The Spring Festival file sword and light sword shadow, the dark horse masterpiece "Hello, Li Huanying" and the long-awaited "Detective Chinatown 3" have been searching for hot searches all the way.
Comparatively speaking, Andy Lau, the king of the Tang Detective universe, is facing the situation of low pre-sales and insufficient scheduling of the new work "Surging Crowds".
Could it be that Liu Tianwang, who just sent "Bomb Disposal Expert 2", lost his hand again?
Perhaps, all these questions need to return to the surging crowd to find answers.
This article contains spoilers.
1
In the vast sea of people, most people are in the trajectory of their own lives, living a repetitive life that can be seen at a glance.
But Chen Xiaomeng is different, because he chose to end his life today.
As a mass actor, 32-year-old Chen Xiaomeng still lives a difficult life without seeing the hope of fame, eating, smoking, drinking, renting a house on credit, and being abandoned by his ex-girlfriend.
After burning his old photos and id card, he stuck his head into the hanging rope he had prepared early in the morning.
However, at this time, the mobile phone suddenly rang, and in a panic, he immediately shook his already unflinching desire for death, and the rope seemed to be broken.
At this time, Chen Xiaomeng found a bathing center experience ticket in his garbage-like home, and he decided to enjoy it again before he died.
It's just that Chen Xiaomeng didn't expect that an opportunity to "restart life" would also come to her.
Because of the slippery hand, the soap that Chen Xiaomeng got caused another customer to fall to the ground, and it happened that the other party's key fell to the ground and was found by Chen Xiaomeng.
As early as before entering the bathroom, Chen Xiaomeng found that the other party was wearing a famous brand and a famous watch, so he made a bold move - exchanging the locker keys of the two.
What surprised the sneaky Chen Xiaomeng even more was that this key also brought him luxury cars, mansions and endless money, which simply opened the door to a new world.
However, Chen Xiaomeng, who instigated people to do more strange things and could not be relieved, secretly came to the hospital to "visit" the owner of the key- Zhou Quan, but found that the other party had lost his memory.
Since then, the small group of actors who have attempted suicide have successfully moved into the mansion to eat and drink for free, and the rich man with slippery feet and amnesia has lived in a low-cost house, but he can't remember who he really is.
However, with the arrival of a work phone call, Chen Xiaomeng found that she had made a big mistake.
Because, the job content that Zhou Quan received was: kill the fox spirit Zeng Jiurong, who seduced his man, for the catering tycoon Hui Jie.
This means that in order to continue to live as a thoughtful identity, Chen Xiaomeng must boldly start a completely different life.
At the same time, the fake Chen Xiaomeng and Zhen Zhouquan, who are slowly looking for themselves, are also undergoing tests.
Out of obsessive-compulsive instinct and the work habit of being good at analysis and loving planning, Zhou Quan, who has lost his memory, began to record and analyze the personality characteristics and life rules of "Chen Xiaomeng" with a notebook.
He not only turned the original garbage-heap-like low-rent house into neat and comfortable, but also carefully read all the acting books in Chen Xiaomeng's family and became a dedicated actor who can be expected in the future.
Moreover, in this life experience from decadence to good, he also encountered an unexpected love.
Unfortunately, when the fake Chen Xiaomeng was ready to take another step towards his lover, he recovered his memory.
Confronting the thief Chen Xiaomeng and solving the mess left by the other party, you have to find a way to keep your sincere love, remember who you are, and still face a series of problems to be solved.
2
In terms of plot settings, "Surging Crowds" is more like a deluxe version of the film and television "morphing meter", and even the film publicity also focuses on the slogan of "changing the way of life, turning the cow to a dry place".
The eye of the story lies in the two male protagonists who exchange lives - Andy Lau, who plays the killer thoughtfully, and Xiao Yang, who plays Chen Xiaomeng in the group.
Andy Lau, who has participated in many classic works, from the caution and contrast after amnesia to the killing decision after recovering memory, the tenderness of the iron man, completely deduced two different identities, worthy of the strength of the film emperor.
