Keep you safe: the highest comedy is to perform real life.
Original title: Experts comment on the dark horse masterpiece "Keep you safe": the highest comedy is to perform real life.
Wen Shu Zhou Su (member of Chinese Literary Critics Association, deputy editor of Beijing Normal University Press, president of higher education branch)
Special feature of 1905 film network The realistic comedy film directed and starring has won nearly 350 million box office less than 10 days after its release, and has become a dark horse masterpiece of domestic films in the post-Spring Festival. The film tells the story of Wei Ping-an (Dapeng), a middle-aged man who went to prison for his friends out of loyalty. When he was a cemetery salesman after he was released from prison, he set foot on a rugged and difficult road to redress the wrongs for his dead client Han Lu (ornaments). In the end, Wei Ping-an fulfilled his promise to customers and also completed the redemption of his unbearable life. The film’s solid and close story, exquisite and realistic star-studded acting skills, profound and thorough social metaphors and warm and sincere moving emotions bring the audience a "warm realism" viewing experience with tears in laughter. On the whole, Keeping You Safe embodies exquisite and profound creative skills in three aspects: narrative completion, role shaping and emotional resonance, which can almost be called the pinnacle of Dapeng’s "directing+acting" series in recent years.
First, the presentation of mature narrative ability
In terms of narrative completion, "Keep You Safe" has achieved "telling a story well". In the past, Dapeng’s "director+starring" films often chose to "collage" stories with slightly blunt highlights of subculture, which was a bit "overexertion" because of their eagerness to achieve success (for example); Or series films with pure blood "feelings" clues, which are slightly "impulsive" due to lack of rationality (for example).
In terms of narrative skills, Keep You Safe has truly realized the mature transformation of Dapeng from a "cyber-big" director to a film director — — With rational and sophisticated narrative techniques, he chose the core clue of "seeking the truth" throughout the film, and quickly inspired the audience to produce "one-of-a-kind effect" from a limited narrative perspective; The film strictly follows the mature narrative law of commercial films, and promotes the story in the closed loop of plot design, logical presentation and echo. For example, in the scene of "Escape from the Chamber of Secrets", it not only successfully creates the atmosphere of many classic horror films, but also smoothly grafts into the comedy film "One Stop, One Meal" to adjust the audience’s mood freely, reflecting the skillful control of the film’s rhythm relaxation.
The film keenly uses "cyber violence", the core topic that causes people’s emotional explosion, to achieve the audience’s emotional resonance and value recognition of the work. For example, through Wei Ping’s sister (decoration), she uttered the thought-provoking words — — When you open your mouth and say that a woman is a lady, whether she is her or not, she is already. Reality is always more bizarre than the plot that the screenwriter came up with. In the film, Wei Ping-an was also infinitely distorted by online rumors in the process of clearing Han Lu’s grievances. For example, Wei Ping-an originally experienced that "his brother’s daughter-in-law was sleeping, and he helped his brother to fight each other", but after the amplification of the network, it became the absurd rumor that Wei Ping-an "slept his brother and then beat his brother’s daughter-in-law", which condensed the limit of "laughter" bred by extreme drama contrast.
Furthermore, the film reveals a more profound "human nature" topic behind the cyber storm — — The melon-eating spectators hiding behind the screen actually only want to see the "truth" they want to see; When people see that others are better off than themselves, there will be a kind of "malicious" speculation in human nature instinct. For example, in the film, when people learned that Han Lu, a young woman, had donated more than 1 million yuan naked to the welfare home before her death, they aroused the great imagination of "a villain’s heart is a gentleman’s belly", and people were waiting for the "black belly" answer they wanted behind the question of "why did she earn so much money". Just like the final ending in the novel Malicious, when Wei Ping-an finally caught the rumor monger in the film, he found that the source of this "malicious" answer, although disgusting to outrageous, was so simple and ridiculous.
