Zhang Yimou is a star-level director who shines in the Chinese film industry. He has left an indelible glorious mark on the history of Chinese film development.
Over the past 40 years, director Zhang Yimou has continuously brought shock and change to the Chinese film industry again and again with his outstanding film attainments. Each of his works as a director created a new trend in the film industry at that time and led the creative direction of an entire generation of Chinese filmmakers.
As early as 1984, Zhang Yimou participated in the film that created the "fifth generation of directors" movement as the photographer of "One and Eight". The advent of this film announced the collective rise of a new generation of directors in the Chinese film industry in the 80s.
Four years later, in 1988, Zhang Yimou won the highest Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival with his directorial debut "Red Sorghum". This is the first time that a Chinese film has won such a high honor at the three major international film festivals.
"Red Sorghum" not only brought Zhang Yimou personal glory, but also promoted the upsurge of literary and artistic film creation in the entire Chinese film industry.
In the Spring Festival of 2022, director Zhang Yimou's new work "Man Jianghong" was quietly released. This movie gathered A-list stars, launched a comedy theme during the Spring Festival, and set up a thriller and suspenseful plot reversal, which also grasped the audience's feelings of home and country.
With the blessing of various commercial methods, it finally achieved its wish to reach a box office of 4.5 billion yuan, setting a new box office record for Zhang Yimou's directorial career.
However, this box office hit "Man Jianghong" has some stains on Zhang Yimou's golden statue. As a leading figure in the Chinese film industry, director Zhang Yimou should have insisted on innovation and maintained a high standard of artistic spirit.
But this time, there are too many low-level commercial techniques in "Man Jianghong", which just deviates from his style as a film master in the past.
It is not difficult for us to see that this is already a Zhang Yimou who is no longer in his prime and powerless. The innovative director who led the trend of the times and pioneered the language of cinema seems to be long gone.
Instead, there is an old man who is eager for commercial success, and does not hesitate to cater to the market demand to gain box office and attention.
In the pop music circle, there are also examples of "two sides of one body" similar to Zhang Yimou. Singer Li Ronghao, who was once recognized as an aspiring creator in the music industry, once bluntly said that he hated his low-level and cheesy early Internet songs the most.
However, after 2019, Li Ronghao changed his creative direction and began to create a large number of songs that cater to the market.
His masterpiece "Plum Sauce" is a typical example. The song reused old pop tunes but relied on internet marketing to become a hit. In addition to the slightly creative title, the music quality is not high, but it is still sung wildly on the short video platform.
Li Ronghao's unbridled musical imagination no longer exists, replaced by a passion for traffic and the vulgar market.
Li Ronghao's changes are highly similar to Zhang Yimou's. All were once representatives of artistic coquettishness, but later embarked on the road of catering to the taste of the masses. They all present a phenomenon of "two sides of the same body", which is both commercially successful but also deviates from the high standards expected of artists.
In stark contrast to Zhang Yimou's changes, the great directors of the Hollywood film industry still adhere to high standards. Take Steven Spielberg, as a legend in the film industry, he is in his 70s, but he has not chosen to be comfortable.
In 2017, Spielberg directed the Sci-Fi action film Ready Player One, which is a highly technical, imaginative virtual world with a rigorous narrative structure.
It can be said that Spielberg is still exploring the progress of film technology and storytelling.
Clint Eastwood is also an example. The subject matter he chose to shoot was very practical and did not deliberately cater to the audience's taste. But his extreme pursuit of cinematic techniques is in the same vein as Spielberg.
Although he is already in his eighties, Eastwood still adheres to the bottom line of the quality of film art, which is in strong contrast with Zhang Yimou.
Zhang Yimou has created many important milestones in the history of Chinese cinema, and his name is inseparable from the growth of Chinese cinema. We should be glad that he appeared in a critical period of film development and promoted Chinese films to move forward.
But at the same time, we should also hope that director Zhang Yimou will not compromise easily. Because the movies of an era cannot be without spiritual leaders. This is not only about Zhang Yimou's personal honor, but also about the correct attitude of latecomers towards film creation.
As a master of film, 72-year-old Zhang Yimou is far from giving up his spiritual pursuit. We look forward to him rediscovering his creative heart and making masterpieces with connotation and quality.
Use the innovation of film language to infect the audience, and use exquisite narrative to open the audience's mind. Even if the box office is not satisfactory, we should adhere to the bottom line of the quality of film art.
Only in this way can Zhang Yimou be the spiritual mentor of the new force of Chinese film and continue to pass on his image legend.