"Happy Family" was released in China. Although its reputation and box office are quite good, it can only be regarded as average among Li Yi's many films.
But after this movie was released on the Bangzi side, it caused a tear-jerking whirlwind.
At the same time, the cress rice rolls naturally started to become popular in sushi restaurants over there.
According to Bangzi viewers, that’s not water celery, that’s mother’s love!
Of course, for this movie, there were still some negative reviews after the expanded screening.
"The plot is quite cliche, and the plot of realizing the dream is not new. If it weren't for the twist and tear-jerking ending, it would have been pretty average!"
"Among Li Yi's movies, "Happy Family" is difficult to rank, mainly because the previous plot is too ordinary. Of course, it may also be because the requirements and expectations for dog directors are higher, right? But , the tear-jerking and sensational director has really shown his talent.”
"As a co-production, Director Gou 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 movie fans are quite tolerant.
"I really don't understand why so many people say that the director is a bitch but still compromises. It's kimbap instead of egg fried rice. This movie is a co-production, right? If it doesn't have any elements of stick, then why should it be a co-production? The title of the film?"
"On the whole, maybe "Happy Family" is still far away from being a classic, but it's not that bad, right? I'm really speechless about the so-called old jokes and cliched plots. There are several plots in current movies. Not cliche? The movie has been around for more than a hundred years, and the routines have long been worn out. The whole story is touching and the script is very well done. Isn’t that enough?"
"I don't think it's old-fashioned. I don't understand other things, but I think the big head shapes of the four ghosts are quite innovative. At least, the soundtrack is obviously very gloomy, but I can't help but laugh when I look at it. This That’s very creative, right?”
"The public's eyes are sharp. The ratings on the Popular Film Critics Network and the reactions of everyone watching the movie can't be fake, right?"
Of course, nitpickers are always in the minority.
More people still feel that even if this movie cannot be called a classic, it is at least an excellent work.
"I don't know anything else, but I only know that when I watched this movie, I laughed very happily, and of course I cried a lot later!"
"How can a movie be considered a good movie? Everyone has different standards, but for me, a comedy that makes me laugh is a good movie. The plot of this movie may not be new, but I was indeed attracted by it. It made me laugh out loud, and the atmosphere in the theater was quite good, and the twist of Celery in the back really made me burst into tears. When watching a movie in the theater, many people around me were like this. If this were all If it can’t be considered a good movie, then what is?”
"Isn't all this enough? If so, what about the original "The Story of Hachiko"? In fact, the plot is more cliché, right? Isn't the story of a man raising a dog cliché enough? But I don't believe it You people won’t cry after reading this! Of course, if you’re not a human being, just pretend I didn’t say it!”
The fact is that insiders are equally curious about this movie.
Because to be honest, this movie is really nothing new.
This is true in all aspects, but these things are obviously not new, but when combined, they can produce such a good effect. It is also a typical example of a small and broad-based film. Naturally, many people can't help but be curious. Let’s analyze why this movie does not have much new things, but it has soared both at the box office and in terms of reputation.
As the editor-in-chief of "Film Weekly", Zhou Qingquan is familiar with Li Yi's movies.
To this end, he wrote a special review analyzing why the film "Happy Family" has received such good reputation and box office.
"To me, the movies directed by Li Yi seem to have a 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 depressed.
Li Yi is recognized as the director who is best at sensationalism, telling stories, and earning tears from the audience. In fact, he is not omnipotent.
What he is best at is not special effects or action. If we look at the movies directed by Li Yi, we will find that his movies have very few special effects blockbusters and very few action movies. At most, they are just gun battles, and even the gun battles are mostly point-blank. That's all, we pay more attention to the artistic conception rather than the visual impact.
So what is he best at? It's an emotion that slowly seeps into people's hearts bit by bit. You may not be shocked by a single scene in his movies, but you will definitely be moved by a certain shot inadvertently.
Whether it's the farewell scene between father and daughter in prison in "The Gift of Room 7", the scene of the mother-son reunion in "Mom Love Me Again", or the lame and funny pace of the final farewell between father and son in "Life Is Beautiful", and more. Needless to say, the waiting scene in "The Story of Hachiko", which is regarded as a tear-jerking classic, will make people cry with heartache.
Those shots carefully crafted by director Li Yi allow the audience to personally experience the experiences of the characters in the play and sympathize with them. If enjoying a movie requires motivation, isn’t this a convincing reason?
"Happy Family" uses a funny and humorous style to tell a warm family story.
The film uses fictional stories to explore profound topics about family love. Even if our loved ones leave us and cannot accompany us when we grow up alone and helpless, their love will not disappear.
Their love is like an invisible ghost that stays with us in those lonely moments.
So why is this movie so praised?
Obviously the plot doesn't seem that novel, but it makes people burst into tears at the end?
First of all, I personally think that director Li Yi used the funny story tone and reversed narrative strategy to 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 present 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 method in telling the story.
We all know that "Happy Family" is a ghost movie, not the kind of ghost movie that tries to sell someone else's flesh but there is really a ghost in this movie!
Ghosts, this kind of supernatural element, when we think about it, most of the time we label it as scary.
But in this movie, it is obviously a ghost movie, but it adopts a funny story tone!
In order to make the theme of the film touching but not heavy, the director deliberately added many funny elements to the plot design. It is these cheerful elements that determine the cheerful story tone of the entire movie.
Let’s look at the title first. The name 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 of the film deliberately misleads the audience into thinking it is a pure, non-nutritious entertainment film, and it deliberately uses this illusion to make the real theme of family love appear even stronger.
