A roundup of the year's "best" domestic films will set you on a collision course with those with different tastes and yardsticks¹. This is especially true when the year's best vary widely from the year's best-selling. In other words, a cinephile's picks are bound to diverge² from one who focuses on the bottom line.

因为每个人的品味不同，衡量标准也存在差异，所以如果你想对国内的年度“最佳”电影进行盘点，就一定会引发口水战。又因为“年度最佳”与“年度最卖座”之间的严重错位，所以口水战更是难免了。换句话说，影迷的选择一定会与那些看重影片质量的人产生分歧。

So, here are some of the Chinese-language movies that I feel represent 2015's height of artistic³ achievement.

所以，接下来列举的是一些我认为可以代表2015年最高艺术成就的华语电影。

Hou Hsiao-hsien's Assassin is the only one that made it into some prestigious⁴ international lists. Yet it was very polarizing on the domestic front. Its elliptical narrative⁵ left many audience members scratching their heads.

侯孝贤导演的《刺客聂隐娘》是唯一一部入围了多个知名国际奖项候选名单的国内影片。然而它在国内的口碑却呈现两极分化。它的过于隐晦的故事情节让很多观众觉得“烧脑”。

For me, it is ambitious but falls short of the standard of Shanghai Flowers, an early work by the master with a similar stylistic approach. The dense⁶ plot distracts from the texture⁷ of the visuals, where the brilliance⁸ definitely lies.

在我看来，《刺客聂隐娘》虽然雄心勃勃，却不及侯孝贤用相似手法创作的早期作品《海上花》。它紧凑的情节淡化了人们对视觉效果的追求，这正是电影出色之处。

Jia Zhangke's Mountains May Depart is neatly⁹ divided into three time periods. The first two, set in 1999 and 2014, find him in familiar territory, but it is the last one, set in 2025Australia, that is jaw-dropping in both positive and negative ways.

贾樟柯的《山河故人》恰好根据时间节点被分为三个部分。设定在1999和2014的部分，主人公还待在熟悉的故土，2025年的部分却跑到了澳大利亚。不论从正反哪个方面看，这个设定都令人瞠目结舌。

The twist is audaciously conceived, but testifies to a fundamental lack of understanding of the Chinese diaspora, and the May-December relationship is shallow in its Freudian implication.

情节转折构思大胆，但也显示了对中国聚散观念的理解不够，以及对忘年恋在性心理层面的理解过于表面。

The year's most satisfying work belongs to Deep in the Heart, the directorial debut¹⁰ of Xin Yukun. It was titled The Coffin¹¹ in the Mountain when it first ran on the festival circuit in 2014.

今年最令人满意的作品当属忻钰坤的处女作《心迷宫》。其实这部电影最初是以《殡棺》为片名于2014年出现在电影节上的。

Made with a paltry¹² budget of 1.7 million yuan ($269,800), the dark drama takes on crime and punishment with a verve and aplomb¹³ befitting a veteran.

这部惊悚剧情片仅仅用了170万元的成本，就让老谋深算的主人公给你沉着演绎了一出罪与罚的戏码。

As a matter of fact, one of its early champions was Cao Baoping, whose film The Dead End has an overlapping¹⁴ theme yet leaves several narrative holes in the story.

其实曹保平才是犯罪悬疑类电影的早期先锋之一。他的电影《烈日灼心》就是这方面题材的代表作，他还故意在情节中留下了许多未解之谜。

Cao's crime story has a stronger drive, and at its heart it attempts to plumb¹⁵ the depths of the human psyche¹⁶. More significantly, it broke several taboos¹⁷, including a passionate¹⁸ male-on-male kiss.

曹保平的犯罪片悬疑感更强，能直击人的灵魂。而且，他的影片不避禁区，比如充满激情的男男之吻。

The Dead End won an acting¹⁹ award for its male ensemble²⁰ at the Shanghai International Film Festival, but the year's most eye-opening male performance belongs to a renowned²¹ director.

烈日灼心》男演员凭借该片在上海国际电影节获得了最佳表演奖。不过，本年度最让人眼前一亮的表演却是来自一位知名导演。

Feng Xiaogang's cameo appearances have been so memorable²² he ranks among the best character actors in the nation.

冯小刚在电影中客串的角色令人印象太深刻了，他可以称得上是中国最有性格的男演员之一。

In Mr. Six, he turns his formidable acting chops into a character study so immersive it blew me away when I first saw the film. This is a portrayal²³ that goes beyond technique and into the innermost part of his soul.

在《老炮儿》中，他对人物角色的演绎如此到位，以致于我初看影片时被惊到了。他对这个角色的揣摩已经不能只用演技好来形容了，那种感觉是从骨子里散发出来的。

Ostensibly about a former good-for-nothing, it is imbued²⁴ with a quiet heroism²⁵ and evokes²⁶ a way of life that is fast receding²⁷ - echoing the somewhat cruel generational shift that is happening in today's film industry.

这个故事表面是在说一个被时代抛弃的人，但实际上蕴含了一种无声的英雄主义，能唤起人们对上个时代的记忆，也从侧面反映了当下电影业正在发生的代际转变过程中的残酷。

Not since Zhang Yimou played the male lead in 1986's Old Well has an ace²⁸ director trumped²⁹ actors of his profession with such on-screen and off-screen poignancy³⁰.

自从张艺谋在1986年的《老井》中担任男主角以来，再没有哪个大牌导演能像冯小刚这样对角色把握如此到位，让专业演员汗颜。

Xu Haofeng's The Master seems to be a scaled-down version of The Grandmaster, which he co-wrote. It is certainly different from the norm, but his familiarity with the material could be holding him back from a full filmic vision.

