One wonders how a movie from two years ago can still come out and say, hey, I'm participating in an event that says what you think was an underrated movie, and the first underrated movie that popped up in my mind in recent years was The Sewing Machine Band.
Saying that the underestimated low of "The Sewing Machine Band" is a reference, the first is the Douban score, which has only gradually risen to 6.6 points after being released. The second is the word of mouth when it was first released, because the bad comments were too fierce, which made the director Dong Chengpeng anxious. The third is the box office, and the happy twist "Shy Iron Fist" released at the same time reached more than two billion at the box office, and "The Sewing Machine Band" only more than four hundred million. There is no harm without contrast.
In fact, strictly speaking, "The Sewing Machine Band" and "Shy Iron Fist" are not the same type of film, the former belongs to the light comedy drama, or can also be called a musical film, and the latter is a pure funny film of the spoof type. On the "laughing fruit" alone, "Sewing Machine Band" naturally has no advantages, which is one of the reasons why many people evaluate it as unsmiling, because it is not purely funny.
Regardless of "Shy Iron Fist", let's talk about some of the problems that "The Sewing Machine Band" does have, and I think its biggest problem is that the net is too big, everywhere is focused but everywhere shallow, and the plot processing is somewhat superficial.
1, comedy elements, this film is said to be light comedy is actually not very accurate, because Dapeng in the plot installed a lot of pure funny elements, such as the big long face of fortune and Zhao Yingjun They are for pure funny. But some of these funny things are superficial, like they are forced in. The funny of other characters is more of a verbal baggage.
2, rock elements, although there are many rock elements and songs, but in the words of a rock singer: Dapeng do you really understand rock? It should be said that the rock and roll expressed by Dapeng is indeed relatively simple or even formal.
3. In terms of inspirational elements, Dapeng has made his appearance similar to Zhou Xingchi, but there is still a gap in the realm of shaping small characters and Xingye, and his skills are still shallow.
4, the core of the dream, rock is a dream or a dream is rock, or the dream is to do what you want to do? In short, in the expression of dreams, there are also some forms.
Still, despite some of the problems with The Sewing Machine Band, I still think it's underrated because it's four great in addition to the four points.
1, full of sincerity is great
The sincerity of the creator of "Sewing Machine Band" is definitely quite high, and the props and sets in the play are very careful. As an example, everyone knows that the statue of the big guitar is real, it was specially built by the Ji'an government, and even the demolition process is true. But what some people don't know is that the construction process of the big guitar is only a few seconds, but it was taken by the crew with three months of time-lapse photography.
In addition, most of the drummers and guitarists in the rock and roll section at the end of the film are midi school students, and they themselves travel thousands of miles with their instruments to Ji'an to participate in the filming.
In the film, several band stars in addition to Li Hongqi's musical level is not very good, Qiao Shan is also able to play, Han Tongsheng, Gulinaza and Qu Junxi are almost zero-based current learning, several people after four months to a year of study before shooting this film, instead of using switching and doubles to complete the scene, this sincerity is quite OK.
2, the film language is great
It should be said that Dapeng's directing skills have obviously risen compared with the "Pancake Man" period, and the scene switching, plot connection and rhythm control of "Sewing Machine Band" are already a very mature director's level, and such a movie does not look tired.
In the details of the movie, Dapeng already has the consciousness and ability to bury easter eggs in some details of Lao Mei. For example, on the street scenes built by the crew, we can see place names such as "Cobain Plastic Surgery Hospital, California Hotel, Sky Street, Haikuo Road, Guanghui Street, Years Road, Dabao sword foot bath city, Pace Hair Art BarberShop" and other place names that are both funny and emotional.
There is also the yellow dress that Qiao Shan borrowed from the scene, which is actually the skirt style worn by the heroine in the American music movie "Philharmonic City".
Some people may think that the language of these films is not meaningful, but the details determine success or failure, and only when the details are porcelain can there be fine products, not only will there be no various crossings, but also allow the audience to be surprised inadvertently.
3, the wild brush feelings are great
Some people criticize Dapeng's film brush feelings too fiercely, which makes sense, and "Pancake Man" is like this. But some things are extremely beautiful, so in "The Sewing Machine Band" we see all kinds of rock and roll cannons, some of which may only exist in the rock circle, but at least Most people in Ye Shirong Huang Guan always know it, and "No More Hesitation" has always heard it.
Compared to the tough insertion of "Pancake Man" at the end of the puzzle boy, "The Sewing Machine Band" implants rock stars in various scenes without affecting the plot and making the feelings closer. The beyond element that appears in the climactic group rock is even more emotional. Many people who did not choose to watch theatrical movies because of bad reviews have brushed the bullet screen to the end of watching the network broadcast to express regret that they did not support it, in a popular saying, they owe Dapeng a movie ticket.
Brush the feelings of the brush to the extreme, that is, beauty.
4. The music and songs are amazing
Since it is a musical film, or simply reduced to a rock movie, the hardcore of "The Sewing Machine Band" should naturally be music and rock, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the music of this movie can score more than nine points.
The first is those famous songs, whether it is the "Back" of the Catcher of the Rye at the beginning, or the "No Ideal Man Is Not Sad" by the Band of New Pants in the plot twist, and the "No More Hesitation" of the final chorus, these three songs are well selected and implanted perfectly.
Secondly, the original, whether it is the catchy "All Choose c", or the "Plastic Bag", and the "Song Written by Ding Jianguo", which has a very funny name, the quality of these three original songs is superior, and standing behind these songs is Zhao Yingjun, who is very talented in comedy, the singer and harmonic star named after Uncle Benshan's sketch is an excellent rock musician, it can be said that the director of "Sewing Machine Band" is Dapeng, but the soul is Zhao Yingjun.
Of course, in the end, two more are great, one is that ZhiLingjie's voice scene is very good, and who else can get the audience without relying on the sound alone? The other one is of course Gulinaza, she is the biggest Easter egg in this movie, beautiful appearance, charming temperament, although the emotional drama with Dapeng is somewhat abrupt, but it is eye-catching you say angry people are not.
In addition, Yu Qian, vice president of the China Rock Association, also performed very well.
I wrote a brief review after the film's release: "Shy Iron Fist" did well at the box office because "Charlotte Troubles" gave it some. "The Sewing Machine Band" did not do well at the box office because it had a lot of box office given to "Pancake Man" in advance.
From this point of view, "The Sewing Machine Band" was delayed by "Pancake Man", and because Dapeng's own "Pancake Man" was too high at the box office, it led to the undervaluation of "Sewing Machine Band".
But there's another film review that's interesting: From another perspective, "The Sewing Machine Band" is already the highest-grossing rock movie in China.