Duan Yihong, Zu Feng, Hao Lei and many other powerful factions interpreted the suspense drama "Octagonal Pavilion Mystery Fog" with a score of only 6.0, and Gong Li and Lou Ye's first cooperation film "Lyceum Theatre" only had a box office of more than 16 million yuan... Literary and art film directors gathered the head cast lineup to bring big productions, but they were beaten by the market to "break the blood", the reason behind it is the regressive quality of the work, or the threshold for chasing the drama?
What happened to the Mist Theater?
The Hidden Corner, The Silent Truth, Ten Days Game... In the second quarter of last year, iQIYI's suspense theater, the Mist Theater, won the favor of the market with a number of word-of-mouth masterpieces as soon as it was launched. In front of Zhuyu, the 2021 Mist Theater was late after satisfying the audience's appetite, and the six suspense dramas announced in one breath were described by netizens as "fairy fights", and the "Octagonal Pavilion Mystery Fog" that nodded was even more anticipated.
Let's look at the lineup first. Directors Wang Xiaoshuai, Hua Zhen, for Wang Xiaoshuai everyone is no stranger, the representative works "Qinghong", "Rizhao Chongqing", "Long Day", etc., at home and abroad to get awards to get soft, "Octagonal Pavilion Mystery Fog" is Wang Xiaoshuai as the general director and chief screenwriter of the first web drama. This time, the director Hua Zhen, who partnered with Wang Xiaoshuai, is also famous for his works, especially the well-known "My Brother Is Called Shunliu". The two famous directors of the big and small screens joined forces, plus Duan Yihong, Hao Lei, Zu Feng, Wu Yue, Bai Yufan, Wen Zhengrong, Tao Hong, Dai Jun, Huang Xiaolei and many other powerful actors, it is difficult for this drama to think about whether it will explode.
Director Wang Xiaoshuai
However, the fact is that six episodes have been released, and the word of mouth is about to fall out of the "lowest in history" of the mist theater. As of press time, Douban scored only 6.0. A netizen left a message that "as it is, it can only be called a waste of the team", which received more than 800 likes from more than 800 netizens; among the more than 14,000 netizens who scored 3 stars or less, 70% of the netizens scored Samsung and below.
The story of "Octagonal Pavilion Mystery Fog" takes place in a small town in Jiangnan, where Zu Feng's father Xuan Liang lost his beloved sister Xuan Zhen nineteen years ago, and the cause of death has not yet been ascertained. Coincidentally, her daughter Nian Mei, who was about to turn eighteen, looked exactly like Xuan Zhen, and in order to avoid the same tragedy from happening in the Xuan family again, Xuan Liang loved her daughter almost madly. The daughter, who is in the rebellious period of adolescence, does not understand her father, but thinks that his father has interfered with freedom, and feels that everyone is hostile to her. Nian Mei was targeted by a rich second-generation, but on a rainy night, this little was mysteriously killed, and when the murder recurred, the dusty memories and pain once again plunged the Xuan family into the abyss of love and hate.
Why are netizens dissatisfied? To be fair, this drama from the starring to the supporting role of the full acting skills online, in addition to some netizens on the role of Nian Mei's selection criteria express doubts, Yi Shui'er's strength to this work to pull a lot of good feelings. However, the flashback shots that appear from time to time, the superposition of reality and memory, and the multi-line narrative method give people the impression of being too fragmented, and the narrative rhythm is not as clear and orderly as the previous suspense dramas. The plot of the first half is questioned about the existence of hard injuries, such as why two men riding motorcycles to chase two running girls in the opening chapter, but let them escape again and again; for example, Xuan Liang's fear that his daughter's persecution is justified, but he is not understood by the whole family; Muge suddenly disappears, but no one cares.
Many netizens pointed the spearhead at the screenwriting team, Wang Xiaoshuai is not good at suspense themes, but there are four other screenwriters sitting with him in the screenwriting seat, and the strong creative lineup has made a work that only passes the passing line, which is obviously impossible to say. But there are also many netizens who hold a wait-and-see attitude, waiting for the final ending and word of mouth to reverse.
The combination of Gong Li and Lou Ye is also disappointing
Director Lou Ye's recently released new work "Lyceum Theatre" also appeared in the situation of "water and soil dissatisfaction". This is the first cooperation between Lou Ye and Gong Li, coupled with the international lineup of Zhao Youting, Oda Chejang, Pascal Gregory, Tom Rasziha, Huang Xiangli, Nakajima Bu, Wang Chuanjun, Zhang Songwen, etc. in the film, "Lyceum Theatre" has earned eyeballs from the beginning of filming. The first appearance of the Venice International Film Festival in September 2019 and the official release in China in October 2021, in the two years between, every public appearance of the protagonist and director has continuously increased everyone's attention to the film. At the recently concluded Beijing International Film Festival, because Gong Li served as the chairman of the jury, "Lyceum Grand Theatre" once again stole the limelight.
