zhang yimou's first online drama production, the suspense drama "snow labyrinth" has a bit of a "mystery" at the beginning
2024-09-17
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in the past month, suspense web series directed by famous directors have been launched one after another. after the highly acclaimed "border water past" supervised by cao baoping ended, youku white night theater took advantage of the opportunity to broadcast "snow labyrinth" supervised by zhang yimou. the themes of both works are related to drug control, and both are the first time that famous film directors supervise web series. however, judging from the broadcast data and post-broadcast reputation, zhang yimou's control of "snow labyrinth" did not achieve the amazing effect at the beginning, which made the audience who had just "eaten too well" feel a sense of gap.
the story of "snow labyrinth" begins in 1997. in the fictional old industrial city of halan in northeast china, a murder case implicates a secretive large-scale drug trafficking organization. the plot starts with a murder case of "black eating black", and then penetrates into the transmission network of new drugs in halan city. the police set up a drug control task force headed by criminal police captain zheng bei (played by huang jingyu) and composed of elite police officers from different positions to track down the criminals.
"snow labyrinth" is the first web drama produced by zhang yimou, and the director is lü xing, who is recognized by the audience for the highly acclaimed suspense drama "the undocumented crime". led by young actors such as huang jingyu and zhang yu, and supported by veteran actors such as liang guanhua, ding jiali, and liu wei, "snow labyrinth" has attracted much attention before it was broadcast. judging from the episodes that have been aired so far, the scenes and photography compositions of the drama have some of zhang yimou's style. the strong atmosphere of the murder case in the room at the beginning of the whole drama reminds people of the atmosphere of the opening case of lü xing's "the undocumented crime".
but after the story began, "snow maze" did not receive unanimous praise, and the series was criticized by many viewers for its narrative rhythm and character creation.
in terms of character creation, the performance of the leading actor huang jingyu is more like a star experiencing life in the police force than a criminal police captain. whether he is performing undercover missions or ambushing and arresting people in a busy city, his already handsome and tall image, paired with sunglasses, leather jackets, and long trench coats, turns the criminal police role that should have been hidden in the crowd into the brightest star in the crowd.
in terms of narrative strategy, "snow labyrinth" strives to combine the daily life of criminal police with the sense of urgency of criminal investigation and drug control. in the opening stage, it does not use solving the case as the main narrative driving force to advance the story, but first shapes the protagonist group of the task force according to the rules of a group drama.
in the current reality-themed works of all types, creating a group of protagonists is a popular creative idea, which uses group portraits to reflect the general situation of a specific era and a specific field. for example, the recently highly acclaimed "nine prosecutors" and "the future is bright", the story begins by building a group of protagonists, and with vivid characters, appropriate dramatic conflicts, and interesting plots, the audience can easily enter the plot.
snow labyrinth is a suspense drama. this type of story usually advances linearly, with the suspense of the case and the process of solving the case peeling off the layers to achieve a fascinating effect. putting this kind of story with a strong plot into a scattered layout of group characters, the rhythm is easily disrupted. snow labyrinth reflects the loss of one thing after the superposition of types. the work jumps between the soothing flow of life and the fierce crime style, and the two styles are difficult to integrate. the transition between paragraphs is abrupt, and the rhythm is fast and slow, which weakens the coherence of the thrilling atmosphere.
the drama features a group of five young criminal policemen as the main characters. the interactions between the characters create fun and laughter around daily office jokes and the regional differences between people in the north and south. in addition, there is the tug-of-war between the two male protagonists of the task force, one literary and one martial. these scenes that are independent of the main line of the investigation take up a lot of space but are not gripping and appear tedious and lengthy.
it is foreseeable that the group portraits unfolded in "snow labyrinth" will not be aimless, and the character lines will converge as the story develops, but the current opening gives people the impression that it is relatively loose and the story density is not high. also telling the story of a group of workplace characters, "the future" begins with the protagonists' life drama, adding the dramatic conflict of young people "rectifying the workplace" and integrating it into the main line of financial anti-corruption, which creates an attractive story tension.
fortunately, after the opening, the story of "snow labyrinth" gradually got on the right track, and the overall storyline was cut into the main line of the investigation, and the broadcast data of the series finally saw a slight jump. however, compared with a large number of "northeast suspense" series, "snow labyrinth" is not eye-catching enough. zhang yimou's first move in online drama production, whether the track change will be successful is still a little unpredictable.
