The most lively time in the Chinese film industry every year is the period after the year before and after the New Year, Hollywood blockbusters are crazy to invade, desperately making money, domestic filmmakers are naturally unwilling to come over foreigners on their own turf to spread wild, and it is inevitable to strictly defend the position, but while hating the same enemy, it is naturally indispensable to have a little dirty.

Song Zheng's movie "No Thieves in the World" was stolen from the box office last year, and it belongs to the category of causing trouble to Xiao Wall, and every time someone stands up and shouts: "Chinese filmmakers must unite." ”

But as soon as the matter passed, no one had the leisure to learn from the pain, but when it was time for the next time the war was going to start, the fight was still in full swing, as if he couldn't show his ability if he didn't do it.

As 2005 draws to a close, the Lunar New Year war will ignite the flames of war again, and there are not many blockbusters in Hollywood this year, and the introduction of them will not become a climate, but it will complete the infighting of a group of domestic filmmakers.

The war is imminent, and the propaganda offensive has been launched, and the most watched movies in this year's Chinese New Year file are undoubtedly Feng Xiaogang's "Night Banquet" and Chen Kaige's "Wuji".

One is a gimmick adapted from Shakespeare's famous play "Hamlet", and the other is known as the first magic drama in China, and the two films were pinched at the beginning of the propaganda outpost.

"Night Banquet" has just rented all the bus station billboards in Yanjing City, and the huge poster of "Night Banquet" appeared in the most conspicuous position in the subway station.

Feng Xiaogang took the crew of "Night Banquet" to create "The Birth of a Family", and Chen Kaige immediately led the whole army to "Happy Camp".

In short, these two most famous directors in China are usually the most reluctant to do things for the sake of publicity, but now they have all done it.

Seeing that the two of them were like fighting cocks, although they didn't attack each other, they both exposed their bright feathers and sharp claws, and the most excited was nothing more than the media.

For this kind of behavior of taking off his pants and being bigger than anyone, Song Zheng feels like a farce, Wang Lao Wu follows Wang Lao Si to fight for wealth, fighting back and forth, isn't it less than anyone else's cotton pants patches!

Song Zheng sometimes really feels very incomprehensible, what happened to these big film directors in China, from Zhang Yimou to Chen Kaige, and then to Feng Xiaogang, China's big directors seem to be stunned, and they have to die begging to make their own blockbusters, one by one to see who is profound, and whose movie can be understood by the audience, who is the grandson.

And then what!?

Collectively encountered a blockbuster scolding syndrome!

Perhaps, the yesterday of Zhang Yimou's blockbuster encounter is the tomorrow of Feng Xiaogang's blockbuster.

Not perhaps, it should be for sure.

Who let Song Zheng cross from the future, and what will happen, he knows clearly.

Now, Song Zheng sees that "Night Banquet", which is full of loopholes, and "Wuji", which is so bad that he has no friends, is about to be released, and he can only feel sorry for the audience's movie ticket money, I am afraid that it will be wasted.

Chen Kaige's movie is profound, there is a precedent, probably the audience will not feel anything after watching it, at most, when they walk out of the cinema, they will scold a few sentences.

But Feng Xiaogang, who was originally the best storyteller, couldn't tell a story when he made a blockbuster, and Song Zheng could even imagine how disappointed the audience should be, maybe this is the blockbuster syndrome of Chinese directors.

What will happen in the future, Song Zheng knows, Feng Xiaogang doesn't know, Chen Kaige doesn't know, now everyone is sweeping the film market, kicking over Song Zheng's "Assembly", sitting on the leading position of the domestic box office market, and then conquering Cannes, conquering Berlin, conquering Venice, conquering the Golden Globe, and recently conquering Hollywood.

All right!

Who doesn't have a dream!

Compared with these two blockbusters, other films that will be released at the same time are extraordinarily small, such as "People in Embarrassment", the first work produced by 1+1 Company and directed by Xu Zheng.

"1+1's "No Man's Land" really can't be on?"

At Chen Kaige's house, Lao Chen is sitting on the sofa and reading today's newspaper, and his daughter-in-law Chen Hong is still cooking in the kitchen.

Hearing Chen Kaige's voice, Chen Hong said: "I can't get on it, I heard that the schedule has been moved to the end of March, the beginning of April, and the specific time has not been decided!"

Chen Kaige nodded, and then asked, "What about the scene that Song Zheng and his daughter-in-law filmed!?"