However, after the release of "Lyceum Theatre", it interpreted what is called "thunder and rain and small points", and the box office was unbearable - only 16.9 million yuan in 5 days of release. On douban, the film scored 7.4, which is not low among the films released on the same day. Compared with other literary and art films, the box office of "Lyceum Theatre" may not be unexpected, and the works of literary and art film directors such as Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye, and Bi Gan have faced market embarrassment, but under the premise that the film side has made considerable efforts in marketing in the early stage, it is really puzzling to still achieve such a low box office and topic popularity.
The film is adapted from Hongying's novel "The Death of Shanghai" and Heng Guangli's novel "Shanghai", which tells the story of the famous actress Yu Yan (Gong Li) who returned to Shanghai in 1941 to star in the drama "Saturday Novel" directed by her old love Tan Na (Zhao Youting), but caused various forces to pay close attention to her movements and want to find out the real purpose of her trip. A woman's fate is tightly pulled by the times, the drama is inseparable from the enemy, and under the undercurrent, she ushered in a choice to change the world... This is the first time Lou Ye has focused the camera on Shanghai in the "isolated island" period, refracting the great turning point of the turbulent era by focusing on a small person.
The audience's evaluation shows a serious polarization. For the director's shooting and presentation techniques, actors' performances and costumes, most people still showed affirmation, and the data of the lighthouse professional version showed that 81% of netizens gave positive comments. However, there are still a large number of viewers who are dissatisfied with the black-and-white pictures, hand-cranked shots, lens editing, insufficient plot logic, etc., and some people criticize Lou Ye for missing the real characters and core in the first genre film attempt.
When will the gap between literary and art film audiences and ordinary audiences be crossed?
Wang Xiaoshuai and Lou Ye are representatives of the sixth generation of Chinese directors, and they are best at literary and art films. Whether it is Lou Ye's "Lyceum Theatre" or Wang Xiaoshuai's first web drama "Octagonal Pavilion Mystery Fog", it exudes a literary and artistic film temperament that is too thick to be dissolved. Therefore, these two works have also received the attention of literary and artistic youth early on, and have been passed on for ten hundred years, which has aroused great enthusiasm for chasing dramas and watching movies. According to the Professional Edition of the Lighthouse, the cumulative number of people who want to see "Lyceum Theatre" has reached 210,000, exceeding many October scheduled films. However, the market feedback is not optimistic, after the first weekend after the release of the box office after the high point, it continued to decline, in the domestic film box office of more than 100 million has not been enough to show off the era, the final box office of "Lyceum Theatre" may not even be able to exchange advertising and marketing fees.
Director Lou Ye
The polarization of word-of-mouth is the same dilemma encountered by "Lyceum Theatre" and "Octagonal Pavilion Mystery Fog". The film texture of the TV series was originally a word of praise, but if the TV series is too cinematic, it will invisibly raise the threshold for chasing the drama. In the bad reviews made by netizens, the shaky shots and fragmented narratives in "Octagonal Pavilion Mystery Fog" have become the "groove points" of the play, so that the audience has no time to see the ending and hastily concludes that the "bad drama" is made. "Lyceum Theatre" is even more so, for the "lens shaking" problem caused by the hand-cranked lens, the audience of the literary film recognizes Lou Ye's explanation - this "documentary" photography method allows the actors to "live" in the role to the greatest extent, showing the most real character state, and also bringing the audience an immersive movie-watching experience; while the general audience thinks that it is completely unnecessary, and even more thinks that this difference is a deliberate "showmanship" behavior. As for the black-and-white picture, the audience of the literary and art film believes that the psychedelic taste of Shanghai in the isolated island period gives people a strong sense of atmosphere; while the ordinary audience expresses extreme discomfort, and even thinks that the black-and-white film is not worth the ticket price at all.
Killing Wang Xiaoshuai and Lou Ye with a stick alone is too uncivilized. However, it is also an indisputable fact that the gap between the audience of literary and art films and the ordinary audience is difficult to cross. "Lyceum Theatre" was shortlisted for the main competition unit in Venice, and then appeared at the Beijing International Film Festival as a closing film, and such works are difficult to be characterized as bad films. But the box office proved that this was at least not a masterpiece in the eyes of the public. How to find a balance between literature and art and the market is still a big mountain in front of the directors of literary and art films, and the answer to whether this mountain will go over or not is unknown.
New Yellow River reporter: Ren Xiaofei
Editor: Han Luying