Wen | Ling Fox Bo Guang
Before the National Day file, several movies were released, among which the most concerned was the first commercial blockbuster "Peak Explosion" starring Zhu Yilong, although the box office was not as good as expected, but the four-day box office was close to 200 million, to be honest, it was quite successful.
Now in second place is the new film "Everything About My Mother", the third and fourth are two old films, the Hollywood blockbuster "Out of Control Player" and the domestic old film "Fury Case", to be honest, this year's "Fury Case" long-term release, simply became the biggest winner.
Among them, there is actually one movie that can be said to be quite well-known among domestic film fans, but there is no one to watch at all, that is, the documentary "Swim Until the Sea Turns Blue" directed by the sixth generation of big director Jia Zhangke.
The film was released on September 19, but it came in tenth place, with just 2 million at the box office in the two days of release.
Of course, many people may want to say that the films directed by Jia Zhangke are originally literary and artistic films, and the box office of literary and artistic films will not be high. Not to mention that this is still a documentary, and it is even more natural that the box office of the documentary is not good, and the high box office of the documentary is the special case.
This makes sense, and documentaries like "Swim Until the Sea Turns Blue" are destined to not be too high at the box office.
This is not to analyze "Swim until the Sea Turns Blue", and I personally have not seen it in the cinema, because this kind of documentary can be watched after it is launched. At the same time, this kind of celebrity recall and documentary about the big era is not very good, because everyone has a different view of the era and the environment because of the relationship between the times and the environment, and the celebrity view is not worth pursuing, and there is no sensory impact brought by the environmental documentary.
Personally, I still want to write about Jia Zhangke, as the top figure of China's sixth generation of directors. Does this era really need "Jia Zhangke"?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" thinking > era, what is the difference between the fifth generation of Chinese directors and the sixth generation of directors? </h1>
If you really want to analyze this problem is actually quite complicated, if you talk about the film style alone is not enough to write a paper, I personally suggest that you look at the problem with the perspective of development, a generation has a generation of experience and environment, and the expression content also changes with the changes of the times.
1, China's fifth generation of directors grew up in the era of historical twists and turns, and is good at reflecting the macro narrative of historical times, nationalities and cultures.
Who are the fifth generation of Chinese directors? Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Huo Jianqi, Wu Ziniu, Zhang Jianya, Huang Jianxin, etc. Including Jiang Wen, Feng Xiaogang, etc., who have deep ties with the fifth generation but are not the fifth generation directors.
These people were basically born in the 50s, childhood, and adolescence to experience many major historical events in New China, and the social speculation at that time was "reflection". However, they are in parallel with the collective spirit of the planned economy period, the red spirit. The cultural wave of the earlier Republic of China period was inherited, and the mature ideological pop culture of the open European, American and Japanese business era in the 1980s entered China.
It can be said that the film expression of the fifth generation of directors is the most complex, and in general, there is a sense of macro narrative of the era, the nation and culture.
For example, Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum" is a national epic (World War II) that reflects why ordinary Chinese resist Japan, "The Big Red Lantern Hangs High" and "Ju Dou" reflect the horror of the old society that eats people (Lu Xun's critical spirit since May Fourth), and "Alive", "Qiu Ju Fights the Lawsuit" and "My Father and Mother" have a bit of the taste of "magic realism" at that time.
And why is Chen Kai's "Farewell to the Overlord" the greatest?
In addition to the actor performance and core aspects, from the era it just happens to span the era of Zhang Yimou's films.
The key is that in this era, in addition to Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige is the work of the fifth generation of directors. There are also the trilogy of "The Great Military Parade" and "The Great Armageddon", "Born in the Sky", and Feng Xiaoning's "War Trilogy", which now seems to have truly made the main theme of the revolutionary spirit of new China.
2. The sixth generation of directors has no changes in the times, national destiny and cultural trends. Only the fate of the little people in the background of the wheel of history remains, it is a record of the times, it is silent, and it seems hopeless
Jia Zhangke was born in 1970, Lou Ye was born in 1965, Wang Xiaoshuai was born in 1966, and Guan Hu was born in 1968. Their adolescence was an era of twists and turns in the historical events of New China, but their adolescence was the open 80s, and the worldview, values and outlook on life of their growth process should be the most profound two.
