director of the millennium

Chapter 83 The Directors' First Experience of "Heroes"
Is "Hero" a good movie?
Sitting in the second row of the auditorium, after watching the 96-minute movie with Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen and Feng Xiaogang, Wu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Although it is not the first time for him to watch this movie, after watching it at the premiere, he is still shocked by the picture of this movie.

Controversy about this movie has actually been going on for 20 years since its release.

Many people say that this is a movie made for foreigners, a movie with an incomplete story, a hollow plot, and a movie just for show off.

But it is undeniable that the dazzling shots and colors in this movie are truly unforgettable.

If you look at it from the perspective of 20 years later, "Hero" is certainly not a perfect movie.

But there is no doubt that this movie brought a visual feast to the audience in 2002, a gluttonous feast!
The ultimate aesthetics of color, picture and composition in the movie "Hero" is definitely the top level of domestic movies, even Chen Kaige can hardly surpass it!

The black symbolizes the majesty and power of King Qin.

The broken sword represents the bloody killing and the red color of common man's wrath.

Also, when Wuming assassinated King Qin, Wuming was dressed in black, and the red feathers on the helmets of the Qin army surrounding him formed a strong contrast of red and black.

While metaphorizing the collision game between the two forces, it also brings the ultimate color conflict aesthetics!

In addition, the duel between Feixue and Ruyue in red clothes in the golden Populus euphratica forest, and the final visual impact of the golden leaves being dyed red with blood.
The all-blue tone when King Qin speculates about Can Jian Feixue's experience in his inner world also uses color to metaphorize King Qin's inner character of suspicion, suspicion, and insecurity.

But in Can Jian Feixue's own memories, the colors of their clothes and the surrounding things all turned green, and green symbolized love and vitality.

In the last international chapter of the movie, Kisaragi, played from red to white, rides a white horse through the desert. The color also serves as a metaphor for the ending of the whole story.

All the previously rich colors disappeared, leaving only white.

After all, King Qin finally realized his ambition to unify the seven kingdoms, and remixed the chaotic colors into one.

The color aesthetics used by director Yimou in this film not only gives the audience a direct visual impact, but also assumes important narrative significance and fits the content.

And the big scenes of "Hero" are also well shot.

Whether it's the oppressive feeling caused by King Qin standing in the vast and empty dark hall overlooking everything, or the war scene where the Qin army shouts "Wind! Wind! Strong wind!", no matter how many times you watch it, it will make people hooked.

"The picture is indeed well shot, but the form is greater than the content." Director Kaigo shook his head and said with some disappointment: "The content is large and empty, and only some brilliant colors fill the screen."

"Yimou wanted to show too many new forms in this movie."

"New narrative forms, new martial arts forms, new color forms, and forms that emphasize artistic conception and elegance."

"Just focusing on showing these formal things to the audience weakens the storyline of the movie, and doesn't even tell a complete story clearly."

"The portrayal of human nature, which Yimou is best at, has not been done well, and the emotions of the characters are very empty."

"Ah?" Wu Yuan looked at Director Kege in surprise.

This evaluation seems to be more appropriate to describe "The Promise"
If the story of "Hero" is just incomplete, then "The Promise" is completely abstract. The movie is full of various art forms and aesthetics, and the story line is messed up.
Since Director Kego knows that it is not good to blindly pile up art forms and picture aesthetics, why does he want to make a "The Promise" next?
Does he want to prove to the world that when it comes to color and picture aesthetics, China still has to look to Chen Kaige?

Or did the huge sales of "Hero" give him the illusion that it doesn't matter whether the story of a commercial blockbuster is complete or not, as long as the pictures are shocking and beautiful enough?
Wu Yuan found that he seemed to have explored Director Kege's mental journey while filming "The Promise".
Do you want to remind Director Kaigo not to go to extremes!

But before he could tangled up his words, Jiang Wen, who was sitting on the other side of him, also slowed down, and slapped his thigh hard: "It's really fucking good!"

"Majestic, soul-stirring!"

"It's so shocking. Director Yimou taught me a lesson!"

Yes, Jiang Wen, who also doesn’t care about the completeness of the story, likes to leave blank plots and leave room for imagination, and pays more attention to the artistic conception of the movie, really likes the big scenes and various formal aesthetics of "Hero".

It's no wonder that he made "The Sun Also Rises" next, and most viewers couldn't understand it after watching it.
Director Yimou, your "Hero" has done a lot of harm!

Fortunately, there are still reasonable people. Feng Xiaogang frowned and muttered: "Let's just say this is a literary film. There are endless big scenes in this movie, and the plot direction is also in line with the routine of Hollywood commercial films."

"Several reckless heroes take turns to assassinate the evil villain, which is a classic commercial routine."

"But let's say this movie is a commercial movie. Director Yimou stuffed it with too many artistic elements. Various metaphors, blank spaces, narrative dialogues, and a large number of stream-of-consciousness shots make it impossible for ordinary audiences to understand."

"And in the end, before the assassination was successful, Wuming was impressed by King Qin's ambition and gave up the assassination."

"If you put this in a Hollywood commercial film, the villain instigated the male protagonist and successfully ruled the world."

"I don't understand, I really don't understand."

Feng Xiaogang, who focuses on the commercial film market, also didn't understand what kind of movie "Hero" is.

He raised his head and looked at Wu Yuan suspiciously: "Director Wu, you know more about Hollywood commercial films than I do. What do you think of this film?"

Chen Kaige and Jiang Wen also looked at Wu Yuan, wanting to hear his evaluation of the movie.

"It's an experimental film that transforms from literature and art to business. It's just that the management is too rich, so the battle is very big."

Wu Yuan thought for a while, organized his explanation and said: "But this is actually the advantage of this movie."

"Without such a large investment, the movie would have failed."

"Precisely because the investment is large enough, director Yimou can use shocking images and magnificent momentum to cover up the flaws of this film."

"As a commercial blockbuster, from the scene, "Hero" is qualified."

"For domestic audiences, this big scene and the ultimate movie aesthetics are already worth the ticket price."

"But this kind of success cannot be replicated. "Hero" is the first domestic blockbuster. The audience has a relatively high level of tolerance. As long as there are highlights, they can accept it."

"After all, it starts from 0 to 1."

“It’s enough to see big scenes that can only be seen in foreign blockbusters.”

"But if a latecomer comes up with such an experimental commercial blockbuster, the audience will definitely not buy it."

"If we want to make such a commercial blockbuster, we must be more mature than the hero, and the story must be more complete. We don't need to think too much about artistry and film aesthetics, and just focus on commerciality."

At the end of the speech, Wu Yuan looked at Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang with deep meaning.

Yes, we are talking about "The Promise" and "The Night Banquet"!
Wu Yuan doesn't believe it if these two movies don't imitate "Hero", which strives to have both art and business!

He not only wanted to shoot big scenes at the level of Hollywood commercial blockbusters, but also wanted to stuff all kinds of art forms and lens images into it, Spielberg didn't dare to do this!

If Director Kai Ge and Feng Xiaogang continue to make "The Promise" and "The Banquet" in the future, they will be scolded to death by the audience.

Anyway, Wu Yuan has already reminded them, if they are still dazzled by the high box office of "Hero", Wu Yuan can't help it.

"Let's go. The film's creators have all left to hold a press conference next door. It's time for us to leave."

Standing up, straightening his wrinkled suit, Wu Yuan left the screening room.

The other three directors, however, were still immersed in Wu Yuan's comments and were seriously thinking about how they should pursue their future commercial films.

(End of this chapter)