This year's Christmas movies, "Days of Being Wild" and "The Truman Show" have attracted great attention.\\\After the premiere of the two films, film critics gave high praise and considered them to be rare in recent years.
High-quality Hong Kong films.
The only difference is that "Days of Wild" was not a critical hit. Although film critics and peers unanimously agreed that it was a good film, most of the viewers who watched it thought it was a bad movie.
In the first few days of its official release, due to the box office appeal of starring actors such as Leslie Cheung and Andy Lau, the strong praise of media critics, and Deng Guangrong's ruthless money-spending publicity campaign, the attendance rate of "Days of Being Wild" was very high, even in
There were also several sold-out shows on Christmas Day.
However, after the moviegoers cursed and spontaneously spread negative publicity to their relatives and friends, the box office of "Days of Being Wild" plummeted in its second week of release.
After only being released for 11 days, Xinbao Cinemas could no longer hold on and forced "Days of Being Wild" to be released early, with a box office of just over 9 million.
The box office of more than 9 million yuan is not too low, but the problem is that the investment of this movie is more than 40 million yuan, and the production period is more than a year. If you want to recover the box office from overseas markets, you will have to wait for another year and a half.
Deng Guangrong invested all the money he earned in the past few years, part of which was mortgage loans, but he had to wait nearly three years to recoup his investment. What is the difference between this and losing all his money?
What's more, it's still unclear whether "Days of Being Wild" can earn back its box office revenue from overseas markets.
After the box office statistics of "Days of Being Wild" were released, investor Deng Guangrong spat out blood and was admitted to the hospital to recuperate.
Two years ago, the low-budget "Carmen" was a hit and was later nominated for several Academy Awards. It made director Wong Kar-wai a celebrity, and many investors rushed to spend money on him to make films.
And now, when the news came out that "Days of Being Wild" sent Deng Guangrong to the hospital out of anger, Wong Kar-wai has become like a god of plague, and everyone who meets him avoids him.
"Aren't you going to work with Shadow Hero anymore?" Liu Zhenwei added some wine to his good friend Wong Kar-wai.
Wong Kar-Wai smiled bitterly and said: "Even if Boss Deng tolerates me, I don't have the shame to stay there. What's more, "Days of Wild" flopped so badly. It is estimated that Yingzhijie will close its doors soon..."
"It's not that it's closed. Mr. Deng can still afford to pay tens of millions," Liu Zhenwei comforted. "Don't blame yourself too much. No one can guarantee that you can make money 100% when filming. The money you and I made for Mr. Deng in the past few years
, which adds up to tens of millions, we don’t owe him anything.”
Wong Kar-wai rubbed his messy hair and said distressedly: "Actually, "Days of Being Wild" is my most satisfying work in these years. But why don't the audience like it? I have to make those shitty blockbuster movies.
, but what’s the point of filming it?”
Wong Kar-wai is really not bragging. Many blockbuster movies in recent years have scripts written by him. He knows the routines of commercial films and knows how to make the audience happy, but when Wong Kar-wai took over as director, he was unwilling to follow such routines.
.
The same will be true for a guy named Jiang Wen in the future on the mainland. If we follow the good reputation of "Let the Bullets Fly" and make a sequel, it will be a big hit at the box office. But this guy is not. He has to make something "
"One Step Away" to express your own thoughts and artistic pursuits.
You said that if you really want to make an art film, then go ahead and make it properly. But Jiang Wen clearly wrote the synopsis of the story before starting the filming. He insisted on filming without a script like Sunglasses King, and said that having a script would affect the performance.
As a result, a screenwriting team of nearly ten people was able to come up with the script on the same day, and the leading actors had to put on their makeup every time to know roughly what their lines would be today.
Not only that, Jiang Wen also encouraged the actors to tamper with lines and plots. As long as the changes were exciting, he would accept it. In the end, "One Step Away" had a chaotic rhythm and a fragmented main line. Many ordinary viewers were stunned in the screening room for the first 30 minutes.
If you can't hold on, you will either leave early or fall asleep watching it.
Liu Zhenwei knew very well about Wong Kar-wai's abilities and comforted him: "I understand what you mean and I know you have talent, but without money, which boss would be willing to invest? You also went to see "The Truman Show" yesterday. Mr. Kang wanted to
We compromised on the box office and made significant changes to the script. Some originally good ideas and plots were scrapped during filming and editing just because they might affect the audience's viewing experience."
