Chapter 83: The First Experience of "Hero" By the Great Directors

Is "Hero" a good movie?

Sitting in the second row of the screening room, Wu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief after watching the 96-minute movie with Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen and Feng Xiaogang.

Although it was not the first time he watched this movie, he was still shocked by the pictures of the movie after watching it at the premiere.

In fact, the controversy about this movie has never stopped for 20 years since its release.

Many people say that this is a movie made for foreigners, a movie with an incomplete story and a hollow plot, just for showmanship.

But it is undeniable that the dazzling shots and colors in this movie are really unforgettable.

If we look at it from the perspective of 20 years later, "Hero" is certainly not a perfect movie.

But there is no doubt that this movie brought a visual feast to the audience in 2002, a feast of gluttony!

The ultimate aesthetics of color, picture and composition in the movie "Hero" is definitely the top level of domestic films, and even Chen Kaige can hardly surpass it!

The black symbolizes the majesty and overwhelming power of the King of Qin.

The broken sword represents the bloody killing and the anger of the common people.

When Wuming assassinated the King of Qin, Wuming was dressed in black, and the red feathers on the helmets of the Qin army surrounding him formed a strong color contrast between red and black.

While alluding to the collision and game between the two forces, it also brought the ultimate color conflict aesthetics!

In addition, the duel between Feixue and Ruyue in the golden poplar forest, and the visual impact of the golden leaves being stained red with blood in the end.

The blue tone when the King of Qin guessed the experience of the broken sword and Feixue in his inner world also used color to metaphor the suspicious, jealous, and insecure character of the King of Qin.

In Canjian Feixue's own memories, their clothes and the tones of the surrounding things all turned green, and green symbolized love and vitality.

At the end of the movie, Ruyue, played by Zhang Ziyi, turned from red to white, riding a white horse across the desert, and also used color to make a metaphor for the ending of the whole film.

The rich colors before all disappeared, leaving only white.

The King of Qin finally realized his ambition to unify the seven kingdoms, and mixed the chaotic colors into one color again.

The color aesthetics used by Director Yimou in this film not only gives the audience a direct visual impact, but also bears important narrative significance and fits the content.

And the big scenes of "Hero" are also well shot.

Whether it is the oppressive feeling brought by the King of Qin standing in the empty and magnificent dark hall overlooking everything, or the war scene where the Qin army shouted "Wind! Wind! Strong wind!", no matter how many times you watch it, it will make people scream with excitement.

"The pictures are indeed well shot, but the form is greater than the content." Director Kaigo shook his head and said with some disappointment: "The content is large and empty, relying only on some gorgeous colors to fill the screen."

"Yimou wants to show too many new forms in this movie."

"New narrative form, new martial arts form, new color form, and the form that emphasizes artistic conception and elegance."

"Only focusing on showing these formal things to the audience weakens the story of the movie, and even a complete story is not told clearly."

"Yimou's best portrayal of human nature is not done well, and the character's emotions are very empty.

"Ah? "Wu Yuan looked at Director Kaige in surprise.

This evaluation seems to be more appropriate to describe "The Promise".

If the story of "Hero" is just incomplete, then "The Promise" is completely abstract. The movie is full of various art forms and aesthetics, and the story line is messy and can't be pieced together.

Since Director Kaige knows that blindly piling up art forms and picture aesthetics is not a good idea, why did he make a "The Promise" next?

Is he trying to prove to the world that China still has to look to Chen Kaige for color and picture aesthetics?

Or did the huge sales of "Hero" give him the illusion that it doesn't matter whether the story of a commercial blockbuster is complete or not, as long as the picture is shocking and beautiful enough?

Wu Yuan found that he seemed to have explored Director Kaige's mental journey in making "The Promise".

Should I remind Director Kaige not to go to extremes!

But before he could finish his words, Jiang Wen, who was sitting on the other side of him, also recovered and slapped his thigh hard: "It's so damn good! ”

“It’s magnificent and soul-stirring!”

“It’s so shocking. Director Yimou has taught me a lesson!”

Well, Jiang Wen, who also doesn’t care about the integrity of the story, likes to leave blanks in the plot, retains imagination, and pays more attention to the artistic conception of the film, is simply very fond of the big scenes and various forms of aesthetics in “Hero”.

No wonder he made a movie “The Sun Also Rises” next, and most of the audience couldn’t understand it after watching it.

Director Yimou, your “Hero” has done a lot of harm to people!

Fortunately, there are still rational people. Feng Xiaogang frowned and muttered: “Say this is an art film, there are endless big scenes in this movie, and the plot is in line with the routine of Hollywood commercial films.”

“Several grassroots heroes take turns to assassinate the evil villain, which is a classic commercial film routine.”

“But say this movie is a commercial film, Director Yimou has stuffed too many artistic elements in it, various metaphors, blanks, narrative dialogues, and a large number of stream-of-consciousness shots, which ordinary audiences can’t understand at all. "

"And the assassination attempt didn't succeed in the end. Wuming was impressed by the King of Qin's ambition and gave up the assassination attempt. "

"If this is put into a Hollywood commercial film, it's like the villain turned the hero against the hero and successfully ruled the world"

"I don't understand, I really don't understand."

Feng Xiaogang, who focuses on the commercial film market, also didn't understand what kind of movie "Hero" was.

He raised his head and looked at Wu Yuan in confusion: "Director Wu, you know more about Hollywood commercial films than I do. What do you think of this movie?"

Chen Kaige and Jiang Wen also looked at Wu Yuan, wanting to hear how he evaluated the movie.

"It's an experimental film that transforms from art to business. It's just that the investors are too rich, so they make a big show."

Wu Yuan thought for a while and explained: "But this is actually the advantage of this movie."

"If there is not such a large investment, this movie will definitely fail."

"Precisely because the investment is large enough, Director Yimou can use shocking pictures and magnificent momentum to cover up the flaws of this movie."

"As a commercial blockbuster, from the perspective of scenes, "Hero" is qualified."

"For domestic audiences, this grand scene and extreme film aesthetics are worth the price of the ticket."

"But this success is not "Hero" is the first domestic blockbuster that can be replicated. The audience is more tolerant. As long as there are highlights, they can accept it."

"After all, it is a start from 0 to 1."

"It is enough to see the big scenes that only foreign blockbusters have."

"But if the latecomers come up with such an experimental commercial blockbuster, the audience will definitely not buy it."

"If we want to make such a commercial blockbuster, we must be more mature than Hero, the story must be more perfect, and we don't need to consider the artistry and film aesthetics too much. We just need to focus on commerciality."

At the end, Wu Yuan looked at Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang meaningfully.

Yes, I am talking about "The Promise" and "The Banquet"!

Wu Yuan doesn't believe that these two movies did not imitate "Hero" in its attempt to combine art and business!

They want to shoot big scenes at the level of Hollywood commercial blockbusters, and they want to cram in various art forms and lens images. Even Spielberg doesn't dare to do this!

If Director Kai Ge and Feng Xiaogang are still stubborn enough to shoot The Promise and The Banquet, they will be scolded by the audience.

Anyway, Wu Yuan has already reminded them. If they are still overwhelmed by the high box office of Hero, Wu Yuan can do nothing about it.

"Let's go. The film's main creators have left the show and are going to the next door for a press conference. It's time for us to leave too."

Standing up and tidying up his wrinkled suit, Wu Yuan left the screening room.

The other three directors were still immersed in Wu Yuan's comments, thinking seriously about how they should go in the future of commercial films.