When Xú Zhēng made a movie next door to the express station.

Original title: When Xú Zhēng filmed a movie next door to the express station,

Xú Zhēng is a director who is good at shooting comedies. Although his new work "Retrograde Life" is full of funny paragraphs, its overall character is realistic.

The character of realism first requires keen observation, capture and true reflection of real life, which is inseparable from the exploration of new life phenomena and themes, thus bringing artistic innovation. Retrograde Life satisfies this point in two dimensions.

First, it pays attention to the phenomenon of middle-aged unemployment — — As the pillar of the family, the unemployment of middle-aged people is often unbearable for the family. In recent years, the world economy has been affected by the epidemic situation, and the story of urban elite unemployment has been heard from time to time. The film’s protagonist, Gao Zhilei, was originally a programmer of an Internet company, and also served as the team leader. He has a happy family. A few years ago, he bought a big house in a high-end residential area. His parents opened a small supermarket in the residential area, and his wife who studied art was a full-time wife at home. His daughter was about to enter an international school. However, due to the average team performance, he became the first person to be laid off when the company needed to downsize. Although he could get a severance payment, his father’s sudden stroke and high monthly mortgage became a boulder on Gao Zhilei, and he had to start a "retrograde life".

Secondly, the film focuses on a new group — — Takeaway clerk With the rapid development of e-commerce, express delivery has become an important part of solving the last mile of logistics. Until recent years, instant food and beverage take-out has been developed to meet the fast-paced life needs of urban people. However, as ordinary people, we don’t know much about these take-away workers who wear eye-catching clothes and ride battery cars every day and are closely related to our lives, where they come from, why they are engaged in this profession, what kind of family they have and what kind of life they live.

When the unemployed programmer Gao Zhilei was confronted with age discrimination and failed to apply for 1000 cover letters, he had to work as a delivery clerk. In this way, Retrograde Life connected these two new social groups in series, realizing realism’s capture and reflection of real life.

Realism reflects life through typification, especially by shaping typical characters. There are old people and young people on the Gaozhi base. They have to support their families and houses, work overtime at night and catch the subway in the morning, which is typical of urban middle-aged office workers. After he was suddenly laid off, he faced an age disadvantage in re-employment, but his family’s difficulties were increasing day by day, which was a typical pain of a large group.

In addition to Gao zhilei, the film also created a group image of a number of takeaway staff at a takeaway site. Not only by riding fast, not eating, but also by a map secret, it has repeatedly won the big black of the single king — — Because his food delivery speed has become the standard of platform algorithm, it has constantly pushed up the degree of involution of takeaway staff, which has once become the target of public criticism; There are also extreme stingy, and everything is broken with a roll of tape to make do with it, so that the leg is injured and wrapped with tape; There are also young mothers who take delivery with dolls, optimistic little brothers who broadcast live while delivering delivery, and Lao Zhang who is still delivering delivery at the age of 60. Colorful group images have broken the stereotype of the audience, who come from different places and backgrounds, but in the face of the difficulties of life, they are not lying flat, but struggling hard. Shan Wangdahei worked so hard to compensate his young colleagues who were injured because of him, and he was so stingy to collect medical expenses for his daughter who had leukemia. Gao Zhilei had to take up the responsibility of supporting his family from being clumsy to giving full play to his own advantages to write the "Passepartout" applet. The group images of this group of typical characters convey the indomitable spirit.

Humanistic care is an essential character of realistic creation. "Retrograde Life" does not rely on the dream of windfall from heaven and the ostentation of wealth to create screen illusion, nor does it rely on provoking group opposition and deliberately creating dramatic conflicts to please the audience, but it infects people with deep humanistic care for grassroots workers. In the film, the internal environment of fierce competition among take-away groups, the unfriendly external environment, traffic accidents from time to time, the special difficulties of individual families, and the great pressure of middle-aged people from individuals to their families after layoffs are fully demonstrated. However, the film does not exaggerate suffering, nor does it reinforce stereotypes. Knowing that her husband lost his job, Gao Zhilei’s wife didn’t complain or dislike it, but immediately re-enrolled students to teach playing drums. In the live broadcast room, she generously pulled her husband in a takeaway suit into the painting, thus sharing weal and woe. His wife’s understanding and generosity also made Gao Zhilei "take off Kong Yiji’s gown", get rid of the former concept of professional hierarchy, go into his original company from hiding to bravely, and deliver the takeaway to his colleagues.

Look at ordinary workers, not condescending; Promoting social progress, rather than solidifying social concepts, are the most valuable qualities of realistic creation. In fact, under the appeal of public opinion and the infection of art, all aspects of society are showing more and more concern for the group of foreign sellers. For example, the platform began to sign formal contracts with the sellers and purchase necessary insurance; Many rest stations have been built in the community for take-away workers to rest. The delivery staff themselves are also strengthening traffic safety awareness and taking social responsibility. The news of the courier brother who is helpful and saves people in the media is not uncommon. Promoting social harmony and progress is exactly what warm and realistic works like Retrograde Life want to achieve.

According to reports, in order to shoot this film, the main creator investigated more than a dozen express delivery sites and put the shooting place next to the real site to ensure the authenticity of the shooting. A group of actors, including the protagonist Xú Zhēng, skillfully rode on battery cars and shuttled through the city. In some cases, it was obvious that they were mixed with the real people in the city. Artists have their own personal lives, but it is the duty of directors and actors, as well as their professional norms, to go deep into the story world, understand and experience the life of the characters and create a credible character image. Life in Retrograde did just that. Therefore, the so-called "the rich play the poor" and "the bottom of consumption" and other provocative remarks on the Internet have obliterated the serious work attitude and sincere care of artists, which is really nonsense.

Of course, Retrograde Life is not impeccable in art. Repeated use of sick family members, and persistent delivery after repeated crashes are all manifestations of insufficient artistic means. At the end of the story, the "Passepartout" applet written by Gao Zhilei entered the company’s high-level vision, indicating that he might return to his familiar post and end the transitional period of being a takeaway. How the whole takeaway group can break through the algorithm puzzle and open their life dreams will take a long time for the whole society to make contributions. (Professor, Shanghai Film Academy, Shanghai University, Liu Haibo, President of Shanghai Film Criticism Society)