The biggest winner of this year's Spring Festival file is not Zhang Yimou, who spent 500 million to win 3 billion at the box office, not Zhang Yi, who brushed his presence in the TV series "Crazy" and the movie "Manjiang Red", but Shen Teng, who has been active since Chinese New Year's Eve night.
Zhang Yimou rarely makes comedy, 14 years ago he found Zhao Benshan, Xiao Shenyang, and Yan Ni to shoot "Three Guns Shooting Surprise", which is still a bad film in the hearts of the audience.
Zhao Jiaban would no longer follow Zhang Yimou, so he found the man who grew up in the laughter of the national audience - Shen Teng.
In fact, this step is also quite risky, many audiences think that "Shen Teng is a sketch", "is too high", "see him and know that this movie is wasted".
And to be honest, Shen Teng's performance in the Spring Festival file last year was not good, could it be that Zhang Yimou valued Shen Teng so much and was willing to use the Spring Festival file to save him?
But no one expected that this time it was not "Manjiang Hong" who saved Shen Teng, but Shen Teng who saved "Manjiang Hong".
The slogan of "Manjiang Hong" is "enough suspense, laugh to the end", and Shen Teng is the key figure who connects suspense and comedy.
Zhang Da played by Shen Teng is a bag, between life and death, he does not forget to climb the relationship with General Sun Jun, "You see clearly that it is me, your nephew", which made people break the work in a second.
But as the story develops, Zhang Da's appearance of "scolding the bag" is also falling off little by little, and others dare not stop the Jin Dynasty interpreter, he not only dares to stop and kill, but also dares to go to Qin Hui to ask for tokens to investigate the case.
In order to prove his identity, Zhang Da personally solved the horseman Liu Xi, and he also collapsed and cried, shrinking in the corner and crying while shouting "stop working", which is a very comedic shot.
But the audience can see his deeper sadness from Shen Teng's crying scene, he is not crying Liu Xi, he is crying himself.
Knowing the end, he still has to take his companions to die, and a group of small people delusionally want to put on a big drama under Qin Huan, which is respectable and sad.
Shen Teng's portrayal of the role of Zhang Da was successful, surpassing Zhang Yi and Yi Yangqianxi on the same stage, and surpassing all his previous roles.
Because behind this role lies comedy, tragedy, and humanity, which is the true meaning of comedy and Shen Teng's persistence over the years.
There are many comedians, but there are few who can be called "masters", and the audience recognizes Chen Peisi, Zhao Lirong, Zhao Benshan and several others.
Today's comedy industry is even more talented, and there is only one Shen Teng, who can be regarded as "a new generation of Zhao Benshan".
01 The inheritance of the core of comedy
"The core of comedy is tragedy", this is Chen Peisi's accurate definition of comedy, and he himself is also using his works to practice this sentence.
"Filial Piety and Virtuous Sun Waiting" satirizes rural habits with a farce of suspended animation, making people laugh with tears, laugh at this funny plot, and cry this absurd reality.
"Earn Him 10 Million" is Chen Peisi's version of "The Richest Man in Xihong City", a single young man Niu Dawei pursued a divorced pregnant woman in order to inherit his uncle's tens of millions of inheritance, but in the end, the two got rid of the temptation of money and really came together.
"The Tribulation of the Young Master" perfectly shows Chen Peisi's personal style, the story is adapted from the French novel, the protagonist Jin Fu inherits his father's million-dollar inheritance, but also suffers various tribulations, and finally realizes the true meaning of life in the tribulation.
The film is 125 minutes long, the theme is comedy, but in addition to being funny, it bitterly criticizes ugly human nature and reveals the ruthless real society, which may not pass the trial today.
Zhao Benshan's movies are not famous, but in fact, each one is a classic (except for three shots).
"Falling Leaves Return to the Roots" gathers characters at the bottom, and Lao Zhao returns to his hometown across thousands of miles with his dead co-workers on his back, and the short 110-minute movie makes people see all the ways in the world.
"Director of Men and Women" and "All Visitors are Guests" satirize the unhealthy style of some cadres, the plot is witty and humorous, and the connotation is spicy and profound, even if it is not out of date today.
In September 2015, Shen Teng became popular overnight with "Charlotte Troubles", but in fact, in December of the same year, Shen Teng also starred in the movie "One Thought of Heaven", but finally only received 80 million box office.
In terms of plot alone, in fact, "One Thought of Heaven" is far better than "Charlotte".
Shen Teng in the film is terminally ill, and time is running out of his determination to do something meaningful, he uses deception to deceive, killing the fraud team and the counterfeit drug team, and the whole film is full of black humor.
