Many films often invest huge sums of money in order to get better and higher returns commercially.
For example, the upper and lower parts of "Changjin Lake" invested 1.3 billion yuan, and finally received a box office of nearly 10 billion, of which the upper part also surpassed "Wolf Warrior 2" and won the box office championship of domestic films.
"Titanic", which invested 200 million, also collected $2.2 billion in the global film market under the condition that everyone was not optimistic, and every time it was re-screened, it still attracted countless audiences, and the box office benefits even exceeded many new films.
Although high-investment films make a lot of money, it is not uncommon for boats to capsize in the gutter.
For example, the Hollywood blockbuster "Babylon", which has been waiting for countless fans for many years, was released at the end of last year, not only was the word-of-mouth polarization serious, but the box office plummeted all the way.
Many people, including Pico, were very surprised by the loss of "Babylon".
After all, the film is quite reliable both the director and the actors.
Director Damien Chazelle once surprised the world film scene with a bloody and dark "Burst Drummer", and "La La Land" a few years ago brought back the long-dormant song and dance film to life.
In the cast, in addition to Brad Pitt and "Harlequin" Margot Robbie, there are "The Original Spider-Man" Tobey Maguire, Li Lijun, who is known for "Deadly Woman", etc., which can be said to be super luxurious configurations
According to the director himself, he began planning the film more than a decade ago, officially put into filming in 2019, and finally took three years and spent up to 80 million US dollars (about 540 million yuan) to complete.
But more than two months after its release, the global box office of "Babylon" was only 50 million US dollars (about 340 million yuan), which can be called one of the worst Waterloos in film history.
Why did such a top-notch production team lose so badly? Is this movie really unbearable as many people say?
01、
True love also
？
If there is one sentence to sum up the film, it is Damien Chazelre's "love letter to the film".
Looking at the world film industry, the proposition of "writing love letters to movies" has become a "must-choose topic" for many big directors to make movies in recent years.
For example, Zhang Yimou's "One Second", Spielberg's "Dream House", and Quentin's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" are all used in the way of movies to tell stories related to movies and express their love for movies.
The same is true of "Babylon", which focuses on Hollywood in the twenties and thirties of the last century, and conducts all kinds of old stories that happened in Hollywood, as well as untold spicy secrets
Appear.
During this period, Hollywood was in an important stage of transition from silent films to sound films, and was entering the most prosperous golden age.
The film uses a one-shot shooting method to present the spectacular scene of "10,000 films" on Hollywood studios in that era:
This side is the battlefield of war films, with thousands of troops roaring and galloping in front of the camera;
That side is the territory of adventure films, where fierce battles of primitive natives are staged in the jungle.
Films of that period, because there was no sound, often had to be played live by a group of musicians when shooting.
In the huge studio, all kinds of movie shapes, musical instrument sounds mixed together, how noisy,
what
Color.
The film is not satisfied with revealing the details behind the film, but also excavates the scandalous chaos related to fame and fortune behind Hollywood.
For example, for actors, if they want to have better resources and higher status in the circle, they must learn to pander to sycophancy in public, and even endure the high-level people."
”。
Those behind-the-scenes bigwigs who invest in the film are also a mortal threat, and once they offend, they may be killed.
But the most "eye-opening" is undoubtedly the noisy, fanatical and bottomless "Hollywood internal carnival" at the beginning of the film.
The celebrity big names with elegant postures on weekdays have removed their disguises and indulged at this moment, and returned in unscrupulous carnal love
The instinct of things.
This Hollywood version of the "Wine Pool Meat Forest" clip is amazing in scale, jaw-dropping, but also raw and real enough.
The restoration of the situation of the times and the bold disclosure of the hidden shady curtain show that the director has done his homework and has enough courage to perform.
But on the other hand, this presentation method is too straightforward and naked, which makes the film suffer a lot of "vulgar and curious" criticism.
The film is full of various "physiological discomfort" scenes:
The elephant, ready to be transported to the carnival party, suddenly suffered gastrointestinal discomfort halfway through, leaving the cart man in a mess;
Nellie, who could not stand the pretense of the upper class, vomited in front of everyone, and even directly "sprayed"
On the personal face.
Including the scene in the alien underground world, the muscular weirdo wearing a mask devours mice alive, which challenges the physiological limits of the audience.