徐皓峰的《师父》就像是精缩版的《一代宗师》（后者的剧本徐皓峰也有参与）。这当然是一种剑走偏锋，不过，正因为他对选材细节的过于精熟，反而阻碍了他对影片的整体把握。

While I applaud his innovation, I was not emotionally involved or thematically curious.

我赞赏这种创新，但本片无法勾起我的情感共鸣，影片主题也不是我感兴趣的领域。

12 Citizens, a Chinese remake of 12 Angry Men, resolved the biggest conundrum³¹ - that China does not employ a jury system - with a stroke of genius. But it was marred³² by several clumsy touches, such as the eventual³³ certainty of the suspect's innocence³⁴ and the secret identity of the Henry Fonda character, here played by stage veteran He Bing.

《十二公民》改编自美国电影《十二怒汉》。影片让一群精英解决了中国最大的难题——没有陪审团制度。不过影片对个别细节的处理还是差一点意思：比如确定嫌犯无罪的过程，以及对亨利·凡达（由舞台经验丰富的何冰扮演）秘密身份的处理上。

The moral of the story, in my opinion, should be: There is not enough evidence to convict the guy, not that he was the wrong target.

我个人觉得这个故事应该这样：没有足够证据证明那个人有罪，而不是他是错误的目标。

Other art-house offerings that I have missed but may be worthy³⁵ of mentioning include: Wang Xiaoshuai's Red Amnesia³⁶, a revisit to the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), Li Ruijun's River Road, Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden's Tharlo, and the work of a possible whiz kid, 26-year-old Bi Gai's Kaili Blues³⁷, which won several cineaste-circle awards.

其它我没看过但我觉得也许值得一提的文艺片：王小帅的“文革”题材影片《闯入者》；李睿珺的《家在水草丰茂的地方》，藏族导演万玛才旦的《塔洛》，以及来自26岁天才青年导演毕赣的《惶然录》，该片已斩获多个电影奖项。

Not a single one of the aforementioned output grossed more than 100 million yuan at the box office. Their cumulative³⁸ takings may not have reached this figure either. Which makes this year's blockbusters all the more astounding³⁹.

上面提到的电影没有一个票房过亿，甚至把它们的票房都加在一起也没达到这个数。这让我们对其他票房大丰收的影片越发好奇了。

Monster Hunt, a family film in the fantasy genre⁴⁰, set a new box-office record at 2.4 billion yuan. It was bankrolled by Bill Kong, of Crouching⁴¹ Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame, and directed by first-timer Raman Hui, who hasHollywoodexperience.

魔幻题材的《捉妖记》适合全家一起观看。它创下了24亿元的票房新纪录。该片由曾监制《卧虎藏龙》的江志强出资，由曾闯荡好莱坞的新人导演许诚毅执导。

Monkey King: Hero Is Back was the sleeper⁴² hit of the year when it became the best-selling animated⁴³ film in the Middle Kingdom.

西游记之大圣归来》是今年的黑马，成为最卖座的动画电影。

Although the subject matter was from the classical novel, which has always been a treasure trove⁴⁴ for adaptations, the treatment was more inspired byHollywood.

中国古典小说是改编电影挖不完的宝藏。尽管该片主题源自《西游记》，但影片的制作却颇有好莱坞风范。

Pancake Man and Goodbye, Mr. Loser are the twin winners with Internet genetics. The screwball comedies feature newcomers who are more plugged into the sensibilities of the millennials than the practices of the film community.

《煎饼侠》和《夏洛特烦恼》的成功得益于它们的互联网基因。这两部无厘头喜剧采用的都是新面孔。与老一辈电影人相比，这些人更懂千禧一代的口味。

Their boffo success (1.16 billion and 1.44 billion yuan respectively) marks the emergence⁴⁵ of the new filmmaker generation, who may hail from anywhere but the film academy.

这两部片子的风行（分别拿下11.6亿元和11.4亿元的票房）意味着新一代电影制作人的出现——他们可能来自任何领域，但绝非科班出身。

Lost inThailand, at 1.62 billion yuan, was about the only franchise⁴⁶ movie that climbed over the billion-yuan bench. That, of course, is not counting Mojin: The Lost Legend, directed by Wuershan, which is hot in release and has just exceeded the billion-yuan benchmark by the time this article goes to print.

《泰囧》票房16.2亿，几乎是唯一一部拿下“十亿”级票房的系列电影。当然，这不包括由乌尔善执导的《鬼吹灯之寻龙诀》。这部电影刚一推出就广受欢迎，到本文付印时票房已超过十亿大关。

Mojin is adapted from the eight-volume Internet best-seller, which has a huge built-in fan base. The first four volumes were sold to another director, Lu Chuan, whose Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe debuted⁴⁷ just three months earlier to 680 million yuan and general critical panning.

寻龙诀》改编自网络畅销书《鬼吹灯》八部曲，有强大的粉丝基础。头四卷改编权卖给了另外一个导演陆川。他的《九层妖塔》三个月前刚刚上映，票房6.8亿元，口碑不佳。

It is worth noting that 2015's best-selling movies received mostly decent (if not stellar) reviews while the terrible movies that made lots of money, in terms of return on investment, tended to fall into the range of 100 million to 500 million yuan.

值得注意的是，2015年最卖座的电影大部分都收获了口碑，而那些相对投资而言获得了巨大收益的烂片，总体票房只在1亿至5亿之间。

An uptick in maturity⁴⁸ for Chinese cinema can be detected from the commercial side of the business, with more diverse genres⁴⁹ and higher production values. But for the time being, artistically⁵⁰ ambitious fare is still swimming in the danger zone of the sharks.

中国电影市场的成熟度，能从影片的商业化程度显示出来——片子类型正越来越多样化，投资回报率也越来越高了。但就目前而言，文艺片想要追求更高的艺术性，仍然是一件很危险的事情。