Zhang Yimou returned to the top of the list
Not an accident
In this year's Spring Festival file, "Manjiang Red" counterattacked the previous work "The Wandering Earth 2" with a strong reputation, and firmly ranked first in the box office list.
That Zhang Yimou, who single-handedly brought up the box office of Chinese martial arts costume films, is back.
"Manjiang Hong" has now grossed more than 2.7 billion, much higher than his previous highest-grossing "Above the Cliff" of 1.191 billion. According to estimates, it may eventually receive a total box office of about 4.5 billion.
His success is traceable.
I sat in a movie theater full of people, and almost everyone went up and down with the dense beat of the drums, laughing, fearful, and excited. But sometimes, I was also stunned - why Shen Teng just appeared, he could make the audience laugh.
The following contains spoilers
01
It's all about telling a story
Because it is also suspense and funny, before the release of "Manjiang Hong", some people were worried that it would become another four-like "Three Guns Shooting Surprise", after all, men always overestimate their sense of humor.
Fortunately, this time Zhang Yimou grasped the relationship between the two and storytelling.
The first step is to attract.
When I walked out of the cinema, there was a mother and daughter in front of me. The girl was only seven or eight years old, and her childish voice came: Mom, I know this story.
This is enough to show what kind of mass base the plot of "Manjiang Hong" has: almost all Chinese.
In the fourth year after the death of General Yue Fei, the Southern Song Dynasty Prime Minister Qin Hui (Lei Jiayin) is about to meet with representatives of the Jin State for talks. However, on the eve of the talks, the envoy of the Jin State was assassinated by unknown people, and Qin Hui Tongjin's secret letter disappeared.
To this end, Qin Hui ordered Zhang Da (Shen Teng), a soldier who had entered the envoy's courtyard that night, and Sun Jun (Yi Yangqianxi), the deputy commander of the pro-army camp, to find the murderer and secret letter within an hour.
At the same time, He Li (played by Zhang Yi), the chief manager of the Prime Minister's Office, Wu Yichun (played by Yue Yunpeng), and Wu Ji Yaoqin (played by Wang Jiayi), as the key figures in the case, are involved in this conspiracy with unclear purposes.
The second step is to make the person immersive through the "script kill"-like setting.
Zhang Da and Sun Jun's task is two hours, and the film basically synchronizes the progress of their investigation with the time outside the play. This allows the audience to be completely parallel to the two protagonists, and the protagonists know the clues to solve the case, know who the informant is, and then calculate the opponent's next move at the same time.
And the only thing that requires the audience to guess is who Zhang Da and Sun Jun are. And this, in essence, does not require guesswork.
The suspense of "Manjiang Red" is not to be unfathomable, but to enhance the experience.
Accompanied by the singing voice and drumbeat of Yu opera, the characters repeatedly shuttled through a huge house, looking for witnesses and flaws, some jumping back, some jumping loyalty, each transition is like a scene closed, a scene up, a clear rhythm.
Therefore, many viewers feel that "Manjiang Hong" is like a "script kill".
The third step is to add comedy to the narrative.
The "humor" of "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" is not restrained, while the meme of "Manjiang Hong" is of a service nature. After making the audience laugh, it is good, and the plot immediately enters the reasoning, so as not to let the paragraph become a smelly and long shroud.
If you judge the atmosphere of a movie by the number and frequency of laughter, then "Manjiang Hong" is undoubtedly the most successful one in this year's Spring Festival, even much more than "Exchange Life", which advertises pure comedy.
This is thanks to the script, but also thanks to Shen Teng.
02
Choose actors for laughter
The films that are riveted to squeeze the Spring Festival stall will not lack big stars.
Choosing Shen Teng to play Zhang Da, Zhang Yimou gave full play to his advantages: he still retained the joy and righteousness of ordinary people at the moment of life and death.
Several past works have proved that few people in China can compare with Shen Teng. Whether a movie is funny or not, everyone even uses "content" to measure: low content, is fraud; The content is high, well, it is worth seeing.
In addition, this film is also quite lucky: Shen Teng's sketch just performed at the Spring Festival Gala has become one of the most well-known programs, directly adding firewood to "Manjiang Red".
Compared with the depressed and irascible Sun Jun played by Yi Yangqianxi, Shen Teng's Zhang Da is a "clown" who keeps gagging.
This face that grows on the laughter of people across the country, one expression, two small movements, and three lines can trigger laughter. And his twisted posture is to promote the development of the story and integrate it into a necessary link to solve the case.
Lao Mozi cooked a pot of hairy blood, and the ingredients were full of flavor.
Not only Shen Teng, Zhang Yimou added Yue Yunpeng to the jokes, and also chose the customary Zhang Yi, Lei Jiayin and Yu Ailei to directly raise the texture of acting skills.
Not to mention, Zhang Yi's popular "Crazy" reputation and popularity both exploded, once again making the audience biased towards "Manjiang Hong" in entanglement.
At the same time, young people cannot let go. Yi Yangqianxi, who is partnered with Shen Teng, is one of the few traffic in the new generation who has shown his performance ability. Although it is difficult to compare with several other protagonists in the film, his performance does not lag behind, and his personal temperament is also in line with the role.
Most importantly, he brought in a large number of fans who volunteered to promote it.
So far, Zhang Yimou has completed this real "super commercial film" - low threshold, full of laughter, suitable for all ages, of course, the quality is not bad.
03
Zhang Yimou, who returned to the top
Zhang Yimou's return to the top position is not an accident.
This pioneer of the era of Chinese commercial films opened the situation with "Heroes" and "Ambush on Ten Sides", but he was also lost because of "Three Guns" and "The Great Wall".
Some people say that he can't tell stories, is a photographer, and is addicted to grand scenes; Others say he can't make comedy. So while the fifth generation of directors rested and went on variety shows, Zhang Yimou, who was old, switched to small-cost genre films, and with a more courageous attitude than the younger generation, he achieved new works every year.
He's like brushing points. Through "One Second", "Sniper", "Above the Cliff", explore the way to tell stories and adapt to the preferences of a new generation of audiences. Then it did one better than the word of mouth, and one higher than the box office.
For artists, diligence seems to be far less important than talent, but Zhang Yimou has made up for it.
Zhang Yi, another model worker in the Zhang family, said in an interview that Zhang Yimou only slept 3 hours a day, ate a meal, and insisted on 5 kilometers of exercise, in addition, there was no regular entertainment time, all at work. After all, he not only has to make movies, but also prepare for the opening and closing ceremonies and parties.
At the same time, Zhang Yimou has the advantage that most artists can't learn - he is willing to compromise artistically for the sake of the audience and the box office.
"Man Jiang Hong" He originally wanted to shoot the whole film to the end, but considering the viewing experience and acceptance, he voluntarily gave up.
The box office of 2.7 billion in 7 days proves that to this day, it is still difficult for anyone to understand commercial films better than Zhang Yimou.
"Manjiang Hong" is not perfect, but we respect such a director.
Text, Editor/Siri110
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