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Hello everyone, this is Lao Liu. It's that time of year again for the Spring Festival film season, so I'd like to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year!
Many friends have messaged me asking me to analyze this year's Spring Festival film releases. In previous years, I'd always published my critiques of the Spring Festival films on the second day of the Lunar New Year. This year, however, I've postponed it to the fourth. Some friends might be wondering: "Old Liu, is this year's Spring Festival film season so boring that you've gone on strike?"
Well, these friends were actually right—but only half right. Before heading to the cinema on Chinese New Year's Day, that's exactly what Lao Liu thought. What kind of rubbish is this year's Spring Festival film lineup? Middle-aged idol dramas (the poster for *Floating Flower Palace* pops up), comedies with the same old saccharine veneer (the poster for *Don't Touch My Dad* flies in), family-friendly movies (the poster for *Happy Street* flies in, but with a big question mark on the main body). If you ask me, I'd rather watch *The Story of Deng Deng*!
With a spirit of dedication to serving the audience, Lao Liu went to the cinema. First, he watched "Floating Flower Palace," which immediately cured his headache from staying up all night on New Year's Eve, and he slept soundly in the massage chair in the cinema. Then he watched "Don't Touch My Dad," which was mediocre, with old-fashioned jokes, and he was too lazy to criticize it or praise it.
To be honest, after watching these two films, Lao Liu was really disheartened. Is Chinese cinema destined to continue like this? Making things that even Lao Liu can't be bothered to criticize?
He had originally planned to go home obediently and continue to criticize Mr. Yingjie's recent 4-point green-rated masterpiece, "Mr. Fault-Hunter and Ms. Peacemaker," completely giving up on the disastrous Spring Festival film season. But upon reaching the cinema entrance and seeing this poster (the "Happiness Street" poster popped up again), Lao Liu gritted his teeth and decided to give the Spring Festival film season one last chance.
The beginning of "Happiness Street" was unremarkable. Old Liu initially thought it was a sequel to "Don't Touch My Dad." Ten minutes later, Old Liu was completely stunned.
Warning: Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead!
Attention! The content following this video is entirely my subjective and personal interpretation and has nothing to do with anyone else!
Attention! Viewers under the age of 18, please exit this video immediately! This is not a drill, this is not a drill, this is not a drill!
"Happy Street" tells a fantastical adventure story: a group of people accidentally wander into a pedestrian street and become trapped. Every shop on the street has its own "rules." If you violate these rules, you will be assimilated by the street and remain there forever.
From a storyline perspective, *Happy Street* is a typical team-based fantasy adventure story. The main characters obtain rewards or escape through puzzle-solving, battles, and lucky breaks. The team composition is also a classic adventure party model:
Leader/Rookie/Audience Surrogate: (Xiao Ye's stills and posters appear);
Hothead: (A still or poster of Wong Fei-cheung pops up);
Comic Relief/The Coward: (Posters of Sister Hong and Fatty appear in response); Note that these two roles are often inseparable. A comedic character often also has the function of causing screams, and a seemingly useless character might create unexpected laughs.
The protected object (The Burden): (Lingling's still appears).
From the plot to the character design of the main characters, it's all too classic. If Ye Chu were a man, and Sister Hong cast a beautiful mature woman to play him, the two could kiss and have sex in the ruins, and if they added a gay member to the team, it would be a massive American blockbuster!
The rule setting is quite novel; at least Lao Liu has never seen this concept in a domestic film before. The rules are interconnected, seemingly simple rules conceal dead ends, and achieving rule A violates rule B… It's incredibly mind-bending and thrilling. Lao Liu won't spoil the methods the main characters use to solve the puzzles, but in short, their methods are truly ingenious.
[Emoji: I've seen all sorts of things (crossed out) I've never seen anything like this before]
Furthermore, the film is quite explicit, to the point that one wonders why it was allowed to air during the Spring Festival season. Perhaps the creative team has connections.
(Meme: Stop talking, this could get you beheaded)
In short, the novel concept of "rules" feels like old wine in a new bottle, crammed into a tired adventure story template, leaving Lao Liu somewhat disappointed. However, the film boasts grand scenes, well-done special effects, and satisfying explosions. The plot is consistently thrilling, delivering both action and humor. Overall, it's worth the ticket price. Lao Liu can forgive this minor flaw.
After watching this movie, Lao Liu was so shocked he almost couldn't recover.
Some friends are getting impatient: Lao Liu, Lao Liu, you've been rambling on for so long, why haven't you gotten to the point yet? What happened to the metaphor?