Furthermore, there is the opening of the movie. In any movie, the elements and atmosphere presented in the opening story predict the development direction of the narrative.
In the first 30 minutes of "Happy Family", the protagonist Shang Wan kept trying to commit suicide, but failed every time. "Suicide" is originally a serious element about death, which conflicts with comedy. But "Suicide That Will Fail" has a hint of playfulness, which coincides with comedy.
In summary, at the beginning, the director uses the most playful lens to tell the most serious things!
This is undoubtedly a huge contrast. We often say that the dead are the most important, but in this movie, it precisely captures the point that the audience will not be disgusted with. That is, although he committed suicide, he did it in a funny way. Come to "rescue", so that everyone can laugh without any moral burden!
In addition to the "suicide" element, another obvious element is the "ghost". The moment the audience sees the 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, a living person can see them.
The combination of comedy and ghosts paved the way for us to set the premise of the story and determine the atmosphere of the story. This movie looks pessimistic, but it's actually heartwarming; it looks negative and scary, but it's actually funny and relaxing; it seems wild and unreasonable, but it's actually well-founded.
Not only that, the development direction of the story is also foreshadowed, and the audience can easily imagine the subsequent plot, and there will be a "romance" 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 four-fifths of it, but I cried like a fool after one-fifth of it!
This short sentence sums up the thoughts of most people watching this movie. The director spent a full four-fifths of the time preparing for the last fifth of the ending.
Many people will say that making movies is actually telling stories, but writers use words to tell stories, while directors use lenses and pictures to tell stories.
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 as a director is to be able to control the audience’s emotions through movies. If you are made to laugh, you will laugh. When you are asked to laugh, you will do whatever you want. Laugh whenever you want, cry whenever you want, cry whenever you want.
Although these words make us as the audience very unhappy.
But I think a director who can do this is definitely not an ordinary person!
Take "Happy Family" as an example. In this movie, perhaps only a director like Director Li Yi has the confidence to use four-fifths of the content to prepare for the final ending. Because of this, the reaction at that moment It only seems so impactful when it is turned around. For this reason, only those who have watched the ending can truly understand the story told by the director. And those who have watched the ending can't help but go back and look at the overlooked details again.
Shang Wan doesn't know why the four weird ghosts keep clinging to him, and he doesn't understand why the "last wishes" of the four ghosts are so strange.
Why did he have to find a strange camera, watch a childish cartoon movie, and swim in the cold sea without being able to swim? Why does the crybaby obviously want to cook for the person he loves the most, but he says it's okay as long as he stays with him.
Before watching the ending, I thought these were random things written by an "incompetent director" just to liven up the atmosphere.
Shang Wan was afraid of cars for unknown reasons. When he committed suicide by taking medicine, his full water bottle suddenly became empty. He died many times but could not die every time.
When I didn't know the ending, I thought it was the director's "failure" to make things mysterious. It wasn't until the ending came that we realized how big a move the director had made.
These four ghosts who seem to have nothing to do with the male protagonist are actually his grandfather, father, mother and brother who died in a car accident. In order to remind the amnesiac old boy of the past, even though he was disgusted and despised by him, he still made a series of nonsensical requests to fulfill the agreement that he could not complete back then.
In order to clarify the theme of family love, the director manipulated the expression of the story. In the seemingly plain and meaningless plots in the first and middle parts of the film, he left small doubts, waiting for the audience to become curious about these unreasonable details.
Then at the final moment when the truth is revealed, the satisfaction of facts and doubts brings a huge psychological impact to the audience, thereby sublimating the theme of the entire story and leaving a deep impression.
In order to achieve such a goal, the director must have racked his brains and had good intentions!
Secondly, I have to mention the extensive use of light and shadow, tone and color in this film!
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 carefully studied details are not just for the beauty presented in the camera, but also affect the psychology and emotions of the moviegoers without affecting the plot. They silently tell other stories related to the plot in inconspicuous places.
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 appeared together for the first time, the darkness made the ghosts look spooky, but the big heads made the ghosts look funny!
There are many styles of lighting, and they are often related to the mood of the movie. There is obviously more use of light than darkness in the film. Even in dark environments, local lighting techniques are used to reduce the depression and fear in the dark.
The reason for this has nothing to do with the relaxed atmosphere the movie intends to create.
The ghosts that people subconsciously feel are spooky and scary are made kind and lovely by the director's lighting. For example, when the protagonist encounters these ghosts for the first time, it is either in bright daytime or with warm lighting. Another example is carrying four "just met" ghosts home on a busy road during the day.
The use of these natural lights makes the presence of ghosts more real and also hints at the safety of the protagonist. Although there was a ghost, it did not endanger his life. At the same time, this also pave the way for the heartwarming ending later.
Let’s talk about color. Psychologists believe that people’s first feeling 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's personality, but also uses color to imply people's psychological changes.
Let’s talk about the character first. If you look closely at the people in the video, you will find that their outfits have their own characteristics. The most striking difference is the color of the clothes.
The ghost grandfather 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 his life is lonely and boring, he is the least energetic gray, black and white.
Each color has a corresponding style, and each color also has its own meaning. The bold, passionate and energetic red and yellow colors 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 so many people is that its theme is universal.
Love is written as a ghost, and ghosts are regarded as the carrier of love. By photographing the communication between ghosts and humans, and vividly depicting the communication between humans and ghosts, the director powerfully demonstrated the main theme of the story - love will not dissipate with death. The departure of every family member is a heavy blow. Some people are depressed because of this, and some people are in panic all day long because of this, but we should believe that even if birth, old age, illness and death take away their lives, they will never take away their deep love for us. "
