In today's popular context, all the key points of the film seem to have changed: Zhang Yimou stinks the streets; intellectuals become "public knowledge", derogatory; the concept of the Cultural Revolution is distant and vague, just a debate A sharp weapon for swearing; a romantic movie? No breasts, no legs, no luxury cars, no townhouses, no glass bridges, the protagonist and heroine are still over fifty years old, will there still be love? If nothing else, Zhang Yimou will use LeTV's money to cook a pot of very rich and human tender chicken soup. If there's an accident, it's that we won't see a movie on the 16th.
Sure enough, if it weren't for the impressive LeTV title, I once thought that "Return" was invested by "Zhiyin" magazine. Really, I even made up its name: the middle-aged teacher with amnesia mistook her husband as the old Fang next door, and the infatuated labor reform fugitive played multiple roles and accompanies him for life.
It's just a movie, but the Cultural Revolution is used as a gimmick, which is even more intolerable. The movie "Return" gives such a banal explanation of the suffering of a country for a whole decade, which is more terrifying than keeping it secret and avoiding it. In a free country, writers and artists have a duty not to pay attention to duty. Only under authoritarian regimes can people expect movies, literature, etc. to show harmonious ideas and arouse people with high profile. In the consumer society of the post-authoritarian era, all suffering and injustice have been diluted into consumption hotspots, and all contradictions that should have been seriously reflected on are covered with sweet sugar. "Return" borrows the shell of the Cultural Revolution and lays a warm egg. It seems to be a cure, but in fact it is just a consumer product that people quickly forget.
One of the most serious threats we face in a consumer society is bullshit. We are drowning in partisan rhetoric that is almost a lie; in social media simulations of relationships; in the sensuality of the entertainment industry. Bullshit affects every aspect of public life, corroding our conversations, destroying our trust in important institutions, and lowering our standards of truth. And Zhang Yimou used bullshit to give Chinese films a new direction. "Founding of the People's Republic of China" is a bright pole of bullshit, "Return" is a bullshit human nature pole, "Little Times" is a bullshit social pole, and there is "Thailand" in the middle to provide funny warmth field, just waiting for our audience to be entertained to death in the brave new world of cinema.
Apart from the loud howling tune of the Red Detachment of Women, which gave goosebumps, the plot of the movie was down to the style of "Story Meeting". The whole 110-minute movie gave people the feeling that there were only constant tears left. It's easy to elicit tears, but difficult to resonate with the audience.
Because the plot is distorted, no one takes the plot seriously. In fact, this film does not have the so-called "echoes of low life", how does it resonate? A certain celebrity commented that "Return" is another masterpiece of realism by Zhang Yimou after "Alive". I don't know if it is a joke. The world of Jin Ping Mei is not scary. The scary thing is that she is clearly dreaming of a dream of Red Mansions in the world of Jin Ping Mei. Cao Xueqin wrote his dreamy juvenile affairs in a poor middle-aged age, which is a high level of art. Director Zhang has achieved great success, but what he does is someone else's dream of Red Mansions. To borrow Gong Li's words: Master Fang, please respect yourself.
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