film review: absence, overload and failure
2024-09-02
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chao news client tian yanchao
according to real-time data from the lighthouse professional edition, on august 17, the total box office (including pre-sales) for the 2024 summer season (june-august) exceeded the 10 billion yuan mark. as of august 21, the summer season was coming to an end, but the market box office was only 10.298 billion yuan, which was almost halved compared to the 20.63 billion yuan in the 2023 summer season. from this point of view, the bleak box office of the 2024 summer season is almost a fait accompli. in addition to the loss of audience attraction caused by the "collision" between the paris olympics in france and the summer season of the film market, the "split" between film creators and audiences may be the biggest cause of the current sluggish box office response.
as early as july 18 this year, the film "decryption" directed by chen sicheng released a notice on the release of the film, announcing that it would be released on august 3. prior to this, the domestic film market only earned 5.4 billion yuan in box office in july. the lack of films with strong box office appeal led to the market showing a situation where "catching dolls" was the only one that stood out. the reason is that compared with last year, this july's summer season lacked "dark horse" films with a good reputation and lasting influence. before the release of "decryption", chen sicheng had already joined the "china's 10 billion box office club" with works such as "detective chinatown 3". therefore, the release of "decryption" is generally regarded as a "rescue work" for the second half of the summer movie market. in addition, the social discussion caused by the "genius girl" jiang ping incident in june this year indirectly accumulated certain social expectations for this film that also focuses on mathematical geniuses. however, paradoxically, as the discussion and controversy surrounding "decryption" continued to heat up, it failed to replicate the high box office miracle caused by social topics like "gone girl". after 19 days of release, the box office of "decryption" was only 323 million yuan, which is far behind the 3.16 billion yuan of "catch the doll". behind the sluggish box office and the polarization of word of mouth, it actually reflects the phenomenon of "not adapting to the local environment" in the audience market when director chen sicheng tried to step out of the creative comfort zone of suspense films and make a breakthrough in the genre.
characters constitute the core elements of film narratives, and vivid and perceptible film characters are usually the primary condition for the audience to smoothly integrate into the story world. the film "decryption" adopts a biographical film format, with the mathematical genius rong jinzhen as the core character and the cracking of the us military code as the core event, telling the ups and downs of individual fates in the era of sino-us game between the 1940s and 1960s. the image of the protagonist rong jinzhen undoubtedly transcends the boundaries of the heroic image in traditional mainstream films. director chen sicheng has endowed him with rich humanity and human feelings, focusing on depicting the sacrifice and dedication shown by individuals in response to the call of the country, while not ignoring the inner complexity of the characters and the contradictions and desires in human nature. however, in the process of trying to break through, it also caused deviations in the characterization of the film. as for rong jinzhen, chen sicheng paid too much attention to the display of his side as a hero, highlighting his fragility, sensitivity and stubbornness, and deliberately drawing a tragedy of the times like the fall of a genius. however, due to the weakness of the plot design, the motivation of the behavior, the transformation of the character and the elevation of the spiritual character lack rationality, thus falling into the stereotype of genius and demonization in society, resulting in the absence of authenticity of the protagonist. on the other hand, chen sicheng's excessive focus on rong jinzhen has resulted in other minor characters becoming only vassals and background boards of the genius, thus making the absence of others in the film, which is reflected in the fact that the female characters in the film actually exist as objects to satisfy male desires.
in the era of "imagination consumption", shocking audio-visual spectacle scenes can undoubtedly attract the attention of young audiences. in the movie "decryption", the depiction of ten dreams has always been the core focus of its publicity and distribution, and it is also a highlight of hot discussion among the audience. so much so that when it was promoted, it was advertised as "ten dreams, subverting imagination, a chinese blockbuster". in terms of its audio-visual scenes alone, the film is undoubtedly successful and shocking, showing the progress of china's film industry. for the red beach scene alone, 105 tons of special materials were consumed, and more than 70 sets of lights were used to simulate the real solar activity trajectory. photographer cao yu even practiced chinese aesthetic expression in the film, using light and shadow to "dream" for the audience between the landscape scrolls. but behind the gorgeous visual effects, there is a break between the form and content of the film. the ten dreams were not organically integrated into the narrative expression of the film. on the contrary, they were overloaded with excessive symbols in a gorgeous but empty way in the form of an mv-style landscape show, which overwhelmed the main plot, destroyed the coherence of the plot, and made the plot lengthy and dull.
one of the main functions of film genres is to allow the audience to have corresponding narrative expectations based on the type of film before they step into the cinema. regarding "decryption", its narrative expectations are more complicated. on the one hand, the film is presented as a new mainstream film, narrating the heroic years, and the audience will naturally have narrative expectations of patriotism. on the other hand, during the promotion, the film played the slogan of "chinese and western cryptographic intelligence war", highlighting its spy film genre. combined with chen sicheng's previous advantages in suspense film creation, the audience also looks forward to experiencing the pleasure brought by the confusing game showdown.
however, the film obviously weakens the narrative of the country and family, and only a few words are given to explain the importance of the revolutionary mission. what remains is the cold system's suppression and instrumentalization of human nature, and the national sentiment and revolutionary ideals that should have been there are almost empty. in addition, perhaps in order to lower the acceptance threshold of the film, the "high iq game" feature that a spy war movie should have is not fully displayed in "decryption". the deciphering of codes, which should be full of scientific rigor, is downgraded to the "dream interpretation" of the protagonist rong jinzhen, who relies on the irrational power of people to complete the deciphering work, so that the film focuses much more on dreams than on the deciphering work.
faced with the box office failure and word-of-mouth controversy of "decryption", we have to reflect on the complexity and variability of the current chinese film market. under the influence of multiple factors such as the change in audience aesthetic preferences and the increasingly obvious "split" between creators and audiences, the competition in the film market has become increasingly fierce, and the requirements for works have become increasingly stringent. in future creations, we need to pay more attention to the needs and expectations of the audience, deeply explore the complexity of the characters' hearts, and truly present the connotation and value of the story. only in this way can we create more excellent film works and promote the prosperity and development of the chinese film market.
author profile: tian yanchao, a postgraduate student of drama at zhejiang normal university. supervisor: su qiqi.
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