Zhang Yimou's new film "Half a Comedy" will be released this month, and this comedy work on family ethics has attracted a lot of attention in the industry. Although Zhang Yimou's works have always leaned towards realism, this time he broke the mold and made a comedy about family conflicts, which was a pleasant surprise.
In the trailer of the film, the contradictions between the male protagonist and his younger brother with intellectual disabilities make people think of the various disputes between Zhang Yimou himself and his disabled brother. The actor neglects to take care of his younger brother in pursuit of his career ideals, which leads to regret, and his heart is full of guilt and self-blame.
Years ago, Zhang Yimou was fined for refusing to sponsor his disabled brother to make a movie, an incident that caused widespread concern in society. This family conflict has obviously accumulated for a long time, and now it has finally surfaced in the form of art.
People are speculating and looking forward to the deep meaning of Zhang Yimou's new film.
Zhang Yimou is a top master in the Chinese film industry, and each of his films is full of deep meanings. This time, he chose to discuss the issue of family ethics, and he must have his unique insights, which we are very much looking forward to.
Since 2022, Zhang Yimou has re-examined his relationship with his disabled brother. He had avoided contact with his brother for many years, and his heart was full of guilt and self-blame.
That year, Zhang Yimou's younger brother made another request to him, he hoped to make a film and realize his dream of directing. However, due to a lack of funds, he had to ask his brother Zhang Yi for help, hoping that he could support himself.
At that time, Zhang Yimou was on the rise in his career, and he directly rejected his younger brother's request. The reason is that he wants to focus on his film career and has no extra energy to take care of his family.
The younger brother did not give up because of Zhang Yimou's refusal, and he stubbornly asked Zhang Yimou again and again, hoping to get his brother's support. However, Zhang Yimou didn't care about his brother's dreams and thought that he had no ability to shoot.
In the end, because of this incident, the two sides fell into a long cold war and drifted apart. Since then, Zhang Yimou has felt deeply guilty and remorseful for his original decision, but he has not been able to speak up and sincerely apologize to his younger brother.
Time flies, and now Zhang Yimou has made great achievements in the film industry. However, that past still haunts him. He gradually realized that an artist's ideals are often inseparable from the feelings of family and country, and personal achievements are also composed of the understanding and support of his family.
We want to recall the incident in 2013 when Zhang Yimou was fined 7.48 million yuan. At that time, Zhang Yimou was punished by the cultural authorities for refusing to fund his disabled brother to make movies. This incident has attracted strong attention in the entertainment industry.
It turned out that Zhang Yimou's younger brother had an intellectual disability since he was a child, but he still cherished the dream of becoming a film director. However, out of a desire for protection, Zhang Yimou did not want to see his younger brother involved in the rights and wrongs of the film and television industry, so he did not support his dream of directing.
The younger brother begged Zhang Yimou many times to help him realize his dream, but Zhang Yimou didn't care about it and scoffed at his brother's dream. The younger brother had no choice but to raise funds to make the film by himself, but he was repeatedly frustrated and did not achieve any results.
In that year, an investor reported that Zhang Yimou refused to fund his brother's filmmaking, leading the cultural authorities to impose a hefty fine of 7.48 million yuan on Zhang Yimou.
In fact, Zhang Yimou also felt very guilty about this. Although he was trying to protect his career, he also knew that his attitude towards his brother was too cold. However, despite this, he remained resolute in his unwillingness to help his younger brother.
This incident aroused widespread concern and strong condemnation from the society at that time. Everyone believes that Zhang Yimou, as a successful person, has the responsibility to care more about his family, and should not reject his younger brother's original intention to pursue his dreams.
Zhang Yimou's film and television career put him in a dilemma. On the one hand, he has an almost obsessive pursuit of his career, and his personal ideals are almost paranoid; On the other hand, he also subconsciously realized that family responsibilities were equally important and should not be overlooked.
As a top director, Zhang Yimou needs to devote himself to the creation of each film, and any sloppiness may make the entire film go to waste. And taking care of a disabled loved one will undoubtedly distract him from a lot of energy.
In addition, the film and television industry is a world full of intrigue, and Zhang Yimou has long been accustomed to it. He realized that having such a vulnerable relative around him was likely to be used as a target by others, which would affect his career development.
This concern was one of the reasons why he refused to allow his brother to join his team in the first place.
However, these years of experience made Zhang Yimou gradually realize that being too paranoid about his personal career is a one-sided behavior, he ignored the importance of family affection, and also ignored his younger brother's original intention to pursue his dreams, which made him suffer in his heart and could not completely let go.
An outstanding artist not only needs to never abandon his artistic ideals, but also has a deep understanding of life. Zhang Yimou realized this and hoped that his film and television works could make up for the rift caused by family conflicts.
When Zhang Yimou was studying at a young age, he began to pursue his film dream. At that time, he was a lonely dreamer, bent on becoming an excellent film director, so he resolutely applied for the Beijing Film Academy and embarked on the road of film.
At that time, the prospects and treatment of the film industry were not ideal, and it was an unpopular industry. But for Zhang Yimou, who has a dream, these are not problems. He devotes all his energy to film and television creation, and maintains a tireless pursuit of this field.
Zhang Yimou's younger brother has suffered from intellectual disability since he was a child, and his learning ability is relatively average. Although Zhang Yimou loves his younger brother very much, he has devoted more energy to pursuing his ideals since he was a child.
Later, Zhang Yimou gradually became famous in the film and television industry because of his outstanding directorial talent, and his career gradually got on the right track. At the same time, however, his estrangement from his loved ones was growing.
Immersed in his own world all day long, Zhang Yimou neglected to communicate with his younger brother. Many years later, when his younger brother proposed the idea of making a movie, Zhang Yimou was not optimistic about it. He felt that his younger brother's ability was too poor, and the film and television industry was complicated, which was not suitable for people like his younger brother.
From a young aspiration to a successful career, Zhang Yimou's attitude towards his career and family has undergone earth-shaking changes. This change also left a foreshadowing for later contradictions and disputes. After years of family entanglements, Zhang Yimou has become deeply aware of the huge gap between his personal ideals and family responsibilities, and how to balance the two has become a very difficult choice.
Looking back on the trajectory of his life, when he was young, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the film industry, but neglected to take care of his mentally disabled brother. Although he made small achievements on the road of directing, his relationship with his younger brother gradually drifted apart, which eventually led to family conflicts and was heavily fined 7.48 million yuan.
After experiencing countless setbacks and lessons, Zhang Yimou began to reflect on his behavior of pursuing his personal ideals while ignoring his family. He understands that if he is too obsessed with his career and ignores his family, he will eventually pay a heavy price.
Therefore, Zhang Yimou decided to make up for his past regrets through his artistic creation and rebuild the family ties destroyed by family conflicts. He hopes to be able to realistically reproduce the entanglement between him and his younger brother in the new film "Half a Comedy" through images.
Once upon a time, Zhang Yimou ruthlessly rejected his brother's request for help in order to pursue his career ideals. And now, he hopes that through this movie, he will re-examine the past in a peaceful and friendly way, and resolve the regrets and guilt in his heart.
After all, to become an excellent artist, you must not only have a high artistic accomplishment, but also have a profound and rich life experience. Zhang Yimou looks forward to taking this opportunity to re-examine the relationship between artists and ordinary people, and try to use his artistic creation to reshape the rift left between people.