among all the domestic dramas, the field of spy warfare can produce classic masterpieces as well as terrible films without any bottom line.

the difficult part is how to concretize the battle between the enemy and us, as well as the images of the positive and negative characters.

among them, the ones that left a deep impression on the audience werewind》《lurking》 and so on.

however, recently the central bank has released a masterpiece on the theme of spy warfare——

dark night and dawn

to be honest, based on my experience with the series so far, it’s pretty good.

on the first day of its launch, it won the ratings championship in the same time period, and the ratings exceeded 2%.

obviously, this drama is going to be a hit.

01. a small perspective cuts into major social issues. such a drama is not distorted and is also very informative.

so what kind of story does it tell?

the story takes place in 1949, when shanghai was liberated.

lu zhengyang（nie yuan he is the first generation of public security fighters in shanghai and an experienced veteran agent of ours.

in an accidental action, he met his former opponentlin shaobai（chen zheyuan although the two had clashed before, the latter was not a spy from the enemy camp.

so, with the support of his leader, lu zhengyang activated lin shaobai and worked together to launch anti-enemy operations.

looking at the main storyline, it seems to be no different from the dramas we usually watch.

but if you look closely,"darkness and dawn" has a very high texture, and one can often see the whole picture from the details.

it starts from a humble breakfast shop.

there are many close-ups of breakfast in the camera, revealing a sense of everyday life.

as the camera unfolds, the male protagonist lin shaobai appears, wearing pajamas and a messy hair. while waiting for breakfast, he asks a familiar store owner about his stockpiled goods.

and what he called "stockpiling" was nothing more than some vegetables and food. he had to find ways to buy such common things. this shows how difficult people's lives were under the tense situation in shanghai on the eve of liberation.

in addition to daily necessities, there was also the public's panic about the war, robberies everywhere on the streets, worthless gold yuan coupons scattered around, homeless and hungry refugees...

a small picture from the perspective of life brings out the grand historical background of the play.

the issue of "hoarding food" is used to draw out the audience's emotional resonance on "food, clothing, housing and transportation."

in addition to the play's approach and unique perspective, the narrative technique of "darkness and dawn" is also excellent and full of dramatic tension.

in other words, it can tell a story in a very"stimulate"。

for example.

in the play, shanghai's jinsheng bank suddenly welcomes a group of uninvited guests.

although these people were wearing pla uniforms, they broke into the vault violently and killed anyone they saw. it was obvious that they were enemy spies in disguise.

the purpose is to rob the vault.

the person who gave the order was the local primary school teacher.zheng lanting（wang zhiwen decoration).

so, what was he doing when the vault was robbed?

he was taking a group of children to visit the people's liberation army troops stationed near the bank.

when the garrison soldiers received the news that the vault had been robbed, they were about to go to provide support.

the children swarmed forward instantly and blocked the pla's rescue.

zheng lanting smiled mysteriously when he saw this scene.

the reason why this segment was filmed so well is that it disrupts the original timeline and uses a reverse order, showing the result first and then the cause, causing the conflict between the enemy and us to erupt in an instant.

at the same time, it also intensifies the excitement of both sides racing against time, which is much more interesting than the straightforward narrative of similar works.

there are many similar dramatic treatments in the play.

02. all actors have excellent acting skills. wang zhiwen and wang jinsong are full of acting skills.

as an anti-espionage work, the most anticipated thing about "darkness and dawn" is the actors.

for examplewang zhiwen。

in the first three episodes of the play, wang zhiwen did not appear many times, only five scenes, each lasting only ten minutes.

but he perfectly captured the image of a kind teacher in front of others and a treacherous conspirator behind the scenes.

there are two scenes in the play that left a deep impression on me.

one is that when zheng lanting was cooking braised sweet and sour fish at home, the spy chiefmao senvisit.

there is a "persuasion" plot here, which has a very machiavellian feel.

mao sen first asked him who was in charge of shanghailurkingis the person in charge suitable?

zheng lanting proposed many candidates, but they were rejected one by one by mao sen.

in fact, zheng lanting knew very well the purpose of mao sen's visit, which was to invite him to come out of retirement.

but he just kept stewing the other person, just like stewing the fish in his own pot. therefore, zheng lanting almost never looked at mao sen's face, and even had a perfunctory attitude.

because he knew that he had to take the initiative in this power struggle.

not only that, he also wants people.

and when everything was settled, zheng lanting's slightly gloomy eyes showed his intelligence and ruthlessness.

the second is the scene of visiting the people's liberation army.

when he first entered, he had a sincere smile on his face.

unlike when he was cooking fish, this time he wore a pair of glasses and looked gentle and elegant.

even when taking photos for everyone, he was polite and considerate.

but i don’t know if you noticed that when taking the photo, his face was hidden behind the camera, with only a squinting expression showing.

it's more like aiming than taking a photo, giving people a gloomy feeling as if they are being stared at by a hungry wolf.

