After shooting 44 films, Zhang Yimou finally pulled the total box office of his personal director's films to more than 5 billion yuan after he was old, which is not too far from Jia Ling, who ranks ahead of him.
In Zhang Yimou's 5 billion box office, his first spy war movie "On the Cliff" contributed one-fifth, which can at least show one thing, Zhang Yimou's "first time" of spy war films, successful.
By July 30, Zhang Yimou will soon usher in another "first" of his, and the first war film "Sniper" will be released soon. Before that, although Zhang Yimou had also made films with war elements, such as "Red Sorghum" and "Jinling Thirteen Chao", those films were not real war films, and "Sniper" would be his first real war film.
Sometimes it is really unthinkable that such a big director has rarely dabbled in spy wars and wars, which are relatively easy to box office movies, and it is no wonder that the total box office performance and fame status are not so equal.
Fortunately, Zhang Yimou finally "opened the trick" in his ancient years, and began his first journey in a row, as if he was "filling in the blanks" for his directing career, as if he was in a hurry to ask for some wishes or regrets.
Speaking of the movie "Sniper", Zhang Yimou will co-direct with his daughter Zhang Mo for the first time, and in the author's opinion, this combination is not only rare in Zhang Yimou's past, but also seems to be like he is completing a shift work.
Born in 1983, Zhang Mo is the daughter of Zhang Yimou and his ex-wife Xiao Hua, graduated from the New York University Film School with a major in screenwriting and directing, and his degree of authenticity in the field of directing even exceeds that of his father who majored in photography.
Zhang Mo began to work with Zhang Yimou at the age of 26, working as an editor and subtitler in "The Surprise of the Three Guns Shooting" and "Return", as an assistant director, editor and subtitler in "The Love of hawthorn trees" and "Jinling Thirteen Chao", and at the age of 34, he won the Newcomer Director Award for directing "28-year-old minor".
Zhang Yimou directed his first film "Red Sorghum" at the age of 37, and Zhang Mo directed "Sniper" with his father at the age of 37.
Therefore, we can boldly speculate that "Sniper" may be a work that Zhang Yimou began to work, and if the film can be successful, Zhang Yimou's name may appear more in the supervising producer or general director column.
Judging by Zhang Yimou's skill and the team's ability, the probability of success of "Sniper" should be very large, but we also have to worry about it, because the film still has at least five questions to face.
Historical background
"Sniper" is a changed name, the film was originally called "The Coldest Gun", the content is about the story of a young sniper named Jang Dae-hoon on the Korean battlefield.
I believe that netizens who are familiar with history and military affairs can immediately guess when they see this information, the background of this story is a special "cold gun and cold cannon" movement in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and the prototype of Zhang Dagong must be Zhang Taofang, a famous sniper in China.
However, for most ordinary audiences, they are most familiar with the history of the "Second Campaign", "Shangganling" and "Surprise Attack on the White Tiger Regiment" in the united states and aiding the DPRK, and the propaganda of the "cold gun and cold cannon" movement in China is relatively small, and the proportion of audiences who understand its background and details is not high.
Zhang Yimou's "On the Cliff" has suffered some losses in this regard, and some viewers do not understand the puppet Manchukuo, the Comintern and the northeast of the thirties, and will have a sense of alienation from the film. It is not difficult to imagine that when "Sniper" is released, there will certainly be some viewers who will also have a sense of strangeness about this famous story of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
This is by no means the author's speculation, when the title of "The Coldest Gun" came out, some viewers on the Internet questioned the title of the film and made it mysterious, obviously these viewers may really not know the historical term "Cold Gun Cold Gun Movement".
Changing the name of "The Coldest Gun" to "Sniper" may also be a compromise with reality.
Plot contrast
Domestic audiences like to compare, just like "On the Cliff", many viewers have compared this movie with the TV series "Cliff" and the movie "The Sound of the Wind" to come to the comical conclusion that this is not ok or that is not OK.
It is estimated that "Sniper" will not be exempt from vulgarity, because the film has an "excellent" reference object, the foreign blockbuster "Soldiers Near the City", which is regarded by many domestic audiences as a classic sniper movie will definitely be compared to "Sniper", which will be a very helpless thing.
"Divine drama" component
Zhao Gang, political commissar of the Independent Regiment, said that a sniper is a sharpshooter. The meaning of the sharpshooter is naturally a hundred shots, because he is "God", but the most criticized place in many war movies now is that he is too "God".
Zhang Taofang's record is that 436 bullets killed 214 enemies in 32 days, which is the performance of the top god level in the sniper world.
However, how to show the authenticity and cruelty of war while reflecting Zhang Taofang's "god" is a subject.
Filming is too realistic, a few shots can not kill an enemy, it will lose the charm of the movie, but if the filming is too godly, there is really no pressure on one shot, and it is easy to become an "anti-American god drama".
If the reality of the sniper hiding for half a day is filmed, the movie is too boring, so the sniper-themed movie is not easy to shoot, how to control this degree, is indeed a problem.
New actor
It can be confirmed that Zhang Yimou relies heavily on the powerful actor Zhang Yihui to star in "Sniper", but he is definitely not the male number one, after all, with his appearance and age, it is difficult to play Zhang Dashen, who was only in his twenties at the time.
In addition, Liu Haocun, who has been semi-officially announced to star in "Sniper", has been semi-officially denied starring by fans again, and whether there is this legitimate red girl in the film has become a mystery.
"Sniper" starring newcomers Chen Yongsheng and Zhang Yu, for Zhang Yimou's choice, the author believes that it is normal, after all, big directors sometimes do not like to use too famous actors, Zhang Yimou in this regard has a more paranoia, otherwise there will not be so many girls.
However, for the audience, the newcomer is like a double-edged sword, the performance is a surprise, and the performance is not good or even generally can be regarded as a nightmare.
There have been many viewers who have proposed to let well-known male stars of similar age such as Liu Haoran, Yi Yanqianxi or Wang Junkai play Zhang Dagong, but obviously this is not in line with Zhang Yimou's consistent style of playing.
However, Chen Kaige's "Changjin Lake" gathers well-known actors such as Wu Jing, Yi Qianxi, Duan Yihong and Zhu Yawen, and in this regard, the old strategist and the old classmate Chen Kaige have taken a different path.
New director
If from the perspective of the above-mentioned shift, "Sniper" is a good choice to use new actors as leading actors, if the film is a big hit, there is no doubt that new actors and new directors will benefit, and several new actors will also become the trusted team of new director Zhang Mo in the future.
However, whether a young female director can make a good war film is undoubtedly a question, even if the female director's partner and father are an internationally renowned director.
The same Korean War theme of the movie "Chosin Lake", the historical background is relatively famous "Second Battle", the character setting is a group portrait, the actors are well-known domestic male stars, but also two directors partner, respectively, Chen Kaige and Xu Ke.
It can be said that in all aspects, "Sniper" and "Chosin Lake" are in stark contrast, which is probably why the two films that are said to be in the same period end up staggering each other for two months.
All questions about Sniper, all the answers, will be revealed on July 30.
Finally, I still believe in Zhang Yimou.