One is the era from the beginning of the 80s to the entire 90s in the West, when Japanese ideology and culture entered China in a big way.
New China was once cut off for decades with Europe, the United States and Japan because of its environment, and our main culture at that time was the revolutionary spirit and collectivism. But after the opening up, after decades of rapid development of commercial culture, the popular culture of Europe, America and Japan has become more advanced and more powerful.
The impact on mainland directors is probably the same as the impact on Cui Jian's gang of mainland rock musicians.
The second is the 1980s, the 1990s was a prelude to China's economic take-off, and then to the rapid economic growth after 2000. However, in this era, management is not very strict and quite chaotic due to environmental reasons (a little taboo is not clear, I believe everyone understands).
At that time, the economy was growing rapidly, but there were many problems in all aspects, such as migrant workers, environmental protection, city managers, education, etc. The rolling wheel of history crushed countless humble ants.
Films of the sixth generation of directors such as Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye and Wang Xiaoshuai basically do one thing.
That is to use the evaluation rules of the popular culture of Europe, America and Japan that they came into contact with in the 80s and 90s (film techniques and film language are less learned). Recording those ants who have been crushed by history, the protagonists of the film are usually marginal people in society, mainly Jia Zhangke, or the small people who have been impacted under the big historical events, Lou Ye is the mainstay.
To be honest, the sixth generation of directors is documenting that era. Those who have been crushed by the wheel of history have resonance, and at the same time praise and pursuit are also normal, which is not a sentence that can be erased by pleasing the foreigners in order to win the award, because this is indeed history.
The biggest advantage of the sixth generation of directors is that the record is not called magic realism. The disadvantage is that compared with the fifth generation of directors who try to sort out and explain the speculation of history, nationality and culture, their film era and environment are only the background, no longer pursuing the context, the characters and the atmosphere of the film are very sad, there is a sense of silence and powerlessness.
But it is difficult for Chinese audiences who have an understanding of that era to watch their films without a sense of suffocation and powerlessness.
But the film does not tell you what the reason is, nor can it give them where the answer is, to be fair, there is still a bit of a dark poke behind the feeling that all the mistakes are so-and-so, which is also the point where their films are easy to win awards at foreign film festivals and are scolded by young audiences in the current new era.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="88" > 2 million box office in 2 days of release, this era no longer needs "Jia Zhangke"</h1>
This is not simply from the documentary "Swim Until the Sea Turns Blue" itself, or from the sixth generation of directors of "Jia Zhangke", which is not deliberately elevated or deliberately degraded, but still from the times and environment.
After 2010, this era and environment have really changed again, environmental protection, social management, scientific and technological development, anti-gang crime, Sino-US relations, etc., how much china's society has changed in the past 10 years, I believe there is no need to repeat it.
Now if you really want to make such a TV series, it will be like "In the Name of the People" and "Sweeping The Storm of Blacks", that is, to sweep away the cows, ghosts and snake gods hiding in the darkness of society, because this is also a historical fact!
Think about it, if there is now a film and television drama in which gangsters collude with corrupt officials, people can still get away with killing people everywhere. Let's not talk about the problem of trial and judgment, will the audience feel that it is fake when they see this film and television drama? Is your first thought when "sweeping away evil" does not exist?
The pain points of young audiences in the new era are no longer the pain points before 2010, and the three mountains of young audiences are "education", "medical care" and "housing prices" and capital.
The content of this film and television culture expression has a certain delay compared with reality.
For example, social animals, 996 and young people were on the Internet a few years before the pressure of the big city, but it was not until 2021's "I'm Good in Other Places" that it was the kind of realism that young audiences wanted. Other ungrounded suspension urban dramas, no matter what big director you are, what all-star lineup is scolded.
The most typical is in the name of reality, Feng Xiaogang's "North and South".
I personally believe that in the next 5 years, that is, from 2021 to 2025, domestic realist film and television dramas, the theme is absolutely focused on these realistic pain points, and it is possible that Wu Mouyi and the entertainment industry earthquake are also the themes, and the next five years from 2025 to 2030 should be the real pain points of these five years.
Of course, these film and television dramas are strictly speaking the mainstream commercial works in the market, but even the literary and artistic films that reflect reality are the same. Because the new generation of directors grew up in different eras and environments, their creative ideas and expressed content have also changed.
