Jiang Wen's new film "You Can Do It! Go For It!" may be the most controversial film in recent times. Some people were excited by the passionate classical music, some walked out of the theater in a daze, and some were trying to figure out what kind of vinegar to pair with the chive dumplings...
Jiang Wen is still the same Jiang Wen, but he seems a little different. This time he tells a story that is most "other" and is both far and near to today's audience.
Movie poster of "You Can Do It! Go For It!"
The British media ClassicFM once selected a list of the "25 Greatest Pianists of All Time", which included contemporary masters such as Gould, Rubinstein, Argerich, and Barenboim, and even Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and other people who wrote music history. Only one Chinese person made the list, Lang Lang.
Lang Lang is not uncommon for being recorded in history. His growth is a process of creating history again and again. When the news introduces him, it is always prefixed with "the first Chinese in XX history". The history created by Lang Lang has already been dazzling. This is due to his excellent musical attainments and his skilled business operations behind the scenes.
Father helps Lang Lang break through the ceiling
In 2020, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Ron Howard, director of A Beautiful Mind, would bring Lang Lang's autobiography A Thousand Miles: My Story to the screen, filming in China and the United States in Mandarin and English. As a result, for some unknown reason, Lang Lang's autobiography fell into the hands of Jiang Wen, and it was destined not to be a step-by-step biographical film.
On the surface, "You Can Do It! Go For It!" is a story of the growth of a piano prodigy, but in its essence it is still Jiang Wen's consistent narrative of the times. He used classical piano as a weapon and his Northeastern accent as drum beats to complete a hearty rock performance in 144 minutes.
Fortunately, Jiang Wen met Lang Lang. Even non-classical music audiences must have seen Lang Lang's "crazy piano" style, which is a perfect match for Jiang Wen's unique style.
There are many controversies surrounding Lang Lang, but Jiang Wen did not delve into those things. He obviously does not really care about Lang Lang's inner world or the true meaning of music and art. He filmed the external forces, Lang Lang's father, the "chief designer" and his "works". This is not a typical parent-child relationship or family pattern, but it will not be unfamiliar to the audience.
Stills from "You Can Do It! Go For It!"
If you look at "You Can Do It! Go For It!" as a biographical film or a traditional drama, it doesn't quite conform to the traditional narrative of introduction, development, turning point and conclusion. There is no villain in the movie, and you can't see any difficulties. The character's growth is not the kind of overcoming difficulties and defeating others and oneself that the audience is used to. There is no counterattack after being suppressed. Lang Lang has been in cheating mode since he was born, and he has been performing "a tough life that needs no explanation" with his strength all the way.
Lang Lang himself said at the premiere that Jiang Wen used his family's experience as the "dumpling skin" and that "the filling is all his own." But the first amazing thing about the film is that the dumpling skin is really rolled to perfection. If you are familiar with the context of the classical music industry and Lang Lang's growth history, you can see from the film that Jiang Wen used such a "crazy" way to really replicate Lang Lang's growth trajectory.
Whether it is the experience of following a teacher all the way from childhood to becoming a disciple and going to school, or the twisted but solid relationship between father and son, or the value of international competitions, training repertoires, and rescue performances, the details are very sophisticated. The incredible scene at the beginning of the film where the father threatens his son with death to force him to practice the piano is also recorded in Lang Lang's biography.
Although the other characters in the film are all pseudonyms, they are all well-known figures in the classical music industry. The film touches on the prejudices of the European classical music world and the "rules" of domestic music academies; from Tchaikovsky to Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Bach, Beethoven, the step-by-step expansion of Lang Lang's piano repertoire is not only a feast for the audience's ears, but also follows Lang Lang's growth path.
Jiang Wen plays Lang's father, who is full of his own style, but is surprisingly close to the original. In the controversy surrounding Lang Lang, Lang's father has always been a prominent presence.
Jiang Wen as Lang Guoren
Lang's father was a erhu player in a cultural troupe. When he found out that his son had a talent for music, he resolutely quit his job to be a full-time accompaniment. Lang's mother supported his daily expenses by working alone. In the process of training Lang Lang, he completely became a "wolf dad", controlling everything and making extremely strict demands. While training a top pianist at the top of the pyramid, he also raised a "giant baby" who was almost completely unable to take care of himself. During the growth of young Lang Lang, the education of the only-child generation was also a hot topic of social concern. At that time, there was no fashionable term such as "chicken baby", but Lang's father's education model is still an excellent example of "wanting his son to become a dragon" many years later.
For a long time, Chinese people only knew Lang Lang's father as "Lang Dad" without a name. In this movie, he is called Lang Guoren again and again. Jiang Wen gave him the most vivid role. Lang Lang is his work. Lang Lang played countless top-notch live performances, but the most exciting climax was given to the duet between erhu and piano.
The most brainwashing word in the movie
He sacrificed his father's job, his child's childhood, and the happiness of his family, all because of the family's belief in their child's talent. This almost paranoid will eventually broke through the secular web and created a brilliant legend. It's really legendary. There are higher ceilings above the ceiling, and it can be pierced through again and again in the exciting melody to reach a higher level. Music is the strongest booster of emotions. Lang Lang's posture of playing the piano, coupled with the Northeastern dialect, and Jiang Wen's "flying" film language, the reaction is like taking drugs.
You will definitely enjoy watching this film, but it is unlikely to make you feel "inspired". This is a unique viewing experience. You can certainly say that Lang Lang is too special, and his outstanding talent makes it difficult for ordinary people like us to empathize. However, how to narrate a growth story is the director's choice.
Jiang Wen's films have always been opened in two ways: "dumplings" and "vinegar". Thanks to the popularity of Internet film and television commentary in recent years, "letting learn" (a variety of interpretations of "Let the Bullets Fly") has become tied to the director's style and expression. The appearance and experiences of several piano teachers, the "thorns" in "Lang Dad's" words, and the various image symbols in the film's shots make this film full of space for interpretation as the "history of the growth of the Republic", which is intriguing.
The movie is full of "symbols" of the times
Seven days after its release, the box office has not yet exceeded 100 million yuan. As part of the existence of the film, the box office is also related to the clues of economic development in the film. In theory, based on the number of families with piano children in China in the past, parents taking their children to see how other children practice piano during the summer vacation is enough to open up a new growth point for the Chinese film market. But in the past two years, the piano market has cooled down, everyone's wallets are tightly held, and life is very cost-effective. Many families have removed the once popular instrument training from their baby budgets. In an era when the general public is increasingly paying attention to finding themselves in movies, how many people are willing to spend money and time to see how "other people's children" are doing, and are no longer inspired by the "upward" path in the past value system. Coupled with the controversy over "East Asian families" and "daddy flavor" in the public opinion field in recent years, the movie has lost another passerby.
Word of mouth poster
But just like the movie only filmed up to the age of 17, there is still a long way to go. With the speed at which Jiang Wen has produced new films in recent years, "You Can Do It! You Go!" will be enough to continue to nourish many "Zhihu Hot Posts", "Douban Spicy Reviews" and "Bilibili Magic Editing" for many years to come, and perhaps one day a "You Xue" will be developed.
