The Spring Festival file in 2024 is coming, and the most high-profile new film in this Spring Festival file is Zhang Yimou's "Article 20". But I also wrote an article analysis of this movie before, if it is also like a trailer, it is completely like a large-scale Spring Festival Gala sketch of "making dumplings". 
Last year, Zhang Yimou's "Man Jianghong" was a box office hit, but word-of-mouth suffered Waterloo, and "Solid as a Rock" did not top. At the same time, at the end of last year, Feng Xiaogang's "If You Are the Truth, Do Not Disturb 3" was released at the box office of only tens of millions, and people said that the saddest thing about this movie is not that it has a high or low box office, but that there is no splash, that is, young people don't want to talk about this movie at all, combined with "Volunteers", which suffered a major blow on the National Day file last year. 
The three major directors in Chinese mainland are obviously powerless, at present, Feng Xiaogang is the worst, Chen Kaige is second, Zhang Yimou is popular and controversial, but it seems that it is already on the verge of not being popular with young audiences, I think that if the Spring Festival file "Article 20" is very bad and the box office fails, it may be this dividing line. It's really time for these big Chinese directors to retire, really. How miserable is Feng Xiaogang? People are not miserable, no one has watched the movie
Feng was not mentioned because of the incident with Xiao Cui, as well as Bingbing's detonation of the Chinese literary and art circle, and the problems of the Huayi brothers behind it. I don't mention how brilliant Feng Xiaogang was at the beginning, but after his comeback, whether it was the movie he acted in, or the two TV series he directed, and then the new film "If You Are Honest Do Not Disturb 3", there was still no splash. The disregard of young audiences and mainstream ** is very obvious, and there is nothing saddest for a great director than this. 
The problem is that treating a director like this has nothing to do with fairness or unfairness. It reflects the psychology of young people, not the actions of older people. Feng Xiaogang has a lot of film works, and the "If You Are the Truth, Do Not Disturb" series is a water film that he himself looks down on, and he has always claimed that it was made to make money and meet the needs of the market (audience). Feng's films have formed personal characteristics, "Party A and Party B" opened the Chinese New Year file, and the three films "Big Names", "Mobile Phones" and "No Thieves in the World" are all phenomenal works in the Chinese film industry and even in film history. Feng Xiaogang also got involved in the shooting of films with serious themes. Such as "Assembly Number", "Tangshan Da**", 1942, "Fanghua".
Feng Xiaogang's serious main theme movies have basically set off long-lasting hot reviews and debates in China's leading field, driving the reflection and debate of the whole society on the times, history, and humanities. Look at Feng Xiaogang and Jiang Wen for yourself, after the fifth and sixth generations, these big directors now have the ability to influence the whole society by relying on literary and artistic works? Feng Xiaogang is like an 80-year-old man, it's normal to not work now, this is losing to the law of nature. But people did it when they were young, and they were very good, and we used the past to evaluate the present, and we used the present to evaluate the past, which is stupid and not objective. He used to do it, it doesn't mean that he can't do it, he can't do it now, and he doesn't have to deny that he didn't work before. In the end, their time has passed, and the reason is very simple. "Farewell My Concubine" was really not filmed by his father? Chen Kaige was ruined by conceit
Let's talk about Chen Kaige, since Chen Kaige's reputation collapsed in "Actors Please Be in Place", the overwhelming follow-up is really eyeless. "Chen Kaige only has one "Farewell My Concubine".", ""Farewell My Concubine" was filmed by his father", all kinds of brainless remarks are full of all kinds of entertainment. Of course, it is reasonable for others to criticize Chen Kaige, but I just think that Chen Kaige can't be denied because of his unbearable performance on the show. No matter what Chen Kaige is like now, his early talent is undoubted, and his talent is amazing. Including his later bad films, many of them were caused by a change in his mentality and meddling in screenwriting. 
can't deny all his works because of his bad movies in the later period, and even said that "Farewell My Concubine" was not made by him. If Feng Xiaogang is really not good, Chen Kaige's biggest problem is actually "conceited". Chen Kaige is definitely one of the top two directors in China. The depth of his talent is difficult for other directors to match, but he is too emotional and conceited, and he definitely needs to work with excellent screenwriters to polish a rigorous good script + excellent actors to achieve another Farewell My Concubine, which these conditions are not available later. 
