Investing in Crazy Stone is probably Andy Lau's most successful investment. It is said that the box office reached 2 million in the first three days. When I went to the cinema last night, it was also crowded. The first time I sat in the fifth row watching a movie, I completely lost my commanding advantage.
An absurd story+hilarious plot setting+logical script+unique perspective of cutting-edge directors+a group of actors who are not stars = an excellent domestic comedy.
This is the only comment I can give this film.
From the beginning to the end of the film, you can laugh every 3 minutes on average, and you can laugh almost every 10 minutes. Such "laughter" has not even appeared in the films of Xiaogang Feng and Stephen Chow in recent years. Of course, on the one hand, this effect is attributed to the dialect language characteristics of the whole article, on the other hand, it is also attributed to the arrival of actors and even wonderful performances, but the most commendable thing is the excellent script.
First, absurdity.
Absurdity is the best weapon for comedy movies to last forever. Whether it's Jim Carrey in Hollywood or Stephen Chow in Hong Kong, even if they are as rigorous as mainland movies in the 1980s, when it comes to comedy, only absurd plots can make the audience laugh. Xiaogang Feng, the most famous drama director in Chinese mainland, began to be absurd from A, B, C and D, and it was not until Big Man that the absurdity developed to the extreme. There is realism absurdity in the subsequent mobile phone, and idealism absurdity in world without thieves, the purpose of which is nothing more than to make the audience smile when watching the movie.
Crazy Stone is also such an absurd film. The absurd spirit is embodied in the setting of the plot: a handicraft factory on the verge of bankruptcy, a group of workers who have not been paid for half a year, a security supervisor suffering from prostatitis, a greedy real estate agent, an international thief of high-tech crimes, three petty thieves, and a photographer who does whatever it takes to pick up girls, launched a defense battle around an old pit emerald that was once used to build a men's toilet.
Such a plot setting is bound to make people laugh in the movie. So at the beginning of the movie, a photographer Xie accosted a girl on the cable car, and as a result, her hand was hurt by the girl, and a can of coke fell from the sky.
Second, logic.
Logic and comedy should be irrelevant. The main task of all comedies is to be funny. In order to make the audience laugh their heads off, the so-called logic exists in comedy for the purpose of anti-logic.
However, Crazy Stone is indeed a comedy with rigorous logical thinking.
As I said just now, it is an illogical plot that the coke bottle falls from the sky, because logically, the consequences it causes must be a trip. But in less than 10 minutes, the director gave you a result-coke fell from the sky and hit the van packed by the security captain, and the package pointed to the sky. As a result, the car slipped down the slope and hit the BMW of the real estate developer. Because the real estate developer wanted to buy the land of the handicraft factory, he had an argument with the factory director. The obscene follower was spraying the word "demolition" on the wall of the handicraft factory, and both sides had an accident.
On the other hand, three thieves pretended to be a moving company to steal things, because the police stopped illegally by copying cards, and Heipi was about to attack the police (his heart trembled when he saw this). At this time, there was a car accident on Bao's side, the police escaped, and the three thieves did not become murderers.
Then, thanks for picking up girls, I actually picked up the girl of knife elder brother, the boss of the three thieves, which set up a shelf for later jade to steal jade.
Even at the end of the story, Bao still didn't forget his driver's license on the real estate agent, which gave the story a nearly perfect fairy tale ending.
Third, jokes
There are many jokes, which make people think of Legend of Wulin. The advantages of dialect are fully displayed in the film.
Sichuan dialect itself has a strong comedy effect, and with a group of actors who really dare not compliment, it looks like a movie version of the extended sketch.
For example, the slave of the real estate agent pointed to the license plate of BMW and scolded Bao Hongshi: "Don't look at this car, don't touch me (BMW)."
For example, I caught Xie and his girlfriend in bed and gave Xie a beating: "Say, did you fuck my girlfriend?" Xie Mengxiao said, "I forgot." Brother Dao scolded him: "Forgot? You were all in bed, but you forgot? You treat me like a fool! " Xie added, "That's settled!" Brother Dao scolded again: "You're on? You fucking insult my personality! " When he found out that Xie used jade to seduce his girl, no matter whether Xie said jade was true or not, he would get a beating. "You not only insulted my personality, but also dared to insult my IQ."
These things can be seen everywhere in the whole article. The most wonderful conversation was that knife elder brother called Xie's father and threatened to kidnap him. As a result, people replied, "Thank you for killing the ticket!" Then Brother Doug collapsed and said, "How can a son have such a father?"
When watching Crazy Stone, you must stand up straight and be ready to laugh at any time. If you sit in a chair like watching a Hollywood blockbuster, you will definitely laugh.
