Liu Yongchang.
As soon as it debuted, the box office of "Hot and Hot" led the Spring Festival movies. Not only that, but the related discussions, such as Jia Ling's **, women's independence, the remake of the movie, the sadness of the comedy, etc., have become a hot topic in the online world, and have made Jia Ling another box office legend after directing "Hello, Li Huanying" independently.
Neither a spectacle blockbuster in line with the industrial production form of the image, nor an original work rooted in reality, the success of the film actually implicitly conforms to the communication law of "traffic is king" in the context of the Internet. The play is a story, and the play is also a story, when Le Ying Jia Ling jumped into the boxing ring with a vigorous posture, the film occupied the high ground of the Spring Festival movie volume field with a dual narrative.
In the play: The growth narrative of the frustrated.
There is no need for the audience's brain-burning thoughts, and there is no tense and exciting dramatic whirlpool, and the first-line beaded narrative structure of "Hot and Hot" is exceptionally simple and clear. For the most part, the film is just a one-man show by Du Leying - all the other character designs are just to promote the protagonist's life journey. Therefore, the affection of the parents can only be "dragonflies", the existence of the sister is to prove that Le Ying is "useless", the function of the boxing boyfriend is the backdrop of "coming and going", the distant cousin's "honey belly sword" pushed the sister to the precipice of despair, and the owner and colleagues of the barbecue restaurant either "added fuel and vinegar" or "made matters worse".
Of course, the secondary characters who are abnormal and illogical are not important, they don't need three-dimensional characters, and they don't need to have personal experiences to explain; Together with the cramped market and the bleak living room, they form a story set in which the protagonist is defeated and retreated, unable to face it head-on, but always difficult to escape. This set is cold, and the colder it is, the more it freezes the protagonist in the predicament of life; The colder it is, the more it can highlight the "hot and hot" in the future boxing ring in the contrast.
It seems that the film is like a copy of the fairy tale of the ugly duckling, but it does not clearly explain whether the ugly duckling eventually became a white swan? In a contrasting boxing match, the protagonist is still hit by a raindrop of fists. This seems to be the cruel epitome of her frustrated life - she fell to the ground and lost again as usual; But the difference is that by this time she has been able to carry all the strikes and can find the right opportunity to give her opponent a counterattack with all her might, so she has actually won the self that has been losing.
Then, whether she becomes a white swan or not is no longer the core proposition, because she began to be able to follow her own path, and since then she has gotten rid of the pessimism of the ugly duckling's frustration and loss. In this way, the film completes its coming-of-age narrative for a frustrated person.
How to grow? What is growth? An elaborately choreographed fixed panoramic long shot forms the overall metaphor of the work and reveals the theme that the creator is eager to express. On a stormy night, the dim street lamps make the night sky darker, and the once again frustrated protagonist walks far into the residential building in the picture. At this time, the lights in the corridor gradually lit up and went out again and again with Le Ying's figure climbing the stairs; When Le Ying walked into her home, the lights in the room were never extinguished. At the level of narrative, the lamp in Le Ying's room is endowed with the connecting function of flashback flashback; At the symbolic level, the light of the dark night is actually the light of the protagonist's faith and hope. As long as there is light, even if it is faint, it can illuminate and warm the whole spiritual world.
Le Ying's growth is due to the fact that she began to practice boxing, and discovered and saw the light in her heart - which allowed her life to finally burst into flames. Of course, Le Ying didn't win a hearty victory in the end, which is the normal state of life, because no one can succeed casually; This is not in line with the normal nature of the story, because the audience is more or less accustomed to the narrative paradigm of fate favoring the reversal of life. Paradoxically, Le Ying, who did not win, still brought the audience an "explosive" viewing experience, but the real protagonist who came to the foreground here was already actor Jia Ling.
Off-screen: Inspirational narratives of successful people.
There is no doubt that the sassy and heroic appearance of Jia Ling and the past has become the most exciting marketing selling point of the film. For this reason, Jia Ling even "disappeared" in front of the public for a full year after the film was completed. Looking forward to "disappearing her", marveling at "her changing face", and admiring "tenacious her" have become similar psychology for many audiences before and after watching the movie. Although in the history of film, it is common for actors to make efforts and sacrifices to change their body shape in line with the requirements of the film, Jia Ling's embodied narrative contains more connotations such as appearance anxiety, female autonomy, pressure of the times, and social prejudice, which can better gather the audience's attention.
