Text|Linghu Boguang.
A few days ago, a professor criticized "Flowers" and was scolded by netizens, I think criticism and praise are nothing. But now China either holds a work too high and carries various meanings; Or just belittle too low and step on the dust. There are only two kinds of masterpieces and bad movies on the Internet, and there are only two kinds of works, cultural strategy and garbage, and there is no intermediate value.
"Flowers" is obviously such a work, but in fact, it really doesn't carry that high meaning.
"Flowers" is a shell of business warfare to talk about the rivers and lakes, the director does not care about the complexity and rigor of the business war, but cares more about the emotions between people, Xin Zhilei also said that the play is about the love of the rivers and lakes. If you accept this premise, you will feel that the logic in the play is very self-consistent, and if you can't accept it, it will become what netizens think is divided. In reality, commerce and rivers and lakes may be mutually exclusive, but the commercial narrative and the Jianghu narrative in the artwork can be unified.
The most important thing is that Wong Kar-wai is a big director of literary films, because he is a typical Shanghainese who went to Hong Kong before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and lived in the atmosphere of Shanghai alleys in his childhood, so he has a different feeling for Shanghai in his bones, and then he made such a work, without too much transitional interpretation.
I watched "Flowers", and the script itself is good, but the focus of the King of Glasses is a little too much. "Flowers" actually has three levels of society:
The first is the elites on the Yellow River, who are the top of society gathered from all over the country, and they often fight tens of millions of dollars in business battles.
The second is the local citizens on the road to Jinxian, they do not have such high capital and ability, but they are trying to maintain their own small life, and rely on the changes of the times to actively climb to a higher level, which is also the epitome of the urban strugglers of that era.
The third is the migrant workers represented by the three sisters in Jiangxi Province, whose social level is lower and they also have the dilemma of adapting to the new environment, but they also have the dreams and hard work of the people at the bottom, and strive to seize every opportunity. If we can reasonably show the evolution of people's lives at these three levels of society.
I think the complexity and layering of its refraction are even better than "The Long Season", which reproduces the folding and magic of the city of Magic City, the fate and struggle of different groups of people in the context of the times, rather than a flat stage play of a few people. Because of the long season, it is a group of people with similar fates and lost due to restructuring.
The script of "Flowers" not only arouses the resonance of Shanghainese, but also a small number of national business elites, nearly 10 million Shanghai indigenous residents, and tens of millions of drifters who have entered big cities from rural areas and small counties to work in big cities, all of whom took the stage in Shanghai in the early 90s, and even today, and the role of Uncle Grandpa can even run through the modern and contemporary times of Shanghai, and its time tension can be more full.
It's a pity that Wong Kar-wai tilted the previous class too much in order to highlight the main line, resulting in the illusion that "Flowers" is only telling about the prosperity of a few people. On the surface, it is a bit like the era plus business wars and emotions, which is the benchmark for "The Great Gatsby", but it is obviously a little worse, it has a historical background.
Therefore, netizens inevitably evaluate and analyze in politics and society, and now the national self-confidence in the new era in China has just emerged, and when the country criticizes and reflects on the disorderly expansion of capital, such a TV series has been released.
Everyone knows that "Mountains and Seas" and "Flowers" are in the same era, Shanghai's prosperity is based on the hard work of countless people at the bottom and the support of the country's concentrated resources.
You see, how cunning capitalism is, to reform and open up in such a weird way - (you can wear a more powerful hat).
Wong Kar-wai is a world-class literary film director, and his personal style is very distinct. Those who wear hats and criticize because of cultural metaphors, the atmosphere of the times, and the capitalist roaders and revolutionaries of reform and opening up, to be honest, think too complicatedly, Wong Kar-wai doesn't have this mind.
The reason is very simple, Wong Kar-wai has been making movies for 40 years, but in fact, he has only made one movie.
I didn't say this, it was said by the great Hong Kong director Wang Jing, Wang Jing is much more familiar with Wong Kar-wai than most netizens.
Wong Kar-wai, the director, is a young man, and my perception is a bit complicated after watching "Flowers". The accumulation of all kinds of narration, nostalgic songs, and Wong Kar-wai's signature images made me extremely tired. Its formal "fullness", as well as the beauty and coolness of the straight give, can make people numb, indulge, and attract you to chase down. But at the level of the story and characters, it is quite sloppy, and there is no complex "living person" in sight, nor can it see a vivid era, everything seems to be a product floating under a golden filter.
