Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Li Xiazhi
The Northeast suspense comedy "Ligong Northeast Old Things" starring Fan Wei recently started broadcasting on Youku, with a Douban score of 7.8 points. When the Northeast comedy style is integrated into the suspense theme, the genre innovation of domestic suspense dramas has taken a new step.
"Ligong" sets the story in the small northeast city of Pisces River in the 90s of the last century, and Shang Quanliang, a worker in the security department who returned to his hometown due to his wife's betrayal, wanted to make meritorious contributions in order to be able to regain his daughter's recognition, and the lonely criminal police Hu Ting was also assigned to the household registration department because of an accident. At the same time, the uncle and nephew, who all have a need for meritorious service, encountered a series of bizarre cases on the way to find criminals. The story connects the stumbling but stubborn detective meritorious road of the little people, and also outlines the group portraits of the northeast town in the 90s of the last century.
For most audiences, I haven't seen Fan Wei's works on the screen for a long time, and this time he starred in a suspense online drama is still very exciting. The character of Shang Quanliang created by Fan Wei is complex and layered, not only has a "stupid heart" for himself, but also has "instigation" for life, but also has "axis strength" for life. In the face of the changed external world, he always maintained his true nature and original intention, and insisted on finding his way of justice. This seemingly unsocial little person often has deviations that do not match the surrounding environment, resulting in jokes and dramatic conflicts.
Other characters in the play also have their own laughter, Pan Binlong's down-and-out policeman Hu Ting also hopes to be promoted meritorious and promoted, his daily gags with his uncle Shang Quanliang are full of laughter, and Hu Ting's sense of justice and the collapsing social atmosphere are contradictory, and his uncle's thief-catching combination seems to be out of tune, but it actually represents justice and public heart that still exist in a relatively chaotic social environment. As the series progresses, a number of dark forces that appear around the golden legend of the old demon mountain have also entered the game, and when greed gradually takes over, the weakness of human nature is also exposed.
The "Old Story of the Northeast" in the title of the play emphasizes the regional attributes and concept of time and space of the series. The play reproduces the scene of the northeast town in the 90s of the last century, with the bottle warmer factory as the origin, radiating the time and space characteristics of the town standing around the factory. According to director Cha Muchun, the site of the play was filmed in Jilin, because Jilin retains a lot of old factory buildings and residential areas, and the live-action shooting is particularly inspiring to the entire crew, "The scene set up in our drama is a city dominated by industrial factories, with the ecological environment radiated by the factory, there are residential buildings, post and telecommunications offices, police stations, hospitals, vegetable markets, video halls, etc. around the factory area, and Jilin basically meets our settings." ”
The play is positioned as a suspense drama, but the increase in comedy elements has changed its focus. The drama is not limited to the strange case solving of the confrontation between good and evil and the contest between light and dark, but integrates the black humor of the Northeast into the plot, and uses the five flavors of small characters to portray the accidental humor of life. While the jokes are constant, they also have addictive suspense and brain-burning, and the grounded "Northeast taste" is everywhere, making the viewing experience easier.
At present, more than half of the series has been broadcast, and many viewers may ignore the content depth of the show because of the Northeast comedy, and audiences who have requirements for suspense dramas may also feel that the style is divided. However, the small characters portrayed in the play seem to be full of laughter, and they have created such a group portrait of small people in a seemingly relaxed way, and their ridiculous desire to "make meritorious contributions" is actually an adherence to the values of integrity and kindness, which may be stubborn, but it is precisely a rare quality in the era of change.