tearjerker director

"Happy Family" was released in China. Although word-of-mouth and box office are quite good, it can only be regarded as mediocre among Li Yi's many films.

But after the movie was released on Bangzi, there was a whirlwind of tears.

At the same time, kimbap with celery naturally became popular in the sushi restaurant on the other side of the stick.

According to the viewers of Bangzi, that's not water celery, that's mother's love!

Of course, for this movie, after the extended screening, there were still some bad reviews.

"The plot is quite old-fashioned, and the stalk of the dream is not new. If it is not for the reversal of the ending and the tear-jerking, it can only be regarded as quite ordinary!"

"In Li Yi's movies, "Happy Family" is difficult to rank, mainly because the previous plot is too general. Of course, it may also be because the requirements and expectations for the dog director are higher? But , the tear-jerking and provocative dog director has really played well."

"As a co-production, the dog director still compromised. Why is it kimbap instead of egg fried rice?"

Etc., etc.

However, these are always only a small part.

The vast majority of fans are more tolerant.

"I really don't understand why so many people say that the director of the dog still compromised. It's kimbap instead of egg fried rice. This movie is a co-production, okay? If there is no stick element at all, then why bother to co-produce? The title of the film?"

"On the whole, maybe "Happy Family" is still a long way from the classics, but it's not that bad, right? I'm really speechless about the so-called old-fashioned plot and the old-fashioned plot. How many plots are there in the current movie? Not old-fashioned? The movie has been born for more than 100 years, and the routines have long been used badly. The whole story is touching and the script is very high. Isn’t that enough?”

"I don't think it's old-fashioned. I don't understand other things, but I think the big heads of the four ghosts are still very innovative. At least, the soundtrack is obviously very gloomy, but I can't help but want to laugh when I watch it. That's pretty creative, right?"

"The eyes of the masses are discerning. The ratings from Dazhong Film Critic Network and the reactions of everyone watching the movie can't be faked, can they?"

Of course, nitpickers are always in the minority.

More people still feel that even if this movie is not a classic, it is at least an excellent work.

"I don't know anything else, but all I know is that when I watched this movie, I laughed very happily, and of course I cried very hard afterwards!"

"How can a movie be considered a good movie? Everyone has different standards, but for me, a comedy that can make me laugh is a good movie, and this movie, maybe the plot is not new, but I was indeed attracted I laughed out loud, the atmosphere in the theater was quite good, and the turning point of the water celery in the back really made my eyes red. When watching a movie in the theater, many people next to me are like this. If it’s not a good movie, then what is?”

"Aren't these enough? If so, what about the original "The Story of Hachiko"? Actually, the plot is more old-fashioned, right? Isn't the story about a man raising a dog old enough? But I don't believe it. You people won’t cry after watching it! Of course, if you’re not human, just pretend I didn’t say it!”

But the fact is that insiders are also full of curiosity about this movie.

Because to be honest, this movie is really nothing new.

This is the case in all aspects, but these things are obviously not new, but they can produce such a good effect when combined. Let's analyze why this movie obviously doesn't have too many new things, but it has both box office and word-of-mouth.

As the editor-in-chief of "Film Weekly", Zhou Qingquan is familiar with Li Yi's films.

For this reason, he specially wrote a film review analyzing why the film "Happy Family" has gained such a good reputation and box office.

"For me, the films directed by Li Yi seem to have a kind of charm. You can watch them when you are happy, you can watch them when you are depressed, you can watch them when you are lonely, and you can even watch them when you are bored.

Li Yi, who is recognized as the director who is best at sensationalism, storytelling, and making audiences cry, is actually not omnipotent.

What he is best at is not special effects or action. When we look at the films directed by Li Yi, we will find that his films have few blockbuster special effects and few action films. That is to say, more attention is paid to the artistic conception rather than the visual impact.

So what is he best at?It is the emotion that slowly seeps into people's hearts bit by bit.You may not be shocked by a picture in his movies, but you will definitely be moved by a certain scene inadvertently.

Whether it is the parting scene of father and daughter in the prison in "The Gift of Room No. [-]", or the scene of the reunion of mother and child in "Mom Loves Me Again", or the lame and funny steps of the last father and son parting in "Life is Beautiful", more Needless to say, the waiting scene in "The Story of Hachiko", which is regarded as a tear-jerking classic, makes people cry bitterly.

