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"The First Incense"
Director: Xu Anhua
Writers: Wang Anyi / Zhang Ailing
Starring: Ma Sichun / Yu Feihong / Peng Yuyan / Zhang Junning / Fan Wei
Genre: Drama / Romance
Country of Production: Chinese mainland
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Release: 2021-10-22 (Chinese mainland) / 2020-09-08 (Venice Film Festival)
Runtime: 144 minutes
Shanghai female student Ge Weilong (Ma Sichun) studied in Hong Kong, turned to his aunt Mrs. Leung (Yu Feihong), was used by Mrs. Liang as bait to attract men, Ge Weilong gradually became addicted to paper drunken gold fans, and later was attracted by playboy Ge QiqiQiao (Peng Yuyan), in order to continue to live a high social life of sound dogs and horses, he did not hesitate to sell his soul, painstakingly married Qiao Qiqiao, and eventually became a tool for his aunt Mrs. Liang and Qiao Qiqiao to collect money. @Douban
Since its release on October 22, the Douban score of the movie "First Incense" has been declining, and as of today, it has only a dismal 5.5 points. At the same time, statements saying that "Xu Anhua is old" and "another famous Chinese guide 'can't do it'" have risen one after another.
Indeed, compared to "Half Life", which was also directed by her 24 years ago, "The First Incense" is simply Waterloo. However, this may not be surprising.
Cross-media adaptation has always been a problem, especially when the original IP has a strong audience, adaptation has become a double-edged sword. If you are not careful, you will provoke criticism and insults, and even end up in a notoriously embarrassing situation.
Although most of the time, the novel is put on the screen, whether it is good or bad, the general audience will still judge "whether it is faithful to the original" as the criterion. However, Xu Anhua has never been shooting Zhang Ailing, even if it is the 7.9 score of "Half Life", it is also Xu Anhua's style.
01
Casting
Casting is almost the biggest spearhead of the audience of this film, which has been analyzed by many short reviews and articles, and will not be repeated here.
But there is one thing we can think about. With Xu Anhua's status in the Chinese film industry and the production team of "The First Burning Incense", which star celebrity or powerful actor can't be invited? Xu Anhua chose Peng Yuyan, who was already 39 years old, and Ma Sichun, who had not yet lost weight at that time.
Although it is not to cry out for the two actors, perhaps we do not have to rush to make a mockery. Xu Anhua's choice may not be incomprehensible.
Looking at the circle of Chinese actors, I really can't think of anyone who can be both "scum" and "bad" and "stupid" at the same time, but it does not annoy the audience. I believe this is also a professional challenge for Peng Yuyan.
Looking at Ge Weilong again, the real horse girl is also an "obsessive lover" role, to some extent, they are the same.
02
aesthetics
Compared with the casting, I think that the problem of "First Incense" is more about aesthetics. Too "modern", too "Internet celebrity". Set- setting, costumes, makeup, props, color grading... It's all too 2021.
Ge Weilong and Georgie Joe were on their honeymoon, and when they woke up, the pillow person was gone, so she went to the beach in her pajamas to find him. At that time, I was sitting in the movie theater, but I was five thunderbolts, but that dress, wasn't it what I bought from Uniqlo some time ago?
The location scenes and furnishings also shouted to the audience all the time: "After watching the movie, don't forget to punch in!" I'm no worse than those influencers! ”
1997's "Half Life" is simple and unpretentious, and Gu Manlu, the richest person in it, seems to be a little rustic today. In contrast, the costume of "The First Incense" is exquisite and luxurious for more than one grade.
But the money is more, the production budget has come up, and the taste has changed. The aesthetic guidance of "The First Incense" may come out and be beaten.
03
tale
Of course, the film is scolded more, and there is this "scumbag scumbag" feelings, "Ge Qiqi Qiao slag out of a new realm", "Ge Weilong stupid out of a new height".
I am afraid that this will have to go back to the text of "The First Incense". The critical approach used by many film critics today is still structuralist, emphasizing the "context" of the text. The so-called "context" is simply the "context" of the story.
If Zhang Ailing's love story is crudely and individually taken out, completely disregarding their background of the times, then almost no story can escape the "dog blood" evaluation of the current audience, no character is not a "scumbag" or "scumbag", and Cao Qiqiao in "The Golden Lock" is not "scum"?
The fate of one woman after another, in their time, the tide rises and falls, and finally it is washed on the beach, and the waves are not traced. Their vividness and struggle, Zhang Ailing saw, Xu Anhua saw.
When all people are acting for this and that, only these women, these few people, can act "for love" only. They even decided to take their lives or become a "living dead."
04
"Sin"
If there is any "sin" in this movie, it is that it is too "Xu Anhua". No wonder scholars are disappointed that she focuses her narrative on "dog-blood love" rather than "the history of the decline of the nobility" and "the history of the passing of the times".
If Zhang Ailing is a "desolate gesture" as she herself puts it, then Xu Anhua is a pair of "compassionate eyes.". All along, what runs through Xu Anhua's works has always been her concern and compassion for life, the world, especially individual life.
But then again, do Xu Anhua and Zhang Ailing really have nothing in common? Xu Anhua focused his eyes on this "love but can't" love affair, and this "obsession", to some extent, is not also one of the keywords of Zhang Ailing's life?
When we say that Wang Jiazhi in "The Color Ring" is all the shadow of Zhang Ailing, when we say this, we do not have ideological contempt and crusade, but instead have a trace of inexplicable respect for this woman--this woman who has chosen "freedom" in the face of "regime" and "morality".
Ge Weilong is not facing a "big" problem, but a "marriage bondage" that the new generation of young people disdain. Is there a difference between Ge Weilong and Wang Jiazhi? Aren't they all women who are "dizzy for love"? If there is any difference, it is only that Wang Jiazhi is dead, and she has escaped from the "symbol world". And Ge Weilong did not, she was still struggling.
The 74-year-old Xu Anhua is old, but sometimes when you think about it, it is not "the famous guide can't do it", it is us, we can't do it, neither look at the "true feeling", nor disdain to put themselves in the emotional situation of passively loving others.
In short, we "can't afford to love."