Text | Ling Hu Boguang
The 2023 Spring Festival file has ended, and there was originally a new film released that may break the deadlock, after all, the lineup is not small. That is Kwok Fucheng, starring Tony Leung in "When the Wind Rises Again". It's about Hong Kong Relo and the Four Detectives, but I was originally interested in this film.
The reason is that the director of this film is Weng Ziguang of "Stepping on Blood to Find Mei", who is already one of only a few outstanding young Hong Kong directors. As a result, the reputation of the film was too bad, and there was no interest at once, and the film did not analyze the film itself if it was not seen, or analyze it from a young Hong Kong director.
This Spring Festival domestic film burst out of unprecedented energy, mainly directed by Guo Fan "The Wandering Earth 2", the level of all aspects of this film is really outstanding in the current domestic movies.
This represents that the young directors in the mainland have taken over the class of veteran directors, after all, in addition to Zhang Yimou, a veteran in the Spring Festival file, Cheng Er in "Nameless", Deng Chao in "Chinese Table Tennis" and Tian Xiaopeng in "Deep Sea" are all post-75s, Guo Fan in "The Wandering Earth 2", and Su Lun in "Exchange Life" are post-80s.
These young directors live in the era of China's rise, which reflects that film and television dramas have more pursuit of film industry and film aesthetics, even for breakthroughs in film themes.
I have also written before about the reasons why Hong Kong and Taiwan films are becoming less and less competitive in the current Chinese-language films, but they are all written about the lack of film themes and industrial development, and the "When the Wind Rises" platform predicts that the total box office will be difficult to exceed 100 million, which will only have an impact on the development of young director Weng Ziguang.
Therefore, the decline of Hong Kong and Taiwan films is only faster than I expected, after all, young talents are the future of an industry, and the problem of young directors in Hong Kong and Taiwan is no longer lost to actors.
Behind the 2023 Spring Festival file, there is a big secret of domestic movies
If the film is divided by a large field, it can probably be divided into three categories: literary films, genre films and commercial blockbusters. Literary films, like basic science, are often used to explore the boundaries of film art. Type films are applied science, but also scientific research but will consider commercialization, commercial blockbusters are successful commercial science and technology, it is usually packaged with type films.
Therefore, the mature film industry in a country and region should be an oval, literary and artistic films are a minority, after all, exploring the boundaries of film art has always been a small number of directors playing, author-type genre films are the mainstream, used to support a rich film market, commercial entertainment blockbusters are used to make money to support the first two types.
To what extent have Hong Kong and Taiwan films declined? More serious than the actor is actually the director, this point we can look at from the perspective of literary films, genre films and commercial blockbuster young directors, the definition of young directors from the 70s (also called young strong school), after all, for directors, 50 years old down is the peak of creation.
Because Hong Kong films have accumulated the deepest experience, the level of young directors is still a little more brilliant than Taiwan.
First, young directors of literary and art films are the worst in the three places, that is, they impact the eyeballs with their subject matter and realistic scale, and there are many themes that cannot be filmed in the mainland, so fans and Wen Qing are quite sought after, but there is no breakthrough in film aesthetics, film text, film techniques and film expression, and there is even a sense of childishness of "strong and worrying".
In recent years, Hong Kong literary and art films in addition to "One Thought of Ignorance" are better, and other Hong Kong literary and art films such as "Mai Roader", "Muddy Water Drifting", "Mom's Wonder Boy", "One Second Boxing King", "Uncle", "Jindu", "Fallen Man", "Trish", etc. should be aesthetic without aesthetics, text without text, technique without technique, expression without expression.
There is a feeling that young people over there have expressed a certain kind of expression but have poor artistic pursuits, you are a literary film.
This is not my deliberate disparagement, there are two simple logics for measuring the level of literary films, either you win awards at domestic and foreign A-class film festivals, which can be used to pretend to x. Either you don't have an award-winning ball, with extremely high artistic achievements and word of mouth to make the audience remember, and then install x when discussing.
These Hong Kong literary and art films are better on "A Thought of Ignorance", other films have no awards abroad, and the Academy Awards have a few leftovers. Fans are famous for going to see it and scolding (including me). What is left of this type of literary film? Is it to reflect reality? Which area does not reflect reality, I need to see you this garbage?
