Why did "Better Days" throw those domestic youth films that groaned before out of a few streets?

? Better days

Because the subject matter is sensitive, from the initial 6/27, I was silent all the way and missed the summer file and the National Day file.

Then one afternoon two days ago, without warning, Guan Wei suddenly replied and announced the release.

Because the waiting time was too long, and I was afraid that there would be any more clues, Uncle Fish bought the ticket at the first time and caught an early show. ?

When I came out, my eyes were red and I went back to the computer. I tried to encode the story. After several hours, my mood was still very chaotic.

? It's a movie that makes you want to brush it twice, but some are afraid to brush it twice. Too endurance. In fact, when he walked into the cinema, Uncle Fish didn't have high expectations for the film. We have seen a lot of movies that have been released again after the gear shift, and most of them are not satisfactory. In order to "meet the requirements", the final compromise is often unacceptable.

But also because of these worries, the sense of surprise brought by better days is extremely impactful. ?

It's too intuitive and direct. Douban word of mouth was lifted, 8.7. After the final score of more than 60 thousand people, the score remains unchanged.

From ordinary audience to professional film critics, it is one-sided praise.

The pre-sale directly broke through 100 million yuan, and then the word-of-mouth continued to ferment, and finally the box office was quite optimistic.

At the moment after watching the movie, Uncle Fish directly listed it in his "Top Ten Chinese Movies of the Year".

Now, let me talk about the benefits of a good time in detail. First of all, the theme is too brilliant (the following content involves a little spoiler). The story happened on the eve of the college entrance examination.

A girl named Hu Xiaodie suddenly jumped to her death, which caused quite a storm at school. The police initially identified it as suicide, but in fact, as we all know, behind the suicide is unbearable campus bullying. After Hu Xiaodie's death, Chennian (Zhou Dongyu) became a new bully. She has excellent grades and an introverted personality. Getting into a good university and leaving here is her only belief. But the sudden bullying on her body made her restless. In this most helpless period, she met Xiao Bei (Jackson Yee), a street thug who fights and makes trouble all day. The world of two people, because of the appearance of each other, is developing in an unexpected direction. ...

School bullying is a tricky subject, but it's hard to shoot.

Because there are many minefields, it is easy for the creator to be timid, and the story floats in the air and finally becomes a love affair. A lesson from the past, "sadness flows against the river." A few days ago, Jing M.Guo wrote back to Mr. Li Chengru in "This is the Actor", saying that "Regret for the Past" was the first film in China to discuss school bullying. Seriously speaking, it does involve the theme, but the expressive force is too weak, just wearing a virtual shell, and the essence is still melodramatic love. And "Better Days" really put the ugliness and evil of campus violence on the table.

Director Ceng Guoxiang, with July and An Sheng's original crew, made a sharp and precise attack on the bullying scene. Pour ink on the stool, hit people in the head with a volleyball, deliberately trip and push them downstairs; Tearing clothes, punching and kicking, even shooting nude videos ... In any youth film in recent years, Uncle Fish has never seen teenagers so cruel. There is no false white filter, but bright and rich colors are used instead, which arouses the angry nerves of the audience powerfully and unabashedly with strong visual impact. There is no slogan crusade here, and there is no cliche that "no snowflake is innocent during an avalanche". What's more commendable is that I didn't stand on the moral high ground and criticize wantonly.

This film is always related to the people in it. Two teenagers abandoned by the adult world. The focus of the story is tightly locked in every wave and heavy blow that the protagonist encounters. From the encounter with blood and mud to the dependence on tears and shaving. The emotional trajectory of two people getting closer and closer is captured and portrayed in a very delicate way, full of breathtaking emotional tension. In the relationship between Chen Nian and Xiao Bei, we can feel a long-lost clarity and emotion. And these, to a large extent, are attributed to the two starring roles. It is no exaggeration to say that both of them have contributed the most touching performances since their artistic careers.

As the winner of Golden Horse, Zhou Dongyu's kindness was stamped and recognized by Ansheng in July.

But what I didn't know was that she could be so good. As the character who plays the most scenes and cries the most in the whole film, her emotions are always rich and full. Cry, not tears, just shouted twice. An actor must be immersed in the role as a whole, from tears to facial expressions to every subtle body movement to convey his feelings. Very difficult. Zhou Dongyu successfully contributed 10 1 China cry in the film. Or fear, or panic, or sadness, or release, each is so worrying.

There is a scene in it that Uncle Fish will never forget. After a bullying experience, Chen Nian called her mother (she was away from home all the year round to avoid debt). She was extremely wronged. As soon as she heard her mother's voice, tears came out. But I don't want to worry her. Before I speak, I take a deep breath and try to keep my tone calm. Even in turn, encourage each other to say that as long as they get through it, good days will come. "When I am admitted to Beijing, you will open a small shop at the gate of my school. I will take people to spend, and we will work hard to earn money from our classmates. " As he spoke, tears still hung and he smiled. ?

That kind of self-suppressed forbearance and understanding is too distressing. Uncle Fish can't imagine what kind of energy universe is contained in this thin body, and he can dig up emotions endlessly. Zhou Dongyu deserves another best actress, exclusive to one person, not the kind with double yellow eggs. She can afford this level of honor.