Chen Hong came out with breakfast and put it on the coffee table: "People didn't plan to release it on the Chinese New Year at all, it was released on Valentine's Day, and it was quite appropriate for a movie about love to be released on Valentine's Day!"

Chen Kaige's heart immediately settled down a little, this year's Lunar New Year competition, if you want to say that it can really make him think about it, it is Song Zheng, after all, the box office of several Song Zheng's movies before was too dazzling, a "Hurricane Rescue" knocked over half of the film and television circle, a "Assembly" directly sank "Titanic", and later another "True Lies" stood in the United States.

Although "Thirty-three Days of Broken Love" was advertised as a small-budget movie before it was launched, and even Lin Xinru blew herself up, Song Zheng wrote this script and acted in this movie completely to satisfy her desire to act in a movie with Song Zheng.

But Chen Kaige still didn't dare to be careless, what's wrong with the small cost?

The first small-budget movie "Nightclub" produced by 1+1 Company almost broke 100 million at the box office, and Ning Hao's two small-budget movies "Crazy Stone" and "Crazy Racing" shocked the attention of countless people.

Who is sure that Song Zheng's "Thirty-three Days of Broken Love" will not become the next box office dark horse?

But now it seems that there is no need to worry, if "Thirty-three Days of Broken Love" is released on Valentine's Day, by that time, "Wuji" has been released for a long time, and it will not have any impact on "Wuji" at all.

This made Chen Kaige a lot more down-to-earth, you know, this "Wuji" has cost him a lot of effort, from the idea to the completion of the shooting, a few years have passed, and now it is finally time to accept the audience's test.

In Chen Kaige's psychology, this "Wuji" can be regarded as the fulfillment of one of his wishes, together with "Yellow Earth" and "Farewell My Concubine", "Wuji" is the last part of the "confrontation of man" trilogy in his plan, "Yellow Earth" represents the confrontation between man and the natural environment, "Farewell My Concubine" represents the confrontation between man and the historical environment, and "Wuji" represents the confrontation between man and the fate environment, all of which are his thoughts on the existence of man himself.

If Song Zheng knew that Chen Kaige actually raised "Wuji" to the same height as classics like "Yellow Earth" and "Farewell My Concubine", he would have vomited blood.

Because, if the first two are tragic in the strict sense of the word, and the latter only does it.

Although Han Han in "Yellow Earth" walks in the opposite direction with the crowd in the section of praying for rain, it seems to be a shot full of hope, but in fact there is little hope, because Han Han has turned from a person who can't speak and has no independent soul to learning revolutionary songs, replacing thinking and expression with revolutionary thinking, and his essence is still a person without a complete personality, and his reverse direction is just going to the abyss of another tragedy.

In the middle of "Farewell My Concubine", Xiaolou and Cheng Dieyi are as small as dust in the flood of history, no matter how noble and elegant they are on the stage, they are dustless under their eyes, and they are not fooled by history, this layer of tragedy has a kind of powerless sadness.

Although the idea of "Wuji" is more ambitious, putting people under an irreversible oracle of fate, the confrontation between man and fate is the most direct and shocking part of tragedy, but why does "Wuji" only see "cups" and not "tragedy"?

Cup instead of tragedy is an outdated Internet term that is no longer trendy, but it is extremely appropriate and wise to describe the tragic environment of Chinese films in recent years, there is no "sadness", only playful ridicule, no shocking story, only absurd and ridiculous plot combination.

In fact, there is little tragic tradition in China, this is an indisputable fact, Chinese dramas since ancient times have had a happy ending of "talented and beautiful women meet each other, privately set a lifelong back garden, the champion of the fallen son, and the marriage reunion by order".

There is only one person in Chinese history who has ever questioned the fate of fate, he is Chen Sheng, when he questioned the fate of the land of China, there is no doubt that this is his thinking about the existence of his own life, of course, this voice was soon drowned out by the sound of history, because China is a country that lacks confrontation with fate, that is, the lack of serious thinking about the existence of life.

Chen Kaige's "Wu Ji" is based on a cultural background without the tradition of questioning fate, cleverly erecting a story space, and using this space to complete metaphysical thinking, first of all, this effort is worthy of recognition.

At the beginning of "Wuji", a person named Manshen Old Lady, similar to the god of fate, appeared, she said: "There is everyone's fate in Wuji. ”

Just such a sentence immediately highlighted, and the audience knew that she had arranged the fate of everyone.

