Time Contributor | Fumi Minamino
Cult movie gluttony.
Before the release of "Manjiang Red", everyone had a big question mark in their hearts.
Zhang Yimou, is it a good comedy?
This is not Zhang Yimou's first time directing a comedy film.
In 2009's "Three Guns Shooting Surprise", "National Master" tried the way of absurd comedy, but the result was a miserable failure in word of mouth and became a laughing stock.
Fortunately, "Manjiang Red", on the contrary, not only did not appear "comedy intolerance", but even became the best word-of-mouth and box-office leading film in this Spring Festival film.
As of January 24, "Manjiang Hong" has won a box office of 1.24 billion yuan, temporarily ranking the champion of the Spring Festival file.
The single-day box office of the film on the third day of its release has been nearly 100 million yuan higher than "The Wandering Earth 2".
Many media have boldly predicted that it is expected to become the biggest winner of the entire schedule, and has refreshed Zhang Yimou's highest box office results since the film.
So, what is the secret of the box office breakthrough of "Manjiang Red"?
Comedy as an accompaniment
"Manjiang Hong" does not look like a comedy script in the light and dark, but Zhang Yimou uses comedy techniques to intersperse key plots together.
Zhang Yimou said in an interview before: I hope the audience will laugh at least 30 times in the process of watching "Man Jiang Hong", so that the comedy is enough.
"To laugh, to laugh knowingly, to grin the corners of your mouth, only to laugh three or five times, that's not (comedy)."
Comedy as the material of "Man Jiang Hong", Zhang Yimou added enough this time.
At the beginning of the film, the background of the story is introduced in a paragraph of text.
(Spoiler alert: some spoilers are involved below)
This introduction is roughly as follows: Four years after Yue Fei's death, Qin Hui led troops to the Song-Jin border to hold talks with the Jin State, but on the eve of the meeting, the envoy of the Jin State was assassinated at Qin Hui station, and the case was turbulent.
The small soldier Zhang Da, because he entered the mansion on the night of the death of the envoy of the Jin State, was about to be beheaded by Sun Jun, the deputy commander of the pro-military camp, and in a hurry, Zhang Da said that he recognized the key evidence.
From this point on, Zhang Da and Sun both obtained permission from Qin Hui to freely enter and exit the various courtyards of the mansion, but they had to get the secret object, the letter of the envoy of the Jin Kingdom, within an hour.
An hour, a near-sealed mansion, and a life-and-death crime-solving process.
Zhang Da, played by Shen Teng, has similarities with the characters in the series of sketches "Hao Jian" and the happy twist comedy.
He can always burst out golden sentences in tense moments, such as discussing the word "again" in "another bite of the prime minister's snack" with Sun Jun, played by Yi Yangqianxi, and making a lot of jokes.
Wu Yichun, the deputy chief manager played by Yue Yunpeng, also continues Xiao Yueyue's usual comedy path, looking harmless to humans and animals, but always able to make seemingly shrewd but stupid moves.
so much so that He Li, the chief manager played by Zhang Yi, can make jokes in serious situations; Qin Jiayin, played by Lei Jiayin, showed a hint of ridiculous timidity in his lazy attitude.
To put it simply, the comedy atmosphere created by Zhang Yimou in "Manjiang Hong" is very different from the happy twist-style comedy over the years.
He does not deliberately weave comedy bridges, but uses comedy techniques to strengthen the entertainment and relaxation of the film, so that the rhythm of the suspense drama can be livened.
In fact, Zhang Yimou's discussion of comedy models began long before the new century.
The film "Have Something to Say" starring Jiang Wen and Li Baotian directed by him has created an absurd atmosphere in the city under the premise of absorbing a lot of Wong Kar-wai's style, which makes people praise.
Later, "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" can only be regarded as a defective product, and the film's time score is only 4.9 points.
At that time, Zhang Yimou had just directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, not only out of the urge to direct a film as soon as possible, but also to earn money for his partner Zhang Weiping, and under various compromises, he decided to start shooting the film.
Xiao Shenyang's temporary joining, and the subsequent change of the entire team, made the film even worse, and completely became a laughing stock in Zhang Yimou's directorial career.
Perhaps it is a lesson from the past, when Zhang Yimou handles the comedy part of "Manjiang Hong", he no longer blindly amplifies the "laughing fruit" of the comedian himself.
He chose to make more restrictive use of the performance characteristics of actors such as Shen Teng and Yue Yunpeng, using comedy as an accompaniment rather than as a main course in front of the audience.
Suspense is not the goal
It is no exaggeration to say that compared with "Nameless", which focuses on spy warfare suspense next door, "Manjiang Red" is much more successful in creating a sense of suspense.
