The audience will still buy something that is truly of quality.
The earliest impression of " Life Events " director Liu Jiangjiang was still at the "Pingyao Venture Capital" scene in 2019. At that time, he stood on the stage with a movie called "To Heaven". The background of the director
is quite special: before writing this movie, he worked at Hebei TV Station and was responsible for a column drama called "This Something in the Village ". The program is broadcast on the Farmers Channel, and it tells the story of the common people's little things. The director has been filming such a small column for many years, and it was not until the show was suspended in 2017 that he began to think about making movies.
In addition to the special experience, the projects proposed on that day were also quite impressive. North China funeral culture, Yan Zhaoxia style, abandoned babies... I also have a series of family matters such as the protagonist's jail and the injury of his brother-in-law. At first glance, this story is really a bit "indiscriminate".
Three years later, this "partner" story that year had a new name - "The Great Events in Life", which appeared on the big screen with the most commercial look. The total box office of the film is currently nearly 400 million yuan, which is a shot of a heart-warming agent for the film market that has been too bleak this year.
The shell of life and death, the inner part of family affection
The story seems to be the original story, but the whole face is very different.
is still a funeral industry, and the male protagonist is still a tough guy. But the story moved from the dry North China Plain to the sweaty Wuhan, which was less cold and more lively.
story is not complicated. Putting aside the spectacular shell of "funeralism", it is even a bit cliché. Mo Sanmei, known as the third brother, is a middle-aged man who has been in jail. He reluctantly took over the family's funeral business. During a coffin collection, I bumped into the little girl Xiaowen.
The child doesn't understand life and death. He just thinks that the third brother took away his grandmother who was dependent on her and pestered him. A rough man, a stubborn little girl like Nezha, the two got together, disliked each other, and cured each other.
"Funeral" is definitely the biggest highlight of the movie. This is an element that Chinese film and television dramas rarely touch. First, the subject matter is sensitive, and Chinese people are taboo to discuss death; second, it will be hard to talk about this matter, and business looks bad.
But "The Big Events in Life" cut a beautiful hole, it eliminates the fear of exploring life and death, and takes the audience over obstacles to entering the funeral industry.
Zhu Yilong 's role as Mo Sanmei was completed as soon as she appeared. The third brother shaved his flat head and hung a floral shirt on his body, and walked in a carefree way.
He got into a slum where someone died, reached out and picked up a piece of burning paper with fire, and lit a cigarette for himself. While chewing gum, I walked the process of sorting out my face and sending people to the road. It was so careless that it made people feel that this person was really unemployed, but death seemed not that scary.
The perspective of the girl Xiaowen adds a layer of romantic filter to death. Grandma didn't wake up in the morning and was taken away by the bad guy third brother. Those who die will become stars in the sky, and the third brother and his friends are both "people who grow stars".
"Big Events in Life" Another way to eliminate the taboo of death is to make it daily, or even comedic.
"Going to Heaven" This funeral shop is not only for business purposes, but also for San Ge and Xiaowen's home. Paper-made virgin boys and virgin girls are dolls hanging on the walls of the house, the kind that can have names. As long as living people pay, they can hold a funeral.
The third brother's father passed away. The urn was wasted. It was just burned and put it in a milk powder jar. These light-hearted approaches have allowed "The Great Events in Life" to avoid the taboos of death.
Just looking at the profession of the protagonist, many people will think of the classic Japanese movie " Devourer ", in fact, these two stories are not similar at all.
"The Insect" is essentially a "working person" story, telling the process of a novice in comprehension who has realized life from the death of others and gradually fell in love with this special profession. "The Great Events in Life" is the shell of the "funeral industry". Every time you experience someone else's death, it is a catalyst for bonding your own family and family relationships. In essence, tells the most familiar family story among Chinese people.
The third brother who was released after prison, former thief Wang Jianren, small merchant vendor Yin Baixue, and Xiaowen who lost his grandmother, several "disliked people" formed a special family because of a disliked profession. It is a bit which means "Korean Yukazu "
This is a new family model, hiding the cracks in everyone's old family.