Can Mao be the fate of everyone arranged for this old lady?

Is it because she is played by Chen Kaige's daughter-in-law!?

In the previous life, after the release of "Wuji", many viewers felt that the characters full of gods were inexplicable, appearing and disappearing for no reason, as if they were just a joke about watching the ugliness of human beings in the face of fate.

This kind of character is more suitable if it is placed in a Western mythological movie, because everyone knows that their god is the kind of god who gives human destiny for no reason, and then leads people to sin, do whatever they want, sometimes even cruel and ruthless, and then disappear, just like the witch in "Macbeth", the god of fate in "Oedipus", the cruelty of God contrasts with human efforts, and adds to the glory of man.

However, because of the copying of Western cultural traditions and the lack of connection with Western tragic identity, there has begun to be a break between "Wu Ji" and the audience's identity and fit.

Immediately afterwards, this layer of fracture continued to extend, so that there was a scene of "the actors are crying, and the audience is laughing", which is very simple, the whole story of "Wu Ji" is labeled as Chinese Taoist culture, and it is like thinking like the West, and this practice of selling dog meat on the head of a sheep can only make Chinese and Western audiences cry out and not know what to do.

"Wuji" has little to do with the Taoist culture of "returning to nothingness", it expresses the various fates of people under the oracle, and in the confrontation with fate, whether to choose obedience or struggle, whether to choose to be reluctant or choose to die together, this is a question worth thinking about, and in the struggle against fate, whether people have achieved nobility or depravity, this is the ultimate thinking of human existence.

In Western tragedy, whether it is Achilles' struggle against fate or Antigone's rebellion against the fate of birth, they proved their dignity and nobility as human beings with their deaths.

This is the position of tragedy, confronting the sorrow of existence, the mystery of existence and the affirmation of life, which can inspire pity and fear.

And "Wuji" actually tried to use four men and a woman to prove this treacherous and ruthless that is different from God, calling it human dignity and nobility.

The ghost wolf said that he was not sorry for anyone, but he was sorry for himself, he lived in infinite chagrin and remorse, because he could not die as noble as his people, he survived, but he could only be a slave in a black robe, and his sadness was that he had lost his dignity and nobility.

Under the teaching of the ghost wolf by example, Kunlun has changed from a materialistic slave who asks his master for meat to a dignified person who has a desire in his heart and wants to break the shackles of fate for his lover.

Guangming from the invincible general, to the process of becoming a prisoner, but also realized his nobility, before the oracle came, he was a man who would do anything for victory, and regarded human life as a mustard, at this time he was like Wuhuan, bad enough, he could get all the things in the world, but he could not get the dignity of people, nor could he get the love of Allure, when he fell in love with Allure, no longer the arrogant general, he had defeated Wuhuan from the personality.

Wuhuan is the only villain in "Wu Ji", and he himself said that Allure ruined his chance to be a good person because Allure deceived him.

This is not the case, as the son of a general, the people around him dare not disobey him, flattery to him is a kind of deception in itself, the appearance of Allure for him, is the first time that there are people who dare to disobey his orders, and the later light is also, what destroys him is his desire to control the world, not deception, what Wuhuan wants to get is the surrender of this world, which is the nobility and dignity he wants to get, and because there is no love in his heart and no person he wants to protect, he can only succumb to the light for the rest of his life and be a second-rate character, because he can't get the true dignity and nobility as a human being。

Allure is the first person to get the oracle, and she is also the person who got the most definite oracle, she can't get true love in her life, and even if she gets it, she will lose it immediately, so she can't get human dignity and nobility between wealth and prosperity, so she regrets looking for it all her life, this is her rebellion against fate.

It can be said that "Wu Ji" is Chen Kaige's attempt at tragic fate, so the background of the movie, the performance of the actors, and the expression of the lines are all trying their best to get closer to the theatrical performance, to show the tragedy that erupts when people are still unable to change their fate in the process of fighting against fate.

The end of this attempt is a half-finished product, a self-creation based on not understanding the true meaning of the tragedy, and it is destined to be a cup.

When the god told him that the owner of the flower armor would kill the king and that the battle of the canyon was the last victory in his life, his first reaction was to resist, he asked Kunlun to put on the armor and go to save the king, but in the dark fate led fate to the path of killing the king and defeat.