In fact, no matter which film Jia Ling stars in, she will make a wonderful appearance. In the end, the theme of boxing sports was obviously deliberately chosen by the entire production team - because the image shaping of boxing training and confrontation can show the process and results to the fullest.
Therefore, there will be a clear sense of separation between the two halves of the film. The first half was the joys and sorrows of the little man Le Ying, and the second half became Jia Ling's hard work. Originally, the audience was waiting to enter the play as the plot progressed, but they were taken out of the play by the boxing drill of moving and jumping in a trance. Is it Le Ying, or Jia Ling? Obviously, the light of the disappointed is far less dazzling than that of the successful.
From sketch actor to film director, from hilarious comedy sketches to the box office miracle film "Hello, Li Huanying", Jia Ling is an undisputed image of a successful person. Now she has to demonstrate in person, showing the most successful ** action in the entertainment industry, how can she not attract attention? Therefore, "Hot and Hot", which was released as a feature film, naturally unabashedly presents a straightforward documentary style.
Every squat, every run, every punch, every jump; Every time you sweat like rain, every time you grit your teeth and persevere, every time you burst into tears, the fast-paced devilish training mix in the film is the climactic plot of Le Ying, and it also belongs to Jia Ling's "hero" nature. So, when the protagonist pushes the door out, he shows his perfect muscle lines, and walks from the stadium passage to the arena firmly and confidently; When she quickly dodges, strikes, punches, and defends in the boxing ring, she has become a favorite material for photographers and editors to report on their results. In the end credits, Jia Ling's eight auditions at different times, various tidbits in daily training, and those heartfelt testimonials excerpted from the ** diary not only strengthened the audience's understanding of Jia Ling's "Phoenix Nirvana" process, but also vaguely implied that a documentary about Jia Ling** has been produced.
At the beginning of the feature film and the end of the documentary, Le Ying's frustrated life is intertwined with Jia Ling's happy life. The former is reality, the latter is a dream, the audience doesn't really care what the form of the work of "Hot and Hot" is or who is the real protagonist, they want to have a happy daydream during the Spring Festival holiday. In this sense, Jia Ling's dream has also become the dream of the public.
Another interlacing: the original and the remake.
The Japanese film "100 Yuan Love" starring Sakura Ando is the original remake of "Hot and Hot". Of course, the producers who bought the copyright don't need to be secretive about this, but in all the publicity and marketing, the so-called original version is still "still holding the pipa and half-covering its face". From the frustrated characters who frustrated all the way to the core plot of practicing boxing, from the control of the narrative rhythm to the form of the camera language, and even some wonderful lines and dialogues, the two works are highly similar. You can say that "Hot and Hot" has a high degree of restoration to the original; But in other words, you can also say that the innovation of this film is obviously not high.
In the commercial environment of the contemporary film industry, "remakes" are a cross-cultural communication practice in both China and abroad. However, the essence of the creation of the remake lies in the transplantation and reconstruction of localization, so as to realize the flow and enrichment of the meaning of the text. Viewed by this standard, the remake of "Hot and Hot" seems superficial.
Looking at "100 Yuan Love", its "100 Yuan" consumption symbol clearly alludes to the current low-level social atmosphere in Japan, and the depression of the protagonist Kazuko is common among young people who escape from reality under social pressure. Therefore, Kazuko, like the people around her, is a very real "typical person in a typical environment" with profound social cognitive value. In comparison, Le Ying in "Hot and Hot" seems to be floating. The environmental setting and character relationships of "take-it-or-leave-it" do not fit the current social context of China, so the exaggeration, ridicule, and ridicule of sketches have become the most common means of filling the plot of the film. These methods can naturally serve as popcorn laughs in the process of watching movies, but it is really difficult to help people touch the real pain points that they can empathize with.
In any case, Jia Ling's "Hot and Hot" once again reaped huge market returns. With just two independent films, Jia Ling has already made her one of the most successful commercial film directors in China. At this time, people's expectations for Jia Ling will not stop at the assembly line products that are in a hurry, or the remake products that save worry and effort. She and her team already have extremely abundant creative resources - whether it is manpower, technology or capital. People have reason to expect Jia Ling's gorgeous transformation in "Hot and Hot", and there is reason to expect her next work to be a realistic masterpiece that has been reborn.
The author is a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Nanjing Normal University).
*: Wen Wei Po.