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The 5th day of the release of the movie "First Incense": the first day of the box office was cold, but the negative reviews were overwhelming.
With the principle that there is no voice without investigation, I rushed to the cinema on the first day of the film's release.
In the process of watching the movie, countless capital question marks came to mind:
"Such a beautiful Yu Feihong, why should he rely on Ma Sichun to hang male college students?"
"Why is Peng Yuyan, such a strong sunny and beautiful man, evaluated by his sister as 'gloomy and a little handsome'?"
But I have to say that the production team of "The First Incense" is incomparably luxurious:
Director Xu Anhua won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival. The screenwriter is Wang Anyi, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Award. Director of Photography Du Kefeng, who was wong Kar-wai's royal photography...
Under the lens of director Hui Anhua, the life of paper drunk gold fans in the rich area of Hong Kong before the war has its own graceful temperament. The beauty of Yu Feihong is vividly interpreted in the film.
The film was also shortlisted for the 77th Venice International Film Festival, but it still can't recover the rating that fell below the passing line, what is the most fundamental problem?
01
Pure love tragedy
It was never Zhang Ailing's intention
The official promotional short video of the film directly advertised it under the banner of "giving love but not a commemorative day".
Many fans of Zhang Ailing's original book have been convinced that this is not destined to be a successful film and television attempt.
"The First Incense"
Although Zhang Ailing is good at telling "small love and small love", the protagonist in the story rarely has a real "love brain". Everyone is calculating and weighing the trade-offs.
In Zhang Ailing's pen, the so-called love will only have a follow-up in special scenes:
In "The First Burning Incense", the heroine Ge Weilong promised to sell her body to make money for Georgie Joe, and Georgie Joe agreed to get married.
Stills from "Allure of Love"
In "Love in the Fallen City", because of the war, all of Hong Kong fell. Fan Liuyuan and Bai Liusu, who could not go back, upgraded from a brief sexual relationship to a husband and wife.
Rather than talking about love, Zhang Ailing is more standing on the edge of human nature and overlooking the human world in the abyss.
Film clip of Ma Sichun's "July and Ansheng"
Director Xu Anhua also said bluntly: "When I shoot Zhang Ailing, I don't always want to discover her original spirit... I just want to make a romance film, I've reached this age, I've never loved well, you're going to make me love once."
This is also the reason why she chose Ma Sichun: "Because after I watched "July and Ansheng", I felt that her love drama was very good. 」
There is no doubt that Ma Sichun also worked hard to contribute her acting skills in the "Pain Youth Literary Film":
During the honeymoon, I saw my husband flirting with other women in the sea. She was desperate and helpless.
When her husband scumbag was clear and asked her to stop the loss in time, one shot and two scatters, she was sad and persistent, saying that this was voluntary, and then frantically slapped the scumbag man:
02
The paper drunk in the book is a gold fan
What exactly does it look like?
Compared with the plot itself, what the editor personally likes is the beautiful picture presented in the movie.
Xu Anhua said that in order to present the picture in Zhang Ailing's book, she has also gone to Hong Kong and Macao many times to conduct field research.
However, the film does not blindly restore the scenes in the book, but also adds a lot of memories of the rich areas she saw in Hong Kong when she was a teenager.
The story takes place in pre-war Hong Kong. What was the rich area of that era like?
At the beginning of the novel, the location and surroundings of the aunt's villa are described in detail.
First of all, in terms of site selection, the location of the house is more private:
"My aunt's garden was nothing more than a rectangular lawn surrounded by a low white cross railing. Just outside the railing is a barren mountain. This garden seems to be a golden lacquer tray pulled out of thin air in the chaotic mountains... This white house on the mountainside is streamlined, geometrically structured, resembling the most modern cinema."
The house is built on a mountainside, and beyond the garden is a barren mountain.
Secondly, although the hills outside are deserted, the inside of the garden is orderly:
"There is also a row of neatly manicured evergreen trees in the garden. Two flower beds are scattered and planted with gorgeous English roses, all of which are carefully arranged and not messy, like the faint brush paintings on a lacquer plate."