Either in the excavation of genre films, such as "Daytime Fireworks" Diao Yinan, such as "Labyrinth of Hearts", "Bursting Silent" Xin Yukun, "Sherlock on the Plains", such as "Tropical Past" such as the bad shooting is also.
Or it reflects the emotions of small people in the big era, such as Gu Xiaogang's "Spring River Plumbing", Bi Gan's "Roadside Picnic", Dapeng's "Auspicious Ruyi", "Over Spring", "Northeast Tiger", "Street Baby", and Wan Ma Tse-dan's literary and artistic films.
Even the film expression that reflects the real problem is different. Like school violence "Young You", like medical problems "I am not a medicine god", like the original family "My Sister", "Dog Thirteen", "Carnival" and "What is in the Black Place" and so on.
When you look at the current literary and art films, you will find one thing, that is, it is difficult to see the sense of silence and powerlessness of the sixth generation of directors who have crushed the ants of the historical giant beast; there are similar films such as "Mr. Tree" and Hu Bo's "Elephant Sitting on the Ground", but they are no longer the mainstream.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="127" > epilogue</h1>
Personally, I suggest that you look at the problem from the perspective of development, do not mythologize or engage in binary opposition. People, times and environments are complex, and no cultural person dares to say that his works can fully reflect an era.
This cultural expression also changes with the changes of the times, I personally feel more impressed is Zhang Yimou's "One Second", when the release of a analysis I personally agreed, that is, Fan Wei in the movie, Zhang Yi's performance and taste are no problem.
Liu Haocun's Liu girlfriend, in addition to her eyes are very smart, you always feel as if she doesn't taste right. In addition to her acting skills, if you look closely at her eyes, you will find that there is only "agility" in her eyes. There was no confusion in her eyes, even Zhang Ziyi, tenacity and ambition.
The reason is that Liu Haocun did not live in that era, and there was no cognition and empathy for that era.
Therefore, Zhang Yimou's generation of big directors is obsessed with the history of his youth, and he still has to make a movie. But young actors can't understand that era, Liu Haocun is still the actress he approved by his thousands of choices, and this young audience is the same.
Let's go back to the sixth generation of big directors, does this era still need "Jia Zhangke"?
The answer is that the films they make are definitely still watched, and young audiences are not far from their time, after all, not far from the era of the fifth generation of directors. But the times and the environment have really changed, and many young audiences can no longer understand it, and the key is that they can't make a movie that can hit the pain points of young audiences.
The peak of the sixth generation of directors is 10 years ago, and their films have begun to be commercialized and genreized in recent years, but not to the extent of the fifth generation of directors. I personally feel that their films now have a feeling of making genre films with the same film techniques as before.
I don't know if it is the sixth generation of directors who have lost their "sharpness" when they are older, or whether it is because the environment has "compromised" too much. These films have a kind of big lineup, such as an all-star cast, more like a genre film. However, the content expression does not have the previous taste, and it seems that it is not as good as that of young directors in the excavation of genre films.
The best thing is that I don't know if there is no such "taste", and these films are difficult to win awards at Western film festivals.
The only person who won an award at a Western film festival in recent years was Wang Xiaoshuai's "Heaven and Earth", and the background of the film was the sadness, loneliness, pain and powerlessness of individuals and families in that special era. It is rumored that Zhang Yimou's "One Second" will also win the award if it does not return, I don't know whether it is true or false.
Finally, where will Jia Zhangke and the sixth generation of directors go?
Jia Zhangke's last all-star lineup, the crime film "Children of jianghu", the final box office is only 70 million, which is already Jia Zhangke's highest-grossing movie.
Directed by Lou Ye, the "Lyceum Theatre" that will be released in October is not much better at the box office, and may even be worse.
Their films now have a feeling of being commercial, but not commercial enough. The most important thing is that I am very old, unlike the fifth generation of directors who transitioned to commercial films at their peak. Although the commercial films of the fifth generation of directors are very controversial, the mainstream acknowledges that they have promoted the development of the era of Chinese commercial blockbusters.
The sixth generation is now a complete transformation of commercialization, I think they can not shoot "Wolf Warrior 2" and "The Wandering Earth", the most typical is to watch over the tiger's "Eight Hundred", the film resource accumulation technology is full, but the core expression is noisy because of "that taste".
This era has really changed.