He worked hard to conquer Allure, in order to make Allure love him, he lied that he killed the king, just for a woman, he resisted, he failed, referring to the outer core of "Oedipus", the resistance failed, maybe Chen Kaige felt that this was a tragedy.

However, the greatness of "Oedipus" as a tragedy lies in the fact that Oedipus rebelled against the oracle from the beginning, punished himself with a stab blind after the failure of the rebellion, replaced the blindness of the heart with blindness, and reached another level of cognition, which is the process of a person's development.

"Wuji" is just the opposite, the light also rebelled against the oracle at the beginning, and later he saw the begonia flowers, the sun and the moon appeared in the same sky, and began to believe in the oracle, he went from resisting to walking according to the fate of the oracle, it was a process of regression against human development, simply put, he became a slave of God, and even gave up resistance, the light in "Wuji" seemed to achieve the nobility of people, but in fact became a puppet of God, losing the tragic power of shocking people.

Kunlun's character design is a new character in tragedy, he seems to have broken through the shackles of fate, and can wear a black robe to lead Allure back to the beginning of the fate choice, this seemingly hopeful and confrontational role makes Chen Kaige go back to the "reunion" when trying to build a new tragic culture Because in the real tragedy, people can never defeat God, and they can never defeat fate, people can only be destroyed, and this is precisely the nobility of people, in the process of resistance, not in the result, in the face of the ugliness, pain, indifference and ruthlessness of fate, face it, endure it, this has the effect of washing and purifying the heart, and "Wuji" The tragedy of the chosen reunion makes the conflict between people and the confrontation with fate infinitely weakened, and even seems naïve and ridiculous, which cannot make the audience face the fear and worry of survival brought about by tragedy in the real sense, nor can it make people feel strong and brave.

So "Wuji" is still far from the real tragedy, and it is still a distance away from the cup.

If China also has any Golden Sour Plum Awards, then "Wuji" will definitely be the top spot this year, and it can even be said that if you want to evaluate the top ten bad movies in the past 30 years of China's reform and opening up, it is estimated that "Wuji" can also be on the list.

Chen Kaige's biggest mistake in making "Wuji" is that he wants to make both commercial blockbusters and literary arts, but as a result, people are not people, demons are not demons, and the whole person is a demon.

Just because the "international stars" in the film say Chinese like that, they can vomit a large group of spectators directly into the sewer.

Coupled with the iconic human kite, I can't help but admire Chen Kaige's supernatural post-modern romance.

If there is any contribution, it can only be said that this landmark bad film is of milestone significance, both for Chinese films and for the development of Chinese society.

Without "Wuji", there would be no "A Bloody Case Caused by a Steamed Bun", and without Wuji's steamed bread, there would be no thriving "spoof" culture of grass people entertaining themselves, so "Wuji" can be described as far-reaching.

Song Zheng watched "Wuji" in his last life, and he watched it more than once, because Chen Kaige said that "people can't understand this movie until five years later", so Song Zheng endured the torment and watched it many times, hoping to understand it, but in the end, he gave up, because he suddenly felt that watching "Wuji" might as well watch "A Bloody Case Caused by a Steamed Bun" directly.

Of course, Chen Kaige, who is now full of ambition, is destined not to know what kind of label his painstaking and lonely work will be labeled on, so he is full of expectations for the future.

After its release, the box office was red all the way.

There is still a week before the release of "Wu Ji", and we allow Director Chen Da to continue this dream.

Chen Kaige had just settled down, and suddenly saw a small article in the newspaper, more than 100 words, and if he didn't pay attention, he wouldn't be able to see it at all: ""People are in awkward places, what is this!?"

Chen Hong was eating, and after hearing this, he thought about it before saying: "This is also a movie produced by 1+1 Company, it seems to support the newcomer director!"

"Who!?"

Chen Hong really couldn't answer for a while, got up and made a call, and when he came back, he said: "Xu Zheng! is the one who played Zhu Bajie." ”

Pig!?

Chen Kaige has an impression of the actors who have played Zhu Bajie, and the only one who has an impression is Ma Dehua.

Seeing that Chen Kaige was stunned, Chen Hong said again: "In "Crazy Stone", he played the real estate boss, by the way, in Ning Hao's "No Man's Land", he was the protagonist. ”

Chen Kaige knew it now, and his impression gradually became clear, a shiny braised egg head: "He!"