Second, there are several good directors for genre films, but the proportion of police and bandit films is too high like commercial blockbusters.
Zheng Baorui of "Wisdom Teeth" is one in 72 years, and then there is Weng Ziguang, the director of "When the Wind Rises Again", Zeng Guoxiang of "Young You", and Chen Kexin's disciple. Mai Junlong is also good, but "Wind Forest Volcano" is pressed and it is difficult to say how high his ceiling is. In my opinion, young Hong Kong directors have no other talent.
After "The Legend of Wukong", Guo Zijian was scrapped, and Zhou Xianyang of "The Great Chase" has long been abolished. It is a pity that the three young directors of "Tree Big Move" have no follow-up after this film.
the third is that the director of commercial blockbusters is still the old man in the market, Tsui Hark, Chen Kexin, Wang Jing, etc.; The backbone Lin Chaoxian, Liu Weiqiang, Yip Weimin, Yau Litao, Li Rengang, Zhuang Wenqiang, Mak Siuhui, etc. In contrast, Zheng Baorui and Liang Lemin after the 70s are considered young and strong.
In recent years, Hong Kong police and bandit blockbusters have been made by the above-mentioned Hong Kong directors, and the Hong Kong film industry has not been without newcomers, but they dare not make commercial blockbusters for newcomers, all of which are supported by well-known actors, which leads to the fact that the new directors are not well-known enough, and these new directors may not be new, most of them are technical jobs turned positive.
Like Koo Tianle's "Crime Scene", do you know who the director is? in the same way, what about the director of "Tomorrow's War"?
There are others like Hong Kong directors, but that's it. The reason is the same as that of Hong Kong actors, because the entire cultural industry is declining, veteran filmmakers cannot make money, and the supporters can only bring the old with the new, and the entire industry loses the courage of newcomers to master big investment works, and then a vicious circle.
Often make good films, known as the hope of Chinese films? The cowhide of Taiwanese movies is about to blow out
At the peak of 8090, Taiwanese films were in the middle of mainland films and Hong Kong films, and commercial films were stronger than mainland films, but not as good as Hong Kong films. Literary and art films are slightly stronger than Hong Kong and the mainland was once in the middle of Bozhong, but it lagged behind after the emergence of the sixth generation of directors in the mainland around 2000.
First, young directors of literary and art films have indeed produced several young directors who have gone the wrong way, and the level is not low.
Yang Yazhe of "Blood Guanyin" 71 years, Huang Xinyao of "Big Buddha Plas" and "Classmate Minus" 73 years.
In recent years, there is also a "Sunshine Shining" in Taiwanese literary and art films, but director Zhong Mengchong is 65 years old, which is equivalent to the sixth generation of directors in the mainland.
Other literary and artistic films such as "A Family Grunts", "The Truth After Crime", "Hayong's Family", "Daytime Youth" and so on. Just like those Hong Kong literary films, there is no artistic value, no aesthetic pursuit, no text and technology, and fans can't boast about it.
PS: Many people think that "Carnival", which is a Taiwanese literary film, is actually a mainland film.
Second, on the genre film, Taiwanese suspense films have produced a "Witness's Chase" and "Soul Hunting" Cheng Weihao, as well as Chen Zhengdao in 81, are there other excellent suspense film crime film directors? , Cheng Weihao made the horror film "Little Girl in Red" just like that.
Finally, the horror film director who will come out with "Curse" in 2022, the mainland can't make a different way.
ps: Taiwan used to be very good at youth films, romance films and youth love literary films, such as "Those Years" and "My Girlhood" are popular in the circle, but there are no well-known works in recent years, which is quite strange.
There are basically no commercial blockbusters, there are no commercial blockbusters in the mainland, even veteran directors who came to the mainland market to make films, Chen Guofu engaged in behind-the-scenes, Ang Lee did not return, and there are several romance film directors with serious money, all of which are assembly line bad films, not worth mentioning. At the peak of Taiwanese films, they were not good at commercial blockbusters, but it was normal.
Literary films, genre films on the rise, commercial blockbusters dazzling? Chinese movies are about to "return of the king"
Many netizens have the impression that mainland movies are not good, and there are too many complaints under the state of censorship and traffic economy, but the answer may surprise many people.