The film is not as funny as "Charlotte", but the intention is more profound, revealing human nature with comedy, which can also see Shen Teng's understanding of comedy.
"One thought of heaven, one thought of hell".
But the market does need some lighthearted comedy, so Shen Teng starred in "Iron Fist of Shame" and "The Richest Man in Xihong City" one after another.
"Flying Life" is his first attempt at transformation, trying to express deeper connotations on the basis of comedy and thinking about the meaning of life.
After cooperating with Stephen Chow for many years, Wang Jing saw the changes Shen Teng made at a glance, "he doesn't want to make everyone laugh."
"Manjiang Hong" is Shen Teng's second transformation and a successful transformation, he still has not escaped comedy, but he has been able to express deeper content with comedy.
02 The inheritance of the core of the sketch
Chinese New Year's Eve, the annual Spring Festival Gala started on time, and the language program of that night can be said to have rotten a new style and a new height!
The only thing that can catch the eye is Shen Teng and Ma Li's sketch "Pit".
To be honest, the plot of "The Pit" is not new, and even a little old-fashioned, as soon as Director Ma played by Ma Li appears, the audience can basically guess the plot behind.
But it is still the only sketch that can mobilize the enthusiasm of the audience, because it does not forget the core of the sketch - irony, which will allow the audience to spontaneously brush up the entry of "Thank you Shen Teng Ma Li".
The official also posted comments overnight, affirming Shen Tengma's acting skills and praising the intention of the sketch, which is too faced.
And the last one who dared to satirize the "iron rice bowl" on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala was Zhao Benshan 27 years ago.
On the spring evening of 1995, Zhao Benshan changed the line "Four important guests, three kings and eight eggs, I can't tell the difference" just before going on stage, and performed "Uncle Niu Tigan".
In 1996, Zhao Benshan walked to the Spring Festival Gala with the sketch "Three Whips", this time the theme was still the relationship between cadres and groups, but less irony and more harmony, and since then, Zhao Benshan has never launched a sketch for such problems.
The reason why Happy Twist can stand firm on the Spring Festival Gala is firstly because the Shen Ma group is very well coordinated, and secondly, because their works are alive.
Works such as "Helpless", "Cast Your Favor", "Occupying a Seat", "Walking Through the Scene" and "Pit" have firmly grasped the theme of "irony", and the acting skills are naturally full of laughter, which is a rare excellent sketch in recent years.
Before these satirical sketches, the works launched by Happy Twist were "Today's Happiness" and "Today's Happiness 2", which can only be said to be forgotten after reading them, and there are no memory points.
Until 2014, Happy Twist changed the style and launched the sketch "Helpless", embarked on the road of satirical sketches, and launched follow-up works step by step.
But few people know that the success of "Helpless" is inseparable from Zhao Benshan's guidance.
Zhao Benshan deleted the nonsensical clip of "Spider-Man saves people", let Shen Teng fall to the ground and touch porcelain Ma Li, and also modified the dialogue sentence by sentence, and personally taught Shen Teng Ma Li how to perform.
In the end, "Helpless" was a huge success, and even Zhao Benshan praised it as the best sketch after "Not Bad Money".
(Zhao Benshan demonstrates to Shen Teng how to play an old lady)
Happy Twist and Shen Teng did not live up to Zhao Benshan's expectations, and after Chen Peisi and Zhao Benshan both withdrew from the Spring Festival Gala, they topped the vacancy of satirical sketches.
03 Shen Teng's dilemma
Of course, Shen Teng, the "new generation of Zhao Benshan", cannot be compared with the real Zhao Benshan.
His biggest problem is that he has the ability to perform, but he does not have the ability to create, so the quality of the work is uneven, and the quality depends entirely on the screenwriter.
In addition, except for Shen Teng, Happy Twist has no one who can pick a big beam.
In terms of box office appeal, Shen Ma combination is the best, Shen Teng is second, Ma Li is again, and others simply cannot bear the box office.
Therefore, no matter what works Happy Twist and other film parties launch, they must bring Shen Teng's great name, and many of them are bad films, which greatly consumes Shen Teng's audience popularity.
Finally, going on variety shows too frequently also solidified Shen Teng's image in the hearts of the audience.
The audience wants to laugh when they see him, even for a comedian, which is not a good thing.
However, looking at today's comedy market, Shen Teng is also the only actor who has the potential to become a comedy master, and I hope he can go further on the road to becoming a "new generation of Zhao Benshan".
Perhaps in 20 years, he will also become a benchmark in the comedy industry.