The latter clearly advances the suspense plot step by step, and makes the audience shout "so it is" after knowing the truth.
"Manjiang Hong" has no special effects scenes or excessive gimmick support within a length of 159 minutes, and it can also allow the audience to continue watching without dozing, which is indeed related to Zhang Yimou's foreshadowing of the suspense plot.
The first is the suspense and reversal with Zhang Da as a clue.
At the beginning, Zhang Da was just a greedy soldier who was afraid of death, and he talked about the use of the sheepskin bag, and took Sun Jun around to investigate the case, but in fact, he always thought of a way to get out.
But before the halfway point of the plot, we already know his true identity, and through his connection and deployment with a series of supporting roles, we find that he endures humiliation and resourcefulness.
The second is the suspenseful clues buried by Qin Hui and He Li.
We always thought that they were being played by Zhang Da and others, and they had no power to discern.
When the story progressed, He Li's sinister and cunning, brutal and fierce, Qin Juniper's demon was one foot taller, and the praying mantis caught cicadas, which made people feel scared and their backs were cold.
Even Wu Yichun, who seemed to be a clown, was not a completely stupid mediocrity, and he and Sun Jun and Zhang Da rushed to He Li's house and saw Sun Jun's flaws at a glance.
And after witnessing the key object, the letter, being swallowed, he also used a trick to change the tanuki for the prince and brutally killed a singer.
The good and faithful endure humiliation and steal life, and the servants and successors; The cunning calculations of the treacherous and evil people, attacking each other, are constantly staged in an hour, constituting the "face" of "Manjiang Hong" that touches people's hearts.
But these suspense reversals, in the end, are not just a gorgeous scheming show.
Even a script-like suspense comedy like "Rise to Fame" focuses on the sadness and indignation of innocent girls being killed by evil people.
Therefore, the "lizi" after the emotional sublimation of "Manjiang Hong" is Yue Fei, which is the ancient term called "Manjiang Hong", and it is a national feeling blocked by traitors.
When at the end of the film, we learn that assassinating Qin Hui is not the real purpose, and getting Yue Fei's last words is the key to the mission.
With the words of "Manjiang Hong", we understood the righteousness of the family and the country, and understood the chivalrous benevolence of this gang.
In the final analysis, "Manjiang Hong" is a bit like "New Dragon Gate Inn", which seems to be the story of a group of small people trapped in the dark officialdom who want to save their lives, but in fact, in the end, what is left is the chivalrous heart of Sun Jun and countless people.
And this point, in the Chinese film industry, seems to have not been seen for a long time.
The artistic exploration of Lao Mozi
Of course, this does not mean that "Manjiang Hong" is only suspenseful, chivalrous and comedy, it still maintains Zhang Yimou's consistent spirit of artistic exploration.
Although as the mainstay of the fifth generation of directors, Zhang Yimou, now 72 years old, can always find his own way of expression.
Many novel sound and painting effects in "Manjiang Hong" can be traced in Zhang Yimou's past works.
The nearly airtight deep house courtyard has a similar construction method in the Hui-style architecture of "Ju Dou", the Shanxi folk house in "The Red Lantern Hangs High", and the Peiguo Palace in "Shadow".
The whole film adopts an almost deliberate monotonal and complements it with contrasting colors, and traces can also be found in "Shadow", "Above the Cliff" and "Sniper" in recent years.
It's just that most of these films are "black and white" contrasts, while "Manjiang Red" is "black and red" contrasts.
In order to make the tone more extreme, Zhang Yimou set the story in one hour at night, which is why the "daylight and night" filter covers all the landscape with a layer of gray and dark, filtering out other colors, making the color of the film more pure and extreme.
In addition, Zhang Yimou also thought a lot between "movement and static".
Most of the scenes in the film are indoor dialogue, and there are few large scene actions, so it is easy to form a thin and cold audiovisual perception.
To this end, Zhang Yimou mostly uses medium and close-up fixed shots when talking indoors, and once the character needs to move from one courtyard to another, he uses panoramic overhead shots or push-track follow-up shots to capture several protagonists on the run.
In order to increase the sense of movement when running, Zhang Yimou also boldly uses the singing lyrics of traditional opera, using contrasting gongs and drums and small cymbals to embellish the expressions and small movements of the characters, just like the opera stage.
For a film master who has already achieved fame, Zhang Yimou does not have to be like this.
However, whether it is in the "fifth generation" period, several blockbusters after the new century, and various works in recent years, he is looking for a different artistic medium, trying to fit the aesthetic taste of the current audience.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the box office of "Manjiang Red" can lead a sci-fi giant like "The Wandering Earth 2".
It is courageous in itself to continue to output a striking formal beauty in addition to completing prescribed actions.