The first two episodes of "Chinese Qitan" "Summer of Little Goblins" and "Goose, Goose Goose" were born.
Instantly won a high score of 9.4 Douban and 9+ Zhihu.
The former interprets a different journey to the west story from the gap of the little monster in reverse, and the great saint hits the empathy points of various social animals with a high stick.
The latter, with a refreshing painting style, shows a goose cage scholar story of "big mouth summoning" and "big mouth set big mouth".
One is outside and righteous, taking the route of warm empathy, and the other is curious from the inside out from the story to the painting style.
Unique and well-received.
But after the third episode went live, the wind of commentary began to quietly change.
From the perspective of the story, the story of people and wolf girls, childhood friends being bloodily separated is unremarkable.
From the perspective of painting style, there is no outstanding sense of subversion like "Goose Goose Goose".
From the production level, the picture is good-looking and the soundtrack is online, but the overall seems too ordinary.
For "China Strange Tan", the third episode is like a watershed from prosperity to decline and rapid down.
After that, the fourth episode "The Country Bus Took the King Child and the Immortals" has a unique look.
The fifth episode "Xiaoman" has a unique painting style, delicate emotions, a strong sense of soundtrack presence, and an overall style of its own.
But drowned in the hustle and bustle of various film and television dramas in the Spring Festival file, the volume of voice is a little weak.
The sixth episode is even more old-fashioned and boring than the third.
The story of the seventh episode of the old man in the hutong "Commissary" rekindles the cute and warm little torch.
First, the juxtaposition of ancient animism and modern alleys
The stone lion, weasel, mouse, and even a chair in "The Commissary" have all become "humanoid" in a sense.
Able to speak and have a sense of autonomy.
There are also different characteristics between them, such as being hit before, shaking the head and dropping stones.
For example, he also stammered.
For example, the little purple mouse is actually called chocolate, and always eats snacks without stopping.
Various animations, anthropomorphizing inanimate entities, or letting small animals speak human language, are routine operations, and the difference and cuteness of "Commissary" lies in the integration of the rich pyrotechnics of the old man in the alley.
1. Reiki and alley pyrotechnics
The story of fox ghosts and flowers becoming strange has been around since ancient times.
In the bridge of a relationship between various scholars, Huang Liang and Monroe Water, the frequency of occurrence is very high.
But this ghostly story often appears in horror, or with the elusive spirit of the world.
It's either ethereal or real.
As for the anthropomorphization of toys and small animals, there are countless examples and they are not new.
"Commissary" is not strange in engraving the quaint animism, nor in personifying objects, but in juxtaposing the above content and "the sense of falling ground of the old man with a broken mouth and a stinky temper".
On one side is the magnificent tradition of imagination, on the other is the extremely everyday familiar texture.
The two are mixed, and the effect is a bit of a surprise.
This old man was nagging the owner of the commissary: Why don't you find a partner, while quietly making friends with the mouse weasel and the stone lions;
The former is a typical secular old man, and the latter is a childlike heart that jumps out of this layer of shackles, and the place is unforgettable.
It's very real and familiar, but it reveals something less common that is often glossed over.
I especially like the setting of the turtle talking and the aunt talking behind it, and the twist itself is too ordinary, but in "Commissary", it seems to be a lock that understands everything.
The old man touched the turtle and teased the bird on his shoulder.
Tell me about the little hamsters I met.
Because his side "breaks all boundaries and continues to output", he has the obsessive "rat essence kidnaps him to play".
2. The naïve painting style of old and young
All kinds of old men, the frequency of playing the protagonists of film and television dramas or animations is not too high.
Most of them are responsible for playing the "old-fashioned" and "dragging their feet" and "provoking" roles in the plays of mothers-in-law and mothers, and urging marriage to give birth to broken mouths.
What's more, he often appears as a vampire of his native family.
The best possibility is only a homeowner who is kind on the outside and has a good heart on the inside, or a mascot.
Fantasy travel, leaving ordinary life to strange worlds, most of the subjects are defined as young boys and girls, children of all stripes, or men and women with midlife crises.
Or, young and middle-aged people with a fantasy mission but not yet aware of it.
In a sense, the left-behind elderly are also quite marginal in film and television dramas.
"Commissary" obviously seems to be a child's story, but it does not contradict the old man at all.
Instead, it makes it cute for both old and young.
You see, peel back the layers of old-fashioned chatter, the same naïve heart.
3. Light sadness and cuteness
The premise of the story of "Commissary" is that the old man's son bought a building and invited the old man to move out of the old alley.
This is filial piety and kindness, but it is also a little helplessness under the rolling axle of lifestyle changes.
The old man did not refuse, but his heart was still full of nostalgia for this old house full of ruins.
The walls are full of "rags" from the mouth of the son, there are family photos, awards, and "Black Cat Sheriff" that the child watched when he was a child.
The so-called "broken things" are all memories of time.
Where is the old man's wife? The story is not told, but there are only a few possibilities.
The old man is obviously a "blessed" elder who is remembered by the children and is filial, but there are still several kinds of unspeakable loneliness of the left-behind old man.
This is not so much a "real stay" at the level of life, but rather a "old age" model in lifestyle.