After Zhang Yimou's "Hero" in 2002, China's big directors are making costume blockbusters, and the three bad movies hit in a row, "Night Banquet", "Wuji" and "*Jia", my personal impression is that "Wuji" is a slightly stronger one, so my impression of Chen Kaige is better. Later, I watched "Mei Lanfang" again, and was shocked by the scene of Sun Honglei's character walking on the streets of New York, so I fell in love with this movie for that scene, and I had a special impression of Chen Kaige. Including "Zhao's Orphan" and "The Legend of the Demon Cat" are not bad movies. But later, I saw that he was immersed in his own philosophical world, and now he has been reduced to the name of "elderly version of Guo Jingming", which is really sad. 
is obviously a very talented, capable and thoughtful director, but now he has become a "bully"-like existence, suspended in mid-air and has no life. No matter how profound philosophical theories are, they all come from the observation of life. Art can be higher than reality, but if it is not art born from life, it will appear false and empty, and only cranky thoughts remain. After "Farewell My Concubine", Chen did not continue to dig into his artistic depth, and maintained an artistic height waiting for a good screenwriter and actor. This kind of director should have been cool a long time ago, so that he could see that he was down-to-earth, but in terms of art, there has never been a director who can replace him, so that he still considers himself a master over and over again. 
Chen Kaige's mentality changed after winning the award, he was narcissistic, arrogant, small-minded, and couldn't tolerate criticism from others. He can make excellent work. Take "Disciple" as an example, Er Dongsheng said that according to the investigation, drug lords are low-key, and Chen Kaige's solid face requires the villain to be arrogant and nouveau riche. When commenting on Wen's performance in "Parasite", it shows that he didn't even watch the original drama, and he didn't know why the nanny fought back strongly, and he was even more ridiculous and generous when he said that he ruined the happiness of other people's families. Chen Kaige not only needs a good screenwriter, what he needs most is a good producer or production director. His conceit and anachronistic romance need a strong boss to press, and there are many screenwriters, but there are few producers who can convince Chen Kaige or give in. When Feng Xiaogang passed, Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou were getting worse and worse? It's time for the fifth generation of directors to retire.
Zhang Yimou's question has been written before, leading Chinese cinema for more than 30 years, Zhang Yimou's early holdings of top scripts such as "Alive", "Red Lantern" and "Red Sorghum", coupled with his early aesthetics, are indeed masters. But in the later period, with all due respect, he was also swept away by the torrent of the times. Of course, Zhang Yimou has won a lot of awards, but the awards and evaluations are not enough to comment on a director, which only reflects the market value of a director. It's the same as between an actor and a star. Zhang Yimou is more invested in this market, more caters to this market, and will inevitably be more valuable in this market.
Chen Kaige still retains his personal literati mentality (which seems inexplicable to others) insistence, and he is still trying to use his perspective to tell the story to the public, rather than fully embracing the market. In this regard, Chen is more respectable than Zhang (whether it is rotten or not is another matter). But Zhang Yimou's best self-awareness is very clear, not arrogant, no matter how the audience scolds and ridicules. He doesn't even talk back, unlike Chen Kaige's stingy scolding, he may also know that the commercial films he makes are not good, and now he doesn't pursue it, he doesn't pursue it, he only makes money.
And while he is making commercial films, he also makes literary films with a good reputation, such as "Return" and "One Second", which have no so-called group gymnastics performances. Chen Kaige is not pleasing to both sides of the literary and commercial world, he wants to pretend to be a high literati, and he goes to variety shows to have a bad meal, and he also exposes the ** disease of small belly, conceit and double standard, and good at sophistry. But Zhang Yimou's last three movies, except for the pressed "Solid as a Rock", do not talk about it. The other two are completely close to the market and have no pursuit, "Man Jianghong" is a werewolf killing, and "Article 20" looks like a sketch movie, which is completely reduced to Jia Ling's feeling. From a master to a director of sketch films, commercial films, how can he not disappoint. Is the 2024 Spring Festival stall too weak? I found that I really needed "Volunteer Army 2".
Chen Kaige's "Daytime Meteor" and "Changjin Lake" actually have nothing to say, after all, they are platter movies. But compared with "Man Jianghong" and "Article 20", I inexplicably have a feeling that "Volunteers" is quite uncomfortable. Whether this movie is good or bad, it is undeniable that it is a commercial special effects blockbuster. Chen Kaige is ambitious to make this film, and tries a macro narrative blockbuster that he is not good at, he is a director with distinctive characteristics, but seeing that he is almost 70 years old, he has gone to a commercial film with a main theme that does not allow any discussion space in the theme, and there is also no room for personal expression (although the vast majority of viewers will only accuse it of entrainment of private goods).
It is understandable that a director with such ideas has reached the age of doing what he wants, but he no longer does what he wants. In the end, the reason why I say this is that the 2024 Spring Festival file is indeed too weak, and the current two head ** Jia Ling's new film "Hot and Hot", not to mention the remake, at most the sketch movie is upgraded. Zhang Yimou's "Article 20" trailer is indeed like this, which is really hard to collapse. "Fengshen 2" and "Nezha 2" have not been finalized, whether "Volunteer Army 2" is pleasing to the eye, after all, it is a serious commercial blockbuster, and there is not even a top blockbuster in the most important schedule, which is really the sadness of Chinese films.