In the film, when Master Tang, played by Ge You, earnestly taught the county magistrate how to earn money on his knees, Zhang Mazi, played by Jiang Wen, decisively threw the M191pistol on the table and said, "Make money standing!"

Standing to Make Money can be regarded as a confession of some emotions after the fiasco of Jiang Wen's box office The Sun Also Rises in 2007. However, this sentence also tells the true situation of China's films.

"Standing to make money" or "kneeling to make money" reflects the dilemma faced by China film directors: standing proudly and sticking to their artistic ideals means that they are high and low, losing the vast majority of the audience;

However, when the director compromised the audience in art and made it popular enough, he was evaluated as "kneeling to make money" and did not adhere to the artistic ideal.

Background:

Since the mid-1990s, China films have gradually formed the embryonic form of commercialization. With the efforts of a large number of filmmakers, domestic films have been continuously developed and improved on the road of commercialization.

However, in recent ten years, there are very few commercial films in China that really "applaud and make a hit". Some directors with lofty films and artistic ideals have turned to commercial films one after another, and while these films have achieved high box office, they have also overdrawn the reputation of China filmmakers again and again: in the face of the mixed evaluation of orphan Zhao, the outside world can not help but sigh that Chen Kaige in Farewell My Concubine has left;

And "Three Guns Surprise" and "Hawthorn Tree Love" also put Zhang Yimou in an embarrassing position of being criticized again and again. Director China is busy keeping up with the pace of Hollywood commercial blockbusters, but there is an irreparable gap in both film concept and film technology.

Jiang Wen was once lost between "standing to make money" and "kneeling to make money". In 2005, Jiang Wen released The Sun Also Rises, which has accumulated strength for seven years. The box office was hit hard and the plot was accused of being obscure. Jiang Wen said that the film taught him a great lesson and made him rethink how to get along with the audience.