What are the benefits of letting bullets fly?

Talented directors often have a common feature, that is, they will have a considerable number of personal preferences and knowledge fields, which will be used in their own films. This time, as before, Jiang Wen incorporated many personal interests into his films. ?

A horse-drawn train?

Many people may find it strange to see a horse-drawn train at the beginning of the movie. In fact, the earliest railways all ran this kind of car. Railways were originally designed for horse-drawn carriages, especially in mining areas, where there are many horse-drawn coal cars running on the tracks. Then the steam locomotive. ?

Of course, 1920 It is also strange to use horse-drawn trains in China. First, it conforms to the plot; Second, it causes strangeness; Thirdly, the horse is visually free, unrestrained and impactful, which is also the style that Jiang Wen wants to give to this film. ?

By way of digression, China basically uses foreign sports horses for costume films and modern films. China horses are short, with poor fur, and sometimes they seem to be very penetrating. But making movies is also reasonable. ?

Iron and blood eighteen-star flag?

This flag may not be known to many people. There are many in this movie. Among them, red and black represent blood and iron, yellow represents descendants of the Chinese people, Jiujiao refers to Kyushu, Gong Yu, and 18 o'clock inside and outside refers to 18 provinces in the mainland where Han people lived at that time (there were not many Han people in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia at that time). It turned out to be the flag of Wuchang Uprising. ?

Later, after Yuan Shikai joined, the policy changed from "expelling Tatars" to "five-ethnic republic". In addition, the territory is beyond the original provincial plan of 18 province, and this flag is only used as a military flag. ?

This 1920 flag should be of no use except for the army. Perhaps Jiang Wen is very partial to this flag with a very nationalist style. ?

Cai E and Fengxian Xiao?

I guess everyone knows this story. Let's post a few sentences here.

Fengxian Xiao said: "At present, the whole country is depressed, there is no hope, the world is surging, and the country will not be a country. What's the point? Where is the beauty? Where is it? I only value you because you are a hero. " ?

Cai Songpo pretended to be puzzled and asked, "How can I tell?" ?

Fengxian Xiao said, "I look at you carefully. You seem to be having fun outside, but in fact you are depressed inside. Although I am a woman, if you don't dislike me, or if I can solve your worries, don't treat me like a prostitute! " ?

Jiang Wen likes heroes very much and has heroic feelings. When the characters in the movie say "follow General Songpo" and "become Fengxian Xiao", they should be expressing themselves. ?

Kaiping Diaolou?

The Goose City in the film was shot in Kaiping, Jiangmen, Guangdong. Jiangmen is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese. In the early years, the railways in California were basically built by Jiangmen people. Later, when these people made money, they went back to their hometown and built this watchtower, which was a combination of Chinese and western, to prevent floods and bandits. ?

Mistakes?

In Japan, people always make mistakes when cutting their stomachs. The self-executioner was very painful after cutting his stomach, so he was beheaded behind his back by a kendo master who was familiar and trusted by the self-executioner to shorten the pain. This is called introducing errors. ?

Sunshine building?

The script is also called "Take Gordon". Gordon, the son of Gao Qiu, bullied others and used power for happiness. He was killed in the sunshine building of his residence by the son of the hero in Water Margin. ?

Second, the third performance of Jiang Wen's consistent theme?

Jiang Wen has made four films so far, all with different styles. If analyzed by literary genre, Sunny Day is a stream of consciousness, The Devil Comes is realism, The Sun Also Rises is magical realism, and Let the Bullets Fly is even more absurd. But the special "The Devil Comes" was shot for all the people in China, and the other three films are actually about Jiang Wen himself (to some extent, this can constitute an autobiographical trilogy. In fact, I watched a lot from "The Sun" after watching the bullets, which I didn't watch three years ago), so there are many common themes. The following are some of my deepest feelings. ?

Brave deeds

In Jiang Wen's worldview, heroes come first. Heroes change society and heroes make history. The greatest sorrow is that there are no heroes. ?

So it is not enough for Pockmarked Zhang to take the money. He also wants to get rid of Huang Shilang, give justice to the people, and give peace to Goose City. ?