At the same time, I have been paying attention to various comments and controversies, and in the end, I have an indescribable sense of discouragement from the play to the outside of the play, like a game and a dream. This kind of excessive discussion and controversy, like going beyond what "Flowers" should have endured, proves that good works that move people are too scarce these days.
Therefore, Wong Kar-wai's own goodness will be infinitely magnified, even if I think that many times his moves in "Flowers" are a kind of trickery and laziness, in order to cover up the various flaws of the play inside. And Wong Kar-wai's shortcomings will also be infinitely magnified, such as his self-indulgence, trickery and so on.
But there is only no cultural significance of scolding netizens, and what is the significance of the times.
Wong Kar-wai's works that have been filmed all his life are all about "male and female emotions", and the core of this drama I think is most similar to "East Evil and West Poison", wearing the coat of martial arts, talking about people trapped in the shackles of love. "The Grandmaster" talks about rules and inheritance in the rivers and lakes.
and "Flowers" is dressed in the coat of business war in Shanghai, talking about the truth of life. A concept that is implemented throughout the play is said by Jin Hua and Uncle Grandma, that is, speculation will not end well, and industry is a benign development. From Bao's personality, he repays hundreds of times for those who treat him well, and he does all the things he promised in the play. It also reflects the concept conveyed by the play that money must be earned and can be earned, but it is necessary to stick to the bottom line, and it should rely more on its own moral constraints.
And Uncle and his line are also quite good, they belong to studying and teaching, and they end up with Bao's vision far beyond Uncle Grandpa. Uncle stayed at not speculating and going **, but the last rivalry with Mei Ping said from Mei Ping's mouth that he was a person who had something to do and someone who had nothing to do, so the accumulation of people also led to Bao's final vision and mind, that is, in the end, he retired with peace of mind.
I finished watching Wong Kar-wai's works, Wong Kar-wai really filmed a certain theme + male and female emotions for a lifetime. In addition to the ** work, the typical "The True Story of A Fei", and the later "Fallen Angel", "Chongqing Forest", and "* are typical trilogies. To "In the Mood for Love", the emotions of men and women are not like this.
This is the most similar and not very successful work "2046" in the middle, but from the perspective of the subject matter, it is "East Evil and West Poison", martial arts films, and then "The Grandmaster", kung fu films, let's see if it is about the emotions of men and women.
I think Wong Kar-wai is the only big director in Hong Kong who has no culture of the times and political appeals.
He is very focused and pure, which is the reason why Wong Kar-wai can go to the top, and at the same time, I also have an understanding of Wong Kar-wai's classic shooting techniques and character movements.
However, netizens have to put the shackles of cultural strategy, political significance of the times, or business war mode on "Flowers", and they are not completely in accordance with one of the tracks. I haven't read the original book, but based on this TV series alone, it is the TV series with the fullest characters, the fastest narrative rhythm, and the most beautiful picture that I have watched in recent years.
Reiko's transformation is indeed a bit abrupt, which makes her character image suddenly rise to another height, because in the previous performance, I only felt that she had been noisily asking for money, and I didn't think she had anything unknown about her.
All in all, the flaws are not hidden, there is affection, righteousness and love, but not only focus on love, everyone has their own pursuit and direction. Oh, and another point is that the sunset always appears in the afternoon and evening, and he thinks that women are the best to shoot at that time, without edema and so on.
In the end, movies and TV series are actually two very different types of work, not that the director of the movie to shoot the TV series is a dimensionality reduction blow, Wong Kar-wai actually can't make TV series, this is another track, it is a disaster to let an author who is good at writing prose to write a long **.
Wong Kar-wai is actually the best at filming the confusion of urban people and the feelings of men and women in the city, whether it is his "East Evil and West Poison" or "Chongqing Forest" is actually a meaning, he is not very good at telling stories, this is the reason why his movies have no scripts, movies can not tell stories, only about feelings, but the basis of TV dramas is to tell stories.
In the past, the songs he chose in his movies were songs that he would listen to when he was young, which were very suitable for the atmosphere of the movie, and now the so-called nostalgic songs he chose in "Flowers" are what he thought we would listen to in that era, so I recently watched an interview with Wong Kar-wai and said that the audience of "Flowers" likes it, and you are satisfied.
This drama is a catfish of domestic TV dramas, and I don't expect TV series that surpass it in the next few years.
Last year, there were only domestic dramas of the same level as it, I think there were only "Moses on the Plains" and "The Long Season", Wong Kar-wai was very slow to make films, and this "Flowers" has been out for almost ten years, so there is no need to expect similar works, it may be difficult before Xin Shuang's next work comes out.