On the first day of construction, the Spring Festival war report was also released:
The total national box office was 7.822 billion, up more than 30% from 2019.
The number of moviegoers was 160 million, a record high.
All the indicators have broken records, which is really the "strongest Spring Festival file in history".
Source: Lighthouse Pro
But in addition to the carnival of the Spring Festival stalls, there is also a domestic film worth remembering.
It was selected to be released a week before the Spring Festival, and the publicity was almost 0, and the scheduling rate was only single digits.
However, it is the first word-of-mouth national film of the beginning of the year, and the Douban score broke 8.
Uncle Fish bought a movie ticket before it went out. Although the audience is few, I really feel that it is worth the trip -
"Auspicious Ruyi"
The film is directed by Dapeng and his representative works are "Pancake Man" and "Sewing Machine Band".
The former grossed 1.1 billion, making him the youngest 1 billion box office director in China, while the latter broke the box office record for Chinese music films.
Unfortunately, word of mouth is hovering on the verge of passing.
In the eyes of many people, Dapeng has been stereotyped as a commercial bad film director.
Unexpectedly, he spent more than three years polishing a small literary and art film, and also entered the competition unit of the Shanghai International Film Festival.
This contrast has satisfied everyone's appetite.
Dapeng's literary and artistic films, what exactly did they become?
The structure of the film is very interesting, it is divided into two parts: the short film "Auspicious" and the documentary "Ruyi".
"Auspicious" is a short film by Dapeng that won the Best Drama Short Film Award at the 2018 Golden Horse Awards, with a Douban score of 7.9.
If you watch "Auspicious" alone, it is actually not very amazing. It is the story of a 10-year-old North Drift King Qingli who returned to his hometown in the northeast to visit his father Wang Jixiang in the New Year.
But after adding "Ruyi", the core of this movie has been completely sublimated.
It really makes people look good, and the staying power is great.
The filming process of the film is full of unexpected changes.
The beginning was in 2017, after Dapeng finished filming "The Sewing Machine Band", he wanted to plan a movie about going home for the New Year.
The location is selected in his hometown in the northeast, and the role is all played by his family. The protagonist is his favorite grandmother, and the whole tone is warm and festive.
But at this time, Grandma was unexpectedly hospitalized and her life was in danger.
Although the plan was disrupted, Dapeng did not want to give up. As a result, the protagonist of the movie was transformed from grandmother to third uncle - Wang Jixiang.
However, the third uncle suddenly fell ill more than ten years ago, and his IQ regressed into a child. Food, clothing, shelter and transportation need to be taken care of, and it is impossible to express their thoughts.
So the new perspective is aimed at his daughter, dapeng's cousin, Wang Qingli.
On the left is Wang Qingli
This cousin's situation is very special, because the third uncle and his wife divorced, she was sentenced to the woman, so she has been living in the field and has not returned to her hometown for 10 years.
Therefore, Dapeng invited professional actor Liu Lu to play his cousin.
The first is to consider that Wang Qingli may not go home for the New Year;
Second, the film also needs a professional actor to guide relatives to shoot.
Actor Liu Lu
But I never expected that my cousin herself had returned to her hometown for the first time. Maybe it was the news that my grandmother was critically ill, or maybe I heard that Dapeng was going to make a new movie.
So now the situation has become a bit weird and funny.
The cousin herself sat behind the camera and watched the actor play herself with Dapeng.
It was as if watching the fire from the other side, she could do nothing and let the stand-in complete this unusual emotional experience.
The collision and fusion of fiction and reality has become the biggest attraction of "Auspicious Ruyi".
The third uncle Wang Jixiang is an old and good man, he will go out for a walk alone every day, whether it is sunny or rainy.
When he comes home, he will eat buns made by relatives while watching TV, and he is not picky, which is 10 years.
Wang Jixiang's ability to express himself in language was almost lost.
He had long forgotten who he was and what he looked like when he was young. The one I remember most clearly is the 4 words, "Wen Wu Xiang Gui".
It was the initials of the names of four of his closest family members, and he said it countless times a day.
Wang Jixiang was once the most proud child of his grandmother, rich and capable, and a big man in a small place.
He responded to his daughter Wang Qingli's needs, almost to the point of doting.
However, once he fell ill, his life was completely turned upside down. His wife and daughter were separated, and they were sent to the fence from then on.
When Grandma was still alive, everyone avoided talking about this issue, and relatives also received help if they could, and it was not good to complain.
Now that grandma has passed away, the so-called "tree fell and scattered", just as Wang Qingli also returned, relatives began to negotiate the ownership of Wang Jixiang.
The second uncle, who has been taking care of Wang Jixiang, proposed that he also wanted to spend his old age peacefully when eating Chinese New Year's Eve meal, and suggested that Wang Qingli take his father home.
Other relatives also meant something, but considering that she was working alone in Beijing, married and had children, and could not afford such a heavy expense, everyone was arguing endlessly.
Dapeng originally wanted to shoot a warm dinner scene, but he did not expect that everyone's words and words detonated the long-standing contradictions.
Although there was no explicit scolding, the dissatisfaction with Wang Qingli during the banquet was already clear.
As an actor, Liu Lu is in the middle of it, like sitting on a needle felt.
On the one hand, her professionalism requires her to continue to act;
On the other hand, as an ordinary person, she could not bear the condemnation of her conscience.
Under the tearing of the two contradictory mentalities, Liu Lu's emotions collapsed.
She suddenly knelt down and gave her second uncle a nod, thanking him for taking care of Wang Jixiang over the years, and hoping that the family would stop arguing because of her.
