The TV series "Flowers" finally started broadcasting on CCTV, and the audience's expectations were fully filled under the long-awaited call. As the finale drama at the end of 2023, the momentum of this drama can be said to be heading for this year's "drama king". Directed by Wong Kar-wai, who has won Best Director at the Cannes, Golden Horse and Academy Awards, he is highly recognized for his directorial talent. The original work "Flowers" won the Mao Dun Literature Award and was known as "one of the best Shanghai".
When Wong Kar-wai read this book for the first time, he bluntly said that it was like experiencing a lifetime and was deeply influenced by it. In order to convey the essence of ** to the global audience through the language of the film, he directly purchased the adaptation copyright and began to prepare the TV series version of "Flowers". This process took 6 years, and in order to better visualize the plot of **, Wong Kar-wai invited a first-class production team.
The strong production line-up includes visual director Pao Tak-hei, who was the cinematographer of the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and won the Best Cinematography Award at the 73rd Academy Awards. Art director Tu Nan is the winner of the Best Art Award of the Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards. In addition, the cast is even more powerful, including Hu Ge, Ma Yili, Tang Yan, Xin Zhilei, You Benchang, Zheng Kai, Chen Long, Wu Yue, Dong Yong, Huang Jue, Zeng Meihuizi, Lin Xilei and other more than 12 powerful actors.
Before the broadcast of "Flowers", the film launched a large-scale publicity campaign through 10 advance viewing parties in 3 cities, grand premieres, and recommended positions on the homepage of the ** platform. In the field of TV dramas, such a scale of publicity is unprecedented. As soon as it was broadcast, "Flowers" achieved a rating of 2 in just 10 minutes, and the peak reached 26, won the ratings championship for two consecutive days. This achievement is eye-catching, and it has opened a new chapter for the success of "Flowers".
Topped the hot list 55 times, and received a total of 389 hot searches, becoming the leader in the popularity of the whole network. quickly finished the 6 episodes of this blockbuster drama as soon as possible, and I felt very deeply and had mixed emotions.
For Wong Kar-wai's work, it is inevitable to talk about his unique style. He is good at skillfully integrating elements such as light and shadow, color, and soundtrack into the story, showing the characters and telling the story with a unique lens language. When I opened "Flowers", I immediately felt the Wong Kar-wai style full of unique atmosphere.
At the beginning, the director cleverly presented the bustling retro Shanghai Chinese New Year's Eve in 1992 through a shot. The neon lights on the streets flicker, outlining the picture of red and wine, the overall tone is elegant and delicate, exuding a warm atmosphere of gold, full of life. Subsequently, the male protagonist Ah Bao was played by Hu Ge, which pushed the atmosphere of Wong Kar-wai's movie to the extreme. Po is dressed in a dark suit with dazzling gold lights and collides with a yellow taxi, and banknotes are scattered in the sky, presenting a gorgeous picture.
The picture texture and use of light and shadow in the series have reached a cinematic level, and the audience is deeply attracted by this picture-like shot. More importantly, these images are not only intoxicating, but also endowed with a deep sense of storytelling. For example, in the scene where Ah Po transforms into Mr. Bao, when he is opposite his uncle, Wong Kar-wai's unique interplay of light and shadow makes the time and space in the picture seem to overlap, giving people an illusion.
Overall, the show was not only a huge success in terms of popularity, but also showcased Wong Kar-wai's unique and engaging cinematic language, immersing the audience in beautiful images.
Xin Zhilei played the proprietress of Zhizhen Garden, Li Li's appearance in "Flowers" is unforgettable. Wong Kar-wai creates a unique atmosphere for her with his signature dim light and overhead shots. Xin Zhilei stepped into the frame in a mink coat, and the close-up captured only the back of a hurried walk, but this faceless image exudes a strong impact.
In the movie, whether it is the back of Mr. Bao when the neon flashes or the back of the fireworks during the Chinese New Year, they all show a sharp contrast between the warm background and the lonely characters, telling an inexplicable loneliness. What's even more impressive is that the cross-gaze camera between Po and Li Li, through the double glass, there are no lines between them, only simple eye contact. Such a shot language is worth a thousand words, creating a tense atmosphere of masterful moves.
The unique narration and lines in Wong Kar-wai's films are also indispensable elements. "Today's sun can't shine tomorrow's clothes, time is everything. Shanghainese people do business, pay attention to panaches, gimmicks and signs. These classic lines, combined with the iconic light and shadow of the characters, make the audience who has watched Wong Kar Wai's films feel a unique atmosphere, as if they are in that unique world.
