Author | Babe
When a woman in a small town with a stunning body is suspected of being a "murderer". What will happen to her? "Faint Fire" starring Tong Yao and Zhang Xincheng fired the first shot of Youku's suspense upgrade to the "White Night" theater. As of press time, the popularity of Youku has exceeded 8,000,#微暗之火拍出了人性的恶#等多话题上榜.
"Faint Fire" understands too well what the audience wants to watch suspense dramas: after being humiliated by the eldest sister who chews the root of her tongue on the street, the hostess forbears in front of her, and squats down quietly to pick up things after the person, watching the "abuser" disheveled and embarrassed in public, Nanya's counterattack is very happy; in the face of the ill-intentioned intentions of Dr. Dengtu Zijiang, Nanya pokes at her weakness, "The money is not undercharged, you don't have to think about it"; after being abused by her husband, she ignored the guidance of the villagers in the town and insisted on calling the police to detain her husband.
A few shots and dialogues portray the role of Nanya, who is calm and wise, transparent and brave, in a meticulous manner, which not only intuitively presents the various states of the people in the town, but also arouses the audience's multiple tortures about the real plight of women.
Judging from the 6 episodes currently aired, "Faint Fire" has vividly demonstrated its strong ability to catch people, "Tong Yao white cut black", "Zhou Luo Nanya record store meeting", "Zhou Luo for Nanya to block domestic violence" and other highlight scenes will firmly lock the audience's attention; The play uses staggered and overlapping suspense lines to arouse the audience's multiple torture questions about social issues such as women's real plight, acquaintance society, juvenile growth, and antisocial violence.
"Killing husband" beauty + persuading the "champion", the "dark glory" in the town?
Looking at today's suspense drama market, in order to create an atmosphere of suspense and doubt, heavy and gloomy and tough temperament are almost the consistent tone of this type of plot. Under this, "Faint Fire", which integrates suspense detectives with social elements such as female redemption and juvenile growth, is unique in suspense dramas.
As a work that delves into the complex interpersonal relationships faced by women's redemption and teenage growth, the plot begins with a murder on the night of the millennium, and the person who reported the crime is the deceased's wife, Nanya, who confesses to the murder of her husband by mistake. At the scene of the crime, the only eyewitness was the teenager Zhou Luo, but he did not choose to call the police immediately, and even disappeared for an hour and a half, which made the criminal police suspicious. The young Zhou Luo was once the top student in the college entrance examination in the town, why was he persuaded to retire, and why was he involved in the murder of his husband's murderer?
Was Nanya's murder a legitimate defense, or was it a long-term plan? A large amount of overloaded information poured in, which also made the audience deeply interested in her multi-faceted image. "Faint Fire" focuses on the real plight of women. As the most beautiful woman in Qingshui Town, Nanya is the "center of the storm" of the story, and beauty has become her shackles and shackles. She was subjected to domestic violence, sexually assaulted by her husband in marriage, and when she went to the police station to report the crime, her neighbors thought she was misbehaving; she went back and forth between her clothing store and her home every day, but the villagers thought she was doing improper business; in the eyes of the people around her, her beauty was a mistake that could easily provoke right and wrong.
In the society of acquaintances, misfit also seems to have become the original sin. There is also a small town teenager Zhou Luo who was treated differently, Zhou Luo was admitted to the top prize and became the "pride of the town", but this "other people's child" was discussed by the small town because he dropped out of school, and his classmates looked at him with color, thinking that "if he didn't have a problem with his quality, why was he expelled from his studies so well", and even more, the neighbors talked about him "drug addiction and prostitution" in person. It is not difficult to see that "Faint Fire" has a scalpel-like precision and depth when depicting the prejudices that lurk in the hearts of people. The prejudices brought about by the society of acquaintances are suffocating, unmotivated, undifferentiated, and yet difficult to identify.
In this closed-minded town, Nanya and Zhou Luo are always bullied verbally and spiritually, two lonely souls, find warmth and home, and then heal in both directions, isn't this the "dark glory" in the town? It is worth mentioning that compared with "Dark Glory", director Yao Xiaofeng jumped out of the framework of the suspense script and used the narrative technique of life flow to let the audience quickly substitute through the details. For example, Nanya and Zhou Luo's emotions did not happen overnight, they met for the first time in a video store, Nanya's wet hair droplets dripped on Zhou Luo's arms, Zhou Luo couldn't help but show the corners of his mouth up, and the casual eye contact was an undercurrent of emotion.
The storyline setting of "Faint Fire" is not like the interlocking tight rhythm of most crime suspense dramas, but is handled in a more life-like way, presenting the occurrence of the whole story in the life scenes of a small town in Jiangxi. In this regard, the director once shared what he wanted to express in an interview, "Faint Fire" is not an ordinary conventional suspense drama, there are many new breakthroughs in form, carrier, and structure, jumping out of the framework of a suspense script, breaking through the boundaries of suspense dramas, and doing more human excavation and display.
Suspense Rashomon, unveiling the "appearance of all living beings in the town"
As the opening work of the White Night Theater, "Faint Fire" does not stick to the mode of solving cases in suspense dramas, but uses three-dimensional and plump character creation and inextricable character relationships to attract the audience.