Those shots carefully crafted by director Li Yi allow the audience to experience the experiences of the characters in the play and empathize with them.If watching a movie requires motivation, isn't that a compelling reason?

"Happy Family" tells a warm family story in a funny and humorous style.

The film uses fictional stories to explore profound topics about family affection.Even when loved ones leave us to be with us in our lonely, helpless upbringing, their love doesn't die away.

Their love is like a ghost that cannot be seen or touched, and has always been by our side in those moments when we are alone.

So why is this movie so popular?
Obviously the plot doesn't seem so novel, but people can't help but burst into tears at the end?

First of all, I personally think that director Li Yi's funny story tone and reversed narrative strategy make the plot more cheerful and warm!
Someone once said: The best way to understand a movie is to know how it tells a story!

In fact, the same story, told by different people using different methods, may show different results.This is also the reason why the director is the real core spiritual figure of a movie, and "Happy Family" adopts a special treatment method in the narration of the story.

We all know that "Happy Family" is a ghost movie, not the kind of ghost movie that sells dog meat. There are really ghosts in this movie!
Ghosts, this kind of supernatural element, when we think of it, most of the time it will be labeled as horror.

But in this movie, it is obviously a ghost movie, but it adopts a funny story tone!
In order to highlight the theme of the film moving without being heavy, the director deliberately added a lot of funny elements to the plot design.It is also these cheerful elements that determine the cheerful story tone of the entire movie.

First look at the title.The title of a work can easily allow the audience to define the scope of its narrative. "Happy Family", this simple, positive and cheerful four-character title, looks a lot like a simple comedy.

But in fact, it is a drama that expresses human emotions beyond life and death.The title deliberately misleads the audience into thinking that it is a pure, non-nutritious pastime film, and it deliberately uses this illusion to make the real theme of family affection more intense.

Furthermore, it is the opening of the movie. For any movie, the elements and atmosphere presented in the opening story foretell the development direction of the narrative.

In the first 30 minutes of "Happy Family", the protagonist Shang Wan kept trying to commit suicide, but ended in failure every time. "Suicide" is originally a serious element about death, which conflicts with funny.But "suicide that is bound to fail" has a hint of playfulness in it, which coincides with being funny.

To sum up, at the beginning, the director uses the most playful shots to tell the most serious things!
This is undoubtedly a huge contrast. We often say that the dead are the biggest, but in this movie, it just captures the point that the audience will not be disgusted, that is, although he committed suicide, he did it in a funny way. Come to "save", so that when everyone laughs, there will be no moral burden!
In addition to the "suicide" element, another obvious element is "ghost".When the audience sees a ghost, they will understand that this is a fictional work based on reality.

The fictional content is that the dead people exist in reality in the form of ghosts.If by chance, the living can see them.

The combination of funny and ghost paves the way for us the premise of the story and determines the atmosphere of the story.This movie may seem pessimistic, but it is warm; it may seem negative and scary, but it is funny and relaxed;

Not only that, but the development direction of the story is also foreshadowed, and the audience can easily think of the subsequent plot, and there will be a "romantic relationship" between humans and ghosts.And this is closely related to the theme that the movie wants to present.

I remember reading a review of a movie: I felt very disappointed after watching the first [-]/[-], but I cried like a fool after watching [-]/[-] of it!
A short sentence sums up the thoughts of most people watching this movie.The director spent a full four-fifths of the time paving the way for the final one-fifth of the ending.

Many people will say that making a movie is actually telling a story, but the writer tells the story with words, while the director uses the lens and the picture to tell the story.

What is the highest level of a director?I don't know, but I once heard director Li Yi say that the greatest sense of accomplishment of being a director is that you can manipulate the audience's emotions through movies, make you laugh, you laugh, and when you make you laugh, you do whatever you want When to laugh, when to cry, when to cry.

Although this remark made us, the audience, very upset.

But I think a director who can do this is definitely not an ordinary person!
Take "Happy Family" as an example, this movie, perhaps only directors like Li Yi, have the confidence to use four-fifths of the content to pave the way for the final ending. Because of this, the reaction at that moment It is so impactful only when it is turned, so only those who have watched the ending can truly understand the story told by the director.And those who have seen the ending can't help but look back and look at those neglected details again.

