Hu Ge and Lei Jiayin’s new film frontal PK! Are they actually the same kind of movie？
1905 movie network news "Listen to me, buy it!"
Hu Ge and Lei Jiayin, the lead actors of He, were guests in the live stream of Internet celebrities to promote the movie and sell tickets.
Rejiasound sumTang WeiBring "The Whistleblower" to interact with netizens live
"The Wild Goose Lake" sold as many as 255,000 movie tickets online, courtesy of "Lipstick One" Li Jiaqi.
The Wild Goose Lake crew sells tickets online
In addition to the online roadshow mode of live streaming and selling movie tickets, these two new films are also "the same family" in terms of creation.
Needless to say, the stories are all crime themes, and Xiao Dianjun also saw a deeper doorway between them.
After the debut of "The Wild Goose Lake" in Cannes in May this year, many foreign media gave high praise:
"This is a vibrant, poetic and unique Chinese film noir"; "Classic film noirs like’You Only Live Once ‘and’Escape at Night’ can’t help but come to mind"; "Suddenly it feels like China is the best place in the world for film noir"…
After its domestic release, many viewers, like foreign media, also used a word – "film noir" when evaluating it. And "The Whistleblower" also has a vague "film noir" flavor.
Douban netizens evaluation
What exactly is "film noir"? Is it black and white? Black humor? Or is the whole story very "dark"?
In fact, "film noir" that took root in Hollywood is growing savagely on the Chinese mainland, combining with various different genres to form a new look. How to say it? Xiao Dianjun will popularize it for everyone.
What is "film noir"?
The term "film noir" was coined by the French in 1946, and French critics noticed a worldwide concentration of films with similar styles and patterns beginning in the early 1940s.
These films are often adapted from detective novels, and most of them depict dangerous crime stories in cities, full of gloom, anxiety, despair, horror, and a sense of compassion and destiny.
"Daybreak."andThe Maltese Falcon
The French say that Marcel Carney’s "Daybreak" was the first film noir, while Hollywood considers "The Maltese Falcon" to be their first film.
But in any case, the well-known emergence of film noir has created a dynamic and explosive golden age in the history of Hollywood cinema.
Similarly, in the field of European film, there have also been a series of film noir masterpieces such as this one.
Classic film noir The Third Man
So why are these movies called film noir?
The screenwriter Paul Schrader has listed seven common features of film noir for everyone, which are also their common techniques:
Most of the scenes are set by night.
(Photographic composition) preferring diagonal and vertical lines to horizontal lines;
Provide equal lighting intensity for actors and sets.
The tension of the composition takes precedence over the physical movements of the actors.
An almost Freudian attachment to water;
A preference for romantic narratives.
Frequently use complex chronological sequences to enhance feelings of hopelessness and the passage of time.
So much so that, in short, the first five are about visual style, while the last two focus on narrative characteristics.
The shot in "Beauty"
Film noir is first and foremost a very intense and highly stylized visual system.
In layman’s terms, most of the scenes take place in the city’s empty streets at night or secret meeting places such as stations and docks, and are often accompanied by special weather such as rain and fog.
The protagonist often hides in dark shadows, usually strengthening one side of his face with side light, while the other side is always obscured by the shadows of doors, windows, pillars, railings, and other objects.
The shooting angle is often tilted and unbalanced, creating a sense of mystery and alluding to the protagonist’s sense of both good and evil and his inner unease.
The year of birth.
Before "The Wild Goose Lake", there were a few domestic films that used these iconic visual elements of film noir, including director Xie Fei’s "Birthday Year", Zhang Yibai’s, Ning Hao’s, and Diao Yinan’s.
Director Diao Yinan has always insisted on transplanting Western noir films to China. Although he currently has only four directorial works, the visual temperament of noir films is stronger than ever.
In "Fireworks by Day", the northeastern towns are under continuous rain and snow, and the streets are dim, with contrasting lighting, forming a very cold and oppressive atmosphere.