Seeing the situation, the sword-rattling relatives were dumbfounded for a while, and Liu Lu, who was in tears, got up and fled the dinner table.
And the person who accompanies her is the real party Wang Qingli.
Thus, the most absurd scene of the whole film appeared:
Liu Lu, who plays Wang Qingli, lost his voice and cried bitterly, while Wang Qingli herself was indifferent to the farce that took place, still playing with her mobile phone calmly, without even a pretentious appeasement.
On the one hand are the actors who enter the play, and on the other hand, the parties who are out of the play. Ironical, it is the finishing touch of the whole film.
The collision between art and reality redefines what is "fiction" and what is "real".
The psychological impact brought to the audience by this scene is rarely seen in theatrical films.
Dapeng is a cruel man.
Not only did he truthfully record his family disputes, but even his grandmother's funeral was unabashedly presented on the screen.
The paper cart was burned to the ground, and the person in charge asked the juniors to kneel and walk away, not to turn back.
So the group crawled forward, and really none of them struggled to look at it again.
In the end, the Scythians are gone, and only the camera is focused on the burning fire.
The night is silent, but it is hidden and turbulent.
Liu Lu said that during the filming, except for her and Dapeng, almost no one paid attention to Wang Qingli.
But when Wang Qingli walked to the camera and sat side by side with Wang Jixiang, this former loving father actually said with tears: Thin.
He actually knew who was who, and the good and bad of the past were like mirrors in his heart. It's just that he can't open his mouth, and after a greeting, he can't help but pop out "Wen Wu Xiang Gui".
The audience looked at the tears in their eyes, but the queen of love Qingli only showed a smile that had nowhere to rest.
Is she upset? Regrets? Regret it?
It's all unknown.
In the conference room, Liu Lu, who was too deep into the play, couldn't help but ask that question for everyone:
"I still don't understand, why haven't I come home for ten years?"
Wang Qingli's expression flickered, her cheeks flushed, and her lips were silent.
In fact, no matter what she said, she could not escape this great rebellious crime, and silence was the smartest choice.
In a later interview, Liu Lu explained this sentence:
There was no contradiction between them, and she had no prejudice against Wang Qingli.
It was only in the day and night that she discovered the cuteness of the third uncle, and in that completely real environment, she completely brought herself into the role, which was very distressing to Wang Jixiang.
For relatives, Liu Lu has always been an outsider.
But by taking advantage of her opportunity to play Wang Qingli, they can instead pour out their true words unscrupulously.
Such a face-tearing situation, if faced with the real Wang Qingli, may not happen at all.
Heartache, guilt, doubt, anger mixed together, Liu Lu will be emotionally out of control, can't help but ask the person what the person really thinks.
The original meaning of that sentence was not to blame, but to ask.
Unfortunately, the film does not give the audience the answer they want until the end.
Where the third uncle ended up and how Wang Qingli would face her father and other family members are all puzzles.
But it is clear that the auspiciousness is not satisfactory.
The happy ending of the father's kindness and filial piety in "Auspicious" belongs only to the utopia constructed by art.
The desire in "Ruyi" is to say that it is not enough to rest, and it is life itself.
This movie makes Uncle Yu change his mind about Dapeng.
Big production does not equal good movies, and true feelings are the key to touching people's hearts.
At least this time, he is no longer a bad comedy director, but a philosophical master who understands tragedy.
In the "Ruyi" section, Dapeng explained his shooting motivation and could also communicate harmoniously with Wang Qingli. In order to control the field, his expression and tone have always been calm.
The only breakdown that appeared was that after Grandma was cremated, the camera accidentally captured him crying alone in the room in the hotel corridor.
He suspects that his own filming caused his grandmother's death, and he fell into a dead cycle of guilt.
Wang Qingli comforted him, believing that her arrival had caused the tragedy, implying that she had disappointed her grandmother.
You see, whether it is a big director with a box office of 1.1 billion yuan, or a worker who has drifted north for many years, life is the same cruelty to everyone.
The core of the film is not criticism, but introspection.
There is an old Chinese saying: there is no filial piety before the bed of a long illness.
Are we, who are from the perspective of the Emperor, qualified to throw stones at Wang Qingli?
Thinking from the other side, how much better can I do than her?
Usually not a good thing first close to their own, even the phone is rarely called home, parents read a few more words on the annoyance, at home every three to five always quarrel.
Teacher Zhao Lirong once made a classic movie "New Year", the story also happened in the northeast, the same family of several people ate Chinese New Year's Eve meal when they were unhappy and dispersed.
Compared with the quarrel in "Auspicious Ruyi", the battle situation has escalated to a group fight.
I couldn't understand it before, but as I grew older, the more Uncle Yu became able to appreciate the intricate emotional entanglements involved.
Every family has a difficult scripture to read, and the Spring Festival is a sensitive time node, which is enough to pry the deep contradictions that have been accumulated for a long time.
It's not so much a reunion as it is a heart-to-heart relationship.
Chinese ethics is constantly torturing everyone who is a child: Have we really fulfilled our filial piety?
"When your parents are here, life still has a place to come; when your parents go, there is only one way back in life."
This year, Uncle Yu did not return to his hometown for the New Year, and after watching the movie, he rushed to call his family.
When I heard the familiar voice of my parents, I was immediately relieved.
In the end, movies can only reveal human nature, but cannot explain human nature.
And the script of our lives needs to be grasped by ourselves.
It may be difficult to be perfect, but I hope not to leave regrets.