Bad review of "Liu Lang Wen Ying"! Domestic literary films are really melodramatic.


This film is adapted from Love West Lake by Wang Xufeng, winner of Mao Dun Literature Prize.
Similar to Farewell My Concubine directed by Chen Kaige, both of them use a traditional opera as a carrier, and through the changes of the times, the love and hate of the protagonists are connected in series. No matter Peking Opera Farewell My Concubine or Yue Opera Butterfly Lovers, the cultural heritage that has been integrated into Chinese’s bones can always infect many audiences inadvertently.


One, two women and one man have been entangled in emotional entanglements for many years
The story begins in the summer of 1992. Chui Yi and Yin Xin are well-known actors of Shaoxing Opera in Shengxian County, Zhejiang Province. They grew up together, studied drama and performed together. Their most successful work together is the classical love myth "Butterfly Lovers".
Chui Yi is soft on the surface, but extremely stubborn in her bones. She is very talented in performing Yue Opera, so it is logical to become a unique figure in the County Yue Opera Troupe. The enthusiasm for Yue Opera has caused her to experience many setbacks. However, whether at the peak or at the bottom of her life, she regards Yue Opera as the most important part of her life.

Yin Xin looks passive to Nuo Nuo, but in fact she is very scheming. In the Yue Opera Troupe, she has always been a foil to her eyes. Although she doesn’t say it to her face, she tries her best to figure out how to get ahead. His eyes were damaged, which made Yinxin see the opportunity to replace each other. Two playmates at the turn of the total angle eventually parted ways because of different choices in life.
Like the setting of July and An Sheng, both heroines have their own unique personalities, and they regard each other as the best confidants for a long time. However, no matter how good the relationship is, it must be subordinated to reality, just like Yue Opera, which is difficult to support the family. After all, they have to face the chicken feathers of life.

Although the main line of the film is about the decades-long entanglement between two women, in order to increase the drama conflict, it is inevitable to join a male role-the painter wants to be good at work. His obsession with mourning and his acquiescence in throwing himself at the silver heart kept the two sisters in a delicate relationship.
From the perspective of human nature, it is selfish to be good at work. He doesn’t love Yin Xin, but he is not willing to give up the other person’s love. In his mind, Yin Xin is just a substitute that he can’t get a visit, but he dare not put down his body to pursue boldly. This kind of swing from side to side eventually hurts the two closest women around him.

Different from the desire for good work, although there are all kinds of unhappiness in the middle, the emotional foundation cultivated for decades makes them miss each other at any time, and that kind of emotion, even if mixed with jealousy and disappointment, is really moving. When Yin Xin snatched the opportunity that belonged to him, they turned against each other, but he still didn’t forget to remind Yin Xin to work hard and play the leading role.
When the other person’s life is the poorest, say, "Do you still want to sing?" It is easy to resolve the contradiction between the two people and bind them together again. There can be friction and contradiction between women, but as long as the ideals are consistent, all roads lead to the same goal.


Second, the elegy of traditional opera under the background of the times
The main line of the film revolves around Yue Opera, and there are inevitably large live performances.
For those who don’t like traditional opera, too many opera aria will inevitably make them feel on pins and needles, but for those who like it, watching Yue Opera on the big screen has a unique taste.
With the smile of the protagonist, all the expressions are panoramic in front of the enlarged picture, which can get a completely different viewing experience from the small theater.
The main character’s several life blows in the film are actually the true manifestation of the decline of Yue Opera.

From being popular with the whole people and thundering applause during the performance, to having to put down one’s posture and succumb to the humble stage set up in the countryside, but still not selling many tickets, until he committed himself to the West Lake cruise performance and completely became an entertainment tool, Yue Opera stepped down the altar step by step.
In A Hundred Birds at the Phoenix, the suona, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, was defeated in the tide of social reform, and unfortunately became an inconspicuous decoration in the corner of the warehouse. Behind the love story of The Willow Waves and the Warbler, it reflected more the decline of traditional culture. In an era of fast food culture, traditional opera is like an outdated antique, and not many people really care about its life or death. Those craftsmen who are struggling to stick to it have experienced hesitation and pain that outsiders can’t understand.

In order to persist in singing opera, they can even make a living as blind masseurs, and accept the dance invitation of wealthy businessmen against their will. However, even if they are down and out again, they still piously guard the artistic bottom line, which is the most respectable place as art inheritors.

Third, art cinema’s confusion and helplessness
As a low-cost literary film, most of the scenes in the film are simple, but the photographer accurately captures the characteristics of each city and the ingenuity of composition, so that each frame can capture the essence of the scene to the greatest extent, showing the ultimate aesthetic feeling. The close combination with the urban style of Hangzhou makes the whole film infiltrate the softness of the south of the Yangtze River from beginning to end, the misty balcony, the ambiguous infatuation between men and women, and even the air seems to be permeated with wet flavor, making the story of Liu Lang Wen Ying belong only to Hangzhou.
The high integration of soundtrack and plot can always convey the character’s mind in tears, which makes the whole story more sad.

The appearance of the hero and heroine is highly coincident with the character in the play. The heroine, Wang Mei, is tough and resolute. Although she is a woman, her lines are more rough than men’s, which coincides with her role temperament. In Butterfly Lovers, she was originally responsible for playing Liang Shanbo, which made her role a little more heroic. Zheng Yunlong brought her own temperament as a classical artist and brought out the best in her identity as an eager painter. The man was as gentle as jade, like the Republic of China.
However, this film also made the common fault of most small-budget art cinema. The petty bourgeoisie in the whole film is too obvious, and it still has not escaped the self-pity and self-pity of a handful of young artists. They always feel that their love tragedy can touch everyone, but they don’t know that ordinary audiences will buy it at all, and they will only become cannon fodder in their own world.
The hero’s standard literary male character likes to hide everything, and he doesn’t want to express or say it. It is very unpleasant, but it is not as free and easy as the female characters in the play. Love is together, and if you don’t love it, you will leave, and you will never drag your feet.

The form and content of the film are far greater than the story. It can even be said that the story line of this film is too thin to be ignored, and the whole film relies more on emotions and performances to support it. As a female director, Dai Wei’s exquisite tenderness and accurate grasp of details and emotions can always make the audience break through the defense easily. However, her over-personalized expression and extremely heavy literary drama are easy to fall into the moans of literary youth and are out of touch with reality, leaving the ordinary audience with no sense of substitution at all, and many actions of the hero and heroine are even more melodramatic.
Today’s domestic films, it is difficult to strike a balance between art and commerce. Some large-scale productions, which pursue scenes and special effects too much, can get sensory pleasure in a short time, but they can’t bring more thinking, and literary films will always fall into a strange circle of ungrounded atmosphere. Even if the creative team tries hard, the final results will never impress ordinary audiences, and even lead passers-by to stay away from domestic literary films.
In fact, many literary films have also made a lot of attempts to add emotional changes to the characters in the narrative process, but no matter how full the role is, it still can’t meet the slow pace of catching customers and lacks dramatic conflicts. It is destined to be appreciated by only a few fans, but it can’t really enter the hearts of the public.

"Liu Lang Wen Ying" did not make any contribution to the breakthrough of domestic literary films, but maintained the basic artistic pursuit of this genre. When the final picture was fixed in absolute beauty, the audience could only take a look at this wallpaper-like beauty and console themselves.




