The Wild Goose Lake is the culmination of his film noir style.
It is understood that the film has a total of 106 scenes, 71 of which are night scenes, accounting for 80% of the entire film.
During the humid rainy season in Wuhan, Zhou Zenong, played by Hu Ge, ran from the station to the narrow alley and fled all the way, flashing with rain.
Movies also use shadows to make a big fuss.
The camera will take pictures of the body reflections of Hu Ge and Gui Lunmei on the wall.
From time to time, their faces would be obscured by shadows, flickering.
When they were in the showroom, the multi-faceted mirrors seemed to be inspired by film noir.
Hu Ge and Gui Lunmei around the mirror
"Miss Shanghai" classic scene
According to these visual standards, "The Wild Goose Lake" can really be called the first typical film noir style in the Chinese mainland.
Can’t live without "femme fatale"!
If there were no "femme fatale", it would not be a film noir.
The female protagonists in the film noir are both beautiful and intelligent, but also as active and strong as men. They are mysterious and always fascinate the male protagonist and follow them around.
They will quietly emerge from the shadows in gorgeous evening gowns, revealing their thighs; they will carry out secret operations with guns and cigarette packs. Their faces and guns are enough to "kill".
Classic film noir"Beyond the Vortex"
Simply put, they are "scheming" people.
If you are not familiar with the film noir of the last century, you must have seen this scene of Rebecca Ferguson there. This is also a film full of retro vibes of film noir.
Mission Impossible 5
The women in film noir are usually at the heart of a conspiracy.
They only care about themselves and will obtain money and benefits through improper means, often at the cost of death or submission.
The male protagonists are mostly tough detectives or policemen, and they will have some obsessive-compulsive disorder. Under the temptation of "femme fatale", they are deeply involved in an unsolvable case, fighting for one thing to the end, and may not understand what happened until the end.
"Chinatown."
Film scholar Jan D’Amico once summarized the emotional relationship and plot development of the male and female protagonists in film noir:
"Whether a man is destined to act by chance, or because he is employed by a man to deal with a woman, their life experiences fill them with blood and pain at times. When he meets this woman who is not innocent and has the same outlook on life, he is sexually attracted to her, and he is doomed…"
So, aren’t "The Wild Goose Lake" and "The Whistleblower" just like that?
The characters and fates of the male and female protagonists all conform to the above-mentioned film noir narrative routines, which are simply the same.
Zhou Zenong’s wild and vicissitudes of life, and his taciturn chivalrous temperament is like coming from Melville’s film noir. In the film, he is destined to have only one cause or ultimate purpose – to leave a bounty to his wife while fleeing.
But in the process, he meets Liu Aiai, the "swimming girl" played by Gui Lunmei. Liu Aiai is both his helper, attracting him, and "betraying" him, which brings him to the end.
"Femme Fatale" is also often the target of male investigators in film noir, becoming the key to solving crimes. This is the relationship between Liao Fan and Gui Lunmei in the film.
In "The Whistleblower", Lei Jiayin plays Ma Ke, who was originally a winner with a successful career and a happy family. When he met his ex-girlfriend Tang Wei, he began to get confused and suffer a bad luck.
Tang Wei brought him from Australia to Africa, causing him not only to be hunted down by killers, but also to face the situation of his wife being separated.
Even though she was so confused that she didn’t know the truth of the case, Lei Jiayin still followed her to the end of the world like a "big silly boy".
On the way, Tang Wei ruthlessly betrayed Lei Jiayin for his life-saving money, and the "selfishness" of "femme fatale" was on full display.
Although "The Whistleblower" is unlike "The Wild Goose Lake", it does not have any shadow of film noir in terms of screen styling, but the overall characterization and plot mode are written in full accordance with the template of film noir.