It is through these "reasonable" rhythms and "reasonable" emotions which are different from Dapeng’s previous works that the film achieves the "reasonable" degree of story completion, thus truly enhancing the "real arrival rate" of the works’ thoughts to the audience. The realm of "reasonableness" achieved in film narration is particularly commendable among many domestic films that pursue short, flat and fast commercial returns.
Second, the role of three-dimensional shaping control
The plump three-dimensional presentation of characters and the extremely real "sense of hierarchy" in acting are another outstanding creative advantage of Keep You Safe. The success of this role-building is mainly reflected in the outline of the character’s pre-history and the psychological presentation of the role.
First of all, focus on Wei Pingan, the protagonist played by Dapeng. Behind his seemingly idle external behavior, he is actually full of bitter life ups and downs. For example, why did he keep his promise in the film and help a dead person to wash away seemingly meaningless online grievances? Why can’t you turn a blind eye and do what you want and finish the work of moving the grave? A large number of prehistory hooks at the front end of the film echo each other with the carefully designed egg plot at the end of the film, giving a secret answer: It is precisely because Wei Ping’s family life is not perfect that he unconsciously projects his heart into the lives of Han Lu and his lover, hoping that their spirit in heaven will replace him to get a happy "good end".
For another example, Wei Ping-an’s motivation to make money desperately is clearly explained in the film: It is precisely because his only daughter, Wei Moli, left a huge birthmark on her leg because of Wei Ping-an and his divorced ex-wife that Wei Ping-an tried his best to earn huge medical expenses, hoping to make up for her daughter’s more dignity. However, because of Wei Ping ‘an, her daughter was photographed with a birthmark on her leg by campus bullying, and Wei Ping’s most concerned "scar" was completely uncovered. Dapeng performed that kind of heartbreaking despair. Because he couldn’t go back to protect his daughter, his acting skill of beating the window glass painstakingly touched countless audiences. It was a true and simple emotional expression of a father, and he performed the helplessness and despair of "the collapse of an adult in an instant". The window glass he beat was like the shackles of life that he couldn’t break through at that time, and the full three-dimensional sense of character hierarchy was interpreted by Dapeng.
Secondly, Dapeng accurately designed the image of Wei Ping-an, the role he played. Green hair, cheeks painted red, messy and untidy image, and weird and unruly body language all form intertextuality with the tragic classic clown image played by Phoenix in the film The Clown. The sense of loss that nobody understands in a busy city, as well as the fact that after finally doing a good thing at the end of the film, Wei Ping-an saw the "666" fireworks scheduled by Han Lu before his death, with tears in his eyes and subconsciously nodded his head. At that moment, Dapeng vividly performed the persistence of a small person in society, which can be called "acting to seal the gods."
In addition, "Keep You Safe" continues to bring together many domestic first-line comedians. However, unlike the past, this time, Dapeng did not let these stars simply show their faces to enhance their attention, as in the past "diors man", but carefully designed to put each comedian in the most suitable role position for them, reflecting its ability to use people accurately as a director. For example, the constant use of golden sentences for the role of "sissy", the clever interpretation of Li Xueqin’s secular wisdom, the accurate handling of smooth and cowardly but essentially kind characters, and the interpretation of the image of the hypocritical bully boss, etc., make Dapeng’s films no longer rely solely on good popularity to make comedy stars simply "punch a card" in the movie like "Water Margin", but really go deep into the needs of the role and inspire these grounded comedy actors, such as. At present, the phenomenal popularity of TV series The Knockout is largely due to the sympathetic "human feeling" of a wicked person who plays Gao Qiqiang. Similarly, behind a good work, it not only reflects the actor’s strong role-building ability with a strong sense of hierarchy, but also lies in the extremely detailed foreshadowing of the character’s pre-history and the full design of the character’s motivation.