the most frightening thing is that his expression changed drastically when he heard that the vault had been robbed and his plan was going smoothly.

the corners of his lips were pressed down and his smile was cold, like a poisonous snake.

in addition, in the trailer, his face was full of rebelliousness and arrogance, and he shouted almost ferociously, "let's wait to go to hell together."

it also makes the audience feel the madness and cruelty of this character.

i have to admire wang zhiwen's acting skills. not only does he have good lines, but he can also interpret the delicacy and complexity of the character just right.

in addition to wang zhiwen,wang jinsonghis performance in the drama is also very interesting.

as one of the enemy's spy chiefs, he showed reluctance when he first learned that the people's liberation army had entered shanghai.

we can even clearly capture the anger in his eyes and the trembling muscles around his mouth in the camera.

however, when persuading zheng lanting to accept the spy job in shanghai, he was extremely humble.

there was unconcealable nervousness, cautious tentativeness, and even a bit of flattery in his expression.

it can be said that wang jinsong grasped mao sen’s anxiety and his desire to reverse the situation at that time.

in addition, the actorsun yanhe also contributed his powerful acting skills in the drama.

in the play, he plays the role of the young policeman xu wei, a small man who is used to reading people's faces.

for example, in the play, when he saw his good brother was late, the look he gave was very vivid. although he didn't say anything, the audience understood the meaning of "he is already helping out."

and in the scene where he was struggling over whether to shoot, xu wei's expression was even more complex and vivid.

there was grievance, forbearance, and a struggle with his conscience in his eyes.

but when he was forced to shoot, his eyes became fierce again.

his whole body exudes the aura of venting his inner grievances.

liu tianzuothe character played by ye shiwu is also a ruthless guy.

he harmed others for personal gain, and his conversation with lin shaobai was overwhelming and arrogant.

of course, there are many other actors who have wonderful performances in the play.

for example: playing the role of a financierni dahong, the veteran actor who plays the shop ownerliu peiqiwait.

it is precisely because of this group of actors that the quality of the entire drama is guaranteed.

03. the main creators admitted that the acting of the old actors was really good. they asked for advice on the set. this generation of actors is very studious.

so, what is the story behind such a high-quality work as "darkness and dawn"?

during the live chat, leading actors chen zheyuan and sun yan also shared their experiences with everyone.

for example, when talking about some of the "cruel" scenes in the play, chen zheyuan and sun yan had a sly smile on their faces.

of course, they also mentioned that they had a good understanding with each other from the beginning when they were acting. just as sun yan said, "it seems like we have worked together a long time ago." it is precisely because of this that the brotherhood they presented in the play is so touching.

however, when mentioning nie yuan, both of them gave the same evaluation - handsome.

hahaha, as expected, the “big pig’s hoof” is still good-looking.

when the plot reached the stage where wang zhiwen appeared, sun yan first exclaimed, "teacher wang's lines are so good."

afterwards, he also shared his experience of acting with veteran actors.

he said that sometimes when he was acting with someone, he would be distracted because he felt that the other person's acting was too good and sometimes he couldn't keep up and would be distracted.

he zheyuan also admitted that he had consulted wang zhiwen on the spot because he usually stutters when he speaks, but wang zhiwen said, "stuttering has never been the reason for speaking lines poorly."

this touched him deeply, especially what teacher wang zhiwen said, "the key to speaking lines well lies in how much you want to convey the emotions of your character to the audience."

it is not difficult to see that for he zheyuan and sun yan, acting with veteran actors is also a kind of growth for them.

and this growth is also imprinted in the works.

in fact, i don’t know if you have noticed that in recent years, audiences have become quite picky about works on the “spy war” theme.

to put it bluntly, the character is not attractive.

today's audiences prefer to see more growth-oriented characters in spy dramas.

in similar works in the early years, whether it is qian zhijiang in "the secret calculation" orcliff》 and yu zecheng in "the disguiser", their growth lines are not specific, and they often have super strong reaction and insight in a very short period of time.

these characters are popular with the audience at a certain time period.

but with the frequent emergence of similar works, these "heroes" are no longer needed by young audiences. instead, characters like lin shaobai are more touching.

looking back at "darkness and dawn" as a spy war drama, its wonderful underlying logic is still the exploration of "human nature".

and, recreate history through "human" nature.

on the premise of respecting history, it does not vilify or weaken it, but instead shapes the plot and characters according to basic human psychology and common-sense life logic.

therefore, we can see twists and turns in the battle of wits and courage in the play.

of course, in addition to the major theme of "anti-espionage", the play also incorporates countless social issues that ordinary people can touch, concretizing the image of the grassroots people of the era, enriching the group portrait of small characters, making the story more real, and allowing the audience to resonate.

in short, we hope to see the arrival of excellent "new spy war dramas" like "dark night and dawn" so that this "spy war trend" can last a little longer.

(movie rotten tomatoes editorial department: an an)