The third brother and his father are father and son, but they are more like enemies. The death of the elder brother lies between the third brother and his father. Coupled with the new and old hatreds of going to jail and screwing up business, the father and son are more like a pair of enemies. I was imprisoned for my girlfriend's fight, but as soon as my girlfriend came out, my girlfriend ran away with someone. The third brother became a complete loser, a big injustice.
Xiaowen's parents' whereabouts are unknown. They lost their grandmother who depended on each other and their uncle's family could not accept her. This tough little girl has lost her home.
Wang Jianren and Yin Baixue are also completely at the bottom of society. The father does not love or the mother does not love them. Otherwise, when the third brother wanted to adopt Xiaowen, he would not have come forward resolutely - is both people who have no place to settle down, and it is no big deal to live together.
The business of funeral shops, the death of others is the catalyst for the relationship between the third brother and Xiaowen and the son, and it is also the booster for the gradual reconciliation between the third brother and his father. Family love stories are written about death, and emotions lead emotions, which is indeed a way to please.
"It's so good to cry" is hard currency
There are many designs to please "The Big Events in Life". It can even be said that the whole movie is built with extremely strong skills, whether it is character creation, story advancement, or commercial considerations.
This is very similar to what producer Han Yan can bring to the movie. "The Big Event in Life" is definitely the subject he likes. His directors "Get out, Tumor Lord" and " Send You a Little Red Flower " are all about life and death stories.
Han Yan's life and death story unfolds from the perspective of a person who has experienced it, while Liu Jiangjiang's story unfolds from a third-party perspective. Different perspectives, the structure and temperament of these stories are extremely similar.
Director Han Yan
"The Big Event in Life" is the same as "Get Out, Tumor Lord" and "Send You a Little Red Flower", both of which are mostly comedy. In the end, they use the most to hit the tears of Chinese audiences, and put their emotions to their heads. As long as the audience leaves the cinema and can evaluate "It's so good to cry", the movie will be half successful.
In the comedy part, "The Big Events of Life" borrowed the light of the funeral industry, making jokes and absurdity more. Next door to the funeral shop is the wedding shop. Xiaowen makes a big fuss at the funeral scene, holding an imperial funeral for the living people, performing funeral programs in the kindergarten... The daily processing of funeral culture has brought a good comedy effect. These jokes enhance the audience's experience of watching the movie and make the sensationality in the latter part of the movie more effective.
In addition to the big structure routine, "The Great Events of Life" also has strong skills in character creation, details and symbol use.
bun, red tassel gun, domineering personality... Xiaowen is a contemporary little Nezha, and the audience can tell at a glance. Correspondingly, the third brother was pressed on the ground by the sofa with five fingers, just like Sun Wukong being pressed at the foot of the Five Fingers Mountain - he is the good friend Sun Wukong who Nezha doesn't beat him. borrows these two images that Chinese audiences are very familiar with, and the personalities and destinies of the two main characters in the movie are immediately clear.
"Going to Heaven" is a pun, it is the name of the store and it is everyone's blessing to the deceased. Things on the ground are so bad that when you look up, you will be romantic. From turning into stars after death, people who plant stars, to the last fireworks, "The Great Events in Life" romanticizes the whole story with a systematic metaphor.
movies have several very exquisite scenes, all of which win in details:
Xiaowen scribble on the urn. The third brother thought it would anger the parents of the dead child, but he didn't expect that the mother raised the nails that the child painted on her before her death, which was so similar to the one on the urn;
The third brother's father passed away. The way he sent the old man to "go to heaven" was to plant the ashes in the sky with fireworks; the father and son who were like enemies had to sit on their seats with one foot, and the movements were synchronized...
One or two images and techniques are not difficult. The difficulty is to skillfully converge this series of skills from structure to details to a main line to form a closed loop.
Perhaps I want to increase the conflict and emotional concentration of the characters in this story, and I want to stuff too many symbols and metaphors into it. As long as I think about it, there are still many stiff things in this story, especially in some major plot twists. In the first act of the movie, the third brother decided to adopt Xiaowen. Their relationship was based on just a few days of getting along. Why are Wang Jianren and Yin Baixue so heartbroken and signed the adoption agreement in the name of the couple? What a grudge between father and son? If a business is broken, my father will come to smash the store? Why is it so coincidental that my ex-girlfriend’s husband died and he just happened to need my third brother to do the funeral? As soon as Xiaowen was taken away by his biological mother, the third brother's father passed away. Isn't this too unlucky?
