From "Disappearing Her" to "All or Nothing", where is the uncomfortable point of the box office hit?
A desperate bet was released, not counting the early point screening, and received 185 million at the box office on the first day.
Won 2 billion in ten days, and it is predicted that the box office will not be less than 3.5 billion.
And this summer, domestic films are full of firepower, "Chang'an 30,000 Li", "Disappearing Her", "In the Octagonal Cage", "The First Part of Fengsheng", "Desperate" ... It's like a relay, passing the position of the box office crown.
Although this summer vacation file has not ended, as of August 18, the overall box office has reached 18 billion.
In contrast, there is the decline of Hollywood blockbusters, whether it is "Fast and Furious", "Transformers", "Spider-Man", "Mission Impossible", or "Barbie".
I don't know if everyone has weakened the aesthetic of the dazzling and fantastic Hollywood bombing, or everyone pays more attention to the personal content of reality in the post-epidemic era, the most eye-catching movies in the summer vacation file, without exception, are all realistic themes, and each has a prototype.
"Disappearing Her" is based on the Thai wife murder and insurance fraud case, "In the Octagon Cage" is based on the boxing boy of Daliangshan, and "Desperate" touches on the repeated prohibition and jaw-dropping electric fraud + blood and tears of Southeast Asian black workers.
In fact, looking back at Chinese films in previous years, the reality theme has long been a box office pioneer, "I Am Not the God of Medicine" with the theme of "smuggling" targeted drugs, "Dear" with the theme of finding relatives, "Chinese Doctor" with the theme of anti-epidemic, "Miracle Stupid Child" with the theme of entrepreneurship, "My Sister" with the theme of son preference, "Operation Mekong" and "Operation Red Sea" with the theme of transnational law enforcement and evacuation of overseas Chinese... All have been box office champions.
They often revolve around real-world topics, triggering heated discussions about movies and social topics.
The original publicity of "All or Nothing" was based on traffic first, focusing on the most common marketing tactics to knock CP, and the initial large number of soft and wide was concentrated on the two stars Zhang Yixing and Jin Chen and their "chemical effect", but the clicks and feedback were very general.
Until Xuanfa released another set of clips: the fraud leader played by Wang Chuanjun, with a group of younger brothers who were either tied or deceived, shouted loudly to get rich... It instantly attracted the attention of the public.
So the film publicity quickly adjusted its strategy, and more publicity and marketing to all kinds of fraud methods, and the helpless life of the defrauded.
Sure enough, it gained the attention of public opinion.
From this point of view, the propaganda was successful.
This may also confirm another trend this summer: traffic stars are failing.
However, people who have actually seen the movie have doubts about the tone of the film.
Because, the "miserable" shown in the movie is obviously more than one stop worse than the atmosphere created in the propaganda.
The most criticized is Ah Cai's "love brain".
As a ruthless fraud leader, he is usually skilled in killing and setting fires, binding and blackmailing, but at the moment of the attack, he released the most critical witness Liang Anna (Jin Chen).
This A Cai, regarded as the most successful character created in this film, wears a suit with a personable demeanor, and his brows are furrowed and fierce.
Pan Sheng's wave of senior programmers was deceived by him, and Anna's wave of beautiful girls was also deceived by him.
The styles of the two sides are completely different, but they both exude a sense of mastery.
At the same time, like Huang Mao, who undertook most of the film's "exposing the tragic life of black workers in northern Myanmar" scenes, the low-level horse boy head dog push, is also he is managing, mainly fighting a violent arrogance, disobedience and beating.
For Pan Sheng, played by Zhang Yixing, he was deliberately targeted at first with a bit of a personal grudge, but Pan Sheng is a technical talent that Manager Lu is optimistic about after all, so in the early stage, he mainly focused on deterrence and scare, and did not move the real thing.
And for Liang Anna, Ah Cai, the little leader in the thief's cave, actually looks very ...
Pure love.
For example, Anna got off duty with a stomachache, met Pan Sheng, who sneaked away in the toilet, delayed time, and after going out, Ah Cai did not hesitate to slap her, deduct her two thousand yuan, and then gently drag her to the side, comforting her that she was doing a scene under the surveillance camera, and thoughtfully stuffed a pack of aunt towels for her.