Nanya, like Moon Dong-eun, who has been dormant for many years in "Dark Glory", chooses to save herself in the face of an unfair situation. Nanya found the financial loopholes in her husband's work and used it as a bargaining chip in exchange for freedom in life; in the face of the neighborhoods who love to chew the root of her tongue, she waited for an opportunity to fight back to embarrass the other party; when her husband was violent, she chose to go to the police station to complain; when Zhou Luo slandered and asked for forgiveness, she fought back independently and soberly, "The sword hurts the body, the words are punishing, how can the words spoken be so easy to take back, the mouth grows on himself, it is personal freedom to do good and evil, and it is also my freedom not to forgive you." ”
There is also no shortage of three-dimensional and full characters with different personalities in "Faint Fire". Although Zhou Luo played by Zhang Xincheng is smart, but due to the bumpy experience of being dropped out of school when he was a teenager, he always has a sense of alienation from the people and things in the town, and it is difficult to have a firm belief in anything before meeting Nanya...... Surprisingly, every character in this play surprises the audience, for example, Liu Xun, who is jealous of Zhou Luo's achievements, he tries his best to defend his father not because he really cares about his father, but because he is afraid of affecting his future.
The relationships in the town are intertwined. The witnesses who provide testimony for Nanya will always appear in the audience's field of vision in another capacity; the nurse who Nanya was treated for domestic violence is the daughter of the criminal police officer in Qingshui Town, the ex-girlfriend of Nanya's husband, and Nanya's former best friend; Lin Fanglu, the policeman played by Ye Zuxin, is mainly responsible for the investigation of the "murder case", but he seems to have an unknown past with the murderer Nanya.
It is not difficult to see that in "Faint Fire", every small town resident who lives in a "society of acquaintances", any small thing that happens to them is very likely to become a topic of discussion in the whole town. As the director tries to explore the darkness of human nature, "In a completely closed circle, acquaintances can best show human nature, and when they are not familiar, everyone may have hypocrisy, but there is no hypocrisy in the acquaintance society, because hypocrisy will be exposed at any time." ”
The first work after the upgrade of White Night Theater, how does "Faint Fire" play a good "front"?
In the long development process of domestic dramas, the detective theme has attracted a group of extremely stable audiences with its suspenseful and brain-burning characteristics, and has given birth to classic crews such as "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night", "Undocumented Crime", "Hidden Corner", etc., these dramas have reached the ultimate in genre in the existing conditions with excellent production and the production style of American dramas, and provide an operation model for the industry to reference.
However, when a model is highly stylized as a model, it has to face the homogenization of ornamentality. Therefore, if a suspense drama lacks "different thinking", it will be difficult to be recognized by the audience in the already crowded track.
"Faint Fire", as the first drama series after Youku Suspense Theater was upgraded to White Night Theater, uses social issues to arouse the audience's speculation. It explores an eternal and central proposition, that is, how to deal with the psychological crisis brought about by the inevitable trauma, and strive to break free from the predicament that binds oneself in life, and then gain the courage to rebuild one's life.
In the play, Nanya has been top-notch since she was a child, from excellent grades to gossip and domestic violence by her husband, how she walked out of her unhappy marriage, established an independent personality, and started self-redemption; how Zhou Luo faced the growth dilemma of "champion" becoming a "problem teenager"; how Lin Fanglu came out of the cruel facts that he tried to avoid when he was young, and became a good policeman in the face of complicated interpersonal relationships. Everyone has their own life problems.
"Faint Fire" leads the characters in the play to meet the challenges of fate and move towards a new life with a kind of unhesitating determination. The male protagonist Zhou Luo is like the sunshine in the dark night, bringing a trace of warmth to Nanya, encouraging her to leave the abuser and restart her life; Lin Fanglu tries to face the timidity and regret of his youth, and solves the case without personal emotions and prejudice; Nanya ignites the fire in Zhou Luo's heart, allowing him to regain his ideals and beliefs, and treat life with a positive attitude. Most of the time, this group of people cannot fight against fate, but they firmly choose to fight against fate constantly, and they can still develop the courage to look forward and find self-salvation.
As the first work of Youku White Night Theater, "Faint Fire" undoubtedly took the lead. Youku announced on April 22 that the suspense theater was upgraded to the White Night Theater. According to reports, "White Night" means "the long night will end, and the truth will be revealed", and the audience will solve the mystery in the cocoon. On the basis of the genre lens language, the White Night Theater will explore more profound social issues, show deeper human care, and provide a more immersive viewing experience, arousing the audience's empathy and empathy, thereby expanding a new path and new space for the quality of Chinese dramas.
From the perspective of content, Youku's White Night Theater is not confined to the growth of teenagers and the plight of women, and has a variety of film lists with social discussion, focusing on creating a social suspense plot. Zhang Yimou served as the producer, and "Snow Labyrinth" starring Huang Jingyu and Wang Ziqi showed the contest between justice and humanity in the dispute between love and law; "New Life" starring Jing Boran and Zhou Yi showed the ups and downs of urban men and women's desires; "Once Upon a Time in the Water" supervised by Cao Baoping and played by Guo Qilin and Wu Zhenyu launched an adventure in a foreign secret land; "Sandstorm", produced by Gao Qunshu, written by Zhao Dongling, and starring Duan Yihong, explored the human struggle of human trafficking.
Throughout the world, "Faint Fire" revitalizes the vitality of suspense dramas through the innovative exploration of the life narrative style, slow-paced processing and the spiritual core of human nature, allowing the audience to see another possibility of suspense dramas, and also providing new thinking for the innovation of suspense boutique content in the market. Can Youku White Night Theater bring more works that dig deep into social issues and reproduce the grand occasion of 10,000 people chasing dramas in suspense theater? "Faint Fire" has taken the first step.