(Of course, it does not refer to the old man in the true sense, just a metaphor)
There is a very common picture in the story, the aunt teaches the old man to pay the water bill with his mobile phone, and the old man refuses to say "I won't" with a full face.
Modern life is fast-paced and fast-changing, and for the elderly who have long stopped following the changes and are resistant to new things, an old house, an old thing, and an old life in the alley may be the golden age of the past that is safe and worth remembering.
Sadness but not sadness, straight but not revealing.
There is a faint sadness that is difficult to dispel, but more of it is the warmth of the fireworks and the cuteness of "a room full of monsters".
Second, the counterpoint expression of one old and one young
To some extent, episode 5 "Xiaoman" and episode 7 "Commissary" may be very correct stories.
(Although I personally think that the seventh episode should be called Old Man, but this is not important)
"Xiao Man" and "Commissary", one joy and one sorrow, one old and one young, one harvest and one release.
One chatters, one wants to talk.
But they all point to the subtle emotions in their hearts that are difficult to say and understand.
The old man in "Commissary" talks a lot, but almost never reveals the true emotions in his heart.
His reluctance to the old house, the kindness of the old neighborhood, and the strong attachment to the ancient way of life are not good to say.
I'd rather "run back eight times a day" and be asked, "Is there no newspaper in the building?" than respond positively.
Being reminded that "you have to pay attention, no one has such a high water bill", of course, he can't explain the truth.
On the one hand, this may be due to personality.
This look is the steel boss who wants to be strong in his life, crying and crying, greasy and crooked, saying that he can't let go?
Oh hey, I won't kill it.
On the one hand, this may be a reflection of the loneliness of "no one can hear and no one can tell".
Xiao Man in "Xiao Man" was frightened by the big monster fish, but the nervous-stricken friends said that they didn't see any of them.
After going through many complex psychological stages such as fear, remedy, and cherishing, Xiao Man suddenly saw a bloody big catfish that was suspended for sale, and suddenly had mixed emotions, but he was also unable to express them.
He could only pull his mother "don't don't" to escape.
Likewise, what is the old man in the commissary going to say?
Hey, guess what?
The little rat and the weasel have become sperm, and they kidnapped me to play!
For this kind of "bizarre and unspeakable" content, you can understand it as a special situation: such as having a fantasy or even a certain disease tendency (not knowing people, treating the objects around you as people);
It can also be understood as a universal situation: each of us always has a corner in our hearts that hides a subtle secret that is difficult to recognize and understand.
Also said that the inner nine curves and eighteen turns, "Xiao Man" went very cruel, and "Commissary" gave the old man a very warm secret garden.
From a stylistic point of view, I personally think that "Xiaoman" may be more aesthetically distinctive, and the depiction of children's delicate hearts is also deeper and more delicate;
But this does not affect the possibility of a more popular acceptance of "Commissary".
Third, a narrative and a lyrical reflection
If you compare "Commissary" with the fourth episode "Country Bus Takes the King Child and the Immortals", the core seems to echo.
One is the spatial review of the alley pyrotechnics from the urban steel high-rise buildings;
The other is time, the longing for the "nostalgia" that is full of myths and legends and local atmosphere.
Simply and crudely speaking, one is the lost alley, and the other is called the lost hometown.
The former is better than the story and everyday closeness, while the latter is wonderful in the artistry and emotional continuity.
"Country Bus" (hereinafter referred to as "Country Bus") is not complete in terms of story, and can even be considered "not telling a particularly specific story".
But in terms of atmosphere, after the white and snowfall, the abrupt public toilets in the village did not wait for new investment, but appeared more emotional.
The gods boarded the country bus one after another at dusk, and "I" said that there were three strange shadows, what was going on with the king child, and each line seemed to have no intention of forming a closed loop.
But the faint melancholy of "yesterday's countryside was like a big dream", three points nostalgia, three points irony, three points simple, the tone is very unique.
Compared with the emotional exploration of "Country Bus", "Commissary" is obviously more focused on the story.
The old man thought that he had received a "scam lottery", but the discovery was actually an invitation from "rat essence and his friends" to play together as good friends and leave a secret base for them.
There is a beginning and an end, there is a main line and a branch line, and there are various echoing details.
But the fullness of the story of "Commissary" also gave way to some emotional blanks.
(I don't mean to blame either of the two badly.) ）
In other words, the crunchy daily atmosphere of the hutong in "Commissary" has to a certain extent weakened the old faint sorrow of this "stay-at-home", which is more lively, more down-to-earth and more real.
"Commissary", like "Summer of Little Goblins", is not particularly sharp on the "strange" side in the 7 episodes that have been broadcast, but these two episodes are "three-point odd + seven-point empathy" play, with a wider audience and greater resonance.
Comforting conclusion
After seven episodes of "Chinese Odd Tan", the rating is still quite beatable.
In terms of popularity, it seems that it has not been able to maintain the strong opening posture of "once amazing to the world", but even if it has not gone crazy, it is still beautiful, distinctive, exploratory and pioneering, and an excellent attempt to truly express the core.
Rather than occasional surprises, it may be more critical to continue exploring new gameplay itself.
What we need is not necessarily just a so-called masterpiece, but a lot of different new exports.