introduction
After watching "The Bath King", the first film that came to mind was the "Peerless Master" in 17 years.
The two films themselves have nothing to do with each other, but looking at Lu Zhengyu and Yi Xiaoxing, two of the earlier batch of "short video Internet celebrities" in the mainland, they still persistently maintain the comedy dream of the big screen, feeling, it is quite complicated...
The good side is that compared with the debut feature film "Never Expected", Yi Xiaoxing, as a director, has indeed improved - this is the truth - film techniques, film sense, including telling a fairly complete story, these things that belong to the film thinking, are much stronger than the previous one.
The problem is naturally that no matter how much film thinking progresses, after all, it is still impossible to suppress, and the logic of web drama in the bones is ah.
Of course, for most of the audience who buy tickets, laughing or not laughing is the only criterion for evaluating a comedy - so The cat's eye ticket still has a high score of 8.8.
I have no prejudice against domestic comedies, for "The Bath King", hand shaking can also give a 6-point pass, and the movie itself does not have too many things worth talking about. The reason why I finally decided to talk about it after almost a week of release was that I wanted to say the words I said to Lu Zhengyu and "Peerless Master" three years ago to Yi Xiaoxing again:
I know it's hard to make comedy on the big screen, but please, let's really, stop imitating Stephen Chow.
1.
Where is Yi Xiaoxing smarter than Lu Zhengyu?
Let's start with the merits of The Bath King.
In other words, compared with Lu Zhengyu, Yi Xiaoxing, who also started with web drama thinking, is smart.
The "Peerless Master" of that year, I don't know how much you remember, the publicity is very loud, the explosion is full, but the summer release was timid, and finally barely over 100 million, in the cat's eye ticket ticket such a scoring and tolerant platform, there is only about 7.5 points of low reputation.
Why the fiasco?
In a word, from the beginning, it was not clear what the mainstream audience now wants to see.
As a super fan of Stephen Chow, Lu Zhengyu's infinite imitation of "Kung Fu" from structure to detail is not a problem, and focusing most of the laughs on tribute and nostalgia is the fatal reason for the word-of-mouth box office loss.
For example, the following borrowed from the old song "Say a Word from the Heart", I did laugh, but the younger audience may really be indifferent...
For example, the performance of Fan Wei and Kurata Hosaki, two supporting roles, I was also amused several times, but how many young audiences know Kurata Hoaki? How much can you get for Fan Wei's cosplay?
It's not harshness, it's the generation gap.
Since you are making commercial films, it is natural to serve the mainstream audience today.
The Bath King clearly learned its lesson:
Yi Xiaoxing is smart in that he is not immersed in the narcissism and playfulness of his debut, the purpose is clear, he is not important at all, and serving the mainstream audience is the first.
Therefore, class contradictions, amnesia lies, family warmth, brotherhood, the weak win over the strong, the whole set of assembly lines to do down, no highlights, but the victory in the neat understanding, the audience looks like there is no threshold.
At the end, packaging a broad and profound Chinese bath culture, the one-two-three-four-five about the bath is written into the lines, the differentiation is there, and the favorability is also high.
And, Qiao Shan, who has a rare opportunity to pick a beam, supports most of the laugh points of the whole film, and the overall laughter fruit must be greatly reduced by changing an actor.
The advantages are probably these.
Next, it's time to talk about Stephen Chow.
2.
How is King of bathing worse than God Eater?
"The Bath King" and Zhou Xingchi's "God Eater" are very similar, and many people should see it.
Stephen Zhou's Stephen Zhou character was split into Peng Yuchang's bastard Fu Er Dai and Qiao Shan's down-and-out bather, and the two worked together to complete the character growth line from stumbling to falling down to rising again.
From the title to the beginning and end of the whole story, you can probably find a contrast from "God Eater".
I don't want to list the details in detail, I am interested in comparing myself, but I want to ask a question:
There are also logical problems, why is the logical problem of "The Bath King" so eye-catching, but "God Eater" can be actively ignored by most of us?
The logical problem of "The Bath King" mainly focuses on the character of Peng Yuchang:
The contradiction between Qiao Shan and Peng Yuchang is because Peng wants to take a bath and relax before flying in the wingsuit? What is this strange habit of the rich second generation?
Later, the amnesia was fooled by Qiao Shan to take a bath, casually engaged in some band PLAYING live broadcast, and the bathhouse that was about to close was instantly alive?? Which parallel world is this entrepreneurial miracle?
After that, the recovery from memory is basically forced all the way, and finally relying on the hard sensationalism of grandma + brother, he became the bath king who was defeated. So it is to tell the audience that the Chinese amateur master who practices casually on the street for a few days, the Korean professional master who does not lose a muscle with one hand??
One thing to say is that the story of "God Eater" actually has no lack of logical problems:
For example, Stephen Chow was framed, a rich man, and fell on the street without any money overnight?
For example, in order to regain the throne of the God eater, he ran to the mainland alone without any clue, looking for what pheasant Chinese culinary academy? And why Hunan?