Although there are so many unreasonable things after thinking about it, except for some viewers who are extremely pursuing logic and story rationality, most viewers ignore these bugs, and at least look at them with great tolerance. Why is this happening to
? Ultimately, "The Big Events in Life" is an emotional and emotionally driven film. Life and death and family affection can easily touch emotions. This kind of touch requires almost no skills and is physiological. Xiaowen's grandmother's voice will be restored and played one by one. Don't the audience know about this? Of course I know, but when the audience hears the deceased grandmother talking to Xiaowen, the audience will still cry. Xiaowen called the third brother’s father. Did it come too early to change his words? Before you could think about it, you were moved by Zhu Yilong's tearsy eyes with long eyelashes.
To put it bluntly, movies like "big events in life" are a kind of "special effect" for the mobilization of emotions and emotions. Just like the visual effects in the Hollywood blockbusters in , as long as the jokes and crying points appear densely enough and handle them better, plot bugs and rational pits will be filled. So, except for the appearance of Xiaowen's biological mother at the end, it is a bit abrupt, and the plot problems of the whole movie have basically been filled. Even if it is not filled in smoothly, these so-called flaws will not stump you and make the movie-watching mood stop.
The tough third brother, the fragile Zhu Yilong
In addition to the director and screenwriter's ability to control emotions, promotes the emotions of "The Great Events in Life" and makes up for the film's logic flaws is another hero who makes up for the male protagonist Zhu Yilong.
Whether you have expectations for Zhu Yilong's acting skills, after watching "The Big Events in Life", you will feel that Zhu Yilong's acting skills are surprising.
flat head, flowery shirt, hunched over, swaying across the street, opening your mouth and shutting your mouth... The role of the third brother subverts everyone's perception of Zhu Yilong.
If the tough guy, the atmosphere in the market, and the sense of bottom are the changes brought to Zhu Yilong by this character, then the inner sense of fragility and emotional driving ability of the third brother when he cries is brought to this character by Zhu Yilong.
Zhu Yilong walked out of the messy and hot alley and entered "Going to Heaven". His hunched back, his smoking posture and expression are indeed reminded of the Tony Leung in "Spring Light" in "Suddenly Appearing".
Zhu Yilong's grasp of comedy elements is also quite surprising. "The Great Events in Life" is a realistic movie, which is extremely down-to-earth in terms of life details and story settings. But occasionally there are plots that seem very out of line in the story, such as the friendship between three people in the funeral shop, the sudden adoption decision, the cheating of an ex-girlfriend, and the business of robbing the funeral in the hospital...
Some comic-style plots depend on the third brother's straight but fragile personality, which seems to be less abrupt, and even have some comedy effects, which are indeed due to Zhu Yilong's acting skills.
probably because the story line of the third brother and Xiaowen is too prominent, and the star effect is enough. "The Great Events in Life" obviously deleted other characters' scenes. The background of the Northeast girl Yin Baixue and Wang Jianren's past experience were not too late to explain. No matter how good the two of them were, they could not express them. Including the third brother's family relationship and Xiaowen's family situation all seem a bit functional, and everything serves the progression and growth of the two.
This is a bit unbalanced in the narrative logic of the movie, but from the perspective of the commercial logic of the commercial film, it seems particularly reasonable - focus on the big and let go of the small, and keeping the most moving and discussion-filled part of the movie is enough for the audience.
As I wrote, I took a look at the box office situation again. "The Big Events in Life" has a box office of more than 300 million yuan, and it is a shot in the heart for the film market that has been too bleak this year.
At least, it gives people who are willing to believe that even in the days when the market and the general environment are not good, the audience will still buy it.
The story of "The Big Events in Life" is also an invigorating agent for viewers who are struggling in life. Facing and exploring death is to live better, face the unknown life better, and love yourself and others better.
In front of us, this is the major event in our life.
Producer/Ning Li Sherry
Editing/Timmy
Text/Song Yan
Text/Song Yan
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-