It is understandable that the director wants to peel off the hypocritical appearance of Hollywood mythology through such a "straight" way, stimulate the audience's senses, and let them see the dirty and ugly side.
Perhaps the real Hollywood is more unbearable than in the movie, but for a movie, such physiological stimulation is not necessary, but will cause the opposite effect of "curiosity" greater than "emotion".
02、
wave
Disposition?
In addition to the superposition of various events, what "Babylon" really wants to show is the faces of Hollywood.
From the top to the bottom, from front of the stage to behind the scenes, the film designs multiple key characters that exist in different classes and different identities, interpreting the skin and interior of Hollywood.
For example, Jack Conrad, played by Brad Pitt, is the top star of the silent film era, popular and powerful, and enjoys the stars
of treatment.
He was once a symbol and model of Hollywood, but also with the arrival of sound films, he was eliminated by the times.
His brilliance, debauchery and fall are a microcosm of all Hollywood stars.
In contrast, is Nellie, a low-level girl from a poor background, who has a dream of stardom, and was selected by the crew by mistake and has a period of glory
Temporary star career.
Nellie is a representative of ordinary people who have worked hard from the bottom.
She tries to fit into the glamorous world of Hollywood, but ends up being swallowed up by false glitz.
Another example is Manny, a Mexican immigrant, who was originally just a handyman at a carnival party, and gradually became a handyman because of his ability to work
Producer of Force.
In order to gain power, he had to abandon his Mexican identity and do something against his will, which gradually made him forget his pure love for movies.
In addition, the mysterious Chinese actress Zhu Fei, the black musician in the performance team, the fierce-eyed film critic, these various characters together form a gorgeous group portrait of Hollywood.
These characters in the film are not made up out of thin air, and each character has a corresponding character archetype in real Hollywood history.
For example, Nellie's image refers to the era of silent films
of actress Clara Bo.
Clara was born in the slums of New York.
Her family is very unfortunate, her father is drunk day and night, her mother is mentally abnormal, and Nellie goes to visit her mother in a mental hospital in the film, which is a restoration of this reality.
Although she embarked on the road of acting at the age of 16, Clara, who came from a humble background and did not have a high level of education, has always been coldly ostracized by her peers.
After entering the sound film period, Clara's career declined all the way, coupled with marital problems, so that she was mentally stimulated, and finally died in a mental hospital at the age of 60.
There is also Zhu Fei played by Li Lijun, the character prototype is the most Hollywood in the twenties and thirties
Chinese actress Huang Liushuang.
Huang Liushuang was born in an ordinary family in Chinatown, and under the general exclusion of Chinese people at that time, he made a name for himself in Hollywood.
But in the early 30s, Huang Liushuang was dissatisfied with not receiving good roles in Hollywood and went to Europe, and the scene where Zhu Fei said goodbye to Jack in the film was when she left
The last appearance of the precedent.
Hollywood witnessed their struggles, efforts, and struggles for their dreams, but in the end, it became a mirror.
It is a pity that the rich and moving emotional experience and tragic color of the archetypal characters become boring in "Babylon".
Due to the limited time of the movie and the large number of characters, each character is just a glimpse of light, not deeply portrayed, and their existence is more like a "tool man" needed for the plot.
The thin characterization also limits the actor's play to some extent.
For example, Margot Robbie, who plays Nellie, has been nominated for Oscars many times before.
Her performance in this film is also remarkable, Nellie's vulgarity, wildness and madness
Personality, all accurately displayed.
Even so, she has been questioned by many questions about the "stylization" and "homogeneity" of her performance, believing that the degree of overlap with her previous roles is too high, and the madness is too similar to the "clown girl".
There is also Diego Calva, who plays Manny, who is very sophisticated in controlling the emotions of the characters, which makes people finish
Out, he's just a rookie actor.
But most of the film, Manny just acts as a "foil" for other characters, and his own passion for the film and deep love for Nellie are not fully shown, making this role seem a little ethereal.
To be fair, "Babylon" is not useless in the shaping of characters.
For example, there is a scene in the film, and Jack, who has not been filmed for a long time, receives a call
Ask him to lead a play.
Jack did not show joy, but asked the other party in a tentative tone if he came to the rescue because the film was too bad.
After receiving an affirmative answer, Jack shook the wine glass in his hand and shook his head with a sneer.
