Text|Linghu Boguang.
Cao Baoping's "Wading through the Sea of Anger" is quite controversial, and this movie reminds me of another movie, that is, Cheng Er's "No Name" at the beginning of the year. Although Cheng Er is not a sixth-generation director in the strict sense, they are actually quite similar, and they are all favored by the academic school.
At the same time, if you look at it from a cinematic point of view, you will find that their film texture is very good, and the atmosphere is great (the lens language, editing, soundtrack, costumes, etc. are very good).
At the same time, in terms of characters, plot and expression, it is not like ordinary commercial blockbusters, and what expression is just a gimmick. Whether they are in terms of narrative or expression, you can clearly see that they have pursued depth, scale and breadth, and whether they are good or not is another matter.
It's just that "No Name" is weaker because of Wang Yibo and the story, and netizens scolded more. And "Angry Sea" because of its good expression and starring, although controversial, the score is still good.
The reason why these two ** are mentioned is because they are both the works of the sixth generation of Chinese directors. And the fifth-generation directors of the previous generation, Zhang Yimou's "Man Jianghong" and "Solid as a Rock", Chen Kaige's "Volunteer Army" are not to mention.
I believe the advantages of "No Name" are very obvious, that is, the lens language is the top and absolute master-level image style of Chinese author's films, and there are many metaphors.
The first shot that impressed me the most was the dog on the plane and the lost dog with nowhere to go on the ground, this metaphor is too vivid and too heart-wrenching, isn't the lost dog our thousands of ancestors who were oppressed and enslaved?The second shot shows the villagers who were poured cement on their heads, completely silent and silent.
The third shot is Ye and the Japanese provoking Tony Leung in the car, I thought Ye was a traitor and made me angry, and the fourth was Ye killing that Dazuo, I only knew that Ye was an underground party, and I was in a better mood.
At the same time, the lens language of "No Name", the editing work, and the bloody wind between the parties in the special period that director Cheng Er wants to express. Some of the important scenes and shots in the film are very good, such as the director's backlighting and upward shots, showing Mr. Ho's preoccupied state of mind, and hinting at the multiple identities of the characters through the mirror.
In addition, it does not analyze some details and metaphors in the film, such as camera movements, character positioning, etc. These lens language and editing, as well as the story background and character settings, show the talent and intentions of director Cheng Er.
I have always said that although "No Name" is problematic, it is definitely not a bad movie, on the contrary, there are fewer and fewer directors like Cheng Er and Cao Baoping in the world. Domestic blockbusters like Chen Sicheng's "Disappearing Her", and then Happy Twist and a large number of remakes, just like Hong Kong police and bandit blockbusters, South Korean black and deep cripples and Hollywood blockbusters, have occupied the absolute mainstream of the film market.
If you want to say "The Wandering Earth 2", it is one of the very few in the world like "Fengshen".
"Space Exploration Editorial Department" and "Mistakes by the River" are serious literary films, but they are actually a minority in the world. In the past, the reason why movies around the world were good was that gods appeared frequently in 94 years, "Shawshank", "Forrest Gump", "This Killer Is Not Too Cold", "Schindler's List", "Vulgar**" and so on.
If you think about it, are they all movies that are both authorial and commercial, not so literary, but very top-notch in other aspects. Now is it that there are fewer such films, and there are fewer and fewer of them.
The problem of "No Name" is, simply put, a multi-line narrative, if compared with "Vulgar**", it does not tell a story that is too profound, and very ingenious, and even makes you feel that it is a stroke of genius (Wang Yibo is a decent character in the ending), which makes people shoot amazing stories.
If you compare classic genre films of the same genre, such as the domestic "The Wind", it shows the extreme of wit, torture and spy warfare. and then to the profound expression in "Lust and Caution" (whether you agree with it or not), and even the sigh of the demise of the ** gangster era in Cheng Er's previous work "The History of the Disappearance of Romantic" seems to be gone.
It uses a very authorial technique to shoot a spy war story with the main theme, and the ending is a bit ingenious, but that's it-
The first half of this movie is a revenge film, too cool and too many metaphors have reached the level of magical realism (the part of the fish and the car accident), and the audience's emotions are brought up, but in the second half, realism is used to ask about the original family and human nature, and the whole thing is torn.
For example, I believe that many viewers still don't understand why the director describes the heroine so much, makes the heroine's personality so broken, and wants to express that because of the lack of love since childhood, there are psychological problems?It's okay to show a lack of love, but it has to be sex?Does the director really feel the real performance of a person who lacks love?
You say that he lacks love because of his father's education when he was young, but a person who really lacks love, does his father really go running and swimming?You may say that the girl is very reluctant in the drama, but from the perspective of a rough man, he may want to accompany the child, but the way is not right.
He can show his father's attitude and indifference to him at the beginning, I admit that people who lack love will crave love, but this will not become a reason for a person to lose the bottom line, right, and the heroine has friends, you can see from **, how much will be contacted, and then the heroine who writes is so unbearable, as if people who lack love will be like the heroine.
