"Apocalypse in Style" premieres tonight, led by Han Dongjun Cai Wenjing, can urban satirical dramas be popular?
To be honest, I was attracted by this "pretending" scene of Ni Hongjie, Li Yuan and Cai Wenjing in the trailer——
"This Tom Yum soup, lemongrass is not right." In the high-end restaurant, Liu Meiling, a noblewoman played by Ni Hongjie, pretended to be shy.
Wang Yuxuan, played by Li Yuan, calmly replied: The Chinese lemongrass used in this house has a little astringent, and the taste of European lemongrass is a little sour.
The lady immediately made another twisted gesture: I may be used to tasting the taste of Europe, that is, the taste of Chinese lemongrass, may have to adapt again.
The three people at the table collectively let out a social smirk of "he".
Wonderful at the end - Li Yuan: Meiling, European lemongrass, that's just a word I made up casually, I'm sorry.
Ni Hongjie's inner monologue: Lady, I can't pretend.
This clip comes from a 14-episode urban drama that will be broadcast by Hunan Satellite TV on August 18, that is, tonight, "Apocalypse".
When you first see this name, don't you feel a little strange?
Don't be surprised, so do I.
However, combined with the opening clip, it doesn't seem strange at all.
To be honest, the audience may be a bit short recently.
Without "Stalker" that complains while watching, the national drama screen seems to have lost its absolute king bombing.
CCTV's military drama "Ice and Snow Sharp Knife Company" is still counterattacking, and CCTV's eight sets of "All the Way to the Sun" are still gaining momentum. Other satellite TV dramas do not have the strength to dominate the rivers and lakes.
Hunan Satellite TV released this urban satirical drama starring Cai Wenjing and Han Dongjun at this time, which is considered almost impossible to adapt, which is just the right time.
Although, in recent years, domestic urban dramas have fallen into a certain suspension quagmire.
But, "Apocalypse in Style" is good that it honestly opens the bottom of the splendid city with you: pretend to be elegant? Exquisite? Airs? What to load!
On the contrary, a new path has been opened for more and more domestic urban dramas.
How "pretend" is the apocalypse? Take a look to find out.
1. Main creator: the passionate collision between new directors and new generation authors
Usually I will tell the story first, but this time, let's discuss a question first, many of the current domestic dramas are of poor quality, what is the biggest problem?
No good actors? No. Every big drama that hits the street has no shortage of power.
No good production? No, the production cost of a single episode of an S-class Chinese drama has led Asia and caught up with American dramas.
There is no good script, and the director who really cares about the play.
After all, in the era of big data, the "industrial saccharin" traffic drama produced by the assembly line is the mainstream.
However, there are always people who do not believe in evil.
For example, Li Mo, who only graduated from the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy in 2021, joined Mango TV and became the first director to sign a contract on the platform.
Subsequently, he brought a film to Mango's Monsoon Theater - "I'm Very Good in Another Country".
The drama shows the plight faced by urban professionals in front of the audience, which is completely a portrayal of the life of social animals, and the Douban score is as high as 8.1.
In 2022, he brought another high-scoring urban drama, "Sanyue Has a New Job", which looks at the world with the theme of funeral parlors, this time with a score of 8.4 points.
Two years into the industry, two 8-point national dramas, Li Mo does have something.
Unlike those directors who have already achieved fame, he can often shoot more realistic urban workplace dramas, presenting the real pain points of those "workers".
Let's talk about the original author of "Apocalypse in Style", Liu Cuihu.
One is a female author who studied at Peking University Law School, was attracted by the aura to enter a high-paying law firm, and eventually chose to escape the CBD and experienced the transformation of full-time lawyer to full-time writer.
"Apocalypse in Cavity", a word "pretending", it can be seen that the point is, first of all, the two words of pretending.
This work, which won the championship for her in the second long-form rally of Douban reading, is completely derived from life.
