This year’s “May 1st”, the comedy movie “Unfamiliar with Life” topped the box office. According to Maoyan Professional Edition, as of 20:00 on May 15, the box office of the film reached 842 million yuan.
The story of “Unfamiliar Life” is very simple. The cowardly son-in-law (played by Fan Chengcheng) meets his father-in-law (played by Qiao Shan) for the first time. One is an office animal, the other is a truck driver who has been in the world for many years. The meeting of men with different occupations and identities is already very dramatic. The two went through turmoil and misunderstandings, made many jokes, and finally ushered in the family carnival ending with burning and tearful emotions.
“I am good at filming brotherly comedies and brotherly love. Weng and son-in-law are a variant of brotherly love, which naturally brings joy.” In an exclusive interview with China Business News, the director of the film, Yi Xiaoxing, said that the relationship between Weng and son-in-law is part of the Hollywood narrative system. Has been quite mature.
Yi Xiaoxing, who is familiar to audiences born in the 80s and 90s, is 39 years old this year. It has been 9 years since his first film “WanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWide:Journey To The West” has passed 9 years, and this debut still makes him reflect constantly. From the web drama “Wan WanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWang: Journey to the West” movie, Yi Xiaoxing understood his strengths and weaknesses, and also realized the gap between short videos and movies. gap.
“Short videos are the seasoning package of emotions. Movies are like a table full of Chinese people. You have to cook a table of dishes.” Yi Xiaoxing said frankly that his technical control is insufficient from short videos to the big screen. People who are good at making fast food and fast food can cook very few dishes. Customers who come to a fast food restaurant are different from those who go to a restaurant to eat a full banquet.”
He described that the film “Wan WanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWanWest: Journey to the West” was released for two days, and the decline in word-of-mouth gave him a great sense of frustration. “Some people recognized my sincerity. A bad review actually represents a kind of disappointment. You can do better. But what you serve out is not a full banquet, but 20 plates of instant noodles. (The audience) sees you sweating profusely. Pretty pathetic.”
After “Unexpectedly: Journey to the West”, there are two roads before him. One is to continue to stay in the comfort zone and make short videos and online dramas, “Maybe now I am the boss of MCN, and I will live broadcast and bring goods.” The other way is to stay in the movie circle with your own method, “you must smash the original self and put it back together.”
He completely stepped out of his comfort zone and chose the latter path. Meanwhile, Yi Xiaoxing has all but disappeared from public view. He watched movies crazily, and increased his reading volume at a rate of three or four movies a day for one and a half years. “A director must read at least three or four thousand movies.” He found the “star coach” Liu Tianchi to learn acting, opened himself up, “assuming that he is an actor, and studied Stanislavsky’s drama system.” He went to offline performances everywhere, from talk shows to comics, “to see why they make the audience laugh out loud”.
“Some people are reluctant to break themselves. This process will definitely face some pain. I am determined to break myself into a state where I don’t understand anything.” Speaking of these, Yi Xiaoxing relaxed his mind, he said I am a person who does not rely on external forces. I am introverted and not good at socializing. Many seemingly stupid methods belong to his path of directing. cross the river”.
Yi Xiaoxing believes that in “Unfamiliar Life”, he has put a lot of his own thinking about life over the years. Especially in Wan Yifan, the protagonist played by Fan Chengcheng, his personal experience is superimposed-Yi Xiaoxing also likes the second dimension, and has a simple sense of justice. He worked as an engineer for 5 years, and was pointed at by his boss. The plot of being bullied when he was a teenager is also Yi Xiaoxing’s real experience.
Wan Yifan’s growth and resistance in the play are exactly the same as Yi Xiaoxing. “Reflecting my experience, every time I want to resist, I will not overthrow the circle that oppresses me, but will choose to create my own road. When you leave that road and rush into the field, you will find that life may be a wilderness.”
The box office of “Unfamiliar Life” is good, but it will not have much impact on Yi Xiaoxing, “My life will not change in any way. The only good thing is that the budget for the next movie will be more, but (creation) Still going through similar pains, still having headaches, feeling bad, and having trouble sleeping at night.”
Before the release of the new film, he has already got out of the entangled mentality in the past. He used to worry about box office and word of mouth, and what others thought of him. But this time, he relaxed in the face of any result, “Whether it will be successful or not is determined by God’s will. You can’t decide the result, it’s better to enjoy the moment.”
Yi Xiaoxing believes that a good movie is not only to tell a good story, but also to convey a kind of value, “For example, Tarkovsky’s movie does not tell a story, it is like a prose poem. Sometimes a director is not just a storytelling Or, a movie that can fully mobilize the audience’s emotions is also successful.”
He has already set his sights on the next film, which takes three years as a cycle. He hopes that 2026 will be the time when his fourth film will be released, “I have done a good job in genre films, but the technique is still a bit naive .Hopefully there will be a big improvement in the next film.” Return to Sohu to see more
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