Criminal investigation dramas, can they return to the top?
This hardcore genre was once the light of national dramas.
Especially around 2000, masterpieces such as "Six Groups of Serious Cases", "Conquest" and "Chinese Criminal Investigation No. 1" became popular on the screen.
But alas, for a long time afterwards, the genre declined.
Sweet pets and ancient dolls once became the mainstream of the market, and criminal investigation and suspense genres were marginalized.
Even if it occasionally appears, the content creation is gradually routine, either fake solving the case and real love, or the IQ of all employees is not online.
Until recent years, the audience's voice has become increasingly strong, wanting to watch hardcore criminal investigation dramas. Criminal investigation dramas are only beginning to show signs of warming up.
At the beginning of 2023, the criminal investigation genre directly entered a blowout state, "Crazy", "Who is He" and "Echo", so that the "screen criminal investigation" storm continued to blow.
Especially "Who Is He" led by Zhang Yi, the opening 4 episodes, full of the scale and texture of ancient criminal investigation dramas, the brain-burning plot spreads the suspense points, and the large-size scenes make the audience's scalp numb. Criminal investigation drama lovers are boiling, and many people are looking forward to it, and criminal investigation dramas will return to the peak of creation.
Unfortunately, the subsequent plot development was somewhat unexpected, and the treatment of the finale caused the audience to question it.
The prospect of the criminal investigation drama that has just brightened, suddenly hangs and hangs again?
Fortunately, there is an actor who is not good at putting idol stars and wants to transform into a powerful person, and has been muffled "holding back his big moves", and the "Road of Life" starring him is being broadcast in Central 1, and the ratings have broken 2 all the way, and the series has just passed halfway.
Another of his hardcore dramas is also about to appear -
On April 6, that is, tomorrow night, the 24-episode "Thirteen Years of Dust" will start broadcasting at the iQiyi Mist Theater.
Chen Xiao, Chen Jianbin, Wang Xiao, Liu Mintao, Dong Qing, Si Ni, Yu Entai, Tan Kai, Nie Yuan and other powerful factions teamed up, and the challenge was still a criminal investigation drama.
The behind-the-scenes team is also not small.
The original author of the novel, Lou Xiaopeng, served as the screenwriter and director, and Liu Haibo, who won the Magnolia Award for Best Director.
After showing off a few trailers in one breath, I can't wait to say -
Criminal investigation drama, there is another look.
1. Story: 13 years of chasing the murderer, full of suspense, this story is interesting
"In 1997, the murderer killed the victim on the spot, threw it here and threw the body without leaving any evidence."
"The case from 13 years ago came out again."
Crazy!
These are the two lines in the trailer of "Thirteen Years in the Dust", not to mention the background behind these two lines, Chen Xiao's two monologues alone are shocking enough. While speaking, coupled with the startling drum music and the spooky soundtrack, the suspense atmosphere immediately pervaded.
Just by watching this trailer of more than 2 minutes, I decided that this drama is not simple!
In 1997, a strange serial murder occurred in Nandu, and all the murdered were beautiful girls with extraordinary appearance and unique temperament.
The murderer killed the victim on the spot, but stayed at the scene for two hours, carefully arranged each crime scene into an oil painting in a picture frame, and left a pencil, cruel modus operandi, and strange scene behavior, making this case confusing.
The old criminal guard Zhengrong (played by Chen Jianbin), who has just experienced divorce, and Lu Xingzhi (played by Chen Xiao), a young newcomer policeman, are responsible for investigating the case, but after many investigations, they failed to lock the suspect, and the case eventually became an unsolved case.
Because Wei Zhengrong failed to find the murderer, he was devastated and left the front line.
Thirteen years later, the long-hidden murderer's whereabouts have reappeared. Is the same modus operandi, the same scene, the same person doing the same thing as the case thirteen years ago? Or, is it the son inheriting the father's business?
At this time, Wei Zhengrong had long retired, and Lu Xingzhi, a rookie policeman at that time, had become a criminal police captain in his own right. But they are still persistent about this case, which has been pending for thirteen years, and rejoin forces to investigate and track down the real murderer.
Thirteen years ago, the key to their inability to solve cases was technology.
So this time, can they get the truth out?
"Thirteen Years of Dust" is adapted from the novel "Light of the Night", the original Douban score is 8.2, the pace of case progression, the interweaving of the double-line narrative, and the suspense arrangement have all been commented by netizens.
It is not difficult to see that the plot has three major characteristics:
First of all, the bizarre modus operandi.
The first thing that caught the attention of many viewers at first glance was the plot setting.