Chen Kaige said and laughed, and didn't pay attention to the little article anymore: "It's true, now that everyone is running out to make movies, why do I think the threshold for this industry has suddenly become lower!"

Chen Hong also smiled, she and Chen Kaige had the same idea.

"People in Embarrassment" is not worth mentioning.

At the same time, Feng Xiaogang, who is in Huayi Brothers, also found the news that the movie "People in Embarrassment" will also be released in the Chinese New Year.

"Zhengzi is a mistake this time!" Feng Xiaogang put down the newspaper, "Zhongjun, what do you think Zhengzi thinks!? He doesn't know what the next game is, so he recklessly let a young junior add in, isn't this ruining people!?"

In Feng Xiaogang's view, Xu Zheng brought his "People in Embarrassment" to join this year's Lunar New Year War, which is simply dizzy, and it is clear that in the box office war set off by "Night Banquet" and "Wuji", "People in Embarrassment" is the fate of cannon fodder.

Wang Zhongjun was not as relieved as Feng Xiaogang: "Old Feng, do you really think that Xiao Song is dizzy!"

"Otherwise, what else could it be!?" Wang Zhonglei hurriedly said, "Brother! If you pay a little attention to this drama, you will know that the total investment is less than 10 million, just such a piece, how can it be compared with "Night Banquet"? How can it be compared with "Wuji"? Isn't this looking for shame!? I see, he is sick and went to the hospital, his "Thirty-three Days of Broken Love" is unwilling to get involved in the Chinese New Year war, "No Man's Land" has not been reviewed before, it has been delayed, and it is too late to be released in the New Year's file, so he takes such a "People in Embarrassment" top cylinder!"

Really!?

Wang Zhongjun didn't dare to take it lightly: "Maybe what you said makes sense, but don't forget, what did Xiao Song rely on to start his business, that is, "Nightclub", "Crazy Stone", "Crazy Racing", the investment in the three films is around 10 million, but what is the result!?"

Wang Zhongjun's words made Feng Xiaogang and Wang Zhonglei both bow their heads and ponder.

"What that kid is best at is to be small and broad, 1+1 company in the past few years, except for "Assembly Number", all the independently produced films, the investment is not too big, but how is the box office performance?"

What else, who doesn't blush when they look at it!

"Loyal Army! You mean, this "People in Embarrassment" may disrupt the situation!"

Wang Zhongjun shook his head and said: "I don't know, but I'm sure that since Song Zheng is going to release this movie in the Chinese New Year, he will definitely not let this movie be cannon fodder, this kid, the plan is very big!"

There is a sentence, Wang Zhongjun didn't say it, he even felt that Song Zheng was still counting on this movie to overturn Feng Xiaogang's "Night Banquet"!

Facts have proved that Wang Zhongjun really didn't think wrong, and Song Zheng really held back this thought.

It's just that he has always pursued a low-key life and low-key work, and the propaganda war between "Night Banquet" and "Wuji" was so ferocious, he didn't think about mixing it at all, because it couldn't be mixed up.

A movie directed by a newcomer has no big-name stars, and the only one who has enough wrist is Wang Baoqiang, who has just become popular, how can it be compared with "Wuji" with Zhang Bozhi and Zhang Dongjian, International Chapter and Uncle Ge's "Night Banquet"!

Is it difficult to focus on braised egg heads?

That's even more funny, since the publicity work is basically no drama, so just keep a low profile, the drama "People in Embarrassment" is destined not to become popular as soon as it is released, and it needs to be saved little by little, and now I can't rush it.

"Xiao Song, what do you think!? You asked me to formulate a publicity plan for "People in Embarrassment", Xinru and I have done a good job, and you said wait first, seeing that "Wuji" and "Night Banquet" will be released, when the time comes, the attention will be attracted, what should I do with "People in Embarrassment"?"

On the phone, Shang Jie's tone was very impatient, she was the general manager of the company, and she needed to be responsible for all aspects, and her most important job at the moment was the promotion of "People in Embarrassment", but everything was ready, and she was suddenly stopped by Song Zheng.

"Sister Shang, don't be impatient, it's useless to be anxious now, wait! Wait! I won't tell you, I have a call coming in here!"

After Song Zheng finished speaking, he quickly hung up Shang Jie's phone and connected to another call, it was He Yong who called, and this guy hadn't taken the initiative to contact him for a long time.

"Hey!"

He Yong didn't wait for Song Zheng to finish speaking, and immediately said urgently: "Zhengzi!