In 2012, the Hong Kong movie "Sister Peach" was finally released. This literary film, which is full of the hopes of the entire Hong Kong actor, has won many awards in one fell swoop.
Behind the success of the film is the bitter past of director Xu Anhua's sad face and borrowing money everywhere.
Some directors make movies for money, some for fame, but some for a single thought.
In 2011, Chinese mainland released an ultra-small-budget film. The film was almost zero, the cast had no highlights, and even many viewers bought tickets to watch because they were bored.
In the end, the film ended with millions of dollars at the box office, and it was a mess. But everyone who has watched the movie has a sense of satisfaction on their faces.
Douban's 310,000 people scored a high score of 8.5, which is simply a benchmark for small-cost movies.
Some viewers even said bluntly, "After watching "The Piano of Steel", I think there is still hope for Chinese movies!" ”
01
How miserable was "The Piano of Steel" back then?
Director Zhang Meng has not finished filming, and there are only a few dozen yuan left on the books, forcing the heroine Qin Hailu to invest in her own pocket.
At that time, Wang Qianyuan's fame was not very big, in order to allow Zhang Meng to successfully finish the film, he gave up all his salary.
Careful viewers will find that although the role of the ex-wife is beautiful, the lip style and lines are completely incompatible, because she is a Korean actor who brings money into the group.
But even so, "The Piano of Steel" still had to stop filming because of the rupture of funds.
This film is not only the painstaking efforts of director Zhang Meng, but also the concentrated outbreak of Wang Qianyuan's talent.
You must know that Wang Qianyuan pushed off a big production before joining "The Piano of Steel", and now the film has been shelved, and he is the most uncomfortable.
He said bitterly to Zhang Meng: "Director, we must finish filming it, even if it can't be released, you can leave me a negative as a souvenir." ”
In order to save money, the entire crew lives in a remote broken guest house, huddled with migrant workers. Zhang Meng turned on the air conditioner of the hotel to the maximum, and there was film underneath, and several staff members were frozen inside.
It is too difficult for "The Piano of Steel" to be filmed, and Zhang Meng's account is more than a hundred yuan left at the end of the film.
I heard that Cui Yongyuan came to the northeast, in order to be able to do more publicity, Zhang Meng bought two cigarettes and went straight to it, and as a result, Cui Yongyuan said unceremoniously: "The movie is really good, that piano might as well give it to me." ”
Although "The Piano of Steel" lost the box office, it won the explosive reputation, and Wang Qianyuan won the title of international "Film Emperor" in one fell swoop with his outstanding performance.
02
In the past, we used to say "big brother workers", but now the working class has changed its taste.
"The Piano of Steel" tells the story of the change of the working class in the new era. The main line of the film is that the father divorced, and in order to keep his daughter, he had to build a piano, but the implicit inner emotion was the confusion and failure of the working class in the new era in the face of change.
Director Zhang Meng's use of the film's perspective structure is like admiring a huge painting.
At the beginning of the film, Wang Qianyuan and his ex-wife are arranged on both sides of the screen, and the dress of the two is contrasting, and the building behind the background of the characters hints at the inner state of both sides.
The fact that the ceiling on Wang Qianyuan's side had long been fragmented hinted at the huge blow that marriage had brought to him. One scene positions the entire tone of the film and the inner hearts of the characters, and the composition is really too powerful.
"The Piano of Steel" uses a lot of flat-push shots to show the inner heart of the characters.
When Wang Qianyuan first had dinner with Qin Hailu, he confided his name to Qin Hailu, pinning down the beautiful expectations of his ancestors. As the two talk, the picture is moved to the left to a standstill, and the characters disappear while the sound continues.
This slow and continuous transformation deeply explains the inner feelings, loss and helplessness of the characters at this time.
In the only wedding scene in the film, Zhang Meng uses the upper and lower structure to interpret the relationship between the protagonists. Wang Qianyuan and Qin Hailu stood on a high place to preside over the wedding, while a couple slowly walked towards them from a low place.
The effect of this perspective gap is precisely to hint at the two protagonists' desire for marriage.
The most amazing part of the case is the scene where Wang Qianyuan bumps into Qin Hailu's derailment.
Lost, Wang Qianyuan lit a firecracker on the tree, and with a crisp sound, the smoke rose into the air. At this time, the camera switches, Wang Qianyuan slowly walks into the picture with a cigarette, and the smoke from his mouth just connects with the smoke of the firecracker.
This feeling of inner anger to helplessness and then acceptance, perfectly outlined by a puff of green smoke, is so praised.
A film that does not rely on the plot and uses the language of the lens to express the tension of the characters, "The Piano of Steel" is comparable to the "Infernal Affairs" of that year.
03
The soundtrack of "The Piano of Steel" is no less than its use of shots.
It's hard to imagine a movie mixing in multiple styles of soundtrack mode, and even the game music of "Super Mary" has to be reused twice.
But even then, you won't find any excuse to deny the film's whimsical musical.
Sad Russian mourning, endeavor battle songs, mischievous minor keys to nostalgic love songs, each piece of music is used just right for the rhythm of the film.
It is precisely because of these ghostly musical ideas that there is a rather absurd perspective effect of "The Piano of Steel".
What is more important in the film is the deep metaphor hidden in the context of the times.
The motorcycle that Wang Qianyuan was riding actually alluded to his father, and no matter where he went, the car was inseparable.
At the end of the film, the rails fall and smash the motorcycle, and then his father dies. The car is gone, and the people are naturally gone.
Although Wang Qianyuan tried every means to keep his daughter, the final result would still be to lose her, which was the final result given to the workers in that era.
Like the two chimneys that were blown up, although everyone tried hard to package it, for the times, obsolescence was equivalent to abandonment. The moment the chimney fell, it also announced the failure of the last insistence of the working class.
The Chinese working class is great, they can create anything, even the piano with more than 8,000 parts has been made, but the changes of the times have abandoned them, but the workers' will and unity retained in their hearts have never diminished.
"The Piano of Steel" turns the obsession with the daughter into the obsession with the piano, and the obsession with the piano into the obsession with the factory and the workers.
The factory is gone, these people are at a loss to change, they are trying to live to adapt to the new life.
Today, they have become the sadness of modern people's memory! #钢的琴 #