A strange unsolved case spanning a 13-year timeline, the murderer's modus operandi - is an oil painting style special modus operandi.
In "Who Is He", after the murderer assaulted the female victim, he cut the other party's body into corpses as if he were angry.
However, the perpetrator of this play killed the woman, chose another place to throw the body, and put the body in a beautiful appearance, so that at first the two criminal police officers thought it was some kind of dance move.
It was later confirmed that all the victims were placed in the form of an oil painting. The woman's dead body was seen by the murderer as part of the oil painting.
Secondly, it is the cunning and arrogance of the murderer.
In "Who Is He", after the serial crime in 1988, the murderer disappeared for a while and did not challenge the police.
And in "Thirteen Years of Dust", the murderer committed the crime for the first time, leaving a mysterious HB pencil and strawberry doll at the scene.
He also accidentally left his fingerprints on the victim's cherry hair rope. It was only that the technology was not advanced enough to escape justice.
But when "he" returns 13 years later, leaving the same traces at the scene as 13 years ago, it can be said that he is provoking the police.
In addition to a highly cold-blooded mentality, the murderer also has an extraordinary ability, and can start an intellectual game with Wei Zhengrong and Lu Zhixing, a master and apprentice that spans 13 years, physical competition, and has successively set up secret room planning, assassination and kidnapping, forging the scene and so on.
This mystery fills the whole drama, and the suspense is indeed full.
The third is to pursue the murderer that spans 13 years.
On the surface, "Thirteen Years in the Dust" is very similar to the story at the beginning of "Who Is He". One is chasing the murderer for 8 years, and the other is chasing the murderer for 13 years.
But the time background in "Who Is He" mainly appears as memories, and the biggest psychological impact on the male protagonist is the psychological impact.
"Thirteen Years of Dust" is a standard double-line cross-narrative, 1997 and 2010 are two time and space interrelated, the clues are highly overlapping, suspense, never broken, all kinds of foreshadowing emerge one after another, suspicious clouds, intricate roots.
Another key is that the whole drama also has in-depth observation and thinking about human nature and emotions in the process of showing the detection of the case, and the pursuit spanning 13 years gives the story the thickness of time and presents the vicissitudes of the main characters.
Lu Xingzhi, who had just joined the criminal police team, would vomit wildly when he saw the corpse, and Wei Zhengrong was so angry that he asked him not to call himself master, but he grew into a criminal police captain in 13 years.
He never gave up the case, and even adopted the victim's daughter and named her Lu Anning.
And Wei Zhengrong withdrew from the front line because of the murder of his ex-wife, but the 97-year-old case was his heart disease. After 13 years, the master became a subordinate, and everything changed.
The story and past of the master and apprentice duo are interspersed in the case, unhurriedly told, and the process of reasoning are combined together, so that the story exudes a strong human touch in addition to solving the case.
The layers of suspense, the mysteries that cannot be solved, touch people's hearts.
The perseverance of chasing the murderer and the urgency of seeking the truth touched people's hearts.
The depth of the apostolic love and the vicissitudes of the world touched people's hearts.
At least on the basis of the story, the play is ready to return to the highlight of the criminal investigation drama.
2, actor: Chen Xiao Chen Jianbin combination is novel, Si Ni finally played the female one, the supporting cast is too strong
Liu Haibo, the director of "Thirteen Years in the Dust", has masterpieces in the past such as "Hot Mom" and "Chinese Relationship".
But after watching "Tiansheng Long Song", you know that his ability to control the suspense rhythm and image atmosphere is not low.
The opening of the series reveals the oil painting texture of the death scene, and the heavy and suspenseful atmosphere of the case is directly brought to the extreme, and the director's skill is no need to doubt.
Another characteristic of Liu Haibo is that he is good at using actors to live.
Open the list of actors, the acting content of "Thirteen Years of Dust" can be described as exceeding the standard.
Whether it is a starring or supporting role, it is quite worth looking forward to.
The first one, the male protagonist Chen Xiao
In the original work, the male protagonist Lu Xingzhi after 13 years has this description: The head of the criminal investigation brigade of the Jiangbei District Public Security Subbureau, 37 years old, with handsome eyebrows, short hair, no fat on his face, but fine lines at the corners of his eyes. As soon as he got into the car, he leaned on the back of the chair and closed his eyes, and his face looked a little gentle again.
Reading this text, there are three male stars of Chinese dramas that pop up in my mind: Hu Ge, Wang Kai, and the other is Chen Xiao.
Lu Xingzhi is a marked growth character, and it is also a test of acting skills.