Liu Cuihu himself said, "At that time, many of the lawyers in the CBD were labeled, such as "elite" and "high-end", and people in them would habitually label themselves. Excessive flaunting can lead to one result, and that is disguise. ”
And Liu Cuihu's delicate brushstrokes depict this pretentious story.
No wonder, Li Mo will focus on this "Apocalypse", and even the title of the play has not changed.
Li Mo and Liu Cuihu are both cutting-edge creators and do not follow routines at all.
That's interesting.
2. Story: Apocalypse, how to write the urban "pretending" sentient beings
Now it's time to talk about the plot.
Junior lawyer Tang Ying (played by Cai Wenjing) works at Shanghai Red Circle Law Firm and accidentally meets his partner Xu Zixuan (played by Han Dongjun).
Xu Zixuan faced the pursuit of Tang Ying by the rich man Ma Qiyuan (played by Geng Le), and faced the pressure of his parents to suddenly come to Shanghai, and found Xu Zixuan and her to pretend to be a couple.
Like the plot of all domestic urban dramas, the fake becomes real.
Xu Zixian's family scandal was exposed, and the two underwent a test, and finally walked together, decided not to pretend anymore, and accepted their truest side.
To briefly say three points: First, after reading the original work, you know that the plot has still made a certain urban drama-style adaptation.
For example, the plot of conventional urban dramas such as pretending to be a couple and family scandals has been added, so that the series has a more complete story and richer emotional lines than novels.
The second is the sense of irony under the light comedy wind.
The biggest attraction and essence of the series should be the irony of some people's pursuit of a petty bourgeois life.
In addition to the lemongrass mentioned above, there are also red wines, tasting "Michael Sydney Barrel" foreign wine, and pretending to watch only French New Wave movies.
The biggest feature of the original book is to present readers with a gilded society that urges people to advance, showing those high-end residences, CBD white-collar workers, fashion clothing, and exquisite dishes that often appear in brand advertisements, building a world in which all kinds of upper-class people pretend and make people linger.
It's so interesting to watch these noble people "pretend" in the play.
The third is enlightenment to urban social life.
In the end, the story will still be aimed at the urban society we live in.
The director explained the "pretense" in the title of the play: "A mask for urban people, people always have to learn to use different masks on different occasions in the process of growing up, and even do something against their will because they have to cater to them, losing their true self." ”。
But how to go from pretending to not pretending is the most interesting part of the plot.
3. Lineup: led by Han Dongjun Cai Wenjing, Geng Le, Li Yuan and other powerful parties, this lineup is not pretended
In recent years, there are two trends in the casting of Chinese dramas: one is to use traffic stars to install traffic, and the other is to use strength to decorate the façade.
And the biggest feature of the lineup of "Apocalypse" is that it does not pretend, but seeks suitability.
Still, it's a lot to watch.
Look at the male and female protagonists first.
When it comes to Han Dongjun, the first thing that comes to mind is "Heartless Mage".
But after coming out of the circle, Han Dongjun quickly got rid of the ancient puppet and turned to the main theme drama, especially with the role of sharpshooter Pinghe in the two "Changjin Lake" movies, proving his acting skills.
In recent years, Han Dongjun has acted in period dramas the most, and this time playing Xu Zixuan, an invincible high-quality man in investment banking, is not small, because this is not a standard perfect male protagonist, but full of human shortcomings.
In the trailer, Han Dongjun handled the "costume" on Xu Zixuan very well, hoping that he would have a good performance this time.
Look at the heroine Cai Wenjing again.
Cai Wenjing originally became famous with online dramas such as "Hip Hop Trilogy" and "Hip Hop Quartet", and came out of the circle by the crime drama "Under the Sun", her resources have been stable in recent years, and she has gradually gained a name in Chinese dramas.
This time, the heroine Tang Ying played by her, with a moderate pompousness, but in the end she was able to take it back and return to reality. This kind of urban light comedy is her forte. You can expect her performance.
However, compared to the starring combination of handsome men and beautiful women, I personally look forward to the supporting cast of this show.
