In recent times, the rise of new creators has become a phenomenon that attracts attention in the domestic film industry. They grew up in the environment of the rapid development of China's film industry, and some of them have a mature understanding of Chinese films under the background of market-oriented industrialization, and dissect the experience and limitations of their film practice, which has certain enlightenment significance for the current and future of domestic films.
Today, we are choosing Diao Yinan, the director of the film "The Party at South Station", which has previously caused many topics. - Editor
Like other sixth-generation directors, Diao Yinan also followed the creative path of author-type films. What is an author genre film? To give you an example: "The Godfather" is a very typical author-type film. The famous director Kubrick once said that he saw it for the tenth time before he dared to confirm that "The Godfather" was a great movie. The reason for this hesitation is because the film is too good-looking, too appealing, and too commercially successful. But it turns out that The Godfather is not only a successful genre film, but also a great author film. That's why the French film theorist André Bazin said: "As long as people know how to spy on its performance, I dare say that the tradition of genre is the basis of creative freedom of action." ”
Kubrick's hesitation reveals the peculiarities of the "author genre film". In general, genre films emphasize the attraction to the audience, which is the fundamental need to achieve commercial value, and the author's films pay more attention to the self-expression of the director. The author type of film refers to the director's use of dialogue with genre conventions to carry out a certain self-thought and artistic expression.
Author genre films can be roughly divided into two categories: one is that the author director uses the traditional genre as a target to express the criticism of tradition and convention, which belongs to the complete art film and is not discussed in this article. The other type is the genre film as the core, highlighting the charm of the genre, and placing the director's personal thoughts and artistic expressions at a relatively hidden level, which belongs to the category of commercial films, in which high-quality works can often achieve the effect of applause and popularity, such as "The Godfather". It has some characteristics: First, its core is the genre film, which requires the filmmaker to respect the audience's appreciation habits, so that the film he shoots becomes the film that attracts the audience first. "The Godfather" adopts many traditional commercial film techniques, such as the usual three-paragraph plot structure, attaches importance to character portrayal, especially with many details to show the father-son relationship between the old and new generations of godfathers. Its smooth plot and delicate character portrayals easily draw the audience into the film. Second, the author and director must be proficient in the genre of film they intend to adopt, familiar with their genre conventions, in order to highlight their identity through clever dialogue with genre conventions. One of Coppola's boldest marks in The Godfather is the use of the gangster genre as an ideological weapon to critique American society at the time. In order to achieve this intention, he made a lot of authorial expressions in the movement of the camera and the use of sound, and cleverly implanted them into the conventions of gangster films. These logos reinforce the film's critical temperament, successfully transforming the robber film into a work of reflection with a strong critical sense.
Lacking experience and awareness, some excellent directors have won awards at europe's top film festivals, but it is difficult to gain the recognition of mainstream commercial theaters
Diao Yinan's "The Party at South Station" is also an author-type film in the category of commercial films. The significance of our discussion of him is that today's domestic film industry has no shortage of excellent authors and directors who have won many awards at europe's top film festivals. With the development of the domestic film market, they have begun to try to enter the mainstream commercial theater line in the way of author + genre, but their new films have been repeatedly frustrated in box office performance. The biggest reason for this is that these authors and directors lack experience in operating genre films. In the specific shooting process, there is no conscious awareness of seriously studying genre conventions, and its film creation has always been in a state where art is greater than business and authors are greater than genres.
Taking Lou Ye as an example, he began to enter the mainstream film market in 2012's "The Mystery of the Floating City", but increasingly revealed his weakness in the operation of genre films. Judging from "Clouds Made of Rain in the Wind" released last year, Lou Ye's focus is still on the level of humanity and desire that he is good at, but he has failed in the genre operation of detective films. Yang Jiadong, a policeman who should be the core image of the detective film, has become a puppet-like figure in the whole film, except for a series of irrational and irrational behaviors, that is, relying on his father's detective friends to constantly give information to understand the case, and doing nothing to promote the entire case. As the most attractive suspense plot of the detective film to the audience, it is either directly explained through a large number of flashback shots, or it is abruptly inserted without reasonable explanation. When the characters and plots of the detective film have lost their rationality and credibility, a large number of mirror language and voice skills that show the psychological state of the characters as Lou Ye's personal identity have instead become a redundant existence in "Wind", making the main characters appear more inexplicable or disease-free and moaning.