Jiang Wen yearned for heroes when he was young, and demanded himself as a hero when he was an adult. In his movies, heroes can do things that ordinary people can't. Heroes must be colored. But when Jiang Wen preached heroism, he knew the weakness of heroism, so Yu Xia was responsible for the large-scale group fight after smashing bricks. Liu Zi's taking bean jelly by caesarean section was at the cost of his life. ?

Only when you know the weakness of a thing can you say that you really love it. When you love a woman, you love a country. ?

Male impulse?

In essence, heroism is actually a completely male sexual impulse. But what I want to say here is more direct impulse. Like fighting and sexual urges. Jiang Wen didn't preach these things, but as you can see, he thought these things must be there, otherwise there would be no masculinity. ?

But the difference this time is that Jiang Wen didn't give this part of things to his own role (in Sunny Days, Yu Xia's role is also an incarnation of Jiang Wen himself), but to a great extent, he put it on Liao Fan's third child, because he would say when he talked about "restraint" later. ?

Obsessed with women?

In Jiang Wen's films, the protagonist's infatuation with women is partly based on sexual impulse and partly not. It was attracted by the perfect mapping between pure beauty and his inner ideal. From sunny days to sunny days, the sun still rises to let the bullets fly. The former has less and less components, while the latter has more and more components. ?

On sunny days, the camera will aim at the quiet and plump chest, thighs and feet, from voyeurism to rape. But when it comes to letting bullets fly, there is only a faint line left in Zhang Mazi's infatuation with Sister Hua (Zhou Yun), which is so subtle that many people will feel abrupt at the end when Zhang Mazi shoots Xiaohua. The focus of the lens correspondingly becomes face, smile and eyes. ?

There are three places in the whole film that describe Zhang Pockmarked's infatuation with Sister Hua intently. Except for the last film, when we met in the city for the first time, Xiaohua was leading the drums, and the movement of Asako Zhang's eyes and the lens of the telescope explained the problem (Jiang Wen really likes to use telescopes to express images, which appeared in a large number in all his four films, especially this time); Another place is Xiaohua's double guns pointing at himself and pointing at Pockmarked Zhang Dang as a bandit, which is also Jiang Wen's eyes, a slow but emotional soundtrack. ?

In "The Sun Also Rises" and "Let Bullets Fly", although there are not many scenes, Zhou Yun did the most detailed treatment. Zhou Yun in Jiang Wen's lens doesn't look like a serious woman in the world. As soon as she appeared, she smiled and said, "I also want to send money with you and listen to their laughter." Just like a person who you think exists only in your inner ideal, suddenly she really appears in front of you. She is so far away, so far away, but so close, so close to your heart. ?

How much does a man love his wife to shoot her like this? ?

Romantic?

Romanticism here refers to the artistic genre. Although the narrative styles of several films are different, except Devil Comes, the images all have a very prominent romantic color, with strong emotions as the source of aesthetic experience. Reflected in the lens, the composition of static scenes (often only a scalp is missing above the lens) and the movement of dynamic scenes are very random. This has a strong effect. ?

Ideal?

In Jiang Wen's films, the ideal is sometimes a very empty and vague thing. Zhang Mazi's ideal is to fight local tyrants and divide the fields, but Zhang Mazi's ideal is not to fight local tyrants and divide the fields. What is Pockmarked Zhang's ideal? I'm afraid he can't say it clearly himself. The ideal is in the deepest part of my heart, in the distant green hills and sunset. You know where it is, but you never know how to pursue it. But when the watchtower has been breached and Huang Shiro has been captured, you will know that it is still waiting for you when you smoke and chat. ?

Three, let the bullet fly in Jiang Wen?

Restrain?

At first, Pockmarked Zhang was advised by touts not to kill him on the spot, for revenge. Later, he took the initiative to let his brothers quit the watchtower, and Jiang Wen's role became more and more introverted. This is actually Jiang Wen learning to control himself. Perhaps it can be understood as Jiang Wen's reflection and introspection after the failure of "Sun". ?

But when you grow up, you won't be so happy. However, after riding on horseback, Jiang Wen was disappointed. ?