Another example is the end of the God Eater War, all kinds of cooking competition internal force not to say, and finally suddenly came a Guanyin Bodhisattva apparition What does it mean?
Why do many people, like me, can't stand the bad logic of "The Bath King" and watch "God Eater" but see tears in laughter?
Whether it is a urine ball or a meal that eclipses the soul, these classic memories that cannot be forgotten are actually only superficial.
Let me just say the answer:
Because the comedy with Zhou Xingchi's personal traces is a tragedy in his bones.
Or compare God Eater and King of Bath:
What kind of world is Stephen Chow in? The rich deceive and put on a show, and the humiliation and scolding of those below are even more bottomless; the poor are ugly and humble, rude and ignorant, and kill each other at every turn.
To put it bluntly, rich or poor, they are all utterly evil.
Even the turkey sister, who is full of human glitter, can only get the love of the god of food if she finally has a beautiful facelift.
Funny is funny, but in this laugh, it is also full of sad tears.
What about the world of The Bath King?
Peng Yuchang was a very jerk when he first came up, and Qiao Shan was a very good person who was tricked into selling the bathhouse. But these things are completely superficial and make appearances.
How much of an asshole is Peng Yuchang? It is nothing more than rude to the bath master, but also because he was poked in the heart of the pain.
How badly was Qiao Shan deceived? Not so much as to eat and drink well with my grandmother and sister's family of three, life seems to have no impact.
Some people say that Grandma doesn't want to cure the disease? Yes, but the film does not focus on the difficulties of life, and Grandma's illness is more of a comedy.
All subsequent developments have become more idealistic.
Other details are not mentioned, just to say that the rich second generation and the bather really formed a brother, the bathhouse also opened to Las Vegas, this kind of fairy tale plot, will only appear in the movie.
Again, I want to emphasize:
Comparing these, it is not that "The Bath King" cannot be filmed like this, and it is not to move out of Zhou Xingchi to deceive the small. The level of directing is not high, the ambition is not high, the audience looks at a happy, take what they need, nothing bad.
What I would say is:
Although it borrows heavily from "God Eater" (and other Hong Kong films, such as "Dumb Guy Bai Shou" and "Ji Xing Gong Zhao"), in essence, "The Bath King" follows the path of Hollywood family comedy, and Chow Sing Chi comedy, which is completely two temperaments.
I was depressed and even angry at the point, in this:
Since everyone has taken such a clear and clear two-way path, why should they forcibly imitate it?
3.
Why is Stephen Chow imitable?
You mainland comedians who have been greatly influenced by Stephen Chow, there are enough tributes, just let him go.
Moreover, Stephen Chow comedy, it doesn't matter if you like it or not, but you have to admit that it is truly unique in the world, and it is not imitatable or copied.
Our careful analysis reveals:
However, the comedy works with Zhou Xingchi's personal imprint are not only tragic in their bones, but even on the surface, they can be said to be extremely cruel.
And many people, it is not until nearly ten years of "Journey to the West, Descending Demons" and "Mermaid", that they really feel his cruelty.
The Tang monks in the article were pulled out of their hair one by one, Huang Bo's Sun Wukong was ugly and brutal, and the captured mermaid was full of wounds and shocking.
Including in "God Eater", the god of food of the scenery, the endless humiliation of employees, that kind of bad performance, has exceeded the bottom line of being a person.
The downcast god of food was beaten by the poor in the streets and directly passed out on a street corner full of garbage rats and passers-by peed.
Looking at such a picture, you will feel in your heart that it is not a little too cruel to take such a picture.
But Zhou Xingchi is to shoot these cruel, ugly, unbearable, and desperate people in life to show you.
These are things that today's domestic comedies will never touch or have the ability to touch.
The characters in Stephen Chow's films often show a kind of "I am a hooligan and I am afraid of whom" - many laughs come from this;
But behind this, there is often a kind of sadness of "Lao Tzu destroyed to show you" - this is how many tears come from.
The more I watched his comedies, the more I could appreciate the pain described by film critic Mei Xuefeng as "breaking bones and connecting tendons".
What do you mean?
Look at the lollipop in "Kung Fu", and you will understand it all. It not only represents the kindness of Ah Xing's childhood, but also represents the depravity and sinking of him to become a street gangster when he grows up, and it also represents his last insistence on life.
Ah Xing's life seems so failed, so ridiculous, but also so desperate, heart-wrenching, that the tears that we just laughed at quickly mixed with a lot of sadness.
Such a Zhou Xingchi, any deliberate imitation by film dealers, is no different from blasphemy.
epilogue
In fact, judging from the box office performance of "The King of New Comedy" last year, Stephen Chow may still be the same Stephen Chow – still cruel and bloody – but this era is obviously no longer his time.
A contrast:
Douban score of "The King of New Comedy", 5.7;
The Douban score of "The Bath King" is 6.6.
No intention of provoking anything, just sighing:
Nowadays, from short videos to feature films, all the beautified comedies that strip away the cruel side and plate a beautiful filter really make you and me happy?
If you are happy, then you may as well let Stephen Chow and his comedy slowly be forgotten in the wind.
Just, please, please stop imitating him.