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Director Hu Mei has recently become a hot topic because of her new film "A Dream of Red Mansions Part Two: Golden Jade Marriage".

The box office performance of this film is less than 5 million in total, while the expected box office is more than 6 million.

As of now, it has not been rated on Douban, nor has it been rated on other ticketing platforms.

To put it simply, both the word of mouth and box office performance are terrible.

Should it?

It doesn't seem like it should.

After all, "Dream of Red Mansions" is a household name, and director Hu Mei is also a great director who has produced many famous dramas such as "Yongzheng Dynasty" and "Emperor Wu of Han".

Of course, with the 1987 version being such a great success, we guessed that this version would be controversial.

But I really didn't expect that it would be such a bleak or even complete failure after its release.

How could it be so tragic?

Basically, the controversy started with the casting.

This version of Bao, Dai and Chai has been heavily criticized, and basically no one buys it. Let's take a look at it.

Of course, the makeup artist also has to take part of the blame. For example, I personally don’t understand why Baoyu had to put on such heavy makeup.

Also, is the temperament of the actress Lin Daiyu too modern?

Later I searched and found that she looked like this in other campus dramas. Does this style seem more suitable?

The publicity department mentioned that this version is "the one with actors' ages closest to the original." In previous film and television adaptations of "Dream of Red Mansions," the actors were relatively older, but this time, director Hu Mei chose young actors between the ages of 14 and 16.

In this way, it seems to be very faithful to the original work. However, if you really want to say that it is faithful to the original work, you may not understand why Lin Peng, born in 1986, was chosen to play Wang Xifeng. After all, when Wang Xifeng first appeared in the book, she was only eighteen or nineteen years old.

In addition, there is another regrettable point. In this version, except Bao, Dai and Chai, the other characters of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling have almost no presence, including the much-talked-about Qingwen and Xiren, who just flash by.

On the contrary, Yuanchun is a character that everyone is very familiar with. After watching the movie, I have to say that she actually performed quite well. It can be seen that acting skills often need to be set off by peers.

Choosing young actors also involves the issue of whether they can handle the classic roles in "Dream of Red Mansions" with their experience, understanding ability and acting experience.

After all, this is "Dream of Red Mansions", not some random youth film or ancient idol drama.

What we hope to see is actors who look similar, not just in appearance, but more importantly in spirit.

Unfortunately, from this perspective, the performance of these young actors is really...

Of course, after actually watching the movie, I found that although there were problems with the casting, it’s not interesting to just talk about the actors.

The bigger problem lies with the screenwriter and director.

There are many scenes in the film that fans of the original novel would call "abstract", such as Qin Keqing's transformation into an American beauty.

Xue Baochai takes a bath with her back completely naked.

Jia Lian also stripped half-naked as soon as he entered the house.

Jia Baoyu and Daiyu were rolling and playing on the bed, and the maid outside the door said directly, "I knew they would roll over together within less than an incense stick of time."

And for some reason Lin Daiyu likes Japanese dramas so much.

What is also difficult for fans of the original novel to accept is the overall adaptation idea of ​​the characters.

Wang Xifeng was turned into a complete villain.

If I remember correctly, Feng Ji and Lin Daiyu have a good relationship in the book, but in this movie, the delicate Lin Daiyu seems like a little fat sheep in her eyes.

Late at night, she discussed with Jia Lian in bed how to seize the Lin family's property. In front of Lady Jia, she always talked about having no money, making money, and making money from Lin Daiyu.

Later, Yuanchun came home to visit her parents and built the Grand View Garden. Grandmother Jia praised her for her good work, and she said proudly that the money had been in place.

Her every frown and smile showed cunningness, as if she was afraid that the audience didn't know how bad she was.

Grandmother Jia is Lin Daiyu's grandmother. The two are originally a family. I never expected that there would be an original line in the movie. It was she who said to Lin Daiyu: "You have been in our Jia family for quite a while. Why don't you stay in our Jia family?"

Later, Wang Xifeng made a scene and plotted to seize the Lin family's property, and Grandmother Jia acquiesced all the way, becoming a wolf grandmother who appeared kind on the surface but actually exploited her granddaughter dry.

On the night when Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai were switched and married, Jia's grandmother even added insult to injury by saying that someone had calculated Daiyu's fate and it showed that she and Baoyu were not destined to be together.

If we were to list the famous scenes in this film, perhaps every scene would seem too bizarre.

"The incident of sending palace flowers" - Lin Daiyu threw the palace flowers directly to the ground to express her dissatisfaction. With all due respect, even the maids in the Jia family would not be so rude.

The original text reads:

Lin Daiyu just glanced at Baoyu's hand.

