Douban's annual movie list is out.
In the "Highest-Rated Chinese Films", "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an" ranked the top two.
This result has caused a lot of controversy.
Because after the two 8.3 points, there is also a masterpiece with 8.6 points "Jiao Ma Tang Hui".
At the beginning of this year, the film's opening score was as high as 9.1.
So far, Uncle Yu's friend rating is as high as 8.8.
In 2021, the film won the Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival.
Due to the fact that the subject matter is too violent, there has been little news since then, except for some offline screenings.
But every year, quite a few people list it as the best of the year.
The benchmark with it is "Farewell My Concubine" and "Alive".
It has done most of what others have done, and it has done a lot of what it has not done.
After the controversy, after nearly a year, this film has topped the Douban real-time hit list.
On the last day of 2023, let's talk about this fierce -
《Shomadokai》
The director of this film, Qiu Jiongjiong, has directed many high-scoring independent documentaries.
《姑奶奶》，豆瓣9.0分。
Every time Uncle Yu watches it, he will be moved by his sincerity and enthusiasm.
《痴》，在豆瓣上也有8.6分。
Take the life of a rightist as the axis, and connect its history with a huge span.
The form of half record and half plot is absurd.
He is good at photographing people, but he is not limited to people.
This "Jiao Ma Tang Meeting" tells the life of a famous opera actor.
Following the context of the story, there is indeed a sense of déjà vu of "Farewell My Concubine" and "Alive".
Qiu Fu is a famous Sichuan Opera Harlequin performance artist.
Since the 1930s, he has been on stage for decades and has been known as the "living dictionary" of Sichuan opera.
The story also unfolds slowly through his memories.
Qiu Fu's father is a martial artist in the Sichuan Opera Troupe.
sang all his life, until one day he died of exhaustion on stage.
's mother remarried her newborn brother and lost 7-year-old Qiu Fu to a troupe.
The financier of the troupe is the local Sichuan warlord Liu.
He invited cultural people to name the troupe "New and New" with the allusion of "Gou Rixin, Ri Ri Xin, and Ri Xin".
So, Qiu Fu also added a new name after his name, and sang his name step by step.
In "Farewell My Concubine", Cheng Dieyi's life on and off the stage reflects the entire modern Chinese history.
As the saying goes, the crown is covered with Jinghua, and the Si people are alone and haggard.
The story of Qiu Fu also covers the ups and downs of the Sichuan-Chongqing region for half a century.
Not long after he came to power, a full-scale war of resistance against Japan broke out.
Behind the charity performances to save the life, the Sichuan army's charge resounded.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the civil war was on the verge of breaking out again.
Division Commander Liu was undecided, and it was difficult to choose between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
The fate of the entire troupe also floated and swayed.
As soon as the camera turned, New China was founded.
In the face of the People's Liberation Army coming from afar, the Sichuan Opera Troupe went from being nervous and vigilant to letting down its guard.
"Art should serve the people"
And what is most similar to "Alive" is that it violently demonstrates the special era.
For example, three years of natural disasters.
Qiu Fu's daughter did not survive the great famine and unfortunately died.
Or providence, one day a baby girl was abandoned at his doorstep.
Although he could only tighten his belt to survive, he still relented and hugged back.
In the age of gnawing on leaves and bark, it was not easy to feed a baby.
Qiu Fu and his wife came up with a strange trick to scoop up dung.
To be precise, it is to pick up the maggots in the dung, dry and grind them into powder, and there is a rare high protein.
But it didn't work out, and manure has become a scarce resource.
The two picked out remote public toilets, but they were still caught by the patrol.
forced Qiu Fu to take a bubble on the spot to make up for the loss of this pocket.
Fortunately, Qiu Fu is a local celebrity, and he asked the patrol team to watch the play for free, so he was able to save the stolen dung.
"To steal is to steal state property"
Just raised the girl, and the child's biological mother came to the door to ask for it.
The hardships she poured out made Qiu Fu and his family unable to refuse.
The famine in the woman's village was so fierce that her husband's eyes were green and he even wanted to eat the doll.
Now that she has fled back to her parents' house, she took a pumpkin in exchange for her daughter.
Of course, "ten years" is also indispensable.
Almost overnight, Qiu Fu went from a "people's artist" to a "gangster actor".
Wearing top hats, being criticized, and locked up in the cowshed, his wife and children were asked to draw a line with him.
The endless labor reform also made Qiu Fu, who has always been optimistic, sigh and laugh at himself:
"Dig Your Own Grave"
In terms of subject matter, there are indeed similarities with "Farewell My Concubine" and "Alive".
In terms of shooting, it is different from these two excellent and heavy civilian epics.
The production of "Jiao Ma Tang Hui" can almost be called simple.
Qiu Jiongjiong borrowed an abandoned basketball court by a friend's factory.
built a 400-square-meter circus booth and completed the filming of the whole film in it.
Many of these scenes were hand-drawn by the crew.
When a piece of cardboard is erected, it becomes a wall.
I couldn't shoot the boat crossing the river, so I spread a layer of plastic film under the wooden boat.
As soon as the blower blows, it "fakes" out of the great river.
Abandoning the depth of field makes the film look like a two-dimensional stage play.
For example, from time to time, the actor faces the camera and breaks the fourth wall.
The director used the scheduling of pushing, pulling, and shaking to make a dojo in a snail shell.
All kinds of grotesque techniques also give this film the most scarce quality of domestic films, a sense of humor.
