"The Piano of Steel" is a comedy film directed by Zhang Meng and starring Wang Qianyuan and Qin Hailu. Why is it an unpopular masterpiece, because his box office is not high, but the Douban score is very high, which is a rare magic realism movie in China.
In the 90s, the old industrial zone in northeast China faced transformation, a large number of workers were laid off, the film told the story of laid-off worker Chen Guilin (played by Wang Qianyuan) and his wife Xiaoju divorced in this context, the dispute between the two is the ownership of the child, at this time the film wide-angle lens uses a symmetrical background, the dilapidated roof behind the two people is in stark contrast, Chen Guilin's side of the roof is broken, the building is decadent, Xiaoju's side of the road and roof are neat and clean, through environmental differences to illustrate the difference in the state of the two people. Chen Guilin is engaged in the instrumental performance of joy and funeral affairs, and Shuxian (played by Qin Hailu) is his friend and colleague. Because the daughter Chen Xiaoyuan said whoever bought her a piano would follow whom, so Chen Guilin began to borrow money everywhere, went to the second sister who opened a barber shop to borrow money, bought pork and was stolen, never opened his mouth, and then looked for a bastard fat head to borrow money, did not expect that he was playing cards when he was out of the old thousand, was chased, and finally Shuxian made up some money for him. Chen Guilin is facing the dilemma of having to have a piano, he chatted with friends about the two chimneys in the industrial zone to be blown up, the film uses two narrative threads, the main line is that Chen Guilin has a piano to raise his daughter, and the secondary line is the fate of two chimneys. The film uses a small way to see the plight of the family, reflecting the turmoil of the entire northeast society in the industrial transformation, which can be described as the connection between the family and the country, and everyone who has drunk too much plans to steal the piano in the school, and is found to have inserted a montage piano performance in the chase, which is in stark contrast to the real dilemma. In the library Chen Guilin saw a book to make a piano, planning to make a piano for his daughter, interviewed Wang Gong after planning to start his piano-making project, invited a few friends to join, at this time the camera turned to Chen Guilin's home, Morning Guilin, Shuxian, Wang Kangmei Three people formed a triangular composition, but also hinted at their love triangle relationship. The film also shows the stories of several friends through the project of building pianos, gathering a group of workers who remember the old era and shaping their vivid images. Chen Guilin lit a cannon battle to celebrate the start of construction, the construction period is before the court session, at this time he and Shuxian quarrel, the piano can not save Xiao Yuan, but also shows that they can not resist the current of the progress of the times. At the same time, Chen Guilin gathered everyone to say that they would renovate the chimney to avoid the chimney being destroyed. In the end, due to various reasons, the piano project could not be carried out, Chen Guilin handed over his daughter to his wife, and at the same time, two chimneys were blown up, and people spread smoke and dust next to them, which also implied that people disappeared into the trend of the times. Dressed in a bright red dress, Shuxian arrives at the factory, hinting at the resumption of the piano project. Finally, the steel piano was built, the film showed the piano from multiple shots, Xiaoyuan played the piano, and people's vision bid farewell to this era as the camera drifted away, and the film ended.
In the film, the director mostly uses positive or parallel shooting techniques, while paying attention to symmetrical composition, and "Budapest Hotel" has the same magic, the director to see the big in the small, through the family contradictions for us to show the contradictions of the entire northeast old industrial base, each character in the play is vivid and vivid, showing the contradiction between people and society, the contradiction between people, the contradiction of self, can be described as a superior masterpiece, recommended everyone to see, to find more details.