"Yuanchun's Visit" - Jia Zheng kneeled on the ground and cried, "Son! Ah!"

The original text reads:

Jia Zheng has always been the most serious and stern person. Maybe even if my mother died, she would not be able to do such an exaggerated thing.

A Perfect Match for Gold and Jade - Baoyu and Baochai were sitting together, looking at each other's gold and jade. Suddenly, Lin Daiyu appeared outside the window without anyone noticing, and angrily cursed: "What a perfect match for gold and jade!"

After watching the movie, you will feel that Lin Daiyu is the most rude person in the world. She is either throwing things or walking away with a displeased look on her face.

And the scene where she dies, for some reason, has almost no aesthetic appeal. It is not sad, but spooky, and the scene is almost creepy.

The above are just some of the details. If I were to take a thorough inventory, it would take more than an article to finish.

From this perspective, "A Dream of Red Mansions Part Two: Golden Marriage" is still very exciting. The first half of the show I watched was relatively quiet, but later on the audience couldn't help but start to laugh and complain.

Admittedly, adaptation is not copying a book. We are not experts in the study of the Dream of the Red Chamber. We do not object to creators interpreting and explaining a classic masterpiece from a new perspective, but we also do not demand that every detail of the movie be copied from the original.

However, various details make people doubt whether this version is adapted from the original work or the children's illustrated version.

After all, "Dream of Red Mansions" tells the story of a large family. Where are their manners, manners, etiquette and rules?

If we just borrow a shell, what's the point of adapting "Dream of Red Mansions"?

Speaking of this, let's take a look at the overall adaptation idea of ​​"Dream of Red Mansions".

According to the creators themselves, the film's adaptation perspective is "Conspiracy and love”。

The conspiracy has been mentioned before. All the elders in the Jia family, including but not limited to Grandmother Jia and Wang Xifeng, are plotting to steal the Lin family's property.

As for love, everyone can understand that it is the love triangle between Bao, Dai and Chai that the audience talks about the most.

The film starts from the beginning of the relationship between Baoyu and Daiyu, and ends with Baoyu marrying Baochai and forcing Daiyu to death. It is very long and the plot is half of the book.

You may also find it strange that how can such a complex content be covered within two hours?

It’s very simple, just check in at famous scenes.

In two hours, the film very "special forces" and raced against time to complete a series of classic plot punch cards, including but not limited to Baoyu and Daiyu's encounter, Princess Yuan's visit to her parents, Daiyu burying flowers, and Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden...

Therefore, from the perspective of the story, the whole movie feels quite fragmented and detached.

Almost every scene has no cause or effect, and progresses as quickly as a war.

For example, the scene of Granny Liu begins with Granny Liu entering the house, and after she shouts "Eat an old sow without even looking up", the scene comes to an abrupt end, and she retires having accomplished her mission.

The literary drama like Daiyu burying flowers is also very straightforward, without any foreshadowing or brewing. When the time comes, the flowers should be buried, and after the burial, it is time to move on to the next scene.

In fact, there are many questions: the main plot of the film should be "love" - ​​if so, why spend so much time to film Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden? This has nothing to do with love or conspiracy, right?

Perhaps the whole film also coincides with the creative thinking of the short video era:

There is no need for causes or consequences, they are all dramatic climaxes. Ten climaxes make a movie.

However, between these famous scenes, is there any advancement of the dramatic rhythm or emotional transition of the characters? Without sufficient connection, can it still be called a complete story? Where can the creator's thinking and understanding of this story be reflected?

At least I can't get the answer from the movie.

It is conceivable that since the pace is so fast, there is no time left for character creation.

Perhaps it is for this reason that every character in the book has been adapted to be so flat: Lin Daiyu is sarcastic, Wang Xifeng is sinister and cunning, Jia Baoyu is an epic god of pure love...

Such an interpretation is simple and crude, and corresponds almost one to one to all the stereotypes about "Dream of the Red Chamber".

In a way, it is indeed very "modern".

It uses modern values ​​to describe the people in the Red Mansion, labeling them one by one, turning them into insignificant Xiao Shuai, Xiao Mei, Xiao Wang...

You may even feel like you have watched a short video commentary on "Reading A Dream of Red Mansions in Three Minutes".

However, the greatness of "Dream of Red Mansions" lies precisely in its richness and vastness, in its blank spaces and lingering charm, and in its "difficulty to understand".

Stifling its complexity is definitely not a good idea for adaptation, and it can even be said to be the laziest idea for adaptation.

Admittedly, we know that adapting "Dream of the Red Chamber" is difficult.

However, since we have the courage to bring this work to the screen, we should at least let the audience see what is good about "Dream of Red Mansions".

Rather than making it a laughing stock.