Last year, a small-budget comedy "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" exhausted the bitterness of the social animals of the big factory.
This year, there is another black comedy that tells the history of blood and tears of film and television migrant workers - "Galaxy Writer".
As a hit at the First Xining Film Festival, the film won the Jury Prize and the Best Screenplay Award, and received numerous praises at the premiere of the film festival.
Director and screenwriter Shan Dandan and Li Kuo are a husband and wife who have been deeply involved in the film and television industry for many years, and they stuffed the North Drift materials of themselves and their friends into the story. The leading actors are popular comedians from the "Annual Comedy Competition": Song Muzi, He Wenjun, and Li Fei of the "Three Dogs Group".
What story does "Galaxy Writer" tell?
To put it simply, "one script, two screenwriters, three changes to the draft, four seasons change, and five flavors are mixed".
To complicate it, the story has to start with two talented young screenwriters and their immature scripts.
——(There are slight spoilers below, mind please detour)——
Zhang Yi (played by Song Muzi) and Sun Tan (played by He Wenjun) are the low-level screenwriters of Beipiao, and like most of their peers, they have the great ideal of making a god film that shocks the four seats. They had a flash of inspiration and came up with a script for the film called "Nine Seconds" and thought the project would be a success.
They began a long road to find investors, but they were repeatedly frustrated, and it was not uncommon for them to be deceived. It wasn't until a friend introduced that the script was finally picked by a film and television company. They began to brew a bright future for reborn salted fish, but who knew that this was only the first step in a long march of thousands of miles.
The company that bought their script asked them to revise the script over and over again, and they were not satisfied every time, but they only had extremely subjective suggestions that did not help at all. As Party B, Sun Tan and Zhang Yi have completely different attitudes, the former thinks that "it has to be changed over and over again, even if the second male is changed from a person to a dog", and the latter thinks that "my hard work can't be trampled on, they don't understand what a movie is".
Although Zhang Yixin was unhappy, he still actively ran in with Party A in the early stage. The reason is very simple, they have neither connections nor resources, and they have no mines at home, so they have to survive if they want to get ahead.
Throughout the year of revision, they have also witnessed the changes in the lives of people around them such as Cocoa, Pest (played by Li Fei), Da Liu, Xiaorui, Boss Cai, Zheng Fei and other people in Beipiao: some people got the right to sign the fourth screenwriter of Qing court dramas, some people worked as screenwriters in the online drama industry they looked down on, some people's venture capital funds were just empty checks and drank their bodies at the entertainment bureau, and some people were defeated repeatedly and finally ended in suicide. In contrast, the comings and goings of love are only the most insignificant changes.
When Zhang Yi and Sun Tan are forced to the extreme by Party A's company, and the script adaptation causes trouble, how will they deal with it? In a huge city, a few people realize their dreams, and many more have unpaid ambitions, and ordinary individuals are still on the road of mediocrity and self-worth.
The story of "Galaxy Writer" takes place near Changying, Beijing, because the rent is relatively cheap and there are many cultural and creative industrial parks, so it has become a gathering place for film and television people. In the coffee code word, in the three brothers barbecue talk about the project...... This is the daily life of film and television migrant workers, Shan Dandan and Li Kuo are also one of them, and the script was originally titled "There is a Chang Laiwood in Beijing".
In the interview, they said sincerely, "Many young people nowadays go to work very hard every day, and no one talks about ideals, they all talk about survival." But in this state of existence, young people insist on using a self-mocking way to dissipate their pain. ”
Borrowing L. Herman's Nine Plot Patterns to regurgitate "The Galactic Writer", you will find that it is essentially a story of "soaring (but unsuccessful)" in which the idealistic protagonists never get their way, and the film documents their many attempts to succeed.
But the tone of this dream-chasing story is often somber, contrary to the comedy the creators wanted to make, so they chose to graft sibling comedy (friendship between two or more protagonists) and anecdotal comedy (unpolished everyday stories) to it.
The starring "Three Dogs Combination" selected by "Galaxy Writer" completed the performance task in a decent manner, which made people change their opinion of the so-called variety show. It's not that their acting skills are flawless, but that the main creators make full use of the chemistry between them.
What the "Three Dogs" are good at in the "Annual Comedy Contest" is sketch comedy that emphasizes improvisation, and can make up the most hilarious jokes with the simplest set. This kind of fragmentary comedy exercise has also laid a solid foundation for them to star in "Galaxy Writer" to some extent.
"Galaxy Writer" is a good comedy, but Douban's score of 7.3 is also a reminder: not everyone can get the fun of the film, and not all audiences will buy it.
This involves a new question - has the main creator's attempt to radiate all the workers by the low-level screenwriters succeed?
Unfortunately, I personally don't think so.
In the final analysis, "Galaxy Writer" is a love letter to migrant workers in the film and television industry, and only those who have experienced it can taste its ups and downs...... The most resonant of these episodes is the film and television people.
The ingenuity of the film is also full of fans' special flavors: for example, the interpretation and reproduction of "Save the Cat", which is regarded as the bible by the screenwriter, such as the poster of Godard pasted on the head of the bed and the high-priced ticket of Nolan in his mouth, and the tribute to "The Shining" when he simulates typing in the air, and the light of the dragon mark flashing in his eyes...... Insiders will smile, and laymen will see a lively look.
The praise at the First Film Festival is much greater than that of the theater chain, which proves this truth, because most of the people who go to the film festival are industry insiders, and everyone can get a glimpse of the industry ecology and reflect their own reflection in "Galaxy Writer".
"Galaxy Writer" is difficult to really break the circle, which is different from last year's hit comedy "Annual Meeting Can't Stop". The story of the latter takes place in a big factory, although the audience will not be all from a big factory, but they can associate their own workplace bittersweets from the film's simplified job promotion, annual meeting and other episodes.
In other words, the average viewer who watches "Galaxy Writer" will not have feelings such as "Ahh
In addition, the mistakes of "Galaxy Writer" in portraying female characters will also lead to its word-of-mouth differentiation in the fan circle.
In the film, the emotional line of Zhang Yi and Zhou Keke is a little underconceived: the two met in the ticket group of the Beijing Film Festival, chatted about movies from the theater to the bed, and had an intimate relationship after watching Nolan's "The Dark Knight".
The film may want to prove that they are soulmates who come together due to a common hobby, but as the main creator of the fans, it should be clearer: it is too common for the Beijing Film Festival to exchange tickets, and it is too common for fans to come and sleep together immediately based on a common hobby. The plot setting here is a grandiose offense to female fans, and it will also cause discomfort to some female audiences.
Overall, "Galaxy Writer" is a comedy full of detached little fun but not exactly scratching the itch of the mass audience. It still has room to continue to improve, but it is a relatively unique existence in the Qingming file cinema line full of mature blockbusters.
Amy
Editor-in-charge: Chen Lingling