"Man Jianghong"
Zhang Yimou's sword is not old
As of now, among the top ten films in the 2023 Chinese film box office list, "Man Jianghong", which is temporarily the box office champion, and "Solid as a Rock", which ranks 9th, are both from director Zhang Yimou. The key of "Man Jianghong" has been postponed three times, from the Spring Festival release to May 15. In the end, it received a box office of 4.544 billion yuan, with a total of 91.78 million moviegoers, breaking 6 film history records and ranking sixth in the cumulative box office of Chinese film history. In terms of box office, "Man Jianghong" is undoubtedly the big winner of the 2023 film market. In terms of awards, the film also won the "Best Actor" at the Golden Deer Award at the Changchun Film Festival, and the "Most Popular Director of the Year for College Students" at the Beijing International Film Festival.
The box office that is far ahead does not mean that there are "zero flaws" in terms of word-of-mouth. Compared with the soaring box office, the word-of-mouth of "Man Jianghong" is polarized. Those who agree believe that Zhang Yimou's skills have not diminished back then, the film well blends history, suspense, comedy and other elements together, and finally unveils the mystery with an impassioned song "Man Jianghong", from the small pattern of "puzzles" to the large pattern of Chinese feelings, for Shen Teng, Yi Yang Qianxi, Zhang Yi, Lei Jiayin, Yue Yunpeng and other leading actors, everyone applauded more unanimously, no one dragged their feet in performance. There are also different voices who think that their expectations for "Man Jianghong" are too high before watching the film, and they are even a little disappointed after watching it. Some viewers jokingly said that in fact, this is a huge, complex and changeable "script killing", "Reversed for the sake of reversal, saved up for three hours, and did such a big game, this logic makes people can't figure it out." ”
"Seal God Part 1"
Recognized by both the industry and the audience
"Fengshen Trilogy" was launched in June 2014, and it took almost ten years to the release of "Fengshen Part 1". For the story of "Fengshen Bang", which is familiar to Chinese people, it has been put on TV screens and movie screens countless times before. However, after the release of "Fengshen Part 1", word-of-mouth has risen all the way, and then it has caused the audience to "study the evidence" of the unpopular details of "Fengshen" and the source of the original work. In addition, the film won the Best Film Award at the "Golden Deer Award" at this year's Changchun Film Festival and the Best Feature Film Award at the Chinese Film "Golden Rooster Award", which is enough to prove the industry's recognition of the film.
As indicated by the subtitle of the film "Chao Song Fengyun", "Fengshen Part 1" mainly revolves around the treacherous political situation of Chao Ge, which is divided into two narrative threads. The retention and adaptation of the original novel of "Fengshen" in the story line can conquer the audience, and the characters such as King Xu, Daji, Ji Chang, and Jiang Ziya are also quite fresh. The visual effects that have attracted much attention, although some large scenes are accused of being a little unsatisfactory, it can be seen that the crew has invested heavily in special effects and costumes and props, and has spent a lot of thought. The battle of Jizhou City, the construction of the Star Picking Tower and other pictures have been praised for highlighting the insignificance of people and the vastness of the scene from a broad perspective, with a sense of beauty and epicness.
Next, can "Fengshen Trilogy" create China's own fantasy epic movie? It is reported that the second part has been edited and is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2024.
Rock Solid
The actor has good acting skills
In recent years, Zhang Yimou has become more and more courageous, from "One Second" to "Under the Cliff" and "Sniper", several dramas have different styles, giving the audience a great sense of freshness. This year, Zhang Yimou also has two dramas that have entered the prime file: "Man Jianghong" and "Solid as a Rock", the former leads the Spring Festival file with 4 billion+, and the latter becomes the first brother of the National Day file with a box office of more than 1.3 billion.
Explosions on the streets, burial of people in stone walls, smashing and looting of pleasure boats, hot pot hot people...... This is Zhang Yimou's first time challenging the cold, realistic style, the film combines elements such as crime, human nature, and officialdom, involving sensitive topics such as erotic transactions, collusion between officials and businessmen, power-for-money transactions, and the embarrassment between underworld forces and protective umbrellas. And because of the rumors of various cuts, the audience is more keen to speculate on its initial version.
However, as far as the stories and plots that have been released so far are concerned, there are not a few voices of criticism from the outside world. "There are too many logical loopholes, and there are more question marks than exclamation marks after reading it. Some netizens sharply believe that fortunately, Lei Jiayin, Zhang Guoli, Yu Hewei, and Li Naiwen's acting skills are okay, and fortunately, the film has the excuse of "content is incomplete", otherwise, in terms of the fragmentation of the characters, motives and plots in the film, "Solid as a Rock" is just above the passing line.
Screening at the same time
It is worth mentioning that there are not many imported blockbusters
"The Journey of the Bell Bud" is the culmination of Makoto Shinkai
Among the imported films this year, Japanese animation performed well, "Slam Dunk" reaped 660 million yuan at the box office with a high-burning "emotional killing", and "Lingbud Journey" even broke the historical record of Japanese films in the Chinese market with a box office of more than 800 million yuan.
Makoto Shinkai is one of the most well-known Japanese animated film directors in China after Hayao Miyazaki, and previously won the award for Your Name. "Weather Child" and other works, Makoto Shinkai has many loyal fans in Chinese mainland. And this "Journey of the Bell Buds" is regarded as the masterpiece of Makoto Shinkai, which was released in Chinese mainland in March and received rave reviews. "This is definitely a story that only 49-year-old Makoto Shinkai can film. "This is a youth story with the theme of pain and healing after a disaster, and the biggest difference between Makoto Shinkai this time is the excavation of social issues. ”
"Fast and Furious 10" will be pulled down after it is "cool".
In recent years, the public seems to have slowly developed aesthetic fatigue with so-called Hollywood blockbusters. Therefore, it is not surprising that the top ten box office films this year are all domestic films. "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania", "The Flash", "Captain Marvel 2" and "Black Panther 2", "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3", "Oppenheimer" and "Spider-Man: Across the Universe" performed mediocre as a whole, while "Fast and Furious 10", which exceeded 900 million yuan at the box office in Chinese mainland, became the box office champion among imported films. However, compared with the reputation of the previous "Fast and Furious" series, it has also declined sharply.
In fact, "Fast and Furious 10" is compatible with multiple themes such as racing culture and revenge, with engine roar, explosive action, and fast speed, etc., which is still very refreshing to watch like the previous series. However, as some viewers said, after the "cool" is pulled down, the rest can't be taken into account. Some fans shouted, "Fast and Furious" should not be filmed again.