Fourthly, metaphor.
Comedy, and metaphor, should be irrelevant.
Does metaphor belong to Wong Kar-wai's shaking lens or Almodovar's fierce human struggle? Comedy should be unreasonable.
The metaphor in Crazy Stone is more like a fairy tale.
Bao's first appearance was in the hospital, because he couldn't urinate because of prostatitis, and he didn't give a clear line. There is only one tap ticking behind the doctor.
In the traditional image, it is an embarrassing situation that you can't urinate, or the living are suffocated by urine. Once a man has problems in his lower body, it belongs to the loss of male dignity. The original setting of the bag is that a person is in such a situation. His work unit is facing bankruptcy and needs to pay for the car accident. He worked hard for the safety of the stone exhibition. Later, he found that the stone had been replaced, lost his temper in the toilet and kicked all the urinals ... all kinds of information related to peeing were revealing his unsuccessful life.
Finally, Bao cursed Director Xie for betraying everyone and caught the international killing avenue in the elevator. At the award ceremony, he slipped into the toilet and was so wet that he was so excited that he forgot to receive the award. This gave him the best ending-the dignity of a man.
For the object of protection-stone, it seems a bit like the mirror of Eris in Harry Potter. Only those who like it rather than possess it can find it. Finally, Bao actually hung the real jade around his girlfriend's neck and told her seriously that it was "fake".
This is the best ending, because in the girlfriend's heart, even a fake jade is more precious than a real jade!
Verb (short for verb) actor
There is no big name, but the biggest name is the supporting role Xu zhēng in the supporting role.
However, it is precisely because there is no big-name performance that an original performance can make people laugh. Because they can act in any plot regardless of image and reward, without considering the praise or criticism of others.
Crazy Stone is called the best comedy film this year, even the best Chinese film so far this year.
Andy Lau, an investor who has failed many times, should be happy this time!
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Many times when people ask me if the movie is good, I always don't know how to answer, because the movie is not like a woman, so I can simply say whether it is good or not. When the film says "good", it seems to be talking about the market of this film; But Crazy Stone is different. It can definitely be described as "good-looking" without thinking.
Some people hope that Ning Hao can become the Peng Haoxiang of mainland movies. I think Ning Hao is much more relaxed than Peng Haoxiang in this movie. "Relaxation" doesn't mean that he doesn't obey the rules-his event structure is also very clever-but that he has lost the habit of showing sympathy for China intellectuals, accelerated the pace of the story, and calmly told an interesting story, which was very relaxed, skillful and, more importantly, very close.
Some people say that Ning Hao is a young director trained in the domestic dvd market, which is obviously about the relationship between Crazy Stone and the films of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Indeed, are crashes, switches and accidental collisions really related to the cover? Ricky is similar, but this is by no means a simple "plagiarism". Let's just say that Ning Hao didn't take a detour. These routines are the simplest and most effective way to tell stories in this kind of movies. Fassbinder also said that he made crime movies because it was easier to tell stories, which is obvious.
Ning Hao has his own ingenuity in telling stories. Let's look at the first part of the movie and how he strings these groups of characters together.
Scene 1: A boy pretending to be an artist is flirting with a beautiful girl on the cable car. The beautiful girl stepped on him and he threw the coke can out of the cable car. Later, we learned that this timid boy was the son of the boss of the factory director who later dug up the gem, and this beautiful girl was the lover of the local thief boss. Let's pay attention to the coke cans thrown by the director's son.
Scene 2: the scene of tearing down the toilet. Explain a contradiction: because the factory owes money, the real estate agent wants this land, and the factory director wants to keep the factory. This contradiction is a background. Later, the director dug up the stone and wanted to sell it to keep the factory.
Scene 3: Three people from the moving company are in trouble by the police for parking illegally. Because the documents are incomplete, they will give the police a hammer, which shows that what they are doing is not serious. Just then, a car accident happened not far away.
Scene 4: Crash. The direct cause of the crash was that the coke can thrown by the factory director's son at the first scene hit Baotou's car, which had not been paid for eight months. When they got off the car and swore at the cable car, the car actually hit a real estate developer's car, who was solemnly describing the word "demolition" along the slope.
The car crash also caught the attention of the police, who were looking for trouble with the three soil thieves. This first part looks multi-line, but it has been scuffled in form. The son of the factory director inadvertently played an important role and played a more important role in the following narrative. It is his switching and his relationship with the boss lover of the local thief that makes the story more interesting.
