Spicy enough and cool enough! Yang Mi’s new film partner, Yu Qian, will be the next dark horse？

1905 movie network feature "There’s nothing that one hot pot can’t solve" "If there is, just two!"

After four years, he returned to the big screen with a new suspense comedy and was shortlisted for the main competition at the just-concluded Hainan Island International Film Festival, meeting the audience for the first time.

When it comes to director Ding Sheng, you may think of such a "man’s drama" with a lot of blood, and this new work will subvert your imagination to a certain extent.

A hot pot, a table of mahjong, a Sichuan opera, five geeks strung together a climax, constantly reversed absurd drama.

Or in Ding Sheng’s own words: "This time I want to tell a good story in a down-to-earth manner. I also have my own aesthetics and complexes, and a more delicate side."

At the same time, the film’s cast is also remarkable, and together, they have contributed to a group portrait drama that is evenly matched and mutually accomplished.

Ding Sheng commented: "Everyone is very suitable, the five actors are a dream combination."

From director to actor, what kind of surprise did "No Hot Pot Can’t Solve" (hereinafter referred to as "Hot Pot") bring?

Hot pot

Four people who don’t know each other divide the stolen goods in the backstage warehouse of the theater, but they are accidentally involved in a murder case.

Everyone’s identity is a mystery, each has a ghost, and under the mask, the real body is difficult to identify.

There are plans in the game, there are games in the game, and people are not as good as heaven. The story of "Hot Pot" does give people a sense of "role play tabletop game".

Through the continuous reversal of the plot and the gradual solution of the character’s identity, the audience is led into a spiral of suspense that is closely linked.

The foreshadowing and threads laid before also formed a big web about the truth in the end.

Ding Sheng continued his fast editing style, which allowed the film to pass the test in terms of rhythm, suspense and story integrity.

Just like the pot of hot pot that was constantly rolling throughout, one chopstick went down, not knowing what would be fished out, which also made people want to sit at the table and feel it until the last moment.

In addition to suspense, comedy elements are also an indispensable "base material" for "Hot Pot".

Most of the jokes in the movie are not in the direct way, but rely on the actors to give each other drama and rhythm control, and work together to throw the burden to the audience.

This placed high demands on the tacit understanding between the actors. As "old comedians", Yu Qian and Tian Yu held up the comedy rhythm of the whole play very well, and Yang Mi’s various inadvertent self-deprecation and throwing stems also brought "unexpected joy" to the audience.

sentient beings

In "Hot Pot", a lot of surround shots are used to see the expressions and expressions of each character. The churning hot pot edge is a complex phenomenon of beings, which also becomes another highlight of the film.

One chicken, nine cakes, fortune, seventy thousand and Tian Yu played director Fu, can be said to be all ruthless, each person 800 heart.

Each character has a rich history, multiple identities, and vivid colors. As the personal story line gradually emerges, the characters become vivid and three-dimensional.

There are bandits, naive people, femme fatale, honest people and old fritters…

They have shortcomings, selfishness, and greed, but without exception, they are all little people full of fireworks, with a full arc of humanity.

In the suspense crime genre, female characters are often vase-like embellishments, but Yang Mi’s role as Yi Chicken is a real "heroine", as if customized for her, becoming a bright color in the male group portraits.

Sometimes coquettish, sometimes charming, sometimes ruthless, Yang Mi interpreted the reverse charm of the characters, some bold banter and self-deprecation, but also very comic effect.

No wonder Ding Sheng said that he saw many possibilities of Yang Mi through Yichi, "both the precipitation of experience and the understanding of performance."

The characters of Yu Qian, Tian Yu, Yu Mailei, and Li Jiuxiao are also highly adaptable, especially the role of Tian Yu is the most complex, and the various states are freely retracted, and the skills are evident.

stage

In addition to hot pot, mahjong and dialects, the film also uses another major element of Sichuan Shu culture, Sichuan opera, in a superb way.

The entire film is almost entirely staged in the closed space of the theater, and the art, lighting, photography, and color palette are also full of drama and intense.

The protagonists sometimes wore masks, sometimes costumes, and sometimes were splashed with oil paint, corresponding to the different changes in identity and mentality, as well as many scenes in front of the stage and behind the scenes, the ingenious echoes and contrasts in and outside the play, making people secretly scream.

Flea Shiqian, Bao Qingtian, Guan Gong and other "people in the play" took turns to appear at critical moments, breaking the boundaries between the front and the back, using the play as a metaphor for people, and handled it very skillfully.

True to that sentence, life is like a play, play is like life.

The only difference is that the story in the play has already been written, but the life in reality has not yet been decided.

At countless story points, the characters in the film are making choices, and through their choices, they convey simple themes.

In one thought, night and day, good and evil will be rewarded in the end, only fighting for early and late.

Combining suspense and comedy, and contrasting drama with life, "Hot Pot" is a new attempt by director Ding Sheng, and it is also expected to continue the popularity of the New Year’s Eve on January 13, a relatively "unpopular" schedule.