Chen Kaige declared that no one could understand the film "The Promise" in ten years. Why?

16 years have passed. What did the promise say? You got it? In 2005, director Chen Kaige spent a lot of money to shoot the fantasy film "The Promise" in China, which contained many special effects and mythological metaphors. The movie "The Promise" has opened up a special domestic road in the power movie universe of Zhang Yimou era. At that time, when domestic films were still addicted to the realistic local Chinese style, Promise should be an excellent attempt of domestic film genre. With the blessing of special effects, the box office was not bad, and finally got the box office of 65.438+0.8 billion, which secured the annual champion of that year. At that time, it was particularly rare for the box office to exceed 100 million.

After the release of "The Promise", a large number of viewers reflected that they didn't understand it at all, and the bad reviews gradually increased. Subsequently, Hugh, a netizen, even spoofed the film into a funny short film, namely, "A bloody case caused by a steamed bun" in the form of CCTV's "Society and Law" channel column "Report on the Rule of Law in China". The website of this short film became a hit, and Chen Kaige flew into a rage, denouncing the producer as "shameless" and claiming to take Hugh to court. However, with the rise of the Internet craze, Chen Kaige finally chose not to go to court and gave it a cold shoulder. Recently, however, Chen Kaige has quietly issued a subpoena to a number of media and netizens, and he is still very dissatisfied. In addition to this operation, Chen Kaige also told the audience publicly that you couldn't understand this film for ten years.

Ten years no one can understand the movie The Promise, 16 years have passed. It seems that director Chen Kaige's heart has not been solved. Not only in the program, but also for the Promise mentioned by Li Chengru, Mr. Li Chengru is an antique from the old times, a child in a closed world who doesn't understand the progress of this world. It's really a pleasure to watch two old-timers search for the first place in the program. However, it can be seen that it has been more than ten years, and it is a bit bad not to allow anyone to say "promise". On 15, Chen Kaige didn't let go of his obsession with The Promise. However, this work, which is considered as the best work in Chen Kaige, failed to pass the mark in the past 16 Douban, and now it is rated as 5.4 on Douban, with a lot of bad reviews.

Now let's take a look at this movie. Is our evaluation of the promise a step closer? Not really! Just today, from the perspective of China's film industry, Wuji does have its existence value. There is a saying that has been used to ridicule the lack of imagination in China films, that is, China films have no future and American films have no history. In other words, the film industry in China is very limited, and it is difficult to make a blockbuster with great visual effects. Don't say there was no such movie before 16. Even after 16, we only made the only sci-fi movie with high output and sold its copyright all over the world, followed by the second domestic sci-fi movie "Shanghai Fortress", which returned the industrial sci-fi to its original shape.

Looking back on The Promise, it is worthy of recognition that in the movie market 16 years ago, its imagination and spectacle effect were pioneering at that time, and the props, costumes, makeup and special effects in it were quite large and imaginative. However, movies lack the expressive force and core of audio-visual language. After all, movies are divided into commercial value and artistic achievement.

No one can understand it, the reason is why the analysis of its core shaping should mention what these great directors were doing in those years. 16 years ago, it was the time when the fifth generation directors occupied the right to speak in the market. Because most domestic films were adapted from low-cost literary works, there were a large number of films full of literary sentiment, didactic meaning and great responsibility in China at that time. Movies such as Spring in a Small Town, Teahouse, Hanging the Red Lantern High, etc. It's not that these movies are not good, but that they can't bring visual shock and lack people's favorite entertainment culture, so they can't bring great commercial value.

Therefore, with the encouragement of the policy, the directors of that generation all spent money on big scenes, such as The Banquet, The Golden Flower in the City, The Grandmaster Generation, and so on, which came into being and brought a lot of costume dramas to the Chinese people. At this time, a group of filmmakers represented by Jia began to attack these films, accusing them of only engaging in "power worship". Jia was born in the literature department of Nortel, and his copywriting was a must.

He said that the fifth generation directors:

"In fact, the fifth generation didn't really interact with the bottom. They are saddled with bitter wounds and use movies to fight back against society. When they gave up the theme of scars, they no longer needed such tools. They have an elite evaluation of the bottom: they are ignorant. "

Back to the movie "The Promise", this is actually the difference of "The Promise". A top figure feels sorry for the bottom people, why not eat meat? What did the promise say? The promise says that human nature sells morality for survival and soul for profit, but in the end I got everything and found that I lost my heart and regretted it, so I tried my best to get my story back. At first glance, is it a bit like Pawnshop No.8, but this film is not as good as Pawnshop No.8, because it is only a core issue.

In The Promise, Guan Xiaotong and Nicholas Tse couldn't afford steamed bread when they were children. In fact, they betrayed themselves because they wanted to live. Many characters involved in No.8 pawnshop are partly because of their own greed and partly because of practical problems in their existence. Therefore, on the road of selling one's conscience, there are external factors forcing one's conscience. The highlight of Pawnshop No.8 is that many people can't stop after they have tasted the benefits. This is their own greed for the evil of human nature, which is also the core highlight of Pawnshop No.8, and The Promise is also regarded by Chen Kaige as this state, that is, life is in their own hands, and their choices will bring bad consequences.

However, the question is whether Guan Xiaotong is a child or a baby who can't afford to eat. She has no values or self-identity. Why did she eat a steamed bun? Finally, I gave Guan Xiaotong two wings to fly in the sky when he grew up. This allusion comes from the ancient Greek myth "Wings of Icarus". Icarus used artificial wings to fly, but when he flew into the sky, his wings were baked by the sun, and finally he fell into the sea and drowned. Icarus's wings are the work of his father Daedalus. Daedalus made wings, because he was exiled because of jealousy and murder, and wanted to return to his hometown, but in the end he killed his son because of wings.

Therefore, it is somewhat unreasonable for a female doll, directed by Chen Kaige, to criticize and accuse her with extremely boring moral concepts in the film. In other words, in fact, in the narrative logic of this film, the perspective from top to bottom is that Into the Wasteland is unruly. Some people think that all people's poverty and punishment are just the result of their careless actions, and everything is caused by the contradiction between self and self, which has nothing to do with the external environment and growth process. This is just the way the bourgeoisie looks at us. Look around, it's all ignorance.

In the movie, Nicholas Tse became vicious because he was cheated, saying that you were the first person in the world to cheat me, and you ruined my chance to be a good person. This may come from the first chapter of Rousseau's Confessions: "Because I was wronged and broke my comb, I can't be naive any more."

In the story Confessions, innocent children are forced to admit what they have not done, and their hearts are deeply hit, which will affect their lives from now on. Nicholas Tse, the Promise, beat others and robbed others of food, saying that he had been cheated, so he could no longer be a good person. It is often said that being a good person is more difficult than being a good person. I think it is very difficult to be an audience, and it is even more difficult to be an audience in Chen Kaige. Facing the poor people who sold their souls, the film did not understand their plight, but mocked them for what they deserved. It really made the proletariat feel sad to show the evil of the wicked people in the film with a spiral fate that could not be turned back.

Conclusion: After 15, when the variety show defended The Promise, Chen Dao's life still did not encounter setbacks. Not to mention the visual effect and narrative rhythm of The Promise, in narrative logic, the fate of the characters deserves the label of a bad film. Commitment is actually the desire to fill dissatisfaction. The film is interspersed with human desires. In fact, director Chen is making a film that exposes human desire.