He already knew that he no longer belonged to this era, and Jack at this time did not have a line, his silence, and the faintly beating fire behind him
It conveys that Jack's heart is like ashes.
But there are very few fragments like this that present the emotions of the characters in detail.
On the whole, the main characters' personalities are relatively simple and rude, either wild to the end, infatuated to the end, or mysterious to the end, lacking growth and change.
Not to mention the emotional interaction between characters and characters, which is even more pale and empty, this
Let the three hours of the film become longer.
It is no wonder that some people say that letting the gods such as Pete and Robbie play these roles is really a waste of acting skills.
03、
Too much to express?
I think that at the beginning, the reason why "La La Land" won full applause was partly due to the director, who was very good at using the lens to tell stories.
Objectively speaking, "Babylon" is also not lacking in brilliance in terms of camera expression.
For example, under the close-up, Nellie, who performed in front of the camera for the first time, surprised the set with tears that slipped from her eyes, and the burning set on the side was also silent
Nelly's dedication and passion for acting.
The most moving is Jack's last scene.
Accompanied by a soothing and sad background melody, the camera follows Jack's lonely and lonely back up the stairs
walk
, and finally in a gunshot, the fall of the superstar was announced.
These shots are pulled out and savored individually, which will make people feel that the shooting is very tasteful.
But when all the shots are combined, this strong emotion is weakened and the taste is lost.
In Pico's view, the problem is that the film's three hours of time is not enough to support such rich emotions, like adding dozens of delicate condiments to a soup, but the taste is not good.
One second he was still shocked by Jack's suicide, and the next second he was Manny fleeing with Nellie;
One second is still recalling the ambiguity between Zhu Fei and Nellie, and the next second it turns to the conflict between Nelly and her father...
The most abrupt thing is that after experiencing all kinds of darkness in Hollywood and leaving the industry, Manny sat in the cinema and burst into tears along with a movie mix.
Can understand that the director wants to express the complex emotions of love and hate for the movie, but after experiencing changes such as losing his job and losing his lover, why Manny can maintain such a deep love for the movie, "Babylon" does not give an answer.
The constant change of emotional tone also makes the audience fall into a state of "confusion" in the process of watching the movie, so it is difficult to completely replace themselves
film
Feel the atmosphere.
04、
Empty of its table?
The title of "Babylon" comes from the ancient Babylonian kingdom, one of the "four ancient civilizations".
In the more than 2,700 years of existence of this ancient country, it gave birth to an incomparably brilliant and brilliant civilization, but it also disappeared with the fall of ancient Babylon.
The rise and fall of ancient Babylon is a clever contrast to Hollywood in movies.
this
The carnival party at the beginning of the film was vividly displayed.
The chaos and grandeur of the party is like the extravagance of ancient Babylon in its heyday, and the silence of the party after a night of revelry is also a metaphor for the demise of ancient Babylon's rise and bust.
As one professional put it, Hollywood and ancient Babylon are so similar.
"Prosperity is followed by decay, and chaos breeds brilliance in the brilliance."
But unfortunately, the essence of "Babylon" is all condensed in the opening half hour of the party, and most of the scenes after that fall into a kind of overly forceful noise and chaos.
For example, the film's behind-the-scenes display of the first sound film.
Everyone was tormented by the cumbersome way of shooting sound movies
, all kinds of swearing and ranting are everywhere, and the level of confusion is suffocating.
Nellie was in everyone
, was bitten on the neck after fighting the rattlesnake, and the scene immediately became a mess.
This deliberately created disorder and chaos keeps the film in a state of "excitement", and also makes the emotional expression of all characters become a manic one-pot stew.
If in "Burst Drummer" and "La La Land", the director can still maintain a little delicacy in passion, then in "Babylon", the director has completely let go of himself, creating an emotional rush of "all overfire, all madness".
Such a situation of too much self-indulgence has caused the empty appearance of ancient Babylon, and its inner emotional expression has long been lost in madness.
The box office lost 30 million US dollars (about 200 million yuan), and overall, "Babylon" is not one
"Bad film",
There are many slots, but there are also impressive brilliances.
This also reflects another reason for the box office failure of "Babylon": the core is too heavy, not entertaining enough, and is destined to not be liked by most audiences.
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Ah Zhi
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