"So he is the big boss, and I am just a small director of art films." Wong Kar-wai said with a self-deprecating smile. He had a very contradictory view of Kang Jianfei. He understood that Kang Jianfei did everything for the sake of box office, but also despised Kang Jianfei's lack of artistic pursuits. Because "
"The Truman Show" could obviously have been made better, but in order to cater to the commercial market, many vulgar and funny plots were added, which in vain reduced the artistic quality of the film.
Liu Zhenwei said: "I'm afraid you won't have the chance to direct a movie in a short time. What are your plans in the future?"
"I've become a street rat now. I guess no one wants me as a screenwriter. What plans do I have?" Wong Kar-wai said helplessly, "I want to teach at the Academy of Performing Arts."
Liu Zhenwei said: "Aren't you teaching at the Academy of Performing Arts now?"
"I mean full-time lecturer." Wang Jiawei said.
"It's just a one-time rush on the street. It's not necessary." Liu Zhenwei said.
Wong Kar-wai laughed and said: "The main thing is to adjust and change my mind. Maybe one day I will come out to make movies again."
Liu Zhenwei thought for a while and said: "If you have a good idea, you can tell me about it, and I will help you attract investment from Mr. Kang."
"Is he willing to vote?" Wong Kar-wai asked with a smile.
Liu Zhenwei said with a smile: "He is sometimes very generous and has a very accurate vision."
Mr. Kang Jianfei, who has an extremely accurate vision, has been praised by film critics every day during this period.
The plot of "The Truman Show" is absurd and the style is like Kafka's. This kind of film is naturally easy to be favored by professional film critics. But what is rare is that most ordinary viewers can also understand it and have a feeling for this film.
Strong resonance.
It’s not just Lu Xinsheng who speaks out about the bottom, wealthy businessmen, officials, vendors, students, housewives... who is not bound by life?
The same plot will have different changes in the eyes of different audiences. Everyone feels that the film is a metaphor for their own life. At the moment when the protagonist seizes the ship and sails to the other shore, the audience unconsciously puts themselves into the role, brewing in their hearts
Infinite recognition and emotion, imagining that one day I can break through the constraints and regain freedom like the protagonist.
Except for the audience with low cultural literacy, the vast majority of young people, especially intellectuals and white-collar workers, simply regard "The Truman Show" as a classic and worship it.
The famous female writer Li Bihua wrote a prose-like review: ""The Truman Show" uses a style similar to that of a fairy tale, and through absurd and uninhibited plots, it metaphors the oppression and restraint of modern people's lives...
How many people, like puppets on strings, live a monotonous and repetitive life day after day. How many people have tried to make changes and have the courage to break away from the predetermined track...
Maybe you and I have had a momentary impulse to sail a sailboat like the protagonist and try to break through all this.
At that moment, life was shining.
And how many moments like this are there in one's life, where one can have such glory, driving a boat and drifting on the boundless blue shore...
After going through all the hardships and sailing to the end of the world, I heard the sound of hitting a wall.
Fantasy shattered, return to reality!”
"Movie Biweekly" is much more rational, analyzing the entire film bit by bit from creativity, script to lighting and lenses, praising "The Truman Show", its director and starring actors from top to bottom.
What surprised Kang Jianfei the most was that some people actually believed that "The Truman Show" contained profound political implications.
The film related Kang Jianfei's origin and experience, and believed that the Truman in the film was Kang Jianfei himself, the closed studio was a metaphor for socialism, the program director was the incarnation of the central dictatorship, and the Taoyuan Island where the protagonist was imprisoned was a metaphor for the mainland.
, the reality TV show is a satire on those ten years of catastrophe, the hypocrisy and betrayal of the protagonist's wife and friends, referring to the ten years of movement in which people reported and criticized each other, even husband and wife turned against each other, and brothers killed each other, and in the end the protagonist escaped in a boat, that is.
Zhi Kang Jianfei traveled to Hong Kong and smuggled into Hong Kong. The boundary of the studio symbolized the border blockade...
After reading this film review, Kang Jianfei had only one feeling in his mind: This guy is really bullshit!
It turns out that "The Truman Show" is not only an inspirational film, but also a political satire. (To be continued...) u