In recent years, Chen Xiao has walked on the road of transformation without hesitation. With his appearance, if he wants to play ancient puppets, many scripts can be chosen by him, but in the past three years, the only ancient puppet Chen Xiao has performed is "Menghualu".
From "Ice Rain and Fire" to "The Road of Life", his acting skills have been visibly improved step by step.
In the latest CCTV drama "The Road of Life", he plays Gao Garin, the protagonist of the entire drama, and the most important role in the entire drama. His personal growth and choice is life, the series is controversial, but the ratings continue to increase significantly, which itself is the audience's recognition of Chen Xiao's acting skills - if the male lead is smashed, the audience can't watch it.
This time, Lu Xingzhi, the beginning is a rookie who does not understand anything, 13 years later, he is a fierce criminal police captain, the audience can empathize with the anxious or happy feelings of the characters in the long-term solving of the case, and more intuitively see the growth and experience of the police.
And Chen Xiao also used detailed micro-expressions to perform the youthfulness of the role in the early stage and the calmness in the later stage.
During the investigation process, he was occupied by emotions such as confusion, confusion, and chagrin. But the perseverance that was finally transformed into something that also touched people to watch.
Of course, another key to playing this role well depends on his rivalry with another starring actor -
The second place, Chen Jianbin.
Chen Jianbin left a role as a god in the costume drama "The Legend of Zhen Huan".
But successful roles are also shackles, and Chen Jianbin's key role in breaking the bottleneck is Cui Tiejun, the criminal police officer of Tie Han in "Trident". Sometimes reckless, sometimes hot-blooded, sometimes brilliant. The role also earned him a Magnolia Award nomination.
This time, he played the old criminal guard Zhengrong, which can be described as a familiar road. This character is a maverick, often plays cards out of common sense, is enthusiastic about work, and even sacrifices his family.
But the death of his ex-girlfriend and the inability to solve unsolved cases made him frustrated and withdrew from the front line.
Chen Jianbin performed the change of the character's state in a few shots, 13 years ago, as a mature and experienced criminal police backbone, a leather jacket with a standing collar was standard, and the whole person walked with a sense of motivation.
13 years later, he has become a stay-at-home uncle wearing slippers, big shorts and a white vest, and his eyes no longer have the sharpness of the past. But the unsolved case of that year was never put down.
The pair's acting skills are very high, but the supporting cast that follows is also quite eye-catching.
Let's first look at the actor who may be the ultimate villain of the "crime painter" in the play.
The third place, Wang Xiao.
Recognized as the second generation of the strongest acting star.
Although he has played a supporting role in recent years, he can often overshadow the brilliance of the protagonist.
In 2022, Wang Xiao has 4 important dramas to be broadcast, "Our Marriage", "Fengqi Longxi", as well as "Big Examination" and "County Party Committee Compound", in these 4 dramas, whether playing urban white-collar workers, villain generals, or playing decadent fathers, grassroots officials, his performance is remarkable.
It is not difficult to play a supporting role that exceeds the audience's expectations once, and it is very good to exceed expectations every time.
It is a pity that Wang Xiao played average in "Crazy", and he was questioned about his acting skills, which is his best chance to win back his reputation.
Wang Xiao's acting skills are characterized by the fact that both positive characters and villains can be played, and his role in this play has not yet been exposed, but the finishing photos seem to have something.
Will he play the evil painter? It's worth looking forward to.
The fourth place, Tan Kai.
A powerful person whose popularity and strength are seriously mismatched.
Tan Kai's performance style is steady, his line skills are solid, and he has brilliant performances in "Black Storm", "Breakout" and "The Great Game", especially in "Black Storm", he played a district chief who fell into the abyss step by step, and took out the skills of top acting skills.
Although there was never a fire, no one could deny his strength.
Tan Kai looks righteous, so playing the villain has more dramatic tension. Combined with the huge difference in his appearance in this play 13 years apart, I would not be surprised if he was the last villain.
The fifth place, Nie Yuan.
Nie Yuan should be one of the most successful actors who have transformed from a popular student to a powerful one.
Having seen Qi Tianlei in "The Wrong Flower Palanquin Married to Lang", Luo Cheng in "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", Seven Nights in the new "Qiannu Ghost", Zhao Zilong in the new "Three Kingdoms" and other characters, you should have an impression of Nie Yuan's appearance back then.
But in recent years, from Xie Tianhua in "Dear Child" to Feng Yi in "Feng Qi Longxi", Nie Yuan has proved again and again with his acting skills that he is worthy of the title of a powerful person.
Nie Yuan's actor in this play is not high, and he seems to play a criminal police captain, but he is full of pressure.
Invite a powerful person like Nie Yuan, but there are so few plays, is it a cameo, or is the role another mystery? Interesting.
