Director Zhang Jianya, a representative of the fifth generation of Chinese film directors who are determined to forge ahead and deliberately seek new ideas, was full of creativity and innovation in a "Sanmao From the Army" that year. The comic character Sanmao was represented on the big screen through absurd, comedic, exaggerated and profound artistic techniques, and won the Best Director Award at the 1st Beijing University Student Film Festival and the Best Director Award at the 5th China Film Child Cow Awards. In 1993, he made a film based on Ye Qianyu's manga "Mr. Wang". It is also the integration of animation and live-action performances, which is also the first bold attempt at such themes in our domestic films, giving the audience a refreshing new feeling.
In the early 1990s, Hong Kong, Taiwan and foreign films flooded the domestic film scene, especially in the field of entertainment films, and the lack of experience and understanding of domestic directors caused this situation at that time. However, there are many domestic film and television workers who use their own continuous learning and enterprising spirit from imitation to innovation. In a constant way to close the distance between them. Director Zhang Jianya is one of the directors who is at the forefront.
As early as 1991, Zhang Jianya filmed an action entertainment film "Righteous Courage and Faithful Soul", which now seems to have obvious traces of imitating Hong Kong and Taiwan genre films in terms of camera use, scene layout, costume props, film rhythm, action design, and character modeling. However, at that time, the action effects and thrilling atmosphere created by the film were also representative works of domestic entertainment films.
In 1994, director Zhang Jianya directed the comedy war film "Desperate Circumstances", a film starring Pan Changjiang and Wei Zongwan that year, which won the Best Visual Effects Award at the University Student Film Festival that year.
In 1995, director Zhang Jianya announced that he would invest two hundred million yuan in the live-action film "The Haunting of the Heavenly Palace" to create China's first computer special effects film, which was based on the first 7 times of the original work, intending to show a latest concept, a different story of the Heavenly Palace, which made the national audience look forward to it, Zhang Jianya also invested a lot of effort in this regard, whether it is a prop model, computer special effects production and design, have personally experienced it, but this film has been filmed in the case of one-third of the time, due to the withdrawal of funds in the middle, Unable to finish shooting. Not only did the audience's hopes fail, but zhang Jianya, as a director, also caused regret.
After that, Zhang Jianya did not stop his own exploration and innovation, he also continuously filmed action disaster films such as "Emergency Landing" and "Polar Rescue", continued to try the combination of computer special effects and films, and also filled the gap for the domestic genre films at that time, becoming one of the earliest film directors involved in such genres in China.
On February 8, 2007, the romantic comedy film "Love Call Transfer" directed by him was released in Chinese mainland. The novel plot setting, the joining of many movie stars and the theme song of the same name sung by Eason Chan have made many young audiences know him.
In 2011, zhang Jizhong, a famous domestic producer, after shooting several Jin Yong martial arts dramas in a row, planned to change his taste, so he set his sights on the chinese classical masterpiece "Journey to the West", and the producer who was very popular for remaking the classic found Zhang Jianya and invited him to be the general director of the new version of "Journey to the West". So Zhang Jianya finally realized his "dream of journey to the west" that he had not realized for many years, but at this time, six years had passed since Zhang Jianya's filming of the film "The Haunting of the Heavenly Palace", the world changed, things were not human, and the new version of the journey to the west did not achieve the expected effect.
Now director Zhang Jianya is more involved in the creation of film and television dramas as an actor, on January 25, 2020, the film "囧Mom" directed by Xu Zheng, in which he participated, was released on the Chinese mainland network, playing Ma Xiaobing in the play. On August 25, he participated in the movie "Buckwheat Madness" and was scheduled to be released in Chinese mainland, playing a taxi driver in the play. On October 1, the movie "My Hometown and Me" starring him was scheduled to be released in Chinese mainland, playing the role of Old Man Jiang in the play.
Director Zhang Jianya has not produced many TV drama works, in addition to the two costume films of "Journey to the West" and "The Rule of Zhenguan", there is also a spy drama "Critical Twenty Days" starring Ma Yue, Hou Tianlai, Wen Zhengrong, Hao Ping and Fu Xinyin. The series began in the early morning of July 27, 1945, and ended at midnight on August 15, 1945, with a total of 20 episodes, one episode per day. These 20 days had a very special significance for the city of Shanghai at that time. At midnight on August 15, Japan decided to surrender unconditionally, and on August 16, the "National Government" was dissolved...
The core story of this drama is based on the plot of Wang Junru, Song Nan, Liu Zhenquan, Zhang Shicheng, and other underground anti-Japanese fighters of our party fighting a deadly struggle with the leaders of the secret service, Qiao Sen and Gao Ping, and the backbone of the secret service Zhu Zheng, who are on the other side, as the main line of the death struggle for the Japanese and pseudo secret service organs on the other side, and portray the unpredictable and elusive dangerous situation under the tense and mysterious atmosphere of the hidden front in the special environment of that special period, the confrontation between the enemy and us, the line of life and death, and the unpredictable ups and downs of fate.
In addition, the play also covers the lives of many small characters in the shadow of war, with different identities and backgrounds. There are lower-class civilians in Shanghai, film projectionists, Jewish refugees, Japanese officers hospitalized in hospitals, anti-Japanese fighters in prisons and innocent friends, etc., reflecting the story of what happened in Shanghai in a short period of twenty days on the eve of the victory of the War of Resistance from many aspects and angles. The whole drama ends with the Shanghai people spontaneously holding victory celebrations after the broadcast of the Japanese "Armistice Edict" on August 15, and the whole drama is full of complex feelings of joy, sorrow, sorrow and joy that people can't wait to break through the last darkness and greet the dawn.
Ma Yue plays the role of "Wang Junru" with his unique personal charm and thorough understanding of the role, and his performance presents the resilience of a lurker in the face of complex situations and the strong mentality under firm belief, while not afraid of difficulties and the great spirit of sacrifice; Hou Tianlai plays the old treacherous and slippery Japanese pseudo secret agent leader in the play, he perfectly portrays the character's helpless mental exhaustion at the end of the day, dying and struggling but with luck, which is endlessly evocative And the familiar actress Wen Zhengrong changed the previous drama path and successfully portrayed a strong, wise, charming, and affectionate female Haojie in danger. In order to restore the original appearance of the plot, Zhang Jianya deliberately chose to shoot on the same day as the time node in the play, and showed this hidden front story full of ups and downs, thrilling, strong suspense, and historical sense to a high degree of reality. Nowadays, this TV series does not know whether there are still resources, interested friends can search out and enjoy it.