[The Epoch Times, October 4, 2022]Just after the hit film “Hidden Into the Dust” with a box office of over 100 million was completely removed from the shelves, the famous film critic V Luo Jiji also announced that he would stop writing.
In mainland film critics, Luo Zhiji is a legendary figure.
In the first 20 years of his life, he never left his hometown of Harbin. Most of the time he was alone in a 10-square-meter cabin, accompanied by TVs, computers, and game consoles. He could not go to school, nor did he friend. As a baby, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the rare disease that British scientist Hawking suffered: ALS.
Six years ago, Luo Junji became famous because he wrote an article on Zhihu to answer “Is the Sun Wukong played by Liu Xiaolingtong really good? What’s so good about it?” After that, he began to dabble in film critic writing, which quickly became popular. Six years later, he established his own film critic studio, with as many as 5 million fans and an annual income of millions. He bought a car and a house for his parents, and completed what many people call a “counter-attack”. More importantly, in his film works, he found the strength to fight against the disease, “not bowing to difficulties”.
However, such a big V who loves movies and film reviews was forced to announce that he would stop writing on September 30.
He told readers very emotionally in the “Notice of Suspension” that he liked movies very much, and the movies gave him corresponding rewards-in the past 6 years, he bought a house with the film review fee, saw a lot of big things, and got Many opportunities to communicate face-to-face with top creators: Zhang Yimou, who is passionate, bold but gentle and humble, Jiang Wen, who is straightforward but delicate… At the end of last year, he even sat down with Chen Sicheng and Chen Kaige to act as a movie variety show ‘s judges.
“The movie has changed my life, and now I’m taking a break from the movie to write so-called movie reviews. The reason I made this decision is ironic: In my opinion, I can’t give up my conscience.” Luo Yanji said.
In his opinion, many things can no longer be performed freely when film critics have achieved this step from the media. Especially since this year, the entire industry has undergone drastic changes. There are almost only the same type of promotional films left in the market, and so-called film reviews have also been standardized as a means of publicity that cannot be separated from a certain routine model.
Under such circumstances, as a self-media person in the category of film critics, if he blindly praises those movies, he is giving up his conscience, because he knows what a really good movie is-the reason why a movie is good lies in It is a kind of art, a kind of condensed real life, which enlightens the audience’s spirit and emotion. In other words, the film must not cover up, must not shield all the negative behaviors and feelings of human beings, and only leave an overly idealized, false and single slogan and picture.
“Our ancestors have long taught us that the world is yin and yang. Only by facing the black can the white be highlighted. The black cannot be completely eliminated. If one day you can no longer see the black, it must be caused by the white. I blinded my eyes.” Luo Yanji said.
“Maybe some people will say that even if some movies cannot be criticized, not all of them can’t be criticized, right?”
In response to such doubts, Luo Junji explained that yes, in the past two years, his words have really stopped being sharp, and he has rarely criticized a certain movie. The reason why he chose this was not because he was afraid of offending anyone. But because he came into contact with more and more filmmakers and creators, and learned more and more distressing inside stories.
In many cases, many “bad films” are very good films before they are released, and their content is as powerful as that of South Korea and India. But when they were brought to the audience, they were cut to pieces and turned into rotten leaves, beyond recognition. Under such circumstances, he couldn’t criticize those movies at all – because he felt that the hearts of those movie creators were more painful than his own, and they were not only the main factors of all this, but the victims. If he pointed his pen at them, it would be equivalent to killing innocents and beasts without conscience.
At the same time, he could not praise or criticize, but only interpret those films in depth-because from recently, whenever there is a film that he is interested in to be released, the filmmaker will find him and tell him: if the teacher wants to write For film critics, please don’t touch these points, we are finally able to release it.
“Then what else can I write? I can’t write anything. The only thing I can do is put down the pen and hide in the dust.”
Obviously, the removal of “Hidden Into the Dust” and the suspension of Luo Zhiji are not accidental events, but are a reflection of the increasing depression and chill in the current Chinese cultural circle. It can be predicted that after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, if the CCP turns further to the left, more films will be removed from the shelves, more cultural people will stop writing, and the Chinese cultural world will usher in a colder and harsher winter!
Responsible editor: Gao Yi