Speaking of domestic suspense dramas, let's talk about "The Hidden Corner".
4 years have passed, and apart from Xin Shuang himself, there are few works that can compete with it.
In fact, not only we like it, but this drama is also the favorite of many Japan.
Not long after it was broadcast in China, Japan's WOWOW TV introduced "The Hidden Corner".
It received a 4 out of 5 rating on Filmarks, a major film and television review site in Japan.
A rare and excellent Chinese TV series.
The character setting, story setting, and child actors are all good.
The street and the scenery are nice.
With a good sense of tension, watch it without thinking.
In particular, many people who watch Chinese TV dramas for the first time say that they are very good.
The first time I watched a Chinese TV series, it was really interesting, and all the actors performed very well.
In the same year, the original novel "Bad Boy" was also translated into Japanese and published in Japan.
Some people refer to the author Zijin Chen as "Keigo Higashino of China".
In March 2023, it was suddenly announced that Japan was going to remake the movie.
This has attracted the attention of the public.
After the official announcement of the cast lineup, people's expectations were raised.
Among the actors, there are not only Okada Masaoi and Kuroki Hana, who are just popular.
There is also a former generation of male gods, Yosuke Eguchi.
Just a few days ago, the movie was launched.
Today, let's immediately take a look at how this Japan version of "Bad Boy" is——
"Golden Boy"
Gold Boy
If you want to talk about why people are obsessed with "The Hidden Corner".
An intricate and vivid story, a cinematic picture style, and a fully online performance......
All of the above are inevitable reasons.
But in addition, "boldness" and "energetic" are the reasons that make this show completely popular.
When the episode was being broadcast, some people sighed:
Do you know how long it's been since I've seen a domestic drama like this?
Indeed, in an extremely limited environment, the creator has gone to great lengths to use various techniques and metaphors to boldly discuss the evils of human nature.
He also uses various details to create one after another energetic characters.
How can you dislike people.
Although when the finale first came out, the reaction of public opinion was somewhat divided.
There were discussions such as "bad ending" and "character whitewashing".
But the whole is still a deep and sharp work.
However, there is still a lot of leeway for the expression of the TV series.
After all, the original book itself is very dark.
The violence, hatred and sexuality involved are not allowed by our current scale.
Even the author Zijin Chen himself said that the adaptation is difficult to operate.
However, for Japan films, the issue of scale is not a matter at all.
After all, this kind of dark reality theme is the domain of their hands.
The Japanese version of the movie, like the domestic drama, kicked off with "going to climb the mountain".
Dongsheng (played by Masao Okada) takes his father-in-law and mother-in-law to climb the mountain.
It was on this beautiful cliff near the sea that my father-in-law proposed to my mother-in-law.
So the good son-in-law Dongsheng suggested with a smile on his face that the two elders take a group photo in this meaningful place.
It was when you were on the cliff that you grasped the happiness you have now.
Unexpectedly, the son-in-law, who was full of sincere praise and filial piety in the last second, suddenly went crazy and pushed the two off the cliff the next second.
And this scene happened to be filmed with a camera by three 13-year-old children who also came here to play, Chaoyang (played by Hamura Hitoshi), Xia Yue (played by Hoshino Anna), and Hiroshi (played by Izushi Maezu).
All three children were faced with the problem of needing money, so they decided to have a black fight.
used video to blackmail Dongsheng 60 million yen (about 2.7925 million yuan).
It can be seen that the film version and the drama version have the same story framework as a whole.
It's just that "Golden Boy" is too ruthless.
The violent and bloody scenes that cannot appear in the TV series are not shy about at all.
For example, when Chaoyang blackmailed Dongsheng, Dongsheng simulated how to slash the three children in his brain and squirted blood.
Due to the unrestricted scale, "Golden Boy" is more retrue to the original in terms of crime plot than "The Hidden Corner".
For example, Chaoyang took the initiative to ask Dongsheng to kill his father for him.
Chaoyang's father and his wife were both killed while sweeping their daughter's grave.
It was Xia Yue who did it, and Dongsheng perfectly handled the aftermath of the corpse.
At the climax of the story, the four of them get together and release their suspicions on the surface.
And secretly, Dongsheng had already made up his mind to kill, planning to poison three children in one fell swoop.
Unexpectedly, the poisoning method had already been recognized by Chaoyang, and he was also killed.
Next, Chaoyang faked the scene, used a knife to harm himself, and deceived the police with realistic acting skills.
I also prepared a fake diary early to prove my innocence.
These large-scale novel scenes are all impossible to see in domestic dramas.
Now that they have been restored one by one, it will definitely make fans of the original work feel satisfied.
However, there are also a lot of changes in the Japanese film version.
Especially in the relationship between the characters, a lot of adjustments have been made.
Xia Yue and Hao are not friends who met in the welfare home, but a pair of non-blood brothers and sisters who have reorganized their families.
However, Xia Yue was sexually assaulted by Hao's father, and in a hurry, he stabbed the other party with a knife.
The two fled in fear of crime, only to find Chaoyang to avoid the limelight.
Dongsheng is also no longer a teacher, but works in his wife's family business.
As the husband of the heir to the largest local business, his motive for killing is also wrapped in a layer of drama of the big family's inheritance competition.
These adaptations are understandable.
On the one hand, it is due to the need for localization.
