I have to say that the creative team is very lucky. Just entering the summer file, the audience and the media were just disgusted with Tiny Times and Gardenia Blossoms, and then their dreams were ignited by The Return of the Great Sage. The word "feelings" is no longer a derogatory term full of irony, but actually returns to its original meaning. And Dapeng's film tells an appropriate story in an appropriate way at this appropriate time, so this movie, which is full of bad movies but seriously talks about dreams, actually shines with unusual light, which makes people enjoy it and feel the same, and they are willing to drum and shout for it. Although there are different opinions on the quality of the film, the efforts made in creation and distribution are admirable.
The story of Pancake Man is actually very simple. No matter in Hongkong or abroad, this once-successful comedy story has been told too many times, such as Kung Fu, Gourmet, king of comedy, Ace Producer and so on.
(The Ace Producer is also a comedy about making movies with movies, starring the famous comedian Jack Black, which is really worth seeing. )
However, the same story pattern does not mean that everyone can tell it well. A clever comedy touches people with the story itself. Rough comedies can only try their best to build momentum and use emotions to pull the audience to follow up. For example, the classic comedy "Crazy Stone" ten years ago, many people also said that it imitated the works of foreign predecessors. It imitates the story structure, relies on the arrangement of the story content, and relies on the plot to create a comedy effect. Security guards, thieves and real estate developers have formed a strange triangle that they don't know, and Hong Kong thieves and prodigals have become the key to spoiling the situation. Stories that use asymmetric information are very lively and interesting, and you don't need to rely on too many languages and bridges to make jokes. But Pancake Man is not. From the beginning, I kept stirring up emotions. Dapeng constantly strengthens his face to gain the emotional recognition of the audience, and then sacrifices the magic weapon of "dream" in time to stimulate the audience's expectation. In order to highlight the difficulty of dreams and promote the plot stiffly, the story is full of paragraphs and sketches, inciting the audience with words and dialogues, so that users can ignore loopholes or make up their own brains. Funny is enough, but it's not a movie, it's an online drama, it's a sketch, and it's not an appropriate way to tell a story.
But Dapeng is very clever. He chose the double-line story structure of "play in play". It is this movie that tells a story about making a movie. The movie made in the movie is a very blunt and rough movie. Because there is no money, no time and no one, this sense of embarrassment is an important basis for making jokes and creating story conflicts. However, it also concealed, or shifted, the stubbornness of the pancake man movie itself. For the users in the audience, even if they think the film is blunt, they will blame this narrative discomfort on the blunt "sketch collection" in Pancake Man, because they have no money, no one, sneak shots and are tortured by their bosses. So I made a very straightforward movie. It's not how straightforward the description of Pancake Man is. In fact, this film has so many advertisements and so many big-name guest appearances. Obviously, there is no shortage of funds and contacts. Dapeng's design is to cover up his immaturity as a new director. I have to say that this practice is very successful, and everyone has nothing to say to him. In the movie, he has positioned himself as an online drama producer. This is a story about a bad director who records online dramas. "Bad, but with dreams" is what he has been trying to do. The more I feel that his film performance is not good, the more I feel that his filming is real and touching, which is in line with his own positioning.
(Shooting a movie in the name of sneak shots, this story setting has shifted the audience's rough understanding of the movie itself)
This setting between reality and fiction is the biggest feature of the film, and Dapeng walks in this space. The stories he told are obviously the real experiences of film creators in the entertainment circle. For example, his reputation was completely discredited. At one time, he engaged in a small marketing hype with Japanese porn girls, which attracted criticism from the Ministry of Culture and was left out in the cold. Ada's repeated self-mockery of "taking advantage of her chest" is also a controversy that she can't get rid of. Mabel Yuan's "acting" controversy is a true portrayal of "Mabel Yuan gets out of the entertainment circle" in Weibo two years ago. The embarrassment of the team leader and the struggle of the paparazzi are all objective realities. However, the reality in movies is not all objective and true. For example, Guo Caijie is not so money-worshipping, and Ada is not so ambiguous about Dapeng ... After all, this is a movie, not a documentary, but a fiction for drama conflict.