Hitchcock filmed a short story called Mutton Arms. Whenever I think about it, I am always excited. The story is about a woman who learned that her cruel husband was about to leave her and killed him with a frozen leg of lamb. When the police came to search for the murder weapon, she unhurriedly roasted the leg of lamb and brought it to the police. Hitchcock said, "you have to let the audience know that there is a bomb ticking, but the people in the play don't know." This is suspense. "
There is also a small bomb ticking in Crazy Stone, which is the switched stone. However, this small bomb did not completely explode. He was still talking about the protagonist Baotou, the real estate developer and "007" until the film had black screen subtitles. Finally, tens of millions of jewels were hung around the neck of a simple girlfriend by Baotou as cheap imitations. This treatment is much better than the truth. I believe all the audience will take a deep breath and smile when they come here.
In addition to the event structure, the characterization in the film is also very brilliant. There are many people in the world, and there are many kinds of people in the market. Although this is not a realistic depiction, it is natural that this way of black humor is applied to China people. There is no big star, but it makes people feel very intimate and real. Many actors in this film performed well. I'm just going around Guo Tao. I like Meng Jinghui's dramatic actors very much: Chen Jianbin, Liao Fan and Guo Tao. Maybe it's the rhinoceros in love. When I saw Guo Tao, I felt very close. It can be seen that Ning Hao gave him all the most difficult plays to show his complicated psychology. But I have a little objection to this: the performance style of an actor should be self-contained in a movie, just like the timbre in painting and the harmony in music, such as the performance style of an actor in clockwork orange; But all the actors in this film are humorous performances, including the sadness and loneliness of the local thief boss after discovering that his lover is engaged by others. But only Baotou is more real, for example, his complex mentality when he found the stone replaced, and the scene where he mistakenly thought that his companion had beaten and even screamed at the top of his lungs after stealing the stone. I think we can relax a little, this point is a bit dead.
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Only China people can laugh?
Said Zhang Yimou can play deep, Chen Kaige smiled; Said Chen Kaige can play modeling, Xiaogang Feng smiled; Ning Hao smiled when he said that Xiaogang Feng could tell stories.
DVD lovers can see at a glance that Blog (hereinafter referred to as Stone) is deeply influenced by foreign black comedies, especially by British director guy ritchie and director Ning Hao. "We thought about more than a dozen possibilities, and it turns out that it is indeed the most mature structure of this type of film, so we used it." The skeleton was built according to foreign films, but the genius of Ning Hao lies in the "domestic" flesh-and-blood tunnel filled.
"Stone" is a film with "China characteristics", which is full of rough and vivid texture unique to the changing city of China. "200 1, I went to Nortel (abbreviation of Beijing Film Academy). Many students share a house outside, some know each other and some are unfamiliar. I like making up stories, and I just learned to write plays at that time. I thought, what if the police and thieves live in the same building next door? "
The story became more and more round in the chat with friends and became a script. After getting the investment from Andy Lau, an up-and-coming Asian director, Ning Hao filmed this story. "At that time, I thought, where can I shoot such an absurd story? I don't know, it should be a hot place intuitively, so I choose from the' four stoves'. " At the end of Chongqing, Ning Hao had a score in his heart. "That was the first time I went to Chongqing. This city is really spectacular, and the whole city is in the transition from old to new. When I entered the city, I saw brother shirtless. One honked his horn and many other drivers followed. It's loud. Seeing this scene, I felt it. "
Subway cars, circular viaducts, old and cramped old cities, tall buildings with brand-new glass exterior walls, small hotels in the corner of the city, dark and messy rooms, women's uncles playing mahjong downstairs in pajamas, kebabs, food stalls ... Some characteristics and familiar smells of China city are coming. "At that time, we wandered around Chongqing and arrived at Luohan Temple, which is here." Ning Hao recalled, "Chongqing is a mountain city, and the terrain fluctuates greatly. Luohan Temple was built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, followed by houses in the fifties and sixties, then in the eighties and nineties, and then in these two years. I saw it for three hundred years at a glance. "
Some people say that Stone is a movie that only people in China can understand, which makes sense. A series of funny plots in "Stone" all come from familiar life segments. Three local thieves pretended to be a moving company and stole everything in broad daylight; Playing the trick of "winning the prize with a can ring" on the subway-a classic social story in the media; Brother Bao thought that the "big shot" at the gate of the temple was coming to steal precious stones, so he bought cigarettes and wine according to Jianghu rules. The big guys in the room whispered, "chengguan?" "Plain clothes, civilized law enforcement" ... Seeing this, the audience gave a knowing laugh; Every time the waitress appears, they must be a pair of indifferent accents, and they have been burying their heads in texting. Isn't this kind of "thumb family" very common in life? BMW BMW says "Don't touch me". Do you often get such jokes? ..... Ning Hao likes to watch social news. "They are very dark and humorous. When we make up stories, we will naturally add these socially interesting things. "
Comparing Ning Hao and Xiaogang Feng together, it is estimated that neither of them is very happy, but since Stone is a comedy, it is difficult to bypass Feng Dao, the only elder who insists on entertaining the public for a long time. In contrast, Xiaogang Feng is good at making up stories with practical significance and creating original funny catchwords. In addition to using dialects and lines to create comedy effects, Stone can be said to be the first domestic comedy that takes the "spoof" route. Mike, a serious Hong Kong professional thief, hangs down in the posture of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, but he doesn't know that the "profiteer" is short of weight, and the rope is not long enough, but he can't reach the gem. The first snow in 2002 was changed to "the first shit of 200 1, which was more urgent than in previous years"; The guest real estate agent in Xú Zhēng said, "We will cooperate with Shuguang Arts and Crafts Factory in depth and continue to develop this hot land", which easily reminds you of a high-sounding unscrupulous businessman ... The most magical thing is to spoof Guanyin, a woebegone, effeminate male worker, dressed as a woman, making a flying appearance and taking a height.
