《Under the Light》Zhang Yimou's “One Step Away”

《Under the Light》 is the joint effort of the entire crew, and it has successfully attracted a large number of viewers after it was broadcast. Everyone has a strong desire to know more about this well-produced film and television drama, and 《Under the LightLight》Zhang Yimou's “One Step Away” is one of them. Let's take a look at it with the editor.

《Under the Light》Zhang Yimou's “One Step Away”

Filming will start in 2019 and is scheduled for National Day in 2023. Under the Light, directed by Zhang Yimou, will be launched with great force.

Although the themes, types, and shooting styles are different, for some reason, I can always see the shadow of Azolla in Under the Light.To be more precise, a similar idea and motive had been planned four years ago.Zhang Yimou spent four years exploring how to play with stories. In a deeper sense, he was experimenting with the relationship between his personal transformation and the commercial operation of films.

Story is purpose and form

One film - Under the Light - is lively, Zhang Yimou-style lively.

Once upon a time, as the leader of the fifth generation of directors, Zhang Yimou would rather use hundreds of millions of large-scale productions and beautiful images to tell a cold story, like - Hero - House of Flying Daggers -.In those films, the image is overwhelming, it is the form, content, and even ritual of the film.In fact, many fifth-generation directors, including him, are fans of light and shadow, and have all dreamed of sculpting time like Andrei Tarkovsky.

Zhang Yimou was also the first director to notice changes in market trends.So he began to tell stories in a different direction, and the stories got better and better, becoming more and more comfortable.When it came to Under the Light, he had already given up his insistence on light and shadow. He no longer even used the words "snow white" and "manjiang red" on the cliff.Dark red and silver gray are used to advocate Zhang Yimou-style images. The previously slightly hazy and romantic classicism style was replaced by a complete realism approach; those colors that once made the screen world and the real world distinct and open and close., also flew into the homes of ordinary people and turned into real urban neon.

The story is truly dizzying.《Under the Light》 can be described as full of suspense and constant twists and turns.The bus bombing case, the violent salary demand case, the old skeleton case, etc., one after another, the suspicions are one after another, and the drama is one after another. One minute, the guests and the host are having dinner together at the same table, and the next minute they are looking ferocious and merciless.; On the surface, the “Bigg Boss” is arrogant, domineering and arrogant, but he has been repeatedly assassinated and hijacked by others; some people are hard to distinguish between good and evil, and some people are hard to distinguish between true and false. Until the end, no one can guess the mastermind behind the scenes.; When the mantis hunts the cicada, there is always an oriole behind it, and both the mantis and the oriole are in the game... All the elements are right on target. The movie is fascinating and makes people unable to put it down for 2 hours.

Even so, once the surface of the story is peeled away, the audience will find that Zhang Yimou finally moved from one mode to another.Today, he pursues the formalism of stories; his stories are forms.If we put aside the surface value artificially assigned to them, whether it is patriotism or the concept of the rule of law, we will find that they are suspended in mid-air and have insufficient connection with the times, life and even their essence.《Under the Light》 presents a wonderful story, but the story fails to take root deeply in the soil of reality-if this battle between good and evil is taken out of the setting of the movie and placed in any era, I am afraid it can be said.Pass.

The reason why the story is wonderful is that the story is an end in itself; in other words, this movie is a story for the sake of the story.What is flipped is the plot, and the characters are the tools.This is why I always feel that Zhou Dongyu in the film is very similar to Yue Yunpeng in "Man Jiang Hong", except that the latter has its own sense of comedy, so it is more “ likeable”.But this does not affect the two of them being hastily and inexplicably “ offline ”, because they just completed the task.Some viewers pointed out the loophole: The burden of such a heavyweight anti-crime campaign actually fell on the shoulders of an ordinary police officer - because it doesn't matter, whether it is a police officer or a task force, it is just to complete the plot.In essence, it makes no difference who you choose.

Half is meaning, half is “crowding”

Of course, Zhang Yimou knows that to play with the story, plot alone is not enough; if there is only the superposition of plots, it will become a “script killing”. If there is no meaningful and faithfully presented conflict, it will be reduced to an inferior one.

Zhang Yimou knows how to tell stories.His grasp of stories started much earlier, perhaps dating back to 2009 when he was filming Three Shots. That was the beginning of his transformation into storytelling.It was that “dismal ending” that made him see that the story cannot be separated from its connotation and become a complete plot accumulation. Even if it takes the formalist route, it must be advanced, that is, follow the rules of the story, let the story be self-consistent, and give the storyTake kernel.

Fortunately, Zhang Yimou found a “core” that is highly suitable for himself through exploration, which is both enough to control and impress the audience, and gradually entered his “comfort zone”.This “core” is a literary motif: searching.Therefore, we see that he is constantly searching“ for: either a truth, such as - Manjianghong -; or a breakthrough, such as - on the cliff -; or a precious memory in life that cannot be lost, such as 《One second》... In contrast, those ”Looking“ that are related to the character's fate or life experience can generate more emotional resonance and receive more praise.

After getting comfortable with it, Zhang Yimou began to try to combine different types of ”find“.So there was 《Under the Light》.There are two lines in this film: one belongs to the characters and the other belongs to the plot; the former is looking for the truth about my life experience and answers who I am; the latter is looking for the truth of the incident and answering who the bad guy is.Two lines, one weak and one strong, intertwined with each other, advancing in parallel but reaching the same destination by different routes. The process of answering the latter is actually answering the former, and it is the truth of the protagonist's life experience that adds a tragic color to this suspenseful story.It infiltrates the connotation of destiny, making it even more meaningful.The line that touched me the most in the whole film was Chen Daoming’s line: ”Because you said you wanted to be a real policeman.“This section is not in the advancement of the main plot, but it can be regarded as the ”key point“ of the whole film. It is the ultimate goal” that the protagonist “ is looking for”.If this story expresses any value, it is here.

“Core” is set well, and it is destined that Under the Light is half successful; but the other half is the problem: Zhang Yimou wants to put too many elements into this story, thus causing the plot to be “crowded”.When watching this film, there is always a sense of rupture or haste. That is because there are gaps in the logical chain of the story. Some are intentionally abandoned, and some are forced to do so, but no matter what, they are all to make way for the plot.For example, the bus bombing case and the old skeleton case, either one is enough to fill the story, but Zhang Yimou doesn't want to choose because both are eye-catching; so both stories seem crowded: the first one ends in a hurry; The latter one starts suddenly, giving people the illusion of entering another movie.It is also difficult to develop the characters, such as the main role played by Chen Chong, the wife of the deputy mayor who carries many secrets and played an important role.

Overall, the story strategy of "Under the Light" is successful, and Zhang Yimou has contributed another qualified commercial film.However, as a great director who is over seventy years old, with his aesthetics, experience, technology and depth, it is not a pity that he still only cares about the market and focuses on commercial films and box office.There may be only one step between a craftsman and a master, but it is not easy to cross.

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