On the other hand, it is because the capacity of the film is limited, so it cannot be exhaustive.
The plot must be accelerated to form a cool film look.
Dongsheng went from killing his father-in-law and mother-in-law, to killing his wife, to helping Chaoyang kill his father, almost all the way to the acceleration.
In two hours, the narrative of 12 episodes of the TV series was completed.
But there are also some changes that make people feel a little wrong.
The biggest difference in "Golden Boy" is that it completely erases the gradual process of blackening Chaoyang.
From the first time the Japanese film version of Chaoyang appeared, he already had the taste of a demon boy.
Before Natsuki and Hao arrived, his half-sister Jingjing had already died, and it was considered suicide.
After seeing the video of Dongsheng's murder of his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Chaoyang directly offered to use it for blackmail.
In the first face of the rising east, the rising sun was completely in a calm state.
Without the slightest panic, he stepped on Dongsheng's pain point with precision word by word, forcing an adult to surrender.
After realizing that Dongsheng killed his wife without any flaws, he went directly to the door and asked Dongsheng to help him kill his father.
And Chaoyang is very good at taking advantage of other people's emotions towards him.
He knew that Xia Yue liked him and recognized him as his soulmate.
So he grasped this emotion and let Xia Yue always support his plan.
Xia Yue also willingly helped with the crime, and took the initiative to ask Chaoyang to attend classes normally on the day of the killing, and not to "dirty his hands".
But even so, when Dongsheng decided to kill people afterwards, Chaoyang knew that the other party was poisoned, but he didn't remind Xia Yue and Hao, so that the two of them died directly.
He himself pretended to be poisoned, and waited until Dongsheng relaxed his vigilance and directly counter-killed.
Because he wants to deal with all those in the know, and erase the existence that will affect his life.
In addition, there is a diary written in advance to deal with the police investigation, which is also an inevitable plot for a genius boy.
But what makes me shudder is the depiction of Jingjing's death in the movie.
In the TV series, what role Zhu Chaoyang played in Jingjing's death from the building is still a space for discussion.
But whether he didn't save him when he saw death, or pushed it in the end, Zhu Chaoyang's original intention was not to kill his sister.
But in the movie, Jingjing was clearly killed by Chaoyang himself.
Chaoyang fell in love with Jingjing and confessed to her.
But the other party thought he was sick and sick, and he had to tell his father.
So Chaoyang killed Jingjing and disguised himself as a suicide.
Facing Dongsheng, who was gradually breathing, Chaoyang hated the truth, without remorse, and even laughed mockingly.
Such a child is really creepy.
Of course, there's no need to keep comparing the two.
After all, movies and dramas are very different in terms of volume and production.
Rather, we can think of them as two different sides of the same coin.
The TV series is a profound exploration of how a child is pushed down the wrong path by those "hidden corners" of life.
The original family is the first hand to push Zhu Chaoyang.
The controlling mother and the father who have a new family, they are treating Zhu Chaoyang in their own way.
For example, a glass of milk before going to bed every day and money handed by my father on the mahjong table.
These can certainly be said to be the love that parents have for their children.
But at the same time, the mother's strong persecution and the father's asking Zhu Chaoyang to forgive the person who bullied him were a knife to the child.
These controls in the name of love brought Zhu Chaoyang only disrespect and distrust.
School violence is the other hand.
The problems of his original family caused Zhu Chaoyang to have certain defects in his personality.
Sensitive and withdrawn, he became an outlier in the group and the object of his classmates' tricks.
The collision on the basketball court, the eraser scraps in the cup, and the words that are treated as air are all part of Zhu Chaoyang's campus life.
With these, there is a basis for the evil in Zhu Chaoyang's body.
It's just that these evils can be understood, but they shouldn't be forgiven.
Because of the restrictions of the internal entertainment environment, the TV series did not shoot Zhu Chaoyang's particularly bad behavior.
This also makes the final ending of the drama version less critical and reflective than the original book.
In reality, in fact, there have been many news of juvenile crimes, and the severity of the plot is much more serious than that of Zhu Chaoyang.
Juvenile delinquency should not be a topic that avoids the important and trivializes.
And this version of the movie fills in the terrible appearance of the child who is broken.
The reason why Chaoyang in the movie is so fearless is because he has a talisman:
Under the age of fourteen.
Because of this, he dared to kill everyone who made him dissatisfied without any scruples.
And this is also a point that is highlighted in Zijin Chen's original work.
The rising sun in the movie shows how indifferent and cruel a child can be.
This is an existence that makes all adults feel frightened.
At the end of the story, Chaoyang's mother accidentally learns everything her son has done from Xia Yue's letter.
Facing her mother who knew the truth, even if she gave everything to love herself, Chaoyang still picked up the knife.
Mom was so frightened that she fell to her knees and begged for mercy.
In this regard, Chaoyang was not moved, but weighed it before giving up the idea of killing.
Because at present, only my mother can be trusted.
And then he immediately changed color, and became the "good son" he used to be, singing songs to help his mother buy groceries.
The film takes a narrative that exposes the dark side of human nature, showing the evil of a teenager naked on the screen.
forcing the audience to confront and gaze at the existence of this evil.
Perhaps, only in this way can we arouse the tremor and reflection in people's hearts:
Why do children turn into bad kids?