Compared with Zhou Dongyu's stable performance, Jackson Yee was a complete surprise. The photographic feature of this film is the extensive use of close-ups Wait a moment to reach the actor's face and enlarge the fleeting details. Whether it is fatigue, escape, fear, or love, sweetness and gentleness, it is exposed under the eyes of the audience. This kind of difficulty is of the order of magnitude, and Jackson yee can handle it. Not only did you hold on, but your performance was also great. He not only released the problem of juvenile pique and wild propaganda; I can also grasp the perseverance and forbearance of struggling in the mire. Even, he looked at Zhou Dongyu's eyes, full of endless tenderness and love. Cruelty, gentleness, kindness and ferocity are all properly integrated into the role of Xiaobei. Jackson Yee's performance gave me the strongest feeling, which was pain. Almost every time I appear, I have a wound on my face. It's not bruises, it's scabbed scars, or it's newly cut with blood bubbles.

The play is really cruel. His first scene was being beaten by three people in the mud. I was tied to my throat so tightly that I couldn't even scream. Slap each other in the face. The whole body is lying on the table, and the whole body is useless. Try harder. In this battle, Jackson Yee has been able to take off his idol hat and call himself a "real actor". The future can be expected and the future is boundless.

Acting is actually a matter of mutual achievement. If the other party accepts well, they can get better. So Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee's performances complement each other. Every time they meet, they almost have no shortcomings. Especially at the end of the film, two people "cry" silently through the glass, which can definitely be selected as the annual performance classic. Shocking.

Looking back carefully, "Better Days" actually has no hard emotional drama. There is neither overflowing background music nor exaggerated cries for the land. But I just burst into tears. You will unconsciously be substituted into the atmosphere of the movie, feel the same way with the two protagonists, and then you can't help crying with them. After the resumption, Uncle Fish believed that one of the key reasons for this strong appeal came from his careful creation of the background. Its function is to make the fictional story in the film fall to the ground and become true. When you look at it, you will naturally believe it.

And this background, as mentioned earlier, is the college entrance examination. An extreme period that almost everyone has experienced. When shooting 18-year-old Chen Nian, the first shot of the film was to quickly cut the faces of senior three students in the classroom. Lying on your back, doing problems, reciting words in your mouth ... the sense of depression that hangs by a thread comes out instantly. The college entrance examination is Chen Nian's hope. It is the only rope for her to get rid of the quagmire and live a happy life. At the moment of suicide, she listened attentively to English; On the night of being bullied, she calmly wrote exercises; When she was insulted, slapped and stripped naked, she was still forbearing again and again.

How serious she is about the college entrance examination means how desperate she is about the status quo. This obsession with changing fate, almost cruel self-discipline, is something that every senior three student who is in trouble can experience personally. All patience and endurance are for getting close to the escape. For Xiaobei, aging is also his exit. This also explains why he paid so much for Chen Nian. Chen Nian once asked Xiao Bei why he fought and why he lived such a life. Xiaobei was silent for a while and answered her, "You are too clean to understand." At that time, he was holding Chen Nian's textbook and his eyes were fixed on Wilde's famous saying:

Even in the slums? Look up at the stars, too

Being in the corner of a well, my heart is bright.

Xiaobei is an extremely loveless person. It's rare to eat meat buns once, but you have to be beaten and scolded by your mother. 13 years old, you will live alone and see no future at all. It was not until I met Chen Nian that someone asked him "Does it hurt" for the first time. In this "clean" girl, he saw a glimmer of hope to escape from sewers and mud. She is the starry sky he can see when he looks up. After reading too many erotic stories, you will find that Better Days' feelings are sincere and coherent, and many plots can stand scrutiny and refinement. In domestic movies, especially youth movies, this situation is rare. What is even more rare is that the image of teenagers has finally become a bit real. I can smoke, fight, swear and even open my mouth. Chen Nian lives in Xiaobei's house. She sleeps on the bed and he sleeps on the sofa. Chen Nian asked: Is it hard? Is it difficult to ask when the sofa is asleep? ) Xiaobei was asked. After explaining clearly, his mouth rose slightly and he couldn't help laughing to himself. Two people have little physical contact, but they are very passionate. From these lines, we can feel the tension of ambiguity.

Of course, Good Days is not perfect, and the traces of compromise are still obvious. Stuffing before and after, like the "publicity" of public service advertisements; The tampered lines, the teacher whose mouth can hardly be closed (it is estimated that the original teacher's image is ruthless, so he was asked to delete it). Fortunately, there is a bottom line for compromise, and the defects are not covered up, which does not affect the overall quality of the film.

Another controversial point is that the original "You are so beautiful as a boy" was accused of plagiarism. Accurately speaking, it is suspected of "melting stalks". The book powder is stripped off, and the original works combine the most brilliant ideas in Keigo Higashino's three works: Night Walk, The Dedication of Suspect X and Malice. * * * There are obvious traces of misappropriation, scapegoating, bullying for no reason and malice in the setting of sexual relations. However, rationally speaking, the criteria for judging plagiarism in literary and artistic works are very complicated. The accusation of "melting stalks" is in a very delicate zone between "borrowing" and "copying". Whether to plagiarize or not is left to a professional legal person to judge. Uncle Fish only comments from the perspective of movies.

At least as a film, Better Days really shines. It is almost certain that this will be the best domestic youth film you can find so far this year. Xiao Bei has a very touching line-I won't lose if you don't win. China movies, only sincere movies like "Beautiful Days" can win. We won't lose.