First, commercial blockbusters are too chaotic, and old directors still occupy half of the country, but new forces in the mainland are about to take over.
The fifth generation left Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige's "Great Victory" came out of the trailer, and the other five generations of directors basically retired or died. In the late half of the generation, Feng Xiaogang reduced production, and Jiang Wen was making literary films like Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye and Wang Xiaoshuai of the sixth generation. The Hong Kong director will not go into details, except for a few cases where the results are getting worse and worse.
The sixth-generation directors, except for Ning Hao and Wu Ershan, who made commercial blockbusters (post-70s), are all genre film directors.
Actors transformed, celebrities turned directors occupied another wave, these people are making commercial entertainment movies, the market popularity is high but the level is very limited. The post-70s generation has Wu Jing, Xu Zheng, Chen Sicheng, Deng Chao, and the post-80s generation has Wang Baoqiang, Han Han, Guo Jingming and so on.
In recent years, there are several young directors of commercial blockbusters who have really taken the lead in their own, Guo Fan who represents the sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth", Lu Yang who represents the costume blockbuster in "Embroidered Spring Dao" and "Assassination of a Novelist", Rao Xiaozhi of "The Nameless" and "Ten Thousand Miles Home", Wen Muye of the realistic drama film "Medicine God" and "Miracle", and then Han Yan, who originally made a special effects blockbuster and later filmed a terminal illness trilogy.
There are also some young directors of realistic commercial dramas, basically post-80s, Liu Jiangjiang of "Life Events", Yin Ruoxin of "My Sister" and so on. And that's not counting animation directors and comedy directors.
Second, young directors of genre films began to be enriched, and if not reviewed, there should be more.
Like the sixth generation director "Nameless" Cheng Er is the 75s, the martial arts film Xu Haofeng is the 70s, the crime film Cao Baoping, and the crime film Diao Yinan is the 60s (but the output is still high).
Xin Yukun of the crime film "Labyrinth of Heart" and "Violent Silence", Xu Lei of the suspense film "Sherlock on the Plain", Liu Xunzimo of the suspense film + comedy "Fame and Fame" are all post-80s, and Shao Yihui of the romance film "Love Myth" is post-90s. There are also genre film directors who have poor results, "Calm Waves", "Once Upon a Time in the Tropics", "Rabbit Violence", "Behind-the-Scenes Players", "Beneficiary" and so on.
Third, young directors of literary and art films are showing a vigorous trend, and they already have the feeling of the seventh generation of directors.
Bi Gan of "Roadside Picnic" in the first gear of my ranking, Gu Xiaogang of "Spring River Plumbing", Wei Shujun of "Yong'an Town Story Collection", and Hu Bo of the realistic director "Elephant Sitting on the Ground" are gone, all of them are post-80s.
There are many other literary film directors, I think it is a weak one, "Over Spring", "Passing the Zhaoguan", "Xiaowei", "Hidden in the Dust", "August", etc., these directors are all post-80s and post-90s, and there are more young directors of literary and art films that are two levels weaker, which is not listed here.
The actor is gone, and the director is broken? After the Spring Festival in 2023, Chinese movies are going to work again
The mainland directors listed above cannot be said to have not saved one in ten, but there are many young directors who are not included. The main reason is that although there are restrictions and there is a legacy of traffic chaos, the mainland's cultural industry is rising under economic development, rather than regressing like Hong Kong and Taiwan. With capital and hot money entering, it can win the director, and the rise of the director team can naturally also hold some actors.
This trend began around 2017, and it is still a short time and the impact of the "epidemic" in 3 years, and now it is only emerging and far from a comprehensive recovery, let alone a rise and prosperity. However, from the emergence of "The Wandering Earth 2" and many young mainland directors above, to the backwardness of the veteran director team of "Manjiang Red".
The situation of veteran directors in Hong Kong and Taiwan is the same, you can take a look at Donnie Yen's "Dragon Babu no Qiao Feng". Now that "When the Wind Rises Again" feels that young Hong Kong directors have not kept up, this trend will become more and more obvious. Young mainland directors will take over the class of veteran directors and carry the banner of Chinese-language films, leaving only one problem that cannot be avoided.
- Everyone understands!