I originally thought that Ah Cai was in PUA Anna, but he actually cared about Anna.
I wondered, since there is monitoring at the door of the toilet, then Pan Sheng went in and tinkered for such a long time, and no one found clues from the monitoring afterwards?
Later, Anna and Pan Sheng conspired to write a distress message on the banknote, but was accidentally intercepted by Ah Cai, who smelled the coffee on the banknote, guessed that it was related to Anna, and chose to hide it for her.
After Anna was punished, she was the lightest of the three, just pricked her nails with a toothpick, and the camera also gave A Cai a very unbearable close-up, as for Pan Sheng, who was next to him who had his leg broken, and Huang Mao, who was nailed and shot in the brain...
Nobody cares.
After that, Anna attempted to abscond, was tied up and stuffed into a sack and sank into the sea, Ah Cai recorded the execution process to Manager Lu, but secretly arranged for someone to rescue Anna, not only returned her passport, but also gave her some loose banknotes, seeing that her clothes were thin and soaked, and before leaving, he took off his coat and threw it to her.
His only request for Anna was to keep his mouth shut, and as a result, Anna went home and was found by the police and said everything, and finally ran to open the door by fingerprint - then again, Anna didn't delete her fingerprints when she died? And Anna, as an outfield dealer, how can she have access control fingerprint permissions in the core area?
Besides, after our people arrived at the port, the entire company moved from the village where the fireworks factory was located to another elementary school den, and the chain of turmoil also triggered violent resistance by the villagers, how could Anna have access control rights to the school?
None of this makes sense.
In the deleted clips leaked out of the movie, Ah Cai will even help Anna because other girls bully her.
If it weren't for the later confirmation that he was a vicious criminal, most people could even treat him as a righteous undercover person.
But he clearly isn't.
Then the complexity of this character should be the director's deliberate "human nature".
But in fact, it is difficult to say whether such a thug leader will really have this complex human nature, it is conceivable that a beautiful girl like Anna fell into the thief's cave, and there is absolutely no good life in the movie.
The real situation should be the kind revealed by Ms. Mosaic who appeared at the end of the film, and a slight mistake is a death.
The situation that women face is always more unimaginable than men.
For example, Taiwanese Internet celebrity Pippi was tricked into going to Myanmar, she wanted to leave, but she was endlessly abused.
Generally speaking, we also know that domestic films do have some censorship that cannot be crossed, but film is the art of the lens, and it is not impossible to show it from other places.
For example, Lu Bingkun called her to the room and asked her to "kneel" after Anna earned a wave of goods, which is an obvious sexual suggestion, but the movie has to dissolve this meaning from other places - he praised her good performance while gesturing to return her passport, and even said to Anna very appreciatively, you still have a choice, that is, to marry! To give! I!
Anna's expression at that time was surprised, abrupt and suspicious, but not fearful.
It seems that marrying him is really a path.
And Lu Bingkun's temporary fierce face was quickly interrupted by Pan Sheng, and Anna was able to go out unharmed, that is, before that, Anna's life safety was safe, and there would even be additional preferential benefits.
After all, a second ago, Anna was still downstairs celebrating their success with a group of people, eating, drinking, singing and dancing, and very boss lady persuaded Pan Sheng, "Don't leave, stay and make money together."
As a result, a second later, because of Lu Bingkun's thunder and rain, she trembled and trembled.
After one night, she recognized the essence of the criminal group and resolutely turned into a predator, wanting to form an alliance with Pan Sheng and wait for the opportunity to escape.
Although it is the meaning of the title, the director of your switch is too unnatural.
And all of Anna's dangers, the movie is only blamed for one reason, she is beautiful!
Her beauty is so dazzling, not only makes Pan Sheng fall in love at first sight in the thieves' cave, but also makes Ah Tian throw a lot of money when he sees her small casino advertisement, which not only makes Lu Bingkun focus on training, but also allows Ah Cai to stay everywhere until he dies.
Fortunately, Jin Chen is a real beauty, otherwise it is really unconvincing.
But if you believe this, you're done.
Even the director is constantly deepening the rendering of "criminal humanity".
For example, Lu Bingkun, played by Wang Chuanjun.
He is the regional leader of the wire fraud group, and the movie has some details: this is the territory of "Lao Chong". It shows that this old Chong is the local boss, and Lu Bingkun is just one of the manager-level leaders who help him do things.
