Since the birth of the film industry, directors have played a key role in determining the direction of films. Among them, Zhang Yimou is undoubtedly a very representative director in the history of Chinese film. His career has been full of ups and downs, but after two career lows, he seems to have found a fresh path and is re-emerging at breakneck speed.
Looking back on 1996, this year can be described as an important turning point for Zhang Yimou. At that time, he broke up with Gong Li, and the film project ran aground due to funding problems. However, the god of fate seems to favor talented people, and Zhang Yimou met real estate developer Zhang Weiping at a dinner. Zhang Weiping's capital provided Zhang Yimou with new opportunities, allowing him to enter the road of a commercial director. From "Hero" to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, Zhang Yimou has established his status in the film industry with a series of masterpieces and is known as a national teacher.
However, the poor box office performance of the 2016 Hollywood film "The Great Wall" seriously challenged Zhang Yimou's reputation. The word-of-mouth of "Shadow" and "One Second" is also not ideal, which seems to make people think that Zhang Yimou has not kept up with the pace of the mainstream market. However, just when people thought he was in the twilight of his career, he returned to the stage in an astonishing manner.
Zhang Yimou began to explore the use of literary films to enter the international market, and abandoned the style of literary films that he has always been good at, and instead developed a new track of genre mixing. "On the Cliff" of suspense spy warfare, "Man Jianghong" of the costume reasoning comedy, and "Solid as a Rock" of the anti-crime police and bandits, each work has broken the definition of traditional genre films and attracted the attention of more young audiences. Among the top ten box office in 2023, Zhang Yimou's films occupy two, one of which also won the annual championship.
The emergence of Article 20 has attracted widespread attention. The film was not only a success at the box office, but also received unanimous praise from the audience. In an easy-to-understand way, it tells the contradiction between reason and law in the lives of ordinary people. Through the narration of three cases related to "justifiable defense", the film provokes the audience to think deeply about law and morality. At the same time, the film also covers a wider range of social issues, such as family relationships, social class, etc., showing the emotional core that people can give up everything for the sake of family members.
Although "Article 20" seems to be somewhat popular in terms of subject matter and content, we have to admit that it is in this easy-to-understand way that Zhang Yimou reveals the reality in the marrow. As netizens said, he used the most unpretentious face to skillfully show the connotation of human feelings and social laws. With the help of perceptual emotion and humor, he carried out profound rational thinking about reality, and finally realized the "Zhang's expression" that vulgarity is elegance. 
And Zhang Yimou's success is not accidental. He has the courage to challenge himself, constantly explore new creative methods, and always maintain his love and pursuit of film art. He used his works to show the world the diversity and vitality of Chinese films, and injected new impetus into the development of Chinese films. It can be said that Zhang Yimou has embarked on another new era of Chinese male directors and has become an indispensable and important figure in the Chinese film industry.
2024 Spring Festival stalls