Author: Great badger
After watching "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop!" came out, I suddenly remembered what Ge You said at the end of "Party A and Party B": "1997 has passed, and I miss it very much." "A long time ago, we would remember a certain year more deeply because of a good Chinese New Year movie. And today, because of the happiness brought by "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop!", 2024 seems to have a good start. So much so that despite not knowing anything about the other movies released at the same time, I still believe that I made the best choice for the Chinese New Year.
The most absurd truth is nothing but the most ordinary life
The structure of the film is reminiscent of many classics. Hu Jianlin, a senior fitter played by Dapeng, accidentally entered the high-level group headquarters, but he was proud of the spring breeze and like a fish in water. Dong Runnian, who is also a screenwriter and director, said that this is borrowed from Liu Baorui's cross talk "Three Levels in a Row", and it is also reminiscent of Gogol's drama masterpiece "The Minister", and a closer version - Sha Yexin's "If I Were True". In the face of the exploitation and oppression of the middle-level leaders, especially the temptation and differentiation of the rebels at the bottom, and the fair ruling of the top leader at the end, the resistance of the little people is like entering the world of the Japanese drama "Naoki Hanzawa", and earlier it can be connected to "The Working Emperor" directed by Tsui Hark, and the famous work "Black Cannon Incident" directed by Huang Jianxin. The passage of Zhuang Zhengzhi played by Wang Xun obviously has traces of paying tribute to "Crazy Stone". The daily display of Dachang began with Xu Jinglei's "Du Lala's Promotion". If the temperament of finding absurdity in the vision of grassroots employees and digging deeper and deeper looks like Qiu Rui's talk show, then the rap of the three protagonists at the end makes people suddenly miss the internal annual meeting of the CCTV News Commentary Department in 2002.
can't help but make associations, which does not mean that the film lacks originality, but because the film's satire on the workplace has really formed too much complex discourse space. It is unrealistic to start from scratch completely, and it is rare that once all kinds of expressions enter the world of "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop!", they all melt into one furnace and present a new look. The ingenious details and endless performances make the audience feel dizzying. The famous line in "Durala's Promotion" was: "How to make the boss pay attention to you? You don't work hard, you're miserable. You're trying, but you won't show it properly, you're miserable as well. "At that time, the film will also leave enough space for the audience to feel the shock of new ideas. The same words now fall on the lips of Ma Jie, played by Bai Ke, but they have taken on a more self-convincing color: "The work is what I have worked hard for, but people will report it better than us, and the credit is someone else's." The audience was still smiling bitterly, Ma Jie had gone on to work as if nothing had happened, and the film quickly advanced to the next absurd show. The most absurd truth is nothing more than the most ordinary life, which may be the greatest absurdity.
In other words, the greatest sincerity of "The Annual Meeting Can't Be Stopped!" is to ensure the density of high-quality expression after finding an appropriate narrative structure. This density can't fool people. Dong Runnian said that the movie script was written intermittently for five years, and the overall story was overturned eight times. These hard works are not wasted, but the essence is preserved in today's finished film. When the audience sees Hu Jianlin incarnated as the Golden Horn King in the elevator, holding a gourd and saying to many employees: "I call you, do you dare to agree?"
A trio can also be a person's past, present, and future
The joke placed by the movie on the protagonist Hu Jianlin is mainly to ask him to break into the HR department, causing all kinds of misunderstandings, and using this to see through the loopholes of department management, and satirize the meanness and emptiness of the company's top management in different ways. The initial misconception was accidental, but the deep reality is so real. The passage with a few heads is so beautiful because it shows the great panic of the grassroots employees. Background data management is the empty dialogue of managing background data, which quietly satirizes the arbitrariness of assessment. I heard the "granular alignment" before I knew why, but the audience next to me was already laughing.
For viewers who are familiar with working life, this is the story that will happen around them. After the truth of the transfer error was exposed, Hu Jianlin's leadership secrets were accurately summarized from opposing perspectives: first, in case of trouble, leave space for the people below, speak vaguely, and transfer pressure to the subordinates. Second, show affinity, show that you have a good relationship with him, and then let him do the work for you. Third, encourage everyone to criticize each other and distract from opposing you. With the help of this short length, the film shows in depth the invisible and unreasonable power behind the well-dressed and well-dressed executives of the company.
If it is limited to this, the film will inevitably seem empty and unable to escape from the shroud of similar works. The idea of the film was to present a combination of three main characters. Hu Jianlin's naivety and persistence, Ma Jie's obedience and unwillingness, and Pan Yiran's idealism, the three cooperate with each other and complement each other, making this story full of flesh and bones and distinct layers. Also facing the annual meeting, there was not only Hu Jianlin's eagerness, but also Ma Jie's obedience to the command, and Pan Yiran's straightforward refusal. The dialogue between Ma Jie and Pan Yiran shows the absurdity of the internal management of the section:
"Leaders are wise and foolish, what we can do is to believe in leaders. ”
"What is he capable of?"
"His ability to be a leader shows that he is capable. ”
"Don't you know that he doesn't really understand anything?"
"I don't know. ”
From Pan Yiran, to Ma Jie, to Hu Jianlin, it is like a person's past, present and future, or a person's process from vigorous to gradually dull, and finally forgotten by the times. Rather than easily criticizing the other two from the standpoint of either end, the film looks forward to the establishment of a kind of community. This tolerance also creates the warmth of the film. In fact, what really drives the plot is Zhuang Zhengcheng outside the trio. This clever setting allows the film to free up almost all of its power to portray the trio's situation head-on without the danger of narrative stagnation.
The feelings that point to the bottom are worthy of respect
The preciousness of "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop!" lies in the fact that the film is not satisfied with satire, but provides another possibility of value. It certainly can't be as sharp as low-level literature (such as Cao Zhenglu's novel "There"), but in the world of entertainment, this level of exploration is already respectable.
Some viewers are disgusted by the ending of the movie, believing that it is just following the old routine of believing in the big leader. But I like to see such an ending: Hu Jianlin returns to the factory as the source of his spirit and leads the workers in production and construction, Ma Jie is promoted to manager, and he makes a slight step forward in the familiar bureaucratic system, and Pan Yiran chooses to bid farewell to the big factory and explore a broader life. In just one movie, it cannot be a battle once and for all, the most important thing is not the appreciation of the big leader, but the pursuit of justice, the battle friendship of the community, and the courage to regain the courage to continue fighting. This kind of power was given to the two young people by Hu Jianlin, a skilled worker.
The rap at the end of the movie has such lyrics: "The grassroots people are panicked, the middle level is a gang, the black words are great, and the surface scenery is all illusion...... When literary and artistic works point out the dilemma, if we still expect literature and art to replace reality to solve the dilemma, that may be the biggest emptiness.
In fact, what we can gain from the movie may be just such a moment: let us believe that "my future is not a dream", believe that "look up to the sky and laugh and go out, how can my generation be a Penghao person", believe that "in the future, you will definitely thank yourself for your struggle", believe that there is still warmth among workers, believe that your efforts can be seen, and believe that the way out of your efforts is not to enter a certain interest group. These have far exceeded the expectations of Chairman Kaien.
After the movie ended, his girlfriend, who was still immersed in the atmosphere of blood, said casually: "People who don't have ideals are actually old." "On one side, I quickly went into a defensive mode, saying that focusing on the work in front of me is a sign of maturity. And the moment I reacted, I realized that the film became even more valuable. (Great badger)
Source: Beijing Youth Daily