But no matter how few plays there are, I am willing to look forward to it.
Finally, take a look at the female characters in the show.
Sixth place, Tini.
Sini can be said to be a powerful actress who suddenly began to become popular.
Initially, she appeared in Feng Xiaogang's urban dramas, and she still seemed unremarkable, but from "Echo" to "Infernal", she conquered the audience again and again with her acting skills, in "Infernal" she played a ruthless and decisive gold-medal military agent on the surface, in fact, she has always been open to the male protagonist. The details of Sini are quite in place.
I have seen more of the noble lady she played who cheated on her, or the heroic female agent, and it is somewhat unaccustomed to her playing the wife who quietly dedicates herself to the male protagonist Lu Xingzhi in this play,
But being able to play the protagonist is also an affirmation of the efforts of this powerful actress, and I hope she can seize the opportunity.
Seventh place, Zuo Xiaoqing.
Since her debut, Zuo Xiaoqing, who has always appeared as a dignified, atmospheric and decent heroine, has not had many bright roles in recent years, but has maintained a stable appearance.
In this play, she plays Wei Zhengrong's ex-girlfriend Bai Xiaofu, which is also one of the keys for the male protagonist to withdraw from the front line of criminal investigation.
The eighth place, Liu Mintao.
From "The Pretender" has countless fans, to "Red High Heels" overnight, and then to the decline in acting reputation in recent years, no one can deny that as long as he does not challenge the comedy role, Liu Mintao's acting skills are still very stable.
This time, Hu Haixia, who Liu Mintao will play in the play, is Wei Zhengrong's ex-wife, and I am waiting to see the chemical reaction between Liu Mintao and Chen Jianbin.
The ninth place, Dong Qing.
Although his popularity is not as good as the previous ones, from the wife who was betrayed by her husband in "Home of the Heart" to the spicy and sincere Xie Xiaochun in "To the Windy Place", Dong Qing's acting performance has always been super stable.
Another characteristic of her is that the looks in the play are far less eye-catching than the daily looks.
I hope she can play a brilliant and good-looking role this time.
3. Breaking the game: Can criminal investigation dramas win back a game? See how "Thirteen Years of Dust" solves the case
"Thirteen Years of Dust" was launched at this time, obviously to fight against "Infernal" and "Thin Ice".
Although the themes and platforms of the three dramas are different, they all have strong suspense elements, and the audience overlap is not low.
If you want to break through in ratings, you have to rely on real skills.
Another challenge of the play is to break the dilemma of criminal investigation dramas going high and low.
In fact, whether it is "Crazy" at the beginning of the year, "Who Is He" that ended shortly after, or Feng Xiaogang's "Echo", there is the same problem: the ending can't be stopped.
That is, when the most critical real murderer surfaced, the audience either thought it was not shocking enough, or took it for granted.
In short, it is the ultimate answer to the criminal investigation drama "who is he", which is not crazy enough and lacks resonance.
Now, it's Thirteen Years of Dust's turn to face this challenge.
From the production point of view, the drama party is indeed attentive.
The play was filmed in the mountain city of Chongqing,
In order to shoot the atmosphere of the original 13-year chase of the murderer, two scenes were specially selected in winter and summer, two sets, and two start-up shooting.
In addition to the tireless production, the shooting is also tasteful, and its intentions can be seen from the sense of age, the professionalism of the old criminal police and the shaping of characters. For example, the monitoring back then was far less perfect than it is now, so the old criminal police took the new police to investigate the case, and after inspecting the scene, the first thing was to visit and investigate.
But the key to the success of the series is whether it can give people the feeling of "immersion in solving the case".
That is, after everyone enters the plot, they will automatically follow the footsteps of the criminal investigators, remove the curious and bloody surface, go deep into it, solve the puzzle, and find the real murderer.
And this real murderer must be reasonable.
The icing on the cake is that the audience will not only see the exciting story with tight rhythm and climax, but will also follow the protagonist into their inner world. I have seen two generations of police, who have been campaigning for an unsolved case for 13 years, and also seen the calmness of our criminal police in handling cases and the tenderness in real life, and the warmth of human fireworks with cold criminal cases.
As the old criminal guard Zhengrong said in the play: "No matter what his purpose is, my purpose is to catch him!" ”
The drama is ambitious enough, the suspense part is stripped away, and the criminal investigation part also fills the scarcity of the realistic background of domestic suspense dramas to a certain extent.
But it is necessary to convince the audience to truly return the criminal investigation theme to the tradition of realism.
To let the audience appreciate what is really solving a case, is to truly regain the glory of criminal investigation dramas.