Instead of Xiao Yang, who played the drama, in recent years, with his good reputation "Manslaughter", he has captured a number of fans and confirmed his good acting skills.
The most interesting thing is that after Zhou Quan recovers his memory, the middleman Who uses the identity of the killer as a pretender is Ready to use Chen Xiaomeng's fake death to solve the mess left by the other party, and the two begin a rehearsal about death.
At the beginning, Chen Xiaomeng, who played the deceased, played a lot of dramas, died slowly, and died too crisply after being abandoned, and Zhou Quan had to personally demonstrate the whole process from surprise and fear to unconsciousness, convulsions, and death, so that Chen Xiaomeng could study well.
This means that Andy Lau needs to provide a death performance that can make the audience believe that it is true, and Xiao Yang also needs to perform three death performances of different degrees.
The finished product proves that in the process of frequent laughter, both of them contributed a seemingly basic but layered performance.
In addition to the two male protagonists who have achieved each other, there are two important women in "Surging Crowds".
One is Li Xiang, a self-media person played by Wan Qian.
As a professional woman, she works hard, and as a single mother, she also has her own vigilance and kindness.
Her love with Zhou Quan looks abrupt at first glance, but it is actually logical, plumping up Andy Lau's thoughtfulness.
Another eye-catching woman is Sister Hui, played by Huang Xiaolei.
Speaking an authentic Sichuan dialect, one moment fiercely fighting in front of the little brother, the next moment becoming a bitter lover who was deceived by the scum man and the scumbag, the performance was relaxed and measured, the sadness and joy were just right, and it was an indispensable villain of the whole film, and it was also an important comedy output.
3
In fact, "Surging Crowds" is adapted from the Japanese movie "The Method of Stealing the Key", which has also been remade in South Korea before "Lucky Key", and the Douban score of both is not low.
So, when this script came to China, more questions were: Why did you have to remake it?
Just like "Perfect Stranger" and "Invisible Guest" that have been in many countries before, the story of small group actors and killers exchanging lives has been put on the screen again and again, mainly because of the solid and far-reaching intention of the script.
No matter what the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese versions of the killer are called, in different situations, he always maintains the good habits of self-discipline, cleanliness and orderliness, so he changes the life of the group performance.
And the group performances that have done the wrong thing with a single thought are also in the process of unlocking different life experiences, always maintaining kindness and eventually becoming the protagonist of their own lives.
The two characters frequently collide, just to prove to the public: habits change lives, kindness saves lives.
Under the theme of such high-value output, the real problem to face in "Surging Crowds" that came to China is how to achieve localization and adaptation.
With experience in dealing with the crime comedy The Unknown, director Rao Xiaozhi clearly offers a rewarding attempt to just leave the framework and recreate the plot.
Therefore, compared with the Structure of the Korean version that emphasizes love and light plot, the Chinese version focuses more on the shaping of the protagonist's image.
Compared with the Japanese version's enhanced plot and abrupt turn of emotional lines, the Chinese version lays a complete emotional development context for Zhou Quan and Li Xiang.
Although facing doubts such as the lack of self-transformation of the two male protagonists, the suspension of love dramas, and the lack of grounding in small character comedies, at least this story from Japan is already trying to adapt to Chinese soil.
What is even more touching to fans is that Zhou Quan traveled to various sets, and also paid tribute to the famous scenes in Andy Lau's works again and again, and invited Guo Fan, director of "The Wandering Earth", to say to the group performance Zhou Quan and the lead actor Andy Lau: "Thank you for your contribution to Chinese films. ”
Just like Andy Lau and Xiao Yang, who made cameo appearances in "Detective Chinatown 3", the actors Lei Jiayin and Guo Jingfei who appeared in "The Crowd", the directors Lu Yang ("Assassination of the Novelist") and Guo Fan ("The Wandering Earth") are all passing on one thing: behind the war-torn Spring Festival file at the box office, there is always a group of creators who love movies, whether it is remake or original, everyone is looking forward to the next spring that belongs to Chinese films.