First, Geng Le
Since he participated in "Sunny Day" and played Liu Yiku, he is a treasure actor in my heart.
In recent years, Geng Le has been silent, and in the past two years, he has been active again, and in "Changjin Lake", he played Yang Camp Commander, which is impressive.
In "Breakout", he played Niu Junjie, with a kind of unstinting charm, and his acting brilliance even overshadowed the protagonist Jin Dong.
This time, he played the rich second generation Ma Qiyuan, with the sentence "I usually live in Switzerland", inadvertently showing his dazzling characteristics, Geng Le's performance makes the character greasy so natural, of course, it is worth looking forward to.
Second, Li Yuan
Some viewers are familiar with her because "Infernal", in fact, the 2015 movie "Get Out!" Tumor Jun", Xia Meng, played by Li Yuan, made the audience feel extremely amazing.
In "Chang'an Twelve Hours", the fish intestine she played has an inch head, extraordinary skills, and tenderness in her sassiness.
This time she played Wang Yuxuan, a noble lady who teased Ni Hongjie as soon as she appeared, and she is also a sister I am afraid of who I am afraid of every day, I expect this role to be very outstanding.
Third, Ni Hongjie
Judging from the trailer, the one who bears the laughter of the whole drama is Ni Hongjie's celebrity eye bag, Liu Meiling.
From the popularity of "The Legend of Martial Arts" to the silence, to the popularity of strength again, Ni Hongjie has finally made the audience forget the name Zhu Wushuang in recent years.
A Xiang in "Soul Ferry", Niu Mei with a queen's aura in "Come on, You Are the Best" to Gloria in "Love Myth", Ni Hongjie has long become an acting.
This time, she played the fake delicate on the character to the fullest, and the more embarrassed the character, the more the audience wanted to laugh.
But it's worth looking forward to.
Fourth, Jiang Shimeng
What is most lacking in internal entertainment now is not Xiaohua, but licorice comedians like Jiang Shimeng.
After her debut as a comedian, she also quickly found her place.
The king she played in this play, from posturing to returning to reality, Jiang Shimeng performed both joy and pain in the transformation of the character, and her performance is still worth looking forward to.
Add actors such as Tao Hong and Bao Shangen, and the acting content of "Apocalypse" is not low.
4. Tone: Whether domestic urban dramas can still have new ideas, watch this drama to give a sample
To be honest, the biggest problem of domestic urban dramas at present is the audience's aesthetic fatigue.
It is not about newcomers embarking on an ordinary road in their first careers, or several heroines joining forces to experience a mid-life crisis.
In short, the themes are similar, the stories are the same, and the characters are similar.
In addition to the similarity, it is mostly permeated.
Living in a gorgeous courtyard, dreaming of struggle.
On the one hand, the audience cannot see the real life of real ordinary people in urban dramas.
On the one hand, the drama wants to pour chicken soup and chicken blood into the audience, where does the resonance come from.
"Apocalypse in Costume" has taken a different path, it seems that every character in the story is pretending, but through this costume, the audience finds another resonance in the familiar or unfamiliar.
Because in life, everyone will pretend, more or less.
As the starring Han Dongjun said, pretend is not necessarily a derogatory term, it is just a part of life.
"Pretending" is life, but the dilemma that the series focuses on is not only pretending, but the survival rules of urban men and women.
After pretending, people will eventually have to face the reality of urban survival.
So the meaning of "Apocalypse", in addition to "pretending", there is another half, "Revelation".
From loading to not pretending, what ordinary people need is actually a silent, slow, untouchable process, only in the heart of the boat through the water without a trace.
Just like in the original work, after the protagonists have experienced wearing fake name brands, fabricated experiences, etc., they must finally return to life and take off their masks, which is the revelation that the pretense brings to the characters: people, you can't pretend for a lifetime.
If you can shoot the reality behind this layer of the original work, the drama will have a real tone that domestic urban dramas lack.
"Apocalypse", there is no "white costume".