Third, the real emotional resonance of life
The above excellent "shape" of the plot and performance permeates the ingenious conception of the details in "Keep You Safe" and is all over the nuanced response to the narrative. However, compared with the skillful technology and rich experience in form, "God" is the core competitiveness of "Keep You Safe". Only when the director really "attentively" experiences the lines of the film and the emotions of the actors, completes the "empathy" between the director and the works first, and then fully exerts the inner tension of the film "vividly", can the audience and the works be helped to form a true and empty inner resonance.
A famous actor once summed up his acting experience and said that acting should not be performed, and emotions cannot be performed.
Comedy is the most difficult to shoot, because it is difficult to grasp the measure and depth of tears in laughter, because there must be recognized values rooted in the hearts of the audience behind this measure to support the theme. Dapeng, who has been honed for many years, in the comedy "Keep You Safe", shows a thorough understanding of the world’s coldness and ups and downs of life, and sincerely "flows into" the audience’s heart through comedy communication. Just as there was a video on the Internet that was widely circulated, the title was "There is no acting, but it’s just life". In "Keep You Safe", what supports Wei Ping’s efforts is his instinctive fatherly love for his beloved daughter, but when her daughter was scarred by campus bullying because of her own values, the belief supporting Wei Ping’s efforts collapsed. But the film didn’t stop there, but designed the daughter to comfort and encourage her father in turn, giving the adult great courage, which further sublimated the theme of emotional value in the film. This true interpretation of how ordinary people help each other and encourage them to live well is the most touching.
In addition, many metaphors in the film subtly echo the theme core of this warm realism. For example, when Wei Ping-an struggles whether to sacrifice himself again and stand up for a dead customer, the film presents this inner entanglement with spider pictures entangled in spider webs; Another example is the repeated appearance of the white horse image, which is actually like the moral sense of "superego" in the personality structure, realizing the inspiration of Wei Ping-an’s "id" and finally helping Wei Ping-an find back his persistence and courage of "self". It is precisely because of the great pressure caused by the violent invasion of public opinion in the internet age that this persistence is so precious. Even though Wei Ping-an is a "nobody" in the movie, his choice itself proves that he seems to be a "diaosi" and is actually a real "strong man".
Dapeng’s interpretation conveys that although the reality is cruel, he still chooses the kind "ordinary hero" realm, "Do what you think is right, whether it is worth it or not." "Do what you think is right." is also the core value that Dapeng wants to convey inside and outside the film. "Keep you safe" can invite many big-name comedians, especially many comedians from the bottom, which not only proves Dapeng’s sincere friendship, but also reflects his understanding of the ups and downs of life. "Keep You Safe" is like an "author’s film". In the film, the details of the plot such as opening a coke and the internal design of lines such as "Call Me Little Brother" echo the open-minded and optimistic experience that has passed away, that is, it is precisely because the director has a deep observation and understanding of life and loyalty that he can interpret this touching and vivid emotion and arouse the audience’s internal resonance.
The producer of "Keep You Safe" has been on the program "Please Advise the Director", in which her understanding of the film’s emotion is the same as the core theme of "Keep You Safe". For example, in the short film made by the director she supported in the program, she always said, "This film is the best film I have ever seen, and it made me firmly remember two lines: the fake can’t be proved, and it really doesn’t need to be proved. With these two sentences, this film will stand. " As written in Dialogue with Inner Fear — — "Emotion doesn’t need IQ, it is IQ itself." This film "Keep You Safe" produced by Chen Zhixi also continues this expression of true feelings. When it can express sincere feelings from the heart based on skillful and exquisite imaging technology in a limited time, it will surely win the hearts of the audience.
The reason why "Keep You Safe" stands out in the post-Spring Festival is precisely because it shows this kind of "both form and spirit": the seemingly unpretentious but skillful image language skills are the carrier of its "form", while the "spirit" of the film is reflected in the director’s sincere and thorough perception of life. Perhaps this is the reason for the success of "Keep You Safe": the most advanced comedy is the performance of real life.
New film viewpoint
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