Shang Wan didn't know why the four weird ghosts kept sticking to him, and he didn't understand why the "last wishes" of the four ghosts were so weird.

Why did he have to find a strange camera, watch a childish cartoon movie, and couldn't swim in the freezing sea.Why does the crybaby obviously want to cook for the person he loves the most, but says that it is fine as long as he is with him.

Before watching the ending, I thought these were written randomly by the "incompetent director" to enliven the atmosphere.

For unknown reasons, Shang Wan was afraid of cars. When he swallowed medicine to commit suicide, the full water bottle suddenly emptied. He died many times but couldn't die every time.

When I didn't know the ending, I thought it was the "failure" of the director's mystification.It wasn't until the ending came out that I didn't know how big the director's move was.

These four ghosts who seem to have nothing to do with the hero are actually his grandfather, father, mother and brother who died in a car accident.In order to remind the amnesiac old and young to remember the past, even though he was disgusted by him, he still used a series of nonsensical requests to fulfill the promise that he failed to fulfill back then.

In order to clarify the theme of family affection, the director manipulated the expression of the story.In the seemingly plain and meaningless plot in the first and middle part of the film, he left small doubts one after another, waiting for the audience to become curious about these unreasonable details.

Then at the moment when the truth is finally revealed, the satisfaction of facts and doubts will bring a huge psychological impact to the audience, so as to sublimate the theme of the whole story and leave a deep impression.

In order to achieve such a goal, the director racked his brains and worked hard!
Secondly, I have to mention the extensive use of light and shadow, tone and color in this movie!

Many ordinary viewers often ignore small details such as day and night, clothing color or tone when watching movies.In fact, directors often spend a lot of energy on these details.

In "Happy Family", these meticulously studied details are not only for the beauty presented in the camera, but also affect the psychology and emotions of the viewers without affecting the plot.They silently tell other stories related to the plot in an inconspicuous place.

The use of light and shadow, tone and color will also affect the expressive meaning of the plot.

The most obvious thing that everyone can find is that when the four ghosts appear together for the first time, the darkness makes the ghosts look eerie, but the big head makes the ghosts look weird!
There are many styles of lighting usage, and they are often related to the mood of the film.The use of light in the film is obviously more than darkness.Even in a dark environment, local lighting is used to reduce the depression and fear in the dark.

The reason for this is inseparable from the relaxed atmosphere that the movie intends to create.

People subconsciously feel eerie ghosts, but they are treated kindly and lovely by the director with light.For example, when the protagonist meets these ghosts for the first time, it is either in bright daylight or accompanied by warm lights.Another example is carrying four "just met" ghosts home on a busy road during the day.

The use of these natural lights makes the existence of ghosts more real, and also implies the safety of the protagonist.Although there were ghosts, his life was not endangered.At the same time, this also paved the way for the warm ending later.

Let’s talk about color again. Psychologists believe that people’s first sense is vision, and color has the greatest impact on vision.In life, different colors often represent different emotions.

Therefore, in many movies, using color to express character or emotion is a common method, including "Happy Family".The director not only uses color to express the character of the characters, but also uses color to imply people's psychological changes.

Let's talk about the character first.If you observe the people in the film carefully, you will find that their clothes have their own characteristics.The most conspicuous difference is the color of the clothes.

The ghost grandpa is red, the ghost brother is yellow, the ghost father is dark blue, and the ghost mother is light green.As for the protagonist himself, because life is lonely and boring, it is the most lifeless gray, black and white.

Each color has a corresponding style, and each color also has its own meaning.Red and yellow, which are flamboyant, enthusiastic and energetic, symbolize impact and stimulation.Peaceful and stable blue and green symbolize security and love.

Of course, the above are all details, and the reason why the movie can really resonate with many people is that its theme is universal.

Love is written as a ghost, and ghosts are regarded as the carrier of love.By filming the communication between ghosts and humans, and vividly depicting the communication between humans and ghosts, the director powerfully demonstrated the theme of the story-love will not dissipate because of death.The departure of every family member is a heavy blow.Some people are depressed because of this, and some people are in panic because of this, but we should believe that even if birth, old age, sickness and death take away their lives, they will never take away their deep love for us. "