"spoof" is a kind of joke and banter to popular culture. Only when the director and audience are familiar with these contexts will there be tacit laughter in the cinema.
Look good first, not awkward.
When we say "new realism", we don't want to label it. In isolation, "Stone" is just a pure entertainment film, and this kind of black comedy is quite mature abroad, but when put into the lineup of the whole domestic film, the stone conveys some pleasant and interesting information: low-cost production (about 3 million investment, DV shooting and then filming); There are no stars (but if there is Guo Tao, the play is the first card, and other actors are quite brilliant); The story is easy to catch people; Easy and funny; An absurd story, but everywhere reflects the familiar and intimate urban space and civilian life-in Shanghai dialect, there is finally a film that is not "awkward".
"Stone" is not the first "new realism" domestic film, but an instant hit. At present, the investment in domestic films is still inactive. Except for Zhang Yimou, Xiaogang Feng and other first-line directors, no one is worried about throwing money. Most directors are holding books, waiting for the world to lose pie. It's easy to get a sum of money, so naturally they go to make art films first. Only by participating in film festivals, winning prizes and becoming famous can investors be attracted, and minority art films, such as Zhu Wen (South of the Cloud), Wang Quanan (Scared) and Li Yu (Beauty), are naturally the best films to participate in, basically continuing the "academic style" of the sixth generation. But at the same time, some new directors are less enthusiastic and pay more and more attention to "watching movies". Ning Hao, Wu Shixian, Xiao Jiang and even Lu Chuan are all representatives.
Directing by generations is too hasty, but the concepts, tastes, techniques and growing backgrounds of the new generation of filmmakers are really quite different. Ning Hao was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi in the late 1970s. When he was thirteen or fourteen years old, he liked to soak in the video hall as much as the little boy at that time and was addicted to Hong Kong films. When I grew up, I entered the overwhelming DVD era, watched too many movies and had too many favorite directors; When he entered the business, he began to "mix" in TV dramas and MV circles. Plus DV, even if he met a lot of investors, he could still shoot a few short stories. "For me, there is no distinction between art and business in movies, only good-looking and bad-looking. I want to make a good movie. When I have something to say, I will shoot it according to my own ideas; When I have nothing to say, it is ok to make an entertainment movie, but it must be entertaining enough. This must not be vague. "
More interestingly, Si Tong's message of "new reality" has also been echoed in other areas of popular culture. If we look at it together with the other two hot spots-the TV series Legend of Wulin and the online spoof drama A Bloody Case of Steamed Bread, it is easy to find some similarities: the creators are relaxed and entertain others; The content is full of civilian flavor; Very sensitive to popular things, casual teasing and joking; There is irony in some social phenomena.
"Hero", "House of Flying Daggers", "Blog" and other "domestic blockbusters" make the domestic film circle rise in vain and fall into a strange circle: famous directors-big investments-mediocre films-bad reputation-high box office. The success of "Stone" in word-of-mouth and box office may be a small sobering agent for investors, filmmakers and cinemas: there are many possibilities in terms of film concept, storyline and commercial operation, just as a film critic said: "In this way, it is rare to make a commercial film with a small budget and become a mass director ..." The appearance of a new director will not happen soon.
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If I don't say something about this movie, I can't write anything else. It triggered many of my first experiences: the first time I went to the same cinema twice to watch the same movie, the first time I sent a message to recommend it to my friends, the first time I decided that I had seen the best comedy movie in Chinese mainland so far, and the first time I was blocked by a movie for so long, but I didn't know how to speak. Today, the excitement it brought me is still clearly rippling in my mind. I can definitely conclude that if someone asks me which movie impressed me the most in 2006 several years later, the answer is definitely only one, yes, that rock and roll movie that made me crazy.
