Preface
In the intertwined world of literature and light and shadow, if a novel can be turned into a story on the screen, it is often because it has a fascinating charm.
However, in the work "Tuina" directed by Lou Ye, this advantage seems to have been challenged.
"Tuina" is not only a movie, but also a touch of the heart, a deep reflection on the life of marginalized groups, it should have made the audience feel the power of the life of a unique group with its unique artistic charm.
However, after its release, it did not get a high box office result, and today I will analyze the reasons for the shortcomings of "Tuina" in terms of narrative.
First, the pearl and jade are in front
In order to shoot this film with the blind as the protagonist well, the director team's investment in technology can be said to have hollowed out their minds.
Like a sculptor to marble, they meticulously carve every detail, whether it is the creation of the atmosphere or the treatment of the picture, they strive to achieve the extreme.
In the interweaving of light and shadow, they skillfully use the contrast of colors and the change of light to create a visual effect that is both real and dreamlike, allowing the audience to feel as if they can touch the inner world of the characters through the screen.
In this film, every camera change of the director is like telling a story of courage and exploration. Not only do they strive for technical excellence, but they also build a deep emotional connection with their audience.
Director Lou Ye adopts documentary shooting techniques in his works, in order to show the inner world and living conditions of blind people more realistically.
This technique includes close-up shots that are close to the face, rough and sharp image textures, and frequent use of shaky lenses, aiming to simulate the visual experience of a blind or semi-blind person, so that the audience can feel the living environment and psychological state of the blind person.
Through this shooting technique, director Lou Ye successfully created a cramped and oppressive atmosphere, allowing the audience to deeply understand the challenges and dilemmas faced by blind people in their daily lives.
However, this strong documentary expression may also sacrifice some aesthetic elements in film art, such as the harmony of the picture, the delicacy of the composition, and the delicate treatment of light and shadow.
The efforts of the director team have been rewarded, and the movie "Tuina" is like a dazzling star, shining in the hall of the Golden Horse Awards, helping director Lou Ye win six Golden Horse trophies, which is the highest praise for artistic achievements.
However, when the film was released in China, it was waterloo. The first-day film schedule accounted for only a negligible 3% of the total number of screenings in the country, and the box office revenue in the first weekend failed to break through the threshold of 2 million yuan, which is shocking!
Faced with such a box office dilemma, we can't help but ask.
Why did a film that won such an honor in the palace of art encounter cold eyes from theaters in terms of film scheduling? Why is audience attendance so sluggish?
In addition to the mistakes of the marketing strategy, there are also internal reasons for the film itself.
"Tuina" takes the world of the blind as the starting point, trying to seek a breakthrough in the depth of the theme and the sophistication of the technique. However, when it comes to the way it tells the story to a wide audience, it shows some flaws.
The carving of the script does not seem to have reached the extreme, and the unfolding of some plots seems hasty, and the lack of delicate transitions makes the development of the story seem a little stiff.
The shaping of the figure also appears relatively flat, lacking depth, and fails to fully show its three-dimensional sense. In addition, when the film pursues the unique shooting technique of "blind vision", it seems to ignore the audience's acceptance, which brings people an uncomfortable viewing experience.
It is these inherent flaws that make "Tuina" encounter the cold eyes of the audience in the domestic market and become an "invisible movie".
Let it be like a lonely dancer, spinning alone on the stage of art, but failing to attract enough attention, leaving a faint regret.
2. The flaws in the adaptation of the characters
A masterpiece can often touch the heartstrings of the audience, arouse their deep resonance, arouse the desire or memory of life, and even produce an immersive sense of substitution, which is the so-called "unity of human drama".
However, when watching the film "Tuina", the audience feels a shallow sense of human drama, and they are often thrown out of the play in the waves of the plot, and what they experience is a sense of alienation.
What is the reason behind this?
After watching it repeatedly, you can feel that in the process of transforming from a novel to a movie, there are certain flaws in the adaptation of the script.
Bi Feiyu's original novel "Tuina" is a group portrait, and Dr. Wang, as the central axis of the work, carries the weight of the story.
Different from the peaceful and bright narrative style in the novel, the movie "Tuina" takes a completely different path in the creation of atmosphere.
It deliberately creates an unsettling atmosphere, constructing an emotional tone that is very different from that of the novel through a tense plot and oppressive tones.
The film begins with the pony's decisive suicide, and the scenes of blood and chaos are intertwined like a sharp blade, cutting through the appearance of calm and hitting the audience's heart.
This scene is not only a brutal revelation of the fragility of life, but also a harbinger of the unease of the whole film.
With the slow introduction of the word "Tuina", the subtitles on the screen seem to carry the helplessness and resignation of the blind to fate, and they hang quietly in the dark, like the world in the eyes of the blind, full of passivity and powerlessness.
In order to enhance the drama, the film has made many adjustments to the novel, and the essence of many novels has been discarded, and only the most dramatic branches have been retained, which makes the performance of the story lose its sense of depth.