But if we look at the film by the standards of the film, there are simply too many problems. 30 minutes before the opening was actually fine. Although it is a single-line narrative, the stories are interlocking and the suspense is also sufficient. However, the later, the looser, and some places are simply terrible. For example, when Ceng Zhiwei appeared, he played "brain-dead" instead of Ceng Zhiwei himself. No one believed that he would listen to Wu Junru, and no one believed that Pancake Man really existed. The emergence of F4 in Northeast China stems from the fact that no one can take candid photos, so we need to find someone to play. But is F4 in Northeast China really stupid enough to take a tattered COSPLAY dress to play mahjong? The films of Mabel Yuan, Ada and Yun-peng Yue all strive for truth, but here, they are not only untrue, but even a little bit close to truth is not needed. Directly turned these four people into idiots in the sketch. But the four brothers, Dapeng, are themselves in reality according to the narration in the movie. They should not be idiots, they are all prodigies. If you don't believe me, try to wear cucurbit clothes and play mahjong with them, and you will be evaluated as "you are so funny".
You think I'm stupid enough to wear fancy clothes and still promise to win money? )
Another important omission comes from the female No.1 played by Mabel Yuan. The filming of Pancake Man was that the investor tried to win her position, but she avoided it. This foreshadowing is very important, and the film also drives the story forward. For example, the plot of investors robbing Deng Chao comes from this. In the back, Mabel Yuan and the investment boss, there is no following. Such an important story reason has no result, which is not a mistake that a movie can tolerate.
If you want to pick out the loopholes and mistakes in the plot, you can cite many. In short, according to the standard of a movie, in the second half, Dapeng's narrative returned to the level of online drama, forgetting the completeness and rigor of the narrative and thinking only about the final climax. Although the ending was very inspiring and the appearance of the dangerous gang of four was dazzling, it was not a good ending.
Self-mockery about acting makes Mabel Yuan bring enough true feelings, although he doesn't have his real name. )
But in the key emotional driving part, the film plays the real name of Zhenqiao and becomes the key winning point. Although you can be dissatisfied with the implantation of various sketches, the realism of the key points still touched the audience, so we can see them eating hot pot and talking about their dreams in the cinema, no matter what they are dissatisfied with. Later, I saw Dapeng break up. When Mabel Yuan spilled a glass of wine on his face, he also shed tears with her. I was even more moved when I saw Ada dissecting Dapeng on the roof of a tall building. Because the overall trend of the film is not to mention, these expressions from the actors themselves are their inner feelings that have been ups and downs in the entertainment circle for many years and have nowhere to tell. They are sincere and cannot be refuted. And this kind of mood will shift, reminding us of all kinds of disappointments and grievances in real life. In order to live and condescend to do something one day, we have to pay for smiling faces ... so, the depression in our hearts has been released on the screen, and all kinds of complaints about movies have been released at once. It's not a qualified movie, but it's a good movie, because you won't regret walking out of the cinema after watching it anyway.
For Pancake Man, I think it's no exaggeration to say that it has any shortcomings and loopholes, which are objective. However, I have to say that it is fabricated and not worth going to the cinema. Emotion is false and not moving. It was blown up by marketing hype. I don't agree. Movies can't always let the audience in by grandstanding, but this time, Dapeng can. The success of Pancake Man depends on its own truthfulness and sincerity. This success is unique, but it cannot be replicated.
In fact, my biggest recognition of this film comes from the part where Ada confided to Dapeng on the roof. This scene was shot in the China Merchants Building in the southeast corner of Guo Mao Bridge, facing the Jianwai soho Building where I work. Like them in the movie, I look at the distant lights from upstairs every day, and the traffic at my feet is like a river. In the traffic going to the sea, countless people are fighting for the dream that Ada and Dapeng said, but they said it on the roof. This sense of identity from outside the film is the most touching scene for me. Because I know that no matter how bad the film is, filmmakers are trying to find dignity.
Because of this confession at the end of the film, Ada suddenly becomes much more pleasing to the eye in the eyes of the audience. Just like you and me, she is one of thousands of people who pursue dreams and happiness in Qian Qian.
No matter how the people involved will change after the film is released, how things will turn, and what the curse will be after watching it, this film is worth going to the cinema. I hope this is a good start. Those who have dreams in the movie center, those who laugh and cry at the movie in the audience, can pick up their dreams and go forward bravely because of this movie.
I wish, Ada, Yi, ... and all those who have worked hard for this film, and I hope they can have better works in the future.