The two male protagonists played by Hu Ge and Lei Jiayin also have something in common. They both have the moral ambiguity of male characters in film noir, but they have a sense of justice.
Zhou Zenong is the small leader of the theft gang, and Ma Ke is the "scum" who cheated on his ex, but in the end, they all became "heroes" in a sense:
Zhou Zenong goes to great lengths for the happiness of his wife in the second half of her life and pays for love; Ma Ke bravely reports the trade conspiracy and corruption of overseas companies, becoming an unsung hero who saves a city.
"Film noir" is growing savagely in the mainland
Film noir was born during World War II and the Cold War, a time when the American dream was falling apart and society was rife with insecurity.
After that, from "Chinatown" to the emergence of new film noir, it has given more new connotations and new styles, but the essence remains the same.
Neon color
When film noir arrived in China from the Western world, many changes took place.
From "Fireworks in the Day" to "The Wild Goose Lake", especially the latter, there are a large number of street scenes, squares, archways, motorcycles that are unique to China…. The neon lights of the city at night are combined with the special scenery on the edge of China’s urban and rural areas to form a unique and beautiful heterotopian world, full of charm.
Traditional film noir often has a "misogynistic" stance, and the image of "femme fatale" is very rigid and symbolic, but in "Southern Station" and "The Whistleblower", both Gui Lunmei and Tang Wei have atypical female images of film noir.
Guilun magnesium has a tan, freckles on her face, and her body is completely shriveled and weak.
Tang Wei’s overall style is simple and capable, and most of the time it is not sexy on the screen. Only when he meets Lei Jiayin for the first time and escapes for the first time, it shows a bit of beauty.
In addition to their appearance, these female characters are also brighter and warmer. They all complete their self-redemption by reversing at the end of the credits.
The visual and narrative elements of film noir are also gradually merging with domestic genre films to create new forms.
In "Southern Railway Station," Hu Ge’s characters and action scenes are designed along the lines of martial arts films, and the larger narrative theme of "The Whistleblower" is the mainstream melody with Chinese characteristics.
"Crazy Stone"
Ning Hao’s "Crazy" series introduces black texture into local humorous comedies, and also pays more attention to the little people at the bottom; Guan Hu uses absurd fables to express black themes; Cao Baoping creates a black suspense spirit in the context of social reality.
"The Sun Is Burning Heart"
"I have always been interested in the changing human nature of film noir," said Mr. Diao, who believes that film noir allows directors to think about society and humanity, and that China’s development has provided a natural soil for the creation of film noir.
Using the mode of film noir, we can produce works that are both interesting and expressed by the author. This genre is also broadening the development space for domestic art films.
There is a cloud made of rain in the wind.
"Fireworks in the Day" earned over 100 million at the box office that year, breaking the curse of the dismal box office of the literary film theater chain and becoming the highest-grossing literary film at that time. With the help of film noir and a cast of stars, Lou Ye successively shot "Clouds Made of Rain in the Wind" and entered the public eye.
The Lyceum.
As the aesthetics of domestic audiences become more diverse, the overall market and film industry become more mature, and film noir also provides a stage for new directors to enter the commercial mainstream.
"Violent Silence" is everywhere. Among them, the story of "Earth" is a typological framework of the detective and the "femme fatale" falling in love, which Bi Gan also described as a romantic "black fairy tale".
No matter what the outcome of this film is, it is precisely because the story of film noir is inherently commercial, and with the help of the late "New Year’s Eve" marketing promotion, it can quickly ferment at that time and directly attract the general public to the cinema.
"The Last Night on Earth"
Film noir stimulates the imagination of film and creates infinite possibilities. It is both genre and art; both commercial and author; both mainstream and independent, which can open up the "two veins" of film creation.
As Shen Qian, the producer of "The Wild Goose Lake", observed and judged: film noir may be the trend of Chinese film in the next few years, not only because of the industry ecology, but also because this type of film happens to be an effective bridge between the author’s expression and the market.