Chapter 11: Life is like a play. You should play yourself well.

As the saying goes, every 1000 readers have 1000 Hamlet, which is about reading comprehension of famous books. So for film art, are there any movies that make the audience feel that every role is important and every role is the protagonist after watching it? The recently released comedy Chapter 11 is such a film.

For this film, the biggest highlight is that the director Chen Jianbin has a strong desire for self-expression, which will let different audiences have their own personal experiences and find their own shadows in their understanding of the film. This is also the best feedback that director Chen Jianbin expressed his hope to convey. So this film says that life is really like a play, and you have to play yourself well.

The eleventh chapter is a feature film directed by Chen Jianbin and starring Zhou Xun, Chen Jianbin, Leah Dou, Xia Chun, Dapeng, Song Jia, Liu Jinshan, Yu Qian and Jia Bing. The film revolves around Ma Fuli, an ordinary middle-aged man, and tells the contradictory story of Ma Fuli's family and a drama troupe. The story is about a murder case 30 years ago, which was adapted into a stage play by the municipal drama troupe. As a party to the murder case, Maffoli (Chen Jianbin) brings up the past and makes his life turbulent again. Maffoli is busy arguing with Hu Quentin (Dapeng), the director of the Drama Troupe, while looking for a lawyer to reverse his conviction and seek the truth to clear his name. He is also busy reconciling the tense relationship between his wife Kim (Zhou Xun) and his daughter Kim Duoduo (Leah Dou). Life has given him many heavy hammers. After many years, Maffoli also found himself in the process of reversing his conviction, and other characters also had their own good homes. As for the situation of the suspect, it is not important.

First of all, talk about the success of this film. The film won the Best Screenplay Award and Best Supporting Actress Award at the 9th Leah Dou International Film Festival. So the biggest hero of this film is Chen Jianbin, and this film is his second film after a spoon. Chen Jianbin is one of the successful examples of acting while the iron is hot. We know that he is a harvester played by historical figures such as Yongzheng, Zhao Kuangyin, Li Bai and Cao Cao. But he is also a regular representative of the rustic uncle. Is he also a note taker of the spoon? Remember in Nobody, he played a "Ma Xianyong" who stubbornly wanted to be a policeman? He played the rustic uncle of the lower class and left a deep influence on the audience.

Compared with the previous work "A Spoon", which simply depicts the rescue of a simple farmer in the northwest and a mentally retarded wandering street, Chen Jianbin filmed not only the story structure; Still shooting techniques; Or casting themes, tasks, etc. Are on a higher level.

The plot structure of this story is the film structure described in the feud chapter of the play, and Chen Jianbin creatively adopts the form of "film+drama stage", reflecting the story of a chicken feather in the workplace and a mixed family. Yes, the characters and clues in this story are a bit complicated, but there are three main lines: Ma Fuli's entanglement with the drama troupe, Ma Fuli's handling of family chores, and the story behind the director of the drama troupe. These three lines seem to be separated, but in fact they are closely connected, which affects the trend of the plot, thus showing a high degree of acting structure and hierarchy in the play.

The shooting technique of this film is also worth mentioning. Chen Jianbin, for example, used dramatic figurative language, such as Marvel and Red Cloth. In addition, the director also used the symmetrical beauty in the drama to complete the shooting. For example, Ma Fuli was punched in the eye at the beginning of the plot, and his wife Jin was also symmetrically beaten behind. The mirror of infinite circulation between Jia and Hu Quentin, the background wall of Maffoli's family of three eating is also a mirror, and so on. The director reflected the beauty of the integration of film and drama through symmetrical shooting techniques. There is also the most wonderful part, that is, the future of drama conflict played by Chen Jianbin, Zhou Xun and Leah Dou is revealed through eye contact while the Mafuli family of three are eating, and such audio-visual language shows all emotions at once. This nonverbal plot not only reflects the acting skills of these excellent actors, but also reflects the tension and charm of this silent film.

Coming to the theme mission of casting fully shows that every role is an important theme. First of all, Chen Jianbin, who plays Ma Fuli, is a work written, directed and performed by himself. Naturally, he plays the role of Uncle Tu. Ma Fuli, played by him, is an uncle who pursues justice, but he has his own opinions, so he looks for people to make suggestions and makes a series of things about human nature. As for the existence of the soul of the whole film, it is Ha Zhou Xun. Needless to say, his handsome and sophisticated acting skills. Leah Dou, who plays Jin Duoduo in the play, also won an award for her dedication and hard work. She is also a powerful figure in Zhengming Star II. After all, the characters in the film conform to Leah Dou's character and represent the rebellious and unruly character of contemporary teenagers.

As for Hu Quentin played by Dapeng, this is the most humorous place in the whole film. He likes joking, but he says his wife is very strict, so he is ambiguous about Jia, played by Xia Chun. He is sometimes serious and sometimes smooth, which is the representative of dual personality. In fact, we can see that the director takes the drama director Hu Quentin as an incision to interpret the play and dissect the "artist" himself. Of course, there is also the head of Fukus played by Yu Qian. There are also two serious and lively faces, which show the essence of workplace skills, and the scenes of fart brother Jia Bing in the car, which reveal many humorous scenes. So this is a comedy component that makes people laugh.

Finally, comedy is a form, but its theme is heavy and serious. To tell the truth, this is an experimental avant-garde art film, which combines suspense reasoning, black humor, complex love, life fable and other elements. It is between the truth and the falsehood of this acting drama that the film shows the true social microcosm through the feelings of small people. For example, there are slut humiliation, the extramarital affair between Hu Quentin and Jia, the early pregnancy of young girls, religion and secularism, script review, and the right to speak in historical discourse, which are rich and complicated. However, under the careful polishing of Chen Jianbin, the structure is so clear and the narrative is stress-free, which can be described as the perfect integration of content and form, commerce and art.

Finally, if you are still obsessed with the truth of the murder case, it is meaningless. After all, at the end of the film, the matter about the case is just an introduction. Just like Ma Fuli was told by the younger brother of the deceased 30 years ago that "people should learn to let go, and in the end people will only be a death certificate or a copy" and realized what life is and what life is like a play. Finally, in the movie, a group of actors finally found all kinds of homes and seized their existing happiness through their interpretation in and out of the play. The films in Chapter 11 are rich in content, mixed with reality, sincere and touching, but ironic and touching. This story tells us that life is like a play, you should play yourself well, find your true self and have a happy home. There are only ten times in this film, and naturally the eleventh time belongs to the audience. The director also wants the audience to stay away from the drama and film, return to reality, play our social role and start our eleventh time.

As a Chen Jianbin with a sense of justice and social responsibility, what is his real Chapter XI besides drama? Have you noticed that Chen Jianbin, a native of Xinjiang, recently wrote a poem "Clouds Growing from the Soil-My Dear Hometown" to support cotton in Xinjiang? It can be seen that Chen Jianbin is a man of temperament and a good director with both ability and political integrity. He writes poems for hobbies and responsibilities, just as he expresses his concern for the survival of the lower classes through such film art, which embodies a kind of social justice because of his sense of social responsibility and justice, as well as his chivalrous spirit. This also tells us that our life is like a play. You should play yourself well, find your true self, have a happy family and do your social responsibility.

Language Walker in the Flower City, an ancient book written in April 1st, was published by Baihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House in March 2020. Si Yigu, a writer and freelance writer, now lives in Guangzhou.