This leads to the older generation of viewers thinking that the heroine is too pretentious, and the younger generation thinks that she is too crazy.
In the end, for Lao Jin, the father, although his education method is very extensive, is it really fair to bear the real ** of this "killing children" as a result?The director finally borrowed the heroine's sentence "Love, no" Is it really not?After watching the play, I feel that girls who really lack love will definitely not be like in the play.
The audience will be very ** at the end of the movie, and even feel inexplicable after the end.
The audience's controversy lies in the issue of aesthetics, the film still has to think about the degree of completion, on the one hand, it is full of the accumulation of various commercial elements, so that there is no space to complete the shaping of ** things, even Lao Jin is flat enough, and the other characters are completely reduced to silhouettes. On the other hand, it is good to have characters, themes and plots.
But now everyone is so keen to focus on thinking in the sense of "pseudo-sociology", and it seems that talking about whether East Asian families love or not is deep enough, completely ignoring that film is first and foremost an art with its own rules of measurement!
A literary film like "The Mistake by the River" is not a popular movie, and the box office of literary and artistic films that are well-known in history is not good. What we want is how to make literary films exist, so that these directors who are destined to be difficult to get a big box office but still insist on making non-commercial films have a way out.
But "No Name" and "Wading in the Sea of Anger" are very commercial, and it is normal for commercial films to have box office, popular, cool, entertaining the public, suitable for all ages, of course, many people will watch it. Why do I support "No Name" and "Wading in the Sea of Wrath"? Because a film market with a hundred flowers is a good film market.
The problem is that the sixth generation of directors, although the lower limit will not be too low, but they always have a low tone, which is really a pity.
Like "Wading in the Sea of Wrath" is somewhat unexpected. From "Li Mi", "Scorching Sun" to "The Murder Chaser", the consistent suspense, hand-held photography close-up image style, and the expression of the theme through suspense are more prominent, but the rationality of the previous story logic has been greatly weakened, even magical.
The theme of the film is still complete, but from a profound point of view, it is not much higher than "Dog Thirteen". Finally, the concept of highlighting the theme with the difference between liking and love in Japanese is also very clever. The "fathericide" of the two families also expresses a criticism of the lack of love under the crowding out of traditional culture with morality, education, education, and upbringing.
But like "No Name", it stays at this level (although it is better than "No Name").
On the whole, it seems to be a brave attempt to evolve towards artistry and style, but there is an embarrassment of wanting to show your face but accidentally showing your face. However, compared with the current average level of the world film market, it is still a lot exceeded, so it is still worth supporting.
The comparison between these two movies is because I found a problemThat is, the sixth generation of Chinese directors in a broad sense seems to have encountered this problem. The language of the movie is full, but the plot and expression are quite tangled, unable to break through, and then imprisoned.
In the past few years, the sixth-generation directors Lou Ye, Guan Hu, Lu Chuan, Cao Baoping, and Cheng Er, who have follow-up pursuits, seem to have encountered a hidden ceiling that is going around in circles, even including Jia Zhangke to some extent, maybe there is no need to pursue it for the sake of pursuing, and it may be possible to harvest flowers if it is natural.
Ning Hao's transformation is very successful behind the scenes, and how to watch "Mr. Red Carpet" for the new work.
Their problem may be a reflection of the plight of modern Chinese, the times have become too fast, and the human soul cannot keep up with the development of the times. For example, Lao Jin in "Wading the Sea of Wrath" is just a fisherman, and the atmosphere, times and culture he lives in must make him do such things, which are conclusive to him and do not need to be thought about and questioned.
And his daughter is at most thirty years behind him, and the culture she has received is very different from that of her father.
Culture here does not refer to a culture that has a very clear referential meaning, such as Chinese culture, Western culture, Japanese culture, or subculture, but is closer to the expression of society's view of certain things. It is this difference in culture, or perspective, that leads to such a tragedy, and this question applies to the entire sixth generation of directors.
Without Jia Zhangke, who has transformed into commercialization, Wang Xiaoshuai is still filming for ten years and rural issues. The audience scolds or not, don't mention the West, maybe people are middle-aged, they have become famous, and they are not as sharp as before in all aspects, is it that their literary films do not have previous classics.
Lou Ye, Guan Hu, Cao Baoping, Cheng Er, Lu Chuan, etc., who have been transformed into commercialization. Lu Chuan stopped making a film directly, whether it was Lou Ye making an anti-corruption film, or making a war movie with Guan Hu, he wanted to express his previous inner thoughts and wanted the market box office, but now young audiences demand positive energy, not to mention how awkward it is, don't you see Cheng Er and Cao Baoping's movies are similar.
Now it seems that only Diao Yinan and Ning Hao are exceptions, Diao Yinan is too small in production, and the follow-up is not clear. And Ning Hao is completely commercialized, and he doesn't pursue it at all. The sixth generation of directors should actually learn more from Guo Fan, and even Ning Hao. Sometimes giving up is not necessarily a form of progress.