Political metaphor?

After tout, played by Ge You, died, the plot suddenly broke away from the barely satisfactory rhythm of commercial films and entered a kind of madness, telling a fable about revolution. The following is the story I read. ?

The money was spread out on the street, and no one dared to take it. At night, he stole it away. During the day, Huang Shiro drove out to collect it and returned it all. Pockmarked Zhang put the bullet on the street again and stole it at night. The next day, Huang Shirang came to pick them up in a carriage and was killed by Pockmarked Zhang. However, when Asako Zhang waved his arms in the street and called on everyone to attack Huang Shiro, no one responded. They waited to see who would win. Until Pockmarked Zhang brought Huang Shirang back, they swarmed again and ran to grab things, and the docile subjects turned into mobs in a blink of an eye. Wu Pingping helped Huang Shilang oppress the people, but this time he rushed the most fiercely. He is also the most ruthless in rectifying Huang Shilang. ?

Some people criticize that Jiang Wen is still preaching the values of "fighting local tyrants and dividing fields". In fact, even if Jiang Wen, like Pockmarked Zhang, believed that the result was fair and encouraged the masses to make revolution, it also reflected the real situation of all parties in this incident. So different people can read different views from his works. This is the genius of Jiang Wen's talk about politics. ?

Just like the arrival of the devil, many people say that they are criticizing the national inferiority, but when I finished reading it, I cried for my nation. ?

The echo and contrast of the beginning and the end?

The beginning and end of this film are almost perfect correspondence. The soaring eagle, songs beside the ancient road outside the pavilion, railways, horse-drawn trains, rhythmic and exciting music. ?

However, at the beginning, it was a group of bandits who wanted to hijack cars, wander the rivers and lakes and be high-spirited. In the end, things are different. Although revenge is taken, people cannot be resurrected after death; Although the goal has been achieved, the ideal is still out of reach; The brothers left, taking their loved ones with them. Pockmarked Zhang is a hero, and now there are only rails, green hills, sunset and back. ?

On the surface, this film is a comedy, but in fact it is a tragedy. ?

Jiang Wen's Japanese complex?

Jiang Wen's Japanese complex is manifested in many places in the film: the first thing to say when sending six sons to study abroad is the East; Huang Shirang wants to play with Pockmarked Zhang. Daiyu and Qingwen were originally characters in the Red Chamber, but they formed Japanese names. ?

In fact, it is normal for a person who has nationalist ideas and values masculinity and dignity to appreciate Japanese culture. I suspect that Jiang Wen's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine is actually not because of his grandiose answers to reporters, but because of Jiang Wen's recognition of the spirit of Bushido. ?

Fourth, talk about film techniques?

About this program?

There are six outstanding characters in this main role, Ge You, Liao Fan, Wujiang, Carina Lau, Zhou Yun, and the fifth person who doesn't know the actor's name. ?

Ge You is very important. If the final box office can get 400 million or more as I expected, at least half of it is due to Ge You. Ge You completed most of the funny tasks with a serious face. Without Ge You, the struggle between Chow Yun Fat and Jiang Wen would not have been staged. This time the chanting and facial expressions are really amazing, and the balance of many accents is also amazing. ?

Brother Fage is generally said to be a box office poison now, but this role may also belong to him. Brother Fage's performance was basically in place, but it was still very poor. I didn't hear whether it was my own or someone else's. ?

Jiang Wen, like most of his films, has a slightly targeted tendency on the basis of its true colors. ?

Chen Kun's strength this time is big enough, slightly unnatural. ?

I think Wujiang's acting skills are better than Jiang Wen's, and his career is very broad. Although Wu is only a supporting role, his role is crucial to the political metaphor mentioned above. ?

There are few scenes in Carina Lau, but all the sketches needed for this role have been completed. ?

Liao Fan assumed the responsibility of showing masculinity this time, and put it in place. The tone of some sentences is not abrupt and the effect is good. ?

Zhou Yun has higher standards than The Sun Also Rises, and is not so out of line, but he is more skillful in ordinary places, especially in his eyes. I wonder if the scenes of this couple are particularly in place. ?

The unknown bachelor aptly