the bed indifferent, heard that newspapers and books had been brought, and immediately got up to greet him, with a kind of too simple true temperament.
Thinking of the rise, he talked to himself, grabbed his wife and shook it to death, frightening his wife to the point of no master.
Because only those who truly associate themselves with the destiny of their country do not count personal gains and losses. Li Naiwen's Chen Duxiu was a true patriot, a staunch activist, and a pioneer of boiling blood and idealism.
Chen Duxiu's second identity is that of a father.
The two sons have always been unable to deal with him, and "Counting the Merry Figures" also restores this historical fact.
There is a scene in the play, Chen Duxiu rushed to Shanghai, and after entering the door, he heard that his sons had just left for France, so he got up and went to chase.
At the dock, the ship had just set sail. Although he saw his sons, he observed that the expressions of the two children changed instantly after seeing him.
As a father, he naturally wanted to say goodbye to his son.
But confined to the attitude of his sons, he also had the introvertedness of a Chinese-style father, so he raised half of his parting hand and let it go again.
Screwed, but real, emotionally delicate, full of appeal.
The dual identity is quite distinctive under The performance of Li Naiwen, and he seems to be contradictory in the face of the excitement of the people and the introverted face of his son.
But come to think of it, isn't that what most people do? A vivid and vivid Chen Duxiu was thus presented by Li Naiwen.
I have to say that the skill is profound.
2. Mao Zedong (played by Hou Jingjian)
In "The Age of Awakening", Mao Zedong, played by Hou Jingjian, made the audience shine, and after that, he successively played the role of the great Mao Zedong in many main melody dramas.
In the confrontation with the old drama bone, Hou Jingjian is not vain at all, and has always been full of self-confidence. This self-confidence also allows Mao Zedong, played by him, to see a beam of light on his body.
Carefully observe Hou Jingjian's eyes, you will know what I am talking about - a person's inner state, from the eyes can be seen, we evaluate a person warm and pure or the original intention does not change, often said that he "has light in his eyes."
And Hou Jingjian's eyes are like this, always giving the audience an upward force, a passion and vitality that will be spewed out.
In addition, Hou Jingjian, who has played many times, has a fairly stable line, and his voice is still up and down.
In particular, his state, at first glance, has a unique leadership temperament, and is one of the best actors to play Mao Zedong after Tang Guoqiang's leadership style.
There is also a scene in the play, and few film and television dramas are presented.
That is, Mao Zedong returned to his hometown in Xiangtan and was determined to join the revolution, he persuaded his family one by one, with reason, with ideas and vigor, not only arranging the livelihood of his younger brothers and sisters, but also using a few words to solve everyone's doubts and worries.
In this scene, Hou Jingjian's potential to play Mao Zedong was once again revealed.
The pattern and characteristics of the world in mind also paved the way for him to play from young Mao Zedong to middle-aged and elderly Mao Zedong.
In fact, when filming "Counting The Flow of People", Li Naiwen said that he "did not dare" to play with Hou Jingjian, because Hou Jingjian had always been reading the script and speculating on the performance as long as he had time.
3. Ding Yongdai (as Wu Zhihui)
Ding Yongdai's acting skills no longer need to be proved by "playing a specific character".
But watching his performance is always a treat.
In "Counting The Flow of People", Wu Zhihui, played by Ding Yongdai, is a Kuomintang member, and he still plays his true side.
After world war I, China, as a victorious country, was still humiliated, standing in front of the graveyard of dead Chinese laborers, Wu Zhihui had a dignified face.
At first, his emotions were clearly limited to regret and mourning for his dead compatriots.
But when it comes to the humiliation of the country, his feelings have a clear progression, and he begins to become worried and resentful.
After hearing about the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, you can clearly see that there is a glimmer of light in his eyes.
The phrase "That's our country" not only has a feeling of borrowing from the past and the present, but also gives Wu Zhihui more complexity to the character.
Changes in emotions, progression of emotions, control of micro-expressions... Ding Yongdai's performance can be described as one-shot and impeccable.
4. Zhang Hongrui (as Li Dazhao)
Like Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao also has many famous film and television images, in addition to Zhang Tong in "The Age of Awakening", Zhang Songwen in "Revolutionary" and Zhang Jiayi in "The Great Cause of Party Building" are very classic.
It is worth mentioning that "Counting The Flow of People" began with Li Dazhao's speech, which is enough to prove the important position of Mr. Li Dazhao, and it is also enough to prove the creator's affirmation of Zhang Hongrui as Li Dazhao.
The last sentence, "If you try to see the future global ball, it must be the world of the Red Flag" is from Li Dazhao's "The Victory of the Common People".
When he said this, Zhang Hongrui's hand was raised high, quite the momentum and style of Mr. Dazhao's speech.
In the opening, Zhang Hongrui set the image of Li Dazhao very "high", after all, people standing on the stage to speak are always easy to make people look up.
But after that, he cleverly cut in from the perspective of ordinary people, using delicacy and ordinariness to fill the flesh and blood of Li Dazhao's image.
The first of the two scenes is to patiently answer Mao Zedong's questions after the speech.
This answer, neither the feeling of a professor on the top, nor the shelf of a big man, he put his hands up, his waist slightly bowed, and spoke amiably, because his myopia was still squinting, and he was instantly amiable.
After that, the bridge section that called on all the students to applaud Mao Zedong was exactly the same as the teachers in our daily lives.
The second scene is to catch chickens at home.
A university professor led a group of high-achieving students to run around the courtyard with chickens, and finally caught them after half a day.
Finally, I have to drag a sentence "This chicken catching also has learning"...
Not only is it connected to the ground, but also has a kind of little playfulness that as a teacher likes to preach, not only integrated into life, but also through Mr. Dazhao's chicken subsidy for family affairs, indicating his generosity and feelings, a play of four roles, simple and real.
In two scenes, Li Dazhao's image becomes vivid and three-dimensional, vivid and interesting, which belongs only to Zhang Hongrui's skill.
Finally, to sum up.
After talking about the four actors, it is not difficult to see that although the title is "Merry Characters", they have never been flat characters in the textbook.
They have the emotions of ordinary people, but also the lives of ordinary people, and the reason why they are "popular figures" is only because they embark on that great road and journey with enthusiasm and infinite and deep love for the motherland and the people.
The times and great men are mutual achievements, and it is precisely because there are dramas such as "Counting The Flow of Characters", those vivid group portraits, those great people with different personalities and characteristics, can be understood and well known by the audience, which is the best main theme play.
Tomato Jun hopes that such dramas can increasingly enter the audience in the form of hot dramas and top-notch dramas, especially young people.
After all, they are the backbone of this era.
If the century-old spirit is passed on and carried forward, it is our greatest blessing.
(Movie Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Department: Miao Miao)