In the "fast food era", big directors are faced with the challenge of how to maintain their dominance on the big screen.
For almost two years,"National Teacher"Zhang Yimou was deeply troubled by this kind of trouble, and it was difficult to extricate himself.
Director Zhang Yimou's talent and spiritual core were once again shown to the audience in "Article 20", which was released on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
uses a cheerful and humorous comedy to show the hardships of ordinary life.
The law can't budge to those who don't follow it, and that will directly push the film to its climax.
The box office of this movie is as high as more than 1.5 billion, attracting 20 million people to watch the movie, and the Douban score has reached 80, allowing the audience to see the real master of the lens.
Lei Jiayin gave a ten-minute monologue, Zhao Liying showed "sexual innuendo", and Ma Li showed the characteristics of toughness and triviality......
Zhang Yimou presented a realistic movie with the language of the lens, which left a deep impression on the audience.
The audience also clearly perceived that Zhang Yimou never succumbed to traffic in the "fast food era".
The three "low periods" changed Zhang Yimou's artistic life and directly influenced his film form.
Zhang Yimou and Gong Li ended their relationship after the last shot of "Shake, Shake, Shake to Grandma's Bridge" was completed.
He couldn't find an investor for a long time, his love ended, and his career was blocked.
At a banquet, Zhang Yimou got acquainted with Zhang Weiping.
Both are full of love for movies, one has talent, the other has deep pockets, and the two hit it off and became the best partners in the film industry.
In the cooperation with Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou's directing style changed for the first time.
Zhang Yimou used to shoot literary films that satirized and exposed the underlying reality, such as "Ju Dou" and "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit".
After working with Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou began to pay more attention to storytelling, and the sharpness of his works also diminished.
They collaborated on films such as "My Father and Mother" and "The Love of the Hawthorn Tree".
In the process of changing the works, the relationship between Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping has also quietly changed, and the contradictions between them have gradually become difficult to hide.
This also directly led to Zhang Yimou's second setback.
Zhang Yimou experienced the second low point of his career in 2011.
After the "Battle of Erzhang" with Zhang Weiping broke out, she realized that after filming "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", she was destined to not be able to coexist with wealth, and could only enter reality.
The identity of Zhou Dongyu and many other actors' agents was taken over by Zhang Weiping, resulting in Zhang Yimou's subordinates being unable to find available people for a while.
Subsequently, the "superbirth" incident broke out, causing the former great director to almost fall into a desperate situation, so he could only choose to keep a low profile and temporarily stop creating.
The movie "The Great Wall" came out of nowhere, and this is the third time.
The content is empty, the narrative is vague, and the scenes are disorganized.
Halfway through the filming of a movie with a cost of 1 billion, Zhang Yimou realized that he had made a big mistake, and he was also provoked by Feng Xiaogang.
The audience thinks that Zhang Yimou has been labeled as "Lian Po Lao" after the movie is released, and thinks that he is already Jiang Lang's talent, so there is no need to look forward to it.
66-year-old Zhang Yimou, no one believes that he can make a comeback this year.
He not only succeeded in reviving, but also showed a "hundred flowers blooming" style by the way.
From the costume drama "Shadow" to the spy war film "On the Cliff", to the anti-crime drama "Solid as a Rock" and the conspiracy comedy "Man Jianghong", and finally today's "Article 20".
Zhang Yimou gave up the literary films he was good at, and instead began to direct genre films, and became the golden sign of the Spring Festival file after "Man Jianghong".
Zhang Yimou's film redefines "sex and traffic" at the age of 74.
When "Article 20" was released, the film was not favored by the audience, and even Zhang Yimou was accused of only pursuing traffic.
Zhao Liying challenged the image of "dumb girl" for the first time, although the starring roles were Lei Jiayin and Ma Li.
Her fan count and influence have increased not only because of the span of her roles in the film, but also because:
Zhao Liying's performance in the film cannot be ignored, although she only plays the role of the third female and the total number of scenes is only five minutes.
The supporting role is placed at the center of the publicity, and the group photo also occupies the most prominent position, giving people a feeling of "being marginalized".
In addition, the "old face" actors made Zhang Yimou have the idea of "who is popular and invites whom", because "Article 20" seems to have become a "New Year's drama" for popular actors in the past two years.
Lei Jiayin and Ding Yongdai both stood out from "The World".
Gao Ye, Aruna, Zhang Yi, Wang Peilu, Wang Xiao and others are all characters in "Hurricane".
Fan Wei, Chen Minghao, Jiang Qiming and others are from the TV series "The Long Season".
In addition to these veteran actors, there are also newcomers such as Li Naiwen, Xu Yajun, and Yu Hewei, who have been in the limelight in the past two years.
Everyone has their own masterpieces, and they have a good reputation among the audience.
Zhang Yimou's film only took six months from start-up to finalization and release, and compared with those big productions that usually take two or three years to complete, it can be said that he has indeed progressed too fast.
As a high-profile actor with a tight schedule, is this movie really good?
The audience hesitated because of such doubts, and even caused the box office to lag far behind "Bear Infested".
However, it wasn't until word of mouth reversed that people realized that the film was grossly underrated.
Mr. Zhang is once again mired in new questions about why he always tends to be "sexually suggestive" through the camera, especially as the box office continues to climb.
When Liu Wenjing acts violently against Zhao Liying (Hao Xiuping), the camera captures her struggling, refusing, and having difficulty escaping.
