A "Nameless"
There was a lot of noise all around
Before the release of Nameless, my feelings for it were very ambivalent.
If you like director Cheng Er's last "History of the Demise of Romance", it's hard not to look forward to this new work that was handed over after 6 years.
But this time using traffic stars as the starring role, and repeatedly emphasizing the shouting of "super commercial films", it really makes people wonder whether he signed a gambling agreement and is under huge box office pressure.
After the release, Douban appeared a scoring war, and the arrangement of films continued to fall, and those who liked it felt that this was a rare high-level aesthetic in the Spring Festival file, and every frame was interesting; People who don't like it, think that he is pretentious and does not talk well.
Many people blame Wang Yibo for something bad, but the biggest problem with "Nameless" is still in Cheng Er.
Some directors can't let it go to commercialization one step, and only shoot their own preferences; Some directors can maneuver everywhere for the sake of the box office. Either way, both sides can ask for mercy.
Under the pressure of business, Cheng Er is restrained, but not the comfortable him.
"Nameless", it's a pity.
The following contains spoilers
01
Life is like a drama, all depends on acting skills
Cheng Er has his persistence.
The story is still the spy war of the Republic of China that he is good at.
In Shanghai during the Republic of China, the Wang puppet government, the Kuomintang Chongqing government, and the Japanese spy agency operated in the open. The Communist Party's CCP Special Branch buried spies in it, looking for opportunities to save the country.
The two protagonists, Mr. Ho (Tony Leung) are the director of the intelligence department of the Wang puppet government, and Mr. Ye (Wang Yibo) is his subordinate.
Their work is board-by-board, arresting, eating, interrogating, eating, killing, eating, chatting, eating... At the same time, with the continuous changes in the international situation and the situation of civil wars, everyone's true position and purpose are slowly revealed, and finally leave the audience with aftertaste and emotion.
The narrative style is also his usual mixed line narrative.
Shuffle the timeline entirely. One second it was 1937, the next second it was 1941, and in a blink of an eye it was back to 1939, and then it went to 1945.
A complete plot is cut into three parts, with two others in between, saying that sandwiches are not enough, at least five sandwiches.
The audiovisual aesthetic remains impeccable.
"Nameless" uses a top-level camera Alai 65, which is so expensive that it is only rented and not sold, and this camera is rented to Cheng Er without losing face.
Day and night, city and people, sea and moon, the curtain is exquisite enough to be used as wallpaper.
Details are worth a thousand words.
The meal was eaten many times, but different people ate different meals, all of which had meanings in them.
The exquisite Napoleon, the dying drunken shrimp, the steamed pork ribs that cannot be shared, the sheep that can only be eaten by invading China, the sashimi that cannot be eaten, every bite is a line that does not need to be written.
Cheng Er said that adding curd milk to the drunken shrimp, the soup turned red, and he wanted to shoot both beauty and tyranny.
And those dogs.
On the Japanese fighter, the majestic Xiao Shiba; In the Wang pseudo-mansion, domineering dogs and dogs with tails between their legs; The poor dog in Guangzhou, who can act more than a person, limps to survive on a rainy day.
It's both a dog and a person. Even, people are inferior to dogs.
02
Concessions to business
But didn't let it get to the point
The advantages of "Nameless" are basically inherited from the eldest brother "The History of the Demise of Romance", and some can be traced back to the distant "Border Storm".
Although Cheng Er has received praise and a large number of fans with these two works, the market response is very sad.
"The History of the Demise of Romance" has big names such as Ge You, Zhang Ziyi, Asano Tadanobu as the starring roles, and even the supporting roles in only two or three scenes are Gillian, Ni Dahong, Yuan Quan, and Yan Ni. In the end, he only got a box office of more than 100 million, and lost a lot of money.
"Nameless" is like a planned turnaround.
First of all, actors can not only invite drama bones and old male gods, but also have fresh blood to attract young people.
Liang Chaowei picked Da Liang, Zhou Xun came to match, and then chose Wang Yibo, the top player in the entertainment industry in recent years, as the starring role.
To be fair, Wang Yibo's performance was better than I expected. But he is not very compatible with this film and other actors, especially not able to withstand close-ups of facial demeanor. Partial Cheng Er also likes to slap his face.
Then the story can't be too complicated.
I don't know if in order to "let more people understand", the story of "Nameless" is too simple, and the purpose of the characters is too pure, even if you repeatedly fill in details and metaphors, it is difficult to support a two-hour film.
Finally, can you not abandon the mixed line narrative? Cheng Er said that this really can't be, but in order for the audience to react, you can continue for a few more seconds each time.
Why bother, for those who like it, it is still a trick.
In order to tinker with the "super commercial film", it seems to give up a lot, but it does not give up on the idea.
The competing "Manjiang Hong" and "The Wandering Earth 2" have proved that the audience is not afraid of the complex plot and the character relationship that needs to be guessed, but the strange narrative method is prohibitive.
If you have high expectations for the box office, then tell an emotionally charged story in a popular way. After all, most people walk into the cinema to relax, not delve into.
03
Let the literary and artistic return to the literary art
What is commercial is what is commercial
When doing publicity, Cheng Er said a sentence in the MV, "Respect the audience, the audience should not be underestimated". Later, this sentence was misinterpreted to mean that if you don't like "Nameless", it is a lack of aesthetic level.
I don't think Cheng Er has this meaning, but he himself is really a little unkind.
Otherwise, if you put down the shelves of the following people and shoot a commercial film outright, someone will definitely buy it; Or stick to your own style, obscure, showy, scratching your boots. Let the commercial belong to commerce, and the literary and artistic belong to literature and art.
Instead of giving bad reviews to audiences who love to watch commercial films as they do now; As for his original fans, he was not too addicted, and felt that Cheng Er had regressed.
Both sides do not please.
Just like Minister Tang played by Dapeng, left and right, Wang Pseudo, Chongqing who has the upper hand and who mixes with whom. In the end, Japan lost, and he secretly curried favor with the Communist Party and let Director He live. I didn't think about it, but I still lost my life.
Having said that, although the box office of "Nameless" has continued to decline after the first day, it has been less than 600 million so far, and even "Bear Haunted" has not been hit. But it may already be the best fate this work can reap at the box office.
I will still look forward to Cheng's next work, whether it is a literary film or a commercial film, but don't be a "super commercial film".
Text, Editor/Siri110
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