Making a biographical film of Mei Yanfang, perhaps everyone will doubt in advance whether it can really be made with the proper taste? And who can master this role?
The biography involves too many people who are still alive, and there are some sensitive political elements, how to choose? However, several test screenings have exploded a super reputation.
The character biography movie "Mei Yanfang" is not only much better than imagined, its standard is simply what you expect, and the proud performance of newcomer Wang Dani makes the role of "Mei Yanfang" full of convincing.
"Mei Yanfang" as a biography, all the elements are very balanced, in just 136 minutes to her career, love, family, friendship, mentoring and apprenticeship are well laid out, just like the New Year film, the stars gathered and balanced, and there is room for play.
In addition to the "biographical" pattern, the film also portrays the social changes, different cultures and values of Hong Kong in the past 30 or 40 years, neither preaching nor abrupt, like a love letter to Hong Kong people, in which there is always something to make people collectively remember.
Excellent computer stunts recreate the best side of Hong Kong's past, but also full of realism, details that make people shoot cases, and technically it is a rare production.
Leung Lok-min "snapped" his name in both Equator and Cold War 2, but this work proves that he also has a big production that can control the big scenes that are not action fights.
"Mei Yanfang" is both a celebrity biography and a women's film full of flavor, although it is not perfect, it is also quite superior.
Mei Yanfang was born poor, and her sister sold singing in the Li garden, by chance, she participated in the rookie singing competition and won the award, and immediately became popular, becoming the most popular new star in the music industry, and became famous.
She has the most beautiful side, but she also bears the great pressure of being popular and the emotional problems of her private life, and even provokes the underworld, after experiencing the ups and downs of life, she is finally unable to resist the disease...
Before watching it, I was curious about what kind of story this was, and where to implant Mei Yanfang's stories.
This is not to extract a certain stage of Mei Yanfang's life, but to exhaust Mei Yanfang's entire life until Mei Yanfang's farewell concert.
The film dabbles through her life in two hours, and some of the plot does have to be lightly taken, just like her path to fame is really difficult to present in more space, which may lead to some jumps.
Fortunately, the film mainly wants to explore her inner world in depth, she looks beautiful on the outside, but inside she has an incomparable loneliness and emptiness.
01. The film's balanced selection of materials and the ability to balance various elements in a limited time can be called a very good biographical work
The film does extract the most important fragments of Mei Yanfang's life, including the love, friendship, family affection, and mentorship of her private life.
What is valuable is that the film selection is properly balanced, each relationship has a certain length, and from these different emotional relationships, the audience can understand her mental journey after the first half of her life and fame; she has a sentient but somewhat stubborn personality, and how it affects the people around her.
In a limited time, it is impossible to present a person's life in great detail, "Mei Yanfang" extracts the most important fragments, so that the audience can enter her inner world and understand what kind of person she is.
I think that even if "Mei Yanfang" is taken to a foreign country, the audience does not know who Mei Yanfang is at all, and only looks at her as a story of female self-improvement, which is also full of flavor, which will also make the audience moved.
After all, a biography of a character that takes into account such complex elements while still being able to shoot the taste is not an easy task, but "Mei Yanfang" has done it.
And the whole movie also has a large number of Mei Yanfang's songs, but this is not a song and dance film, nor is it sung for singing, the selected songs can be in line with the development of the plot, until the end of the film can touch the heart, the selection of songs is indeed worthy of praise.
Although Liang Lemin's previous "Cold War" series and "Equator" were co-directed with Lu Jianqing, the action production also showed its merits.
Just to say that the scene scheduling of "Equator" has simply reached the standard of Hollywood, this time turned to shoot a character biography of love, rhythm control, emotional pinching is also very good.
The big scenes of "Mui Yanfang" are not action fights, but often a large number of stars, or pictures that recreate the scenery of old Hong Kong.
Generally speaking, this kind of film that sells collective memories may often be one or two shots recreated back to the past, which has already enchanted the audience.
But "Mei Yanfang" is a meticulous reproduction of Nathan Road and Tsim Sha tsui Dongbei in the 1980s, and even the location of the billboard is not wrong.
Through The story of Mui Yanfang, the side depicts the cultural changes in Hong Kong over the years, from clothing, hairstyles, props and so on.
All this is probably a request made by Leung Lok-min, who is an art director, but he pays so much attention to the details, which can be said to be a rare delicacy in Hong Kong movies.
In terms of feelings, Liang Lemin can also firmly grasp the emotions of the audience.
The plot tension presented in "Mei Yanfang" is mainly a person's inner world, her experience and story.
These are not like the plot tensions of the two men in "Cold War" or "Equator" who almost face to face "show off their knowledge", but they are more powerful.
Of course, Wang Dani's stunning performance helps a lot, and Liang Lemin's delicate depiction of the characters slowly sets off the feelings, making the relationship between people and the characters have a subtle mutual influence.
Emotions have warmed up to such a point, this is not only a story of Mei Yanfang, but also a story of a woman with flesh and blood, and the audience will inevitably be moved to tears when they see her experiences and encounters.
02. The film recreates the face of old Hong Kong, and every scene and object on the surface is very thoughtful
The brilliance of "Mei Yanfang" is not only on the emotional line of its characters, but also a collective memory, in which it is infused with strong feelings and values.
Looking at Mei Yanfang's story, the audience experiences not only the big and small things in the entertainment industry for decades, but also the collective memories of many viewers.
From the social landscape of the 1980s and 1990s, the prosperity of Hong Kong's paper drunk fans, to the later return, every fragment believes that as long as you are not a post-00s, you can always find a place to remember.
What is even more rare is that the film also conveys a positive attitude and values to the audience, which seems to be natural; Mui Yanfang's life has undergone decades of changes in Hong Kong, and it is presumable that Hong Kong audiences will feel more flavorful.
In this regard, the significance of "Mui Yanfang" is not only a biography, but also a collective memory of Hong Kong people, both business and meaning, which can be called a common appreciation.
03. Wang Dani starred in Mei Yanfang not only in both form and spirit, but also in her inner drama
Behind the scenes, no matter which aspect is a rare high-level production, but the success or failure of "Mei Yanfang" is mainly based on Wang Dani, the soul who plays Mei Yanfang.
Before watching it, I didn't know that it was Dani Wang, and it was difficult to understand how she could control the role. But after watching the whole movie, I even felt that this seemed to be a character born for her.
From the perspective of the "role playing" of the biography, Wang Dani plays Mei Yanfang regardless of appearance, demeanor, voice line, and action, and has a strong persuasiveness to completely bring Mei Yanfang to life.
In addition, her inner emotional drama is very accurate, especially the second half completely drives the audience's feelings.
All in all, "Mei Yanfang" is a high-level film in front of and behind the scenes, whether it is "Mei Yanfang" or not, it is a superior biographical work, in just 136 minutes, completely according to the needs of the plot, creating an emotionally rich and delicate character.
Perhaps the middle section has a slight sense of floating light, but it can affect the audience's feelings and guide the plot back to the right track.
Leung Lok Man shows his choreography, mastery of big scenes, recreates the prosperity of Hong Kong, coupled with Wang Dani's superb performance, the whole movie looks very flavorful.
Wang Dani's performance is absolutely overwhelming, she is not only a "role play" imitation, the layered interpretation also makes the movie watchable greatly increased.