Hao Xiuping walked out of the room, her clothes were torn, her face and chest were left with red scars, and her expression was broken and helpless.
It's obvious what happened.
This is not the first time that Zhang Yimou has been labeled "sexually suggestive".
"Yaoqin" in Man Jianghong", although her hair is messy and her clothes are disheveled, she is extremely charming and suffers from **.
In "Solid as a Rock", Yang Xiaowei not only directly presented the scene of being scared to pee under coercion and temptation, but also the scene where she was forced to slap her face with family planning supplies.
The audience has already understood that the tiny beads of sweat on the forehead, the messy hair, and the nightdress speak for themselves, and there is no need to go into more detail.
Zhang Yimou still followed the old routine this time, and the audience also expressed their dissatisfaction as usual.
Is this promoting the pleasure of the abuser, or is it deliberately provoking people's delusions?
Is it necessary to point the lens on women and victims?
Many people** after completing the film, are likely to come to the same conclusion.
Sufficiency must be ensured and must not be reduced.
Lawful and legitimate self-defense is in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of Criminal Law article 20.
This is also the origin of the film's name.
At first glance, Zhang Yimou seems to intend to present the audience with a lecture on law popularization, but in the whole film, there is actually very little part that deals with the content of the law.
The movie starts with the small family of Han Ming (Lei Jiayin) and Li Maojuan (Ma Li), starting from a school bullying incident, involving the two cases of Zhang Guisheng and Hao Xiuping.
Lao Mouzi's usual method is to be small and big, which is the same as his "Qiu Ju Lawsuit" back then.
Han Ming's identity itself contains three layers of meaning.
From the outside world's point of view, he is considered a high-level intellectual, holding an iron job bowl steadily.
He behaved very cautiously and cautiously at work, and had to bend his way to greet him, and even nodded and closed the car door for the leader.
At home, he was the one with the lowest status, but as he grew older, he had to start over, and for the sake of his son, there was only a thin line between him and frustration.
Although he was obviously careful everywhere, he was forced into a dispute because of an incident in which his son stopped bullying on campus.
Zhang Yimou is no longer good at grand narrative throughout the film, but pays more attention to household chores.
The slogan of popularizing the law is propagated, but it is "arguing" in length.
This scene is not as heavy as Zhao Liying's crying scene, nor does it have the seriousness and uprightness of popular law, but is more like a comedy.
In Ma Li and Lei Jiayin's small family, the audience also relaxed their vigilance and regarded "Article 20" as a comedy movie.
When everyone was laughing, Zhang Guisheng had a car accident, and Hao Xiuping also jumped off the building, which made the film really reach its climax.
This is not the sublimation of the movie, but Zhang Yimou really shows his "cleverness".
When Han Ming was asked by his son, "Shouldn't I stop it?" his expression changed and he was entangled in how to answer.
If you're right, then the result is that you'll be constantly asked to apologize.
Who will stand for fairness and justice, if not us?
In the same way, Zhang Guisheng is the same.
Because he stopped a harassment and accidentally caused the other party to break a bone, he was not justified, but was imprisoned for intentional injury.
In the end, he tragically lost his life in the process of seeking a reversal of the case.
Hao Xiuping's family suffered more serious defense and injuries.
The heavy aura of suffering on the couple's body cannot be avoided.
A family of three, the husband is honest, the wife is born deaf and dumb, the daughter is disabled, and the family situation is very difficult.
For the sake of their daughter's illness, they had to borrow usury from the village bully.
Once you have money, your life becomes uncontrollable and you fall into a darker situation.
Wang Yongqiang, as the head of the family, was chained to the yard like a dog, helplessly listening to the bully ** his wife in his own home, his heart was like a knife, but he didn't know how to get out of this predicament.
When Hao Xiuping said the sentence "I want to die" in tattered clothes, the entire theater fell into a sobbing sound.
Wang Yongqiang's family faces an irresistible threat of loan sharks and village tyrants, and they have nowhere to run.
They believe that Liu Wenjing is not a perpetrator, but a beast, and his presence will only exacerbate their family's suffering, not eliminate it.
Wang Yongqiang shot to death, which led to his imprisonment.
They live at the bottom of society and have a vague concept of money and law. The decision to change their lifestyle is also not so rational, which is shared by most ordinary people.
Therefore, when Hao Xiuping left her husband in prison and her deaf and dumb young daughter jumped from a tall building, it also became the theme of the film:
Whoever is seriously injured is justified, and whoever dies is the one who has the upper hand.
Justifiable defense can only be offset by life, and there is no such thing as "innocence".
The film finally presents Lei Jiayin's ten-minute statement, which gradually shifts from clarifying facts to expressing emotional emotions and asking rhetorical questions one after another.
We must not make concessions to lawlessness, and the law must not.
It is not the suffering that is magnified, but the fact that Article 20 portrays.
From school to society, bullying and self-defense have always existed, is the law restricting the good people or indulging the bad guys?
This dividing line is not clear.
It must be admitted that Zhang Yimou's talent is outstanding.
He taught a lesson in law popularization to a national audience through family stories close to the people.
From no longer focusing on the literary films and big strokes that he is good at, but focusing on trivial matters, by combining serious laws with warm human feelings, it is of great significance.
Zhang Yimou is 74 years old, and this time he counterattacked in another move, from being questioned to finally winning unanimous praise from the audience, and the box office results are remarkable.