Pony takes Dr. Wang's place as the central character of the whole work, and the beginning and end of the film revolve around Pony's blindness and regaining his sight.
Although actor Huang Xuan's performance is hard and in place, the character itself's overly resolute look and the resolute expression of breaking with the world give people an inexplicable feeling.
The characters are portrayed as hysterical and neurotic, giving the audience an unpleasant viewing experience and alienating the distance between the film and the audience.
The movie pushes back the age at which the pony committed suicide, replacing a pony who has accepted his blindness as an adult with a pony who is full of anger, distrust, and bigotry towards the outside world.
Another major adaptation of Pony is Visual Restoration, in which the love between Pony and Man ends in an ironic way, with the two reaching a moment of physical and mental merger, only to be interrupted by the presence of the police.
In the movie, this plot is adapted to when Pony goes to find Man, Man has a guest, and Pony hears Man's reluctant voice and knocks on the door.
The client of the ruined prostitute beats him up, but after the beating, the pony unexpectedly finds that he has regained part of his vision and is ecstatic, which makes the plot too dramatic and becomes the most criticized part of the movie.
3. Over-portrayal of ambiguous relationships and confusing endings
In addition, there are also problems with the film's adaptation of Koko's ambiguous relationship.
In the novel, Kokumi is the subject of lust, but in the movie, this subject is replaced by Pony, and in the scene of the massage dormitory, Kokong, who was originally the subject of lust, is quietly replaced with the object of Pony's desire.
In front of Dr. Wang, Zhang Yiguang and other blind massage therapists, Xiaokong directly hugged Xiaokong and let out uncontrollable breathing, the atmosphere was tense and embarrassing, and Xiaokong was powerless to resist Xiaokong's attack in passivity.
Such an adaptation compromises the film's realism in at least two ways.
The first is to destroy the integrity and richness of Kong's character, and also make the plot of Kong's nostalgia for ponies unconvincing.
The second is to launch an attack on Xiao Kong in front of Dr. Wang and a group of massage masters, as we all know, although blind people are blind, their sense of hearing is very sensitive, such a detail is not only distorted, but also brings a sense of oppression to the audience.
Another role in the movie that should have been very important, one of the bosses of Sha Zongqi's massage center, Sha Fuming, accounts for a lot of money in the movie.
For this role, the adaptation was quite successful, and the blind date scene of Sha Fuming at the beginning of the film vividly portrayed Sha Fuming's character traits and temperament endowment, which quickly left a deep impression on the audience.
But after being obsessed with Du Hong's "beauty", this image of Sha Fuming quickly tends to flatten, and the yearning for "beauty" appears simplistic and conceptual, weakening the depth of this character.
In the film, Du Hong's image has not been shaped, Du Hong's past and present lives have been diluted, and the admiration of sound people for Du Hong's "beauty" directly appeared in the movie, as well as the great waves in Sha Fuming's heart.
We can see that behind the gaze of "staring" is a man's aesthetic vision, and the innate qualities of women themselves conveyed in the original book are ignored.
The adaptation also failed with the ending of the story.
The novel is generally a happy ending, but in the movie, the ending of the entire blind community is replaced by the ending of the pony himself.
The pony, who has regained some of his vision, looks at the man who has washed his hair in a blur and smiles happily. It weakens the connotation and expressiveness of the work.
In addition, there are many essential foreshadowings in the novel, which have also been removed in the film adaptation.
For example, in the novel, the pony's greed for Xiaokong is expressed through the horse's rhapsody, which not only conforms to the spiritual characteristics of the characters, but also helps to enhance the artistic expression of the work.
In the fantasy world of the pony, the sister-in-law Xiaokong turns into a butterfly for a while, a school of fish for a while, and a brown and red horse for a while, which can be described as heaven and earth.
It can be seen that although the movie invited well-known actors such as Qin Hao, Guo Xiaodong, and Mei Ting, out of the isolation of blind life, the actors could not properly and naturally present a natural performance form.
Especially some small roles, the performance is even more blunt, and the roles of Zhang Yiguang, Ji Tingting, Boss Zhang, Du Li, and Sister Jin in the movie are just showing their faces in a marquee, and they do not leave much impression on the audience.
On the contrary, it is Xiao Kong, played by the blind Zhang Lei, whether it is her feelings for Dr. Wang, or her ambiguity with Xiaoma to the later clarification, she has a good sense of proportion, so she deserves the honor of Best Supporting Actress.
In general, "Tuina" has obvious flaws in the shaping of the characters, which not only affect the audience's emotional investment in the film, but also weaken the artistic expression of the film.
As a visual art, the three-dimensional sense and depth of the characters are important factors to attract the audience, and the shortcomings of "Tuina" in this regard have undoubtedly become a big regret for the film.
epilogue
There is much to appreciate about Tuina.
However, the film adopts a documentary-style shooting technique, and the handling of the plot and characters is somewhat inappropriate.
So that the audience's sense of touch is not strong, and they do not feel the real inner world of the blind in detail.
The source of the information in this article - the movie "Tuina".