I have to say that Wong Kar-wai's joining has brought a new image style to "Flowers", which has qualitatively improved the audience's audio-visual enjoyment. In the broadcast of the current plot, in addition to the expected Wong Kar-wai style, there are three surprising surprises. First of all, the story is no longer obscure and closer to the audience, making the overall look and feel clearer.
Before the launch of "Flowers", people were most worried about whether the story would adopt a stream-of-consciousness narrative, after all, Director Wang's previous works usually seemed obscure and difficult to understand. However, once the episode aired, viewers were surprised to learn that the plot of "Flowers" did not use a stream-of-consciousness approach.
The beginning of the story is set on Chinese New Year's Eve in 1992, and the male protagonist walks out of the hotel with a box of 300,000 yuan in cash, ready to drive away. At this moment, a taxi suddenly rushed, causing Po to fall in a pool of blood. Po was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, and then a police interrogation scene began, with various characters appearing one after another, including Lingzi, Miss Wang, Granduncle, Tao Tao and Commander Cai. In a few words of communication, the occupation and personality of each character are immediately obvious, and the relationship with Mr. Bao is clear and clear. At the same time, the plot also cleverly planted some suspense, triggering the audience's speculation about who was the person who knocked down Mr. Bao and whether Mr. Bao survived.
Subsequently, the camera turns to his uncle, and the character played by You Benchang recalls Bao's family history. As the mystery of the car accident is revealed, the story gets to the point, and a fierce business battle ensues. On the one hand, "Li Li meddling in Mr. Fan's business" is used as a clue to highlight Li Li's ambition, she is not just an ordinary woman who wants to open a restaurant. On the other hand, through the narrative of "Mr. Fan and Mr. Wei are hot, but Mr. Bao is not in a hurry", the suspense is created again, so that the audience can't wait to see what Mr. Bao will come up with to deal with it.
On the stage of Shanghai's business war, everyone has 800 hearts, and the contest between Mr. Bao, Mr. Wei, Mr. Fan and Li Li of Zhizhenyuan is extremely exciting. At the same time, the entanglement between the love field and the shopping mall is about to break out, and the whole story officially enters the climax. From all this, it can be seen that the storyline of "Flowers" is not only far from obscure, but also very fascinating. In particular, the business war part from the third episode is even more exciting, which makes the audience amazed.
Wong Kar-wai is a master storyteller. In his works, there are not only intriguing plots, but also scenes in which the actors shine.
The broadcast of "Flowers" made people unanimously believe that Wong Kar-wai is really a must in terms of training and exploring the potential of actors. Many actors have shown the most beautiful side under his lens. The male protagonist Hu Ge in "Flowers" completely shows a 360-degree handsomeness without dead ends. Wearing a black coat, every look, every movement exudes his mature charm. Not to mention that he was originally from Shanghai, as soon as he spoke Shanghainese, Mr. Bao's image immediately came alive.
From Bao's simplicity to Mr. Bao's deep thoughts, Hu Ge deduced the multi-faceted changes of the characters. This shift gives the characters more depth and the audience more engaged.
Lingzi, Miss Wang and Li Li, the three golden flowers of Shanghai, the actresses' performances make them each have their own beauty. Reiko, played by Ma Yili, is shrewd and capable, and runs a small restaurant in partnership with Mr. Bao. In the play, she returns to her best state with short hair, especially against the backdrop of the Shanghai dialect, becoming a delicate, shrewd and three-eight Shanghai proprietress lady.
Li Li, the owner of Zhizhenyuan, is played by Xin Zhilei and is a character full of mysterious charm. In Wong Kar-wai's lens, Xin Zhilei is particularly beautiful and can be called glamorous. Her aura and momentum make people feel ruthless. As netizens said, Xin Zhilei is expected to leave her most beautiful picture on the screen. "Flowers" is not only a film with a moving story, but also the crystallization of Wong Kar-wai's superb directing art and the outstanding performance of the actors.
Miss Wang, played by Tang Yan in "Flowers", works in a foreign trade company on the Bund and assists Mr. Bao in handling various tasks. She is not only beautiful in appearance, but also capable and powerful, with a fashionable big wavy hairstyle that makes her the "Pearl of Puxi", and under Tang Yan's shaping, she shows a bright and smart youthful vitality.
In the film, there are also uncles played by You Benchang, Mr. Fan played by Dong Yong, Mr. Wei played by Zheng Kai, and Wong Kar-wai gives each character a different charm with unique shooting techniques.
