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There are two comedies in this year's Spring Festival films, and "Manjiang Red" is better in word of mouth than "Exchange of Life". Today, Zeng Xiansen will talk about this "Manjiang Hong".
Many people think that "Manjiang Hong" is a pure comedy, but Zeng Xiansen doesn't see it that way.
The underlying logic of the story is very pathetic, it is the burden of humiliation of the little people, but Zhang Yimou leans it in the direction of comedy in the first half.
This should be related to his use of comedians, Shen Teng who acted in drama sketches, Yue Yunpeng, a comedian, Pan Binlong, etc., Zhang Yimou from the actors' habitual actions, to correspond to their roles in the rapid movie. After all, these actors have a limited schedule, and these mesozoic traffic will have a box office if they are used.
We can see that the starring actor shows Shen Teng's usual small character acting skills, and his first half is a gag, which is the habit of relying on oral swallowing words, bringing humor and joy to the audience.
We can see Yue Yunpeng speaking the lines of ancient people at his own crosstalk speed, and several times using memes such as "with background" to laugh at himself in reality to achieve the purpose of being funny.
In terms of lens processing, Zhang Yimou is also different from his usual delicate composition and large-scene frame, and directly closes the camera to the faces of these leading actors many times.
But in the end, if "Manjiang Red" is a comedy, it is also a very mediocre comedy, which is completed by the comedian's own shaking wit, at least not advanced. So, what if we see "Manjiang Hong" as a tragedy? After all, there are a lot of sensational and tearful scenes in the second half of the film, and judging from the tragedy, how did Zhang Yimou shoot? Zeng Xiansen felt that it was also average.
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The real question of movies is, what are they holding onto? What is Zhang Da insisting on? What is Sun Jun insisting on? Zhang Yimou can't shoot it, because Zhang Yimou is not suitable for trying to be brave and adhere to ideals in essence.
This is a film that lacks pain, and we can't see how sad the sadness comes from it.
There are too few parting, loss, painful, heart-wrenching, death-like blurry pains in the film. What touched me the most was the starring Zhang Da's love, but unfortunately it was too short. Without real pain, no matter how good Shen Teng's acting skills are, he can't bear the humiliation and burden of "serving the country with loyalty".
Because Zhang Yimou can't bear the burden of humiliation, it's just that Shen Teng plays well.
The best shots in Zhang Yimou's films have always been instinctive emotions, not grand emotions.
What are instinctive emotions, such as children's affair?
Zhao Di and Luo Changyu in "My Father and Mother", Lu Yanzhi and Feng Wanyu in "Return" are all of this kind. The moment when Zhang Da and the prostitute he loved so much revealed their hearts, and the moment when they watched each other's painful mourning when they were tortured, was the most moving moment for Zhang Yimou.
He is the best at shooting sexual desire and lust, but he can't shoot the destruction of the country and the death of the family, he is best at finding resonance from people's primitive impulses, but he can't shoot how people are in pain in the face of a grand national ideal. In the end, he used his own way to repeat "Manjiang Hong" over and over again, trying to arouse the audience's emotion.
This is also the reason why Zeng Xiansen does not like the ending, does it make sense for the whole army to recite "Manjiang Red"? Why not kill Qin Jian? But this may be Zhang Yimou's most proud place, because at the end moment, the sense of order, which is uniform, all recitation, and neat, has always been the killer tool of the national master.
This can be seen from his Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, and from the thousands of arrows fired by his "Heroes" in similar themes.
People, under what kind of emotional impact, should they endure humiliation and burden? When Zhang Da's beloved woman died, the duration of the pain was too short, and when Sun Jun talked about holding back, the duration was too short, these points that can really impact the pain of the characters, Zhang Yimou did not strengthen.
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Another disadvantage is that there are several reversals in the last moments of the story, not that they cannot be reversed, but that the reversals are meaningful, and several reversals eventually dilute the emotional concentration, in fact, Zhang Yimou is to show off his skills. This is the same as the problem of reciting "Manjiang Hong", repetition, emphasis, and over-reliance on technology.
Finally, as usual, why don't you think this movie is a pure bad movie?
First, none of the actors in the film dropped the chain, which shows that Zhang Yimou has a set of training for actors.
Even the comedian Yue Yunpeng is not purely funny, in the struggle for power, the surprise in his eyes before death fills out the role.
At only 21 years old, Wang Jiayi has performed a variety of amorous and affectionate models in the role of a prostitute, tearing the heart and soul and scheming.
And Shen Teng, who is bent on getting rid of his identity as a pure comedian, also plays both form and spirit, combining the helplessness and bitterness of small people, the oily mouth of the rudder made by the wind and the persistence of bearing the burden of humiliation.
The second is that Zhang Yimou still has his own pursuit of images, at least in the use of lenses, color control, and technical links, and the degree of completion is high.
It's just that "Manjiang Hong" is too unsuitable for Zhang Yimou from the theme to the core portrayal.