If this is a foreign film, I shouldn't be very surprised by its exquisite plot design. After all, if you have seen Lock, Stock, Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, even if you have only seen Pulp Fiction and Love is a Bitch, you won't make a fuss about the plot design and multi-thread narrative style of Stone. After all, this used to be a Wang Yang. However, it is a domestic movie, and more importantly, it is a domestic comedy movie. Such precise and rigorous logical plot setting is rare in previous domestic movies, let alone domestic comedy movies. Most of Chinese mainland's comedic films rely on the absurdity of characters' performances, dialogues or plots to create comic effects, but none of them surpass Stone in comedy. Even the comedies that I think are very good, such as Yang Yazhou's Things I Can't Steal, Huang Jianxin's Who says I don't care, and Xiaogang's Party A and Party B, are not comparable to stones at all. In my opinion, the only reason is. There are basically no good-looking mainland comedies in recent years. Xiao Gang's "world without thieves" made a lot of money by overwhelming hype and star benefits, but its shoddy plot was simply insulting the audience's IQ. Fortunately, now, we see a really born stone. For domestic movies, we seem to vaguely see something called hope. When I was sitting in the last row of the screening hall, I saw that the front was packed. This is a so-called "miracle" for a domestic film with an investment of 3 million, no stars and no publicity.
Online fans have been talking about the plot of the movie for a long time, so I won't go into details. I just want to say one thing that impressed me here, just like you were suddenly stabbed by something, which is enough to spread in your memory, even forever.
Beauty of detail
A director's almost paranoid design of details reflects his personal perfectionism, because the details vary widely, especially today, when most people regard movies as a pastime, many details are bound to be submerged in the careless eyes of most audiences, and the original intention of the director's design can't be fully exerted. But for a small number of fans or people who watch movies seriously, it is no exaggeration to say that these details can greatly increase their appreciation, thus substantially improving the quality of movies. Ning Hao is undoubtedly a person who is willing to serve a few people, and he is also willing to do his work to the extreme with paranoia. Like the curtain of 100 minutes, he put a diamond in every square centimeter. If you look at it carefully or several times, you will find that the whole curtain is dazzling.
First of all, I want to talk about the details of dialogue or picture continuity during scene switching. At the beginning of the film, Baotou just finished the sentence "You still expect dollars to fall from the sky" in the car. As soon as the voice fell, a coke can fell from the sky; Hong Kong thief Mike just finished saying "one car is enough", and the next scene is immediately that a taxi's "empty car" sign bounces off and enters the scene of "cheating dad"; Three local thieves opened Mike's box on the roof and found a picture of Zhang Yushi. In the next shot, the jade in that painting becomes the real jade in front of Baotou. This type of detail design is the most concentrated in the preparation work of the three teams. The lens explains the activities of each team separately, and there is a transition between the switches. The first is the sentence "This light …" in Baotou. The next scene is that Feng Dong's lackey assistant tells that there is something wrong with the light of the BMW, and then switches back to Baotou without stopping: "… this is called highlight, and then switches from the black brand" Benny Road "to the service Mike" brand yo, look at this flexibility … "Then I immediately switch from the sentence" Baotou "to the sentence of knife elder brother," This is called knowing yourself and knowing yourself. Then, the next scene is the back of Sambo shivering in the cold wind in Tiananmen Square (in the words of a friend, this is called "frozen deideii's"). The background music is cheerful "I love Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where the sun rises …" and so on. This dialogue and the continuity of the picture greatly enhance the interest of scene switching, as if the team and the horse were engaged in some secret pre-confrontation in different time and space.
Here are some interesting little details. I don't know if you still remember assistant Feng Dong's funny dice rolling action before writing the word "demolition". Have you noticed the blue flower finger and his spoof flower pants that the sissy in the security guard stands up every time he draws? There is also the word "baby" on the map of knife elder brother; There are also black leather coats and three bags. The first night, they used binoculars to spy on the same man and woman making out in the car. Also, when the black skin climbed over the long sewer and found it blocked, the image of Egyptian Pharaoh Optimus Prime immediately appeared. At this time, the dubbing is the ethereal three "hahaha", as if it were the laughter of the gods; Finally, let's talk about a detail that I believe most people won't notice: Heipi said "three" when he went to buy a ticket, and the three fingers he extended were the middle finger and the ring finger of his thumb. Hey, hey, dear friend, give it a try and see if you can finish this difficult action.