The narrative adopts two parallel lines, showing the two worlds of yin and yang.
The first scene is to ask for your life.
Qiu Fu's longevity was about to end, and a three-jumper appeared in front of his house.
As soon as he opened his eyes, it was the bull head and horse noodles who came to pick him up and go to the ghost town of Fengdu.
邱福表面镇定，转头又惶恐逃窜。
The bull head and horse face are chasing after each other, but they are not at all as fierce and vicious as the legend.
They are just civil servants of the Fengdu government, and I hope Qiu Fu can cooperate with the work.
"You registered with the Fengdu government, you must report"
On the way to escort the undead, they also chatted from time to time.
Some people will also tease the young bull head, saying that he is too fresh.
It will always make the bull's face flush with shame:
"I'm just working."
Bull head horse noodles appear in various places.
Every time we witness a death, we are witnessing an era.
During the turbulent period, Division Commander Liu, who took over the Sichuan region in the past, couldn't stand the criticism and hanged himself.
The two ghosts almost staggered over and greeted each other casually.
However, on the bridge, Qiu Fu met the old camel of the troupe.
The two greeted and hugged each other, laughing for the reunion.
The director paints a bizarre picture of the underworld, so that death is no longer a taboo word for grief.
"When I heard you died, I was so excited that I didn't sleep all night. 」
In the same way, the film dissolves the seriousness of history.
Facing the subordinates who persuaded him to surrender, Division Commander Liu took out a pistol and asked him if he had been rebelled against earlier.
The subordinates hung up and took aim at the leftover peanuts on the wine table.
Even if the sky falls, you can't delay eating and drinking.
Qiu Fu in the labor camp is not a miserable appearance.
buried himself in the wall, but he didn't know that he was crooked.
He scratched his head and grinned, turning sideways playfully, so that he could not see the angle of inclination.
At the junction of yin and yang, a farmhouse was also opened.
Before the undead go to Fengdu, they can still eat and relax here.
There are no worldly constraints here, and everyone can speak freely.
Qiu Fu chatted with Niu Tou Ma Mian about political topics, and they quarreled with each other.
Unexpectedly, he was scolded by the store.
Those so-called issues and battles are not worth mentioning in the face of death.
「辛辛辛苦做一桌菜,这他妈都凉了」
"These questions are clear."
At the end of the movie, it is the last level to enter the underworld - drinking Meng Po soup.
The deceased of the Sichuan Opera Troupe all sat down, and the dust of the past was melted into a bowl of soup.
Qiu Fu bought a copy of the Fengdu Daily and Xi the Hades policy with great interest.
"The Ten Halls of Yama Jointly Delivered an Important Speech"
In the blink of an eye, Qiu Fu disappeared.
Director Qiu Jiongjiong himself appeared on the stage and sat in the seat of Lao Qiu Fangcai.
He closes this story with a playful finish.
"Your author has written so many people to death, it's not appropriate for you not to die yourself. 」
It is said that "Farewell My Concubine" and "Alive" are the two peaks of domestic films.
Every time I mention it, it always brings up a question: why can't I shoot it again?
"Jiao Ma Tang Hui" is not the "second part XXX", but Qiu Jiongjiong also answered this layer of doubts.
The protagonist of this film, Qiu Fu, is the grandfather of the director Qiu Jiongjiong in reality.
The old man is a famous harlequin performance artist of the Leshanchuan Theater Troupe.
Qiu Jiongjiong also inherited a certain harlequin spirit that is rare for domestic filmmakers.
In his opinion, the harlequin embodies the authorship in a work.
In many foreign films, clowns assume an important narrative function.
From Fellini's beloved funny clown to Akira Kurosawa's mad ami, they all seem to be the embodiment of the author.
Breaking the fourth wall, fermenting a mirror image relationship before and after the camera.
The audience is watching the film, and at the same time, being scrutinized by the author.
In this way, the film establishes a distancing effect.
The viewer is no longer simply immersed in an individual and empathizes, but will jump out and truly realize the existence of viewing.
Watching coldly, the train of the times roared through Qiu Fu's body.
In the film, Qiu Fu looks back on his life in and out of the play, and uses the words "walking on thin ice".
At the age of seven, he performed on stage for half his life, but he had to take a break from the stage because of turmoil.
His experience is the epitome of many literary and artistic creators.
Qiu Jiongjiong's appearance at the end of the film also realizes the closed loop of the narrative.
Like his grandfather, he became a "harlequin" and told all the absurdities in the world.
The whole article is witty and humorous, but it always emphasizes to us that we can't laugh and talk.
"Humor is the last bottom line of dignity"
Let's go back to the end of the film.
Before drinking Meng Po soup, Qiu Fu still had concerns.
He only has one thing in his life, singing, singing, and playing, and he is afraid that he will lose the stories he has performed.
But the leader told him to relax.
People are good at forgetting, but artists don't, they all have their own "ciphercode".
The camel on the side demonstrated on the spot, inserting a glass test tube on the top of his head, and although it was drenched in blood, it released a huge amount of energy.
"This is something that cannot be taken away from any power."
For Harlequin, the cipher code is hidden in every play.
For the authors, the work of art will not be worn away.
Even if you hit your head and bleed, you will pass on the story of joy or sorrow from mouth to mouth.
Just like the name of the troupe, new and new.
The new drama has always played the old things, and the vicissitudes of life have been repeated over and over again.
"Although this scene has fallen, the play has not yet been sung."