It can be seen that for an author genre film, if it is not familiar with the genre conventions, does not have good type operation experience and ability, the author's expression can not only be organically combined with the type operation, but also cannot be well displayed, and the final result may be neither popular nor applauded.
It is precisely because many talented authors and directors do not have a clear understanding of what is an author type film in the commercial sense and strive to operate and practice, so this type of author type film in domestic films can be described as scarce. In this context, Diao Yinancai is even more precious. He is not only conscious of this type of author-type film, but also shows a correct trajectory for making this type of film with his filmmaking experience and film work.
Only by focusing on one or two core types of continuous exploration can we gradually grasp the genre conventions and have the ability to creatively modify them
Unlike the experience of author-type directors such as Lou Ye, Diao Yinan has been associated with commercial films since the beginning of the film. As a screenwriter, he has written scripts for commercially oriented directors such as Zhang Yang and Shi Runjiu, such as "Love Spicy Hot", which makes him conscious of genre films and operational experience. This experience probably also prompted him to establish the idea of shooting author-type films after becoming a director. He also has a specific genre that he specializes in and cultivates: film noir. It's easy to think of hitchcock, Syrk, Capra, and other directors, all of whom work primarily in one or two dominant genre films. Because only by focusing on one or two core types of continuous exploration can we gradually grasp the types of conventions and have the ability to creatively transform them. He has also insisted on combining writers and directors, which has given him absolute control over his films.
It is these continuous efforts that allow him to continue to hone his author type of film, although the output is not high, but the quality of the film has steadily improved, following "Daytime Fireworks", the latest "South Station Party" has improved in the exploration of author genre films.
First of all, the film guarantees its watchability with its clear narrative structure and excellent character development. From the plot point of view, the film takes the battle for the bounty as a clue, adopts a clear three-paragraph structure, and finally pushes to the climax of the duel of the Tube Building. From the perspective of characters, the protagonist Zhou Zenong's outlaw image is shaped into a relatively complex small character image, and his firm determination to leave the bounty to the people in the house throughout has become the highlight of his personality. This kind of character technique is very similar to the portrayal of characters like Little Ma Ge in Hong Kong movies in the 1980s. The reason why The little ma ge is moving is precisely in his emphasis and persistence on love. By capturing this emotional tone, the characters have the potential to evoke the emotional resonance of the masses with their tragic fate. On the one hand, Yang Shujun's image makes the film's small character image more abundant - the survival state of illness, loss of husband, and raising young children alone has forced her to a desperate situation, she is the epitome of countless grassroots women who are struggling on the edge of the city, and also serves the shaping of Zhou Zenong's image, her real dilemma not only provides some implicit explanation for Zhou's desperate and dangerous way into the robbery, but also makes Zhou's final choice to exchange his life for money have a stronger rationality and greater emotional power. The above plots and character operations show Diao Yinan's skillful experience and skills in genre film operation.
Secondly, the authorship of the film is quite bold and ambitious: if "Daytime Fireworks" still has strong traces of borrowing from European and American film noir, "South" has formed a self-consciousness on the localization of the genre. From the perspective of environmental presentation, the director uniquely selects a geographical and social space with pre-modern, modern and postmodern elements mixed together, with Chinese characteristics, and mobilizes a variety of image means to shape the spatial image. What is even more valuable is that he does not just let space become a landscape, almost does not use the environmental empty lens that many authors and directors love to use, but always allows space to participate in narrative and character shaping, so that space truly becomes an indispensable "protagonist" in this film.
Liu Ai'ai is another important symbol in "South". She continues the basic characteristics of Wu Zhizhen's image in "Daytime Fireworks", with a variety of complex qualities such as weak and strong, vicious and kind, indifferent and affectionate, which are very consistent with their dual oppressed identities as marginal characters and women. The film ends with the final cooperative "victory" of Liu Ai'ai and Yang Shujun, which is the highlight of Diao Yinan's personalized expression. Through the symbolic triumph of femininity, the director expresses compassion for marginalized characters and a profound satire on male-dominated instrumental rationality.
Of course, "The Party at South Station" is not perfect, and there are still many improvements in how to combine and measure between genre operation and author identity. But Diao Yinan shows us the basic appearance and direction of the author's genre of film, which may be of greater significance to contemporary Chinese cinema than mere author's film. Since last year, the double harvest of the film "Parasite", which has been outstanding in the world, in art and commerce, is the sweet fruit of the continuous efforts of many Korean authors and directors in author-type films.
Author: Gui Lin (Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)