Please don't criticize me yet. Let me be honest: the first time I watched it, I genuinely didn't understand anything about the film. At most, I vaguely sensed that the director was trying to express something, but it was all very unclear. It seemed like every scene had a deeper meaning…
Who am I? I'm Lao Liu! Faced with a film like this, how could I back down? For the sake of your likes, comments, and shares, I can't back down!
Driven by this deeper meaning, Lao Liu resolutely went to the second showing of "Happiness Street." Tickets for this film were incredibly hard to get; Lao Liu only managed to snag a seat in the first row, practically breaking his neck in the process.
After watching it a second time, Lao Liu was deeply moved.
On the second viewing, he noticed many details he hadn't seen the first time. This time, Lao Liu clearly felt that his brain was taking in more information!
Do you all know about the enlightenment at Longchang? That's the feeling I had when I watched it a second time.
That feeling of sudden enlightenment, that feeling of "so that's how it is!"
The director's deeper meaning, the cinematic language, the character Xiao Ye represents, the characters Huang Feizhang, Fatty Zhang, and Sister Hong represent, what Lingling symbolizes... Lao Liu felt like his brain's CPU was about to explode.
Of course, although he had attained enlightenment in Longchang, Lao Liu still wasn't sure if my guesses were correct. What if? What if I was overthinking it?
With this in mind, Lao Liu entered the third performance of "Happiness Street".
After watching it once, Lao Liu had only one feeling.
Let's get straight to the conclusion.
This is the boldest, darkest, most profound, and most ambitious work of Chinese cinema in the past decade.
This explains why someone of Ye Chu's stature would cast a group of unknown, obscure actors and directors in this film.
Because, apart from struggling, obscure actors, there's simply no actor, inside or outside the entertainment industry, who would dare to star in such a film!
Some friends might question whether Lao Liu is a paid promoter for this film, accusing him of taking advantage of the situation. But Lao Liu can swear that, to this day, he has never received a single penny related to this movie. If I'm lying to you all, may Lao Liu be a magician for life.
After reading the following analysis, you will know whether I am just making things up, doing this for money, or if what I said is true!
For this video, Lao Liu worked tirelessly for three days, creating a 5,000-word script. Just a small like will make Lao Liu very happy!
Let's rewind to the beginning of the movie. Since the film hasn't been released on streaming platforms yet, Lao Liu can't post any pirated footage, so let's just use stills and simple sketches for now.
The story begins with five people: Xiao Ye, Huang Feizhang, Fatty, Sister Hong, and her daughter Lingling. For various reasons, they enter a commercial street called Happiness Street, only to become trapped and unable to get out.
Before they were trapped, three cannon fodder were blown to bits by Happiness Street right before their eyes.
These three cannon fodder characters are: a beggar who escaped alone; a faceless cannon fodder who cooperated with the team, couldn't help but say "Save me," and then disappeared; and a wealthy cannon fodder character who is rich and has a quick change of heart.
Some people may not understand why Lao Liu emphasized these few cannon fodder, but you will find out later.
The five main characters are stuck on the pedestrian street and begin reading the rules. I won't spoil the specifics of the rules; I'll just mention a few key ones.
Among them, the two most important and relevant points are the most relevant to the theme.
Rule #1: Happiness is the only rule on this street.
Article 2: Please consume one "Happiness Experience Project" within the specified time.
Did anyone notice the keywords?
Consumption! The director's intentions are practically written all over his face.
This film actually reflects the alienation of people, labor, products, and social relations under the capitalist system!
The "happiness" in Happiness Street is actually capitalism.
Don't believe me? Let Lao Liu show you.
Happiness Street has many rules, and once you break them, you'll be assimilated into the street and remain there forever. And how do you break the rules? Through the goods sold in the shops along the street.
Goods are made by people. In this film, however, the goods take the lead over people, who become puppets of the pedestrian street if they misuse the goods.
Does this look familiar?
How similar is this to the plot in "Modern Times" where workers are alienated by assembly line machines and the products in turn control their human movements?
The film pays homage to Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times," setting the tone for the entire movie: it's a film that exposes and satirizes capitalism.
Once this is understood, the other rules of Happiness Street become easier to comprehend.
Emotional correction services are a re-enactment of Foucault's theory of discipline and punishment. Under capitalism, workers cannot express their discontent; they can only distort themselves, like Huang Feizhang, by putting on an enjoyable "performance" in order to be spared. Even if they are internally furious, they must grin and shout, "I am happy!"
In response to the voice of happiness, it went even further, saying: You can give feedback, but you can only give feedback on happiness! If you dare to be sad? Sorry, you've violated the rules.
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