There are many voices on the Internet saying that without Shen Teng, Ma Li is not very good.
Indeed, after 2015's Charlotte Troubles, The Movie Starring Mary starred in was almost worse than the other.
"Shy Iron Fist" partner Allen has a good box office, but the reputation has declined since its release, and now it seems to be a turning point in the decline of happy twist.
At the end of 2018, the New Year movie "Callers" had a Douban score of less than 6 points, and the box office became a fig leaf;
By this year's "Sunshine Robber", even the box office could not be sold.
On the other hand, Shen Teng, in addition to some special cameos, the box office reputation of the movies he really starred in has remained good, and this year there is also a "Hello, Li Huanying" that broke out again.
No more masterpieces, the title of queen of bad films will be found.
Perhaps Ma Li also knew that it was not possible to continue like this, so she took on a literary film.
After entering the Shanghai Film Festival to participate in the screening, the tickets on the opening day of the "Northeast Tiger" she starred in were quickly sold out, even to the point where it was difficult to find a ticket.
In the competition of the Golden Jubilee Award, "Siberian Tiger" took a breath and won the Best Picture Award.
At least at the film festival, the box office reputation is a double harvest.
Whether Ma Li can turn over in one fell swoop depends on this time.
At the film festival press conference, director Geng Jun made it clear that this is a black humor style drama.
The post-70s director is a professional film festival and his works have been selected for international film festivals many times.
The last work was 2017's "Easy + Happy", which achieved good results and was nominated for four awards such as Golden Horse Award for Best Feature Film and Best Director.
Because of his relationship with the Northeast, his stories are often placed in the Northeast.
"Siberian Tiger" is clear at a glance when it looks at the title, or a northeast story.
However, this is not a movie around the Siberian tiger, which is just a symbol, symbolizing the tiger strength in the bones of the Northeasterners and the helplessness of being kept in a zoo.
The characters in the film are like trapped Siberian tigers, facing the constraints of reality, but helpless.
Like film noir such as Pulp Fiction, Geng Jun employs a multi-line narrative.
The three protagonists draw out three interrelated story lines.
The builder Ma Qianli was in debt, because he took in a dog, he got into trouble again, and his life was a mess.
The actor who plays him is Zhang Zhiyong, the royal male protagonist of Geng Jun. They have previously collaborated on three works, "Youth", "Hammer and Sickle Rest", and "Easy + Happy", and it must be easy and pleasant to cooperate again.
Ma Qianli's dog was Xu Dong's, and because his wife was in the basin, he had to temporarily send the dog to be raised.
However, the dog did not know why it died.
Xu Dong thus embarked on a road of revenge...
The biggest challenge for actor Zhang Yu this time is that he, a Guizhou native, wants to perform the taste of northeast people without any sense of violation. As for the state of the character, it is a small meaning for him.
I don't know whether he, who is already the absolute male number one after "Calm Wind and Waves", can bring a good film with a better reputation.
Xu Dong's wife is played by Ma Li. Suspecting that Xu Dong was cheating, his wife disguised herself as Sherlock Holmes and launched a secret investigation.
This time, Ma Li completely changed the path of the scene, and did not use exaggerated methods to express it in the previous comedy, but instead used a calm and restrained way to interpret the complicated feelings of a wife who suspected her husband of cheating.
Some commentators have compared Geng Jun to Huang Xinyao.
Some people say that this is the best mainland movie I have seen so far this year.
However, because it is a literary and artistic film without many fierce conflicts, no matter how much word of mouth there is, the box office will not have too high expectations.
But for Mary, it was a precious transformation.
After acting in too many commercial comedies, it is easy to unconsciously fall into a stereotyped performance.
Being able to take time to cooperate with Zhang Yu in such a film festival masterpiece is an exercise for her performance. Even if you can't "turn over" strongly this time, you can lay the foundation for the success of future works.