Finally, the bedrooms in the villa in that era were not all as large and luxurious as we imagined:
"Wei Long's house, the house is as small as a boat, pushed by the sound wave, the half-old red gauze wall lamp seems to be shaking, and the people in the house are fluttering and happy. Veron pulled open the pearl curtain and leaned on the window sill to look out, and outside was a narrow balcony."
Not long ago, some netizens were joking: her aunt gave her such a small room, she fell because she tasted the sweetness, it was too unconvincing.
As everyone knows, a small room the size of a palm, coupled with a cabinet of shiny clothes, just let her understand her aunt's attitude towards her: "What is the difference between this and buying a person in the ChangsanTang?" 」
In order to shoot the scene, the film party remodeled 2 old villas in the Gulangyu Island Conservation Area, basically restoring the scene of the rich residential area at the top of the hill in the book.
However, the set in the film does not highlight the sense of "absurdity, delicacy, and funny" described in the book.
The chinese and Western set and atmosphere in the movie are just right
For example, the book once wrote: "Entering through the glass door in the corridor is a guest room, which is a three-dimensional Western-style arrangement, but there are also several elegant Chinese ornaments, the stove is displayed with emerald snuff bottles and ivory Guanyin elephants, and the sofa is surrounded by a small bamboo screen, but the existence of this oriental color is obviously on the face of foreign friends."
Not only following the trend of decoration into a Western-style style, but also can not forget to flatter and please, put a few ornaments that conform to the imagination of foreigners in China.
The same was true of the villas of that era, and the same was true of the people who floated in the torrent of the times.
03
Except for Hong Kong
Where are the retro memories?
Although the plot is crossed, the rich area of Hong Kong in the movie really satisfies my imagination of vacation life.
In addition to Hong Kong, these intimate and retro hotels in the mainland also have a unique aesthetic of the times. Let's take a look at it
/Lijiazhuang Hotel Gulangyu Xiamen/
On Zhangzhou Road, Gulangyu Island, not far from the filming location, there is a well-known old hotel.
Originally built by Li Qingquan, the king of Nanyang timber, this place is one of the villas dedicated to the elderly of his father and uncle, and is only separated by a wall from the former residence of Lin Yutang.
At that time, Lin Yutang and Liao Cuifeng got married, and the bridal room was located here.
The main buildings of the two villas are made of clear water red bricks throughout, and there are arched column-type porches at the front and back, retaining a simple and elegant temperament.
Inspired by the Republic of China era, the interior decoration of the guest rooms combines design with comfort.
/Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai/
Looking for scenes in Zhang Ailing's book, Shanghai is a stop you can't miss.
Opened in 1929, the Peace Hotel in Shanghai has become a famous attraction on the Bund. The hotel's 9 country-specific suites are very famous.
Zhang Ailing has also written articles here. Living in the Shanghai golden C position, the house price of 1600 starts on weekdays, which is very worth experiencing.
/Nanjing Yihe Mansion/
Image source Xiaohongshu user @_Aran
Jinling in autumn has a different flavor: the French plane trees on Yihe Road have quietly turned yellow, and the existence of human rickshaws can still be seen on the bluestone road.
He lived in the garden house of the Yihe Mansion and became a neighbor with the celebrities of the Republic of China.
Image source Little Red Book user @ Miss Cat basking in the sun
The room can be full of brass lamps, parquet floors, French shutters, Jinling Ten Views lacquer carved screens, old solid wood furniture... All of them give people a sense of time travel.
/Hangzhou Lakeside Estate Hotel/
It can not only seize the C position: it is only one step away from the West Lake, and it can be hidden in the city and hidden in the alley.
Lakeside Estate, a member of the Boutique Hotel Le Relais in France, has made it an evergreen tree in a lakeside hotel because of this delicate resort scale.
Qingshui Wall, High Wall Patio, Green Brick Dewa, Black Lacquer Gate, and Hangzhou's only preserved Lilong-style Shikumen building.....
Let me ask you: Which hotel controller can resist living in the golden age of the Republic of China?