And the use of Shanghainese is the most surprising part of "Flowers". During the filming process, Wong Kar-wai made it clear that he would retain the language style of the film and shoot it in Shanghainese. He believes that if he switches to Mandarin, just like Jingbai in "Teahouse" becomes Mandarin, it will lose its unique taste. Facts have proved that the choice of actors who can speak Shanghainese is a very correct decision.
This choice of language not only gives the play a strong regional atmosphere of Shanghai, allowing the audience to feel the unique fireworks atmosphere of Shanghai in the dialect, but also makes the characters more real. The proprietress of Night Tokyo is played by Ma Yili, and her Shanghainese accent is very authentic. As soon as she opened her mouth, the character immediately became vivid, and the unique vigor she showed to Shanghai women was not inconsistent, as if it was a portrayal of real life, Tang Yan even said that this seemed to be not acting, but showing the real state of life.
Although "Flowers" is available in Mandarin and Shanghainese, I highly recommend choosing the Shanghainese version because it is really too flavorful.
On the other hand, although "Flowers" has achieved outstanding ratings after its launch, as the first TV series directed by Wong Kar-wai, it has also faced three major problems, which have caused a lot of controversy.
Someone once broke the news that Wong Kar-wai was about to lose his prestige. Bluestone summed it up, and there are three main problems.
First of all, the storyline is confusing. After watching the first two episodes, many viewers feel that the plot of "Flowers" is a little inexplicable, and this is indeed the case. As soon as the story comes up, it adopts a non-linear narrative method of main narrative, flashback, and interlude, and it is easy to confuse what happened before and after if you are not careful. The first episode mainly focuses on Po's family history, but this plot is too simple, although the pictures are rich, but the lack of storytelling makes people unable to produce a sense of substitution. Moreover, some plots rely entirely on dialogue to unfold, and viewers who are impatient or inattentive to the lines will find it confusing. However, this problem is mainly highlighted in the first two episodes, and once in the third episode, the story rhythm and narrative have improved significantly, and there is no longer the trouble of not being able to understand.
Secondly, the setting is not in keeping with the times. The story of "Flowers" takes place in Shanghai in 1992, but the Yellow River Street in the play is brilliantly lit, and the fashionable clothes of the characters make many viewers doubtful, thinking that this is more like the night Shanghai of the ** period, rather than Shanghai after the reform and opening up. In particular, some real-recorded plots are interspersed with them, which makes people feel that the plot is a little disjointed. However, according to documentaries and **, Shanghai in the early 90s did present an ethereal and prosperous scene. In order to truly restore that era, the crew used 1:1 real-life construction, and also collected old objects from Shanghai from the whole society. Therefore, in the play, we can not only see the luxurious and extraordinary Yellow River Road, but also feel the return to the simple Shanghai well. There may be some controversy over the shooting style, but there is absolutely no problem of being out of tune with the times.
The third point of the original book is that its face has been completely changed. One of the most controversial points for viewers after the broadcast of "Flowers" is the adaptation of the story, with many people making it clear that the story has almost nothing to do with the original book, except for the names and identities of the characters. In fact, judging from the plots that have been broadcast so far, "Flowers" has obviously deviated from the trajectory of the original work.
On the end credits, we see that part of the content of this play is from "Shanghai Fu", "Savage Growth", "Red Men and Green Women" and "Joys and Sorrows in **", and has the permission of the original author or publisher. From this, it can be inferred that the plot was actually rewritten by integrating these several texts. However, in the early introduction of the plot, we have already noticed that there are certain differences between the drama version and the original book.
Kim Woo-seong, the author of the original book, said that once the original book is handed over to the director, the drama becomes a completely new life form, and it is impossible to simply copy the original work. In addition, in the process of adapting the story, Wong Kar-wai mentioned that the book "Flowers" has a total of 31 chapters, and there is no coherent story line, so adapting it is indeed a tricky problem. Therefore, Wong Kar-wai chose the most turbulent and representative Po as the main line of the series. He added that although we may not be able to restore the complete "Flowers", we can present Shanghai Po that cannot be seen in the original book.
This shows that the "Flowers" series is not the original "Flowers", but a unique presentation of Wong Kar-wai's version. It is not only Po's personal story, but also dedicated to this city of dreams full of vitality.
This era is rushing like a torrent, and for those who pursue their dreams day and night, this "Flowers" is worth watching. Wong Kar-wai's work is always different, and his film is no different. Piggy is from the bluestone movie. Don't forget, this content is the original of Bluestone Movie, please don't feel free to ** without authorization!