This old Chong almost did not appear, after Lu Bingkun won more than 100 million achievements and set off fireworks, he was once invited to the golf course, in which a middle-aged man introduced him to a middle-aged and elderly man wearing a hat, saying, "This is the most powerful Ah Kun under me."
The middle-aged man who brought him in was likely to be Lao Chong, and the man in the hat was the big man above Lao Chong.
Just Lao Chong's Ah Kun is already the big boss in this film, not to mention his superior.
After Anna tried to call the police and was imprisoned, the local black police also said to Ah Cai, who came to receive the person, "Tell Mr. Chong...".
When the Chinese police came to rescue people, Ah Kun and others moved ahead of schedule, villagers brandished fire bottles to violently resist the law, and the Chinese leaders who came to pick them up also told them, "It is difficult for outsiders to interfere in Lao Chong's territory." ”
Although this reflects a certain local ecology and layers of control of wire fraud, it also invisibly alleviates Lu Bingkun's crimes.
For example, Lu Bingkun often told the horse boys, I am different from others, although the big boss makes me an evil person, but I also feel that I don't have to force people so hard, occasionally loose, I can turn a blind eye.
For example, Lu Bingkun's deep affection for his youngest daughter, the kind of pity of complete dedication, it is difficult not to be moved.
For example, Ah Cai was worried that Lu Bingkun would dispose of him when he found out that Anna would dispose of him privately, and stabbed him at the first time, but Lu Bingkun did not calculate with Ah Cai even if he held a gun in his hand, but asked him to quickly delete the monitoring so that the top would not be discovered, and this behavior even moved Ah Cai to die for him in the end.
Even the misery of these "beaten workers" is not much reflected, except for the fact that they will be beaten for running away and resisting, and the rest of the time, everyone's life and income are guaranteed.
It feels like the bottom dog push like Huang Mao will be abandoned and sacrificed and resold for sale, and technicians like Pan Sheng and façade like Anna, as long as they are obedient, it seems that the days ... Can you get by?
And the dog push like Huang Mao, the movie still made him say a paragraph: "My wife is pregnant, the boss sent her to the best hospital, what else do I ask for." One of the reasons why they were resold was that Pan Sheng "did bad things with good intentions" and designed a program to liberate the labor force and let them go, resulting in useless dog pushers being sold by Ah Kun.
Like the fat programmer who was deceived with Pan Sheng, he was basically the most assimilated in the criminal group, and the situation seemed to be smooth, and he took a lot of money when he scattered money.
How to say, on the one hand, vigorously reduce the evil to the innocent, on the other hand, strive to portray the human nature of the perpetrator.
...... Maybe this is artistic deconstruction, but it's a little subtle.
In fact, in the film "Beneficiary" before the director's bid, this chaotic deconstruction is obvious.
The male protagonist is an evil person who kills his wife and cheats insurance, and the female protagonist is a sincere and simple little Internet celebrity.
In order to cheat the high insurance premium, the male protagonist married the female main to kill her to cheat the insurance, it is such a simple thing, "The Beneficiary" has to make an ambiguous pure love film.
In the movie, the male protagonist is portrayed as a confused bug who is tricked by a friend to kill his wife and cheat on insurance, he wants to raise 7 million money for his friend while making money for his asthmatic son to see a doctor, in the choreographer's show, he looks so pitiful and innocent.
But the question is, his friend deserves the crime of embezzlement, and he has 17 houses in his home, does he really need to spend a human life to raise money?
The bigger problem is that his son's illness has been repeated, basically because he runs an Internet café that does not ban smoking, does not take care of his children, and sends people to relatives who smoke.
In the end, he suddenly woke up not because he found out that he was committing a crime, but because he found that the Internet celebrity wife he designed to marry back was a good woman who was kind and selfless, sincere and simple, and he couldn't bear it.
And the final outcome is that the male protagonist goes to prison, and the female protagonist takes the child to Hainan to recuperate.
One of the reasons why the male protagonist killed his wife and defrauded the insurance was that he wanted to take his children to Hainan to recuperate, but he couldn't do it by guarding an Internet café himself, and the woman he wanted to kill had no belongings.
Then after the male protagonist was released from prison, he cried heartily in Hainan, and it was exchanged for a happy ending.
When the Olympic bid and Dapeng filmed "The Beneficiary", it was also to keep up with current events (in fact, the time period of that year was the closest to the Thai wife murder case). But in the end, there was little response, and when Dapeng was hosting a variety show, this movie clip was also singled out and scolded by the audience, also because the direction of deconstruction was completely wrong.
In contrast, this year's "Disappearing Her" of the same theme is much better in this regard, but the ending and Easter eggs are still inevitably suspected of hard pure love.
It is difficult not to doubt that if it were not for the fact that wire fraud was the target of serious crackdown by the public security three orders and five applications, if it were not for the rampant electric fraud in Southeast Asia that affected the safety of domestic citizens, the core thinking of the Olympic bid himself did not want to package this theme as a pure love movie.
In fact, this wave of realistic themes also has this point of criticism, that is, whether the director is sincere.
For example, "Disappearing Her", although Chen Sicheng is only a nominal producer, in fact, the film's director scheduling is also handled by him, and his past various remarks have long made people recognize his scumbag nature. His previous movies have often done masculine or fatherly praise, but this time he tears up scumbags with such straightforward and accurate hands, which makes people suspect that he is eating feminist dividends.
Coincidentally, Han Han, a man who shouted that "a woman is willing to watch a movie with you is that she can do anything to her", also made a film that directly expresses women's rights such as "Rise to Fame", which makes people sigh "It's still scumbags who dare to shoot scumbags the most, because they don't have to be afraid of being called punched!" ”
But on the contrary, it is the mature director & producer, the use of film skills and the control of film language, as well as the director's correct thematic thinking.
Taking "Disappearing Her" to compare "Beneficiary" in the year of the Olympic bid, you have to say that Chen Sicheng's film is very good.
In comparison, Wang Baoqiang's "In the Octagon Cage" was joked that "no skills, all feelings", I was thinking when watching the movie, if this plot is replaced by other ways or other camera switches, will it be more comfortable to watch.
But Wang Baoqiang can at least make the body sincere, because he did not hide that the male protagonist's help to the children at first was for such and such self-interested reasons, and even tortured him a lot.
"All or Nothing" shows more of the director's ambitions, such as he puts the most dramatic conflicts and emotional reversals on the liars, while the portrayal of the victim is quite weak.
It is no wonder that some people will say that with various public security propaganda, it may be regarded as a certain anti-fraud inspiration.
But some people say that this is not even an anti-fraud propaganda film, at most it is a commercial behavior that uses anti-fraud themes and curious characteristics to dig for themselves.
The entire movie only chooses the case of Ah Tian played by Wang Continent to perform, but this case makes people not empathetic. Wang Continent's own temperament is not like that of a graduate student in an institution of higher learning, and his journey into the gambler's dilemma is also very unconvincing, and everyone even thinks that his misery is quite a bit deserved.
Fortunately, the mother played by Deng Cuiwen is very touching when her true feelings are revealed, I think the audience's sympathy for this family is actually mostly out of sympathy for Ah Tian's parents, the pair of old parents, and for Ah Tian himself, I actually don't think there is anything worthy of sympathy.
This actually deducted Manager Lu's teaching to Pan Sheng: "It's not that we are bad, it's that they are greedy!" ”
It is reminiscent of police and bandit films invested by gangster forces in ancient times, and there are always plots that excuse criminals.
Shen himself said during the publicity that he had studied hundreds of tragic cases of electric fraud leading to the destruction of families, but in fact, the cases he filmed were so weak.
Even the acting skills of the two young actors are not very direct to people's hearts.
In fact, realistic films do not need the director to be clever, too hesitant to play or even diverge, more sincerity, less routine, it is easier to impress the audience.
Probably the most sobering thing for everyone is Zhang Jike's realistic story.
Next, the film market will usher in a wave of realistic themes, such as Huang Bo's chicken baby parents, Yaya's anti-domestic violence films have also been released, more and more realistic movies, with short video marketing close to the public, seems to have become a new round of movie box office magic weapon.
If you think about it, such a method, the cost is not high, but the benefits are large, and it is difficult for anyone to resist.
In the future, will there be movies like "The Beneficiary" that attract attention with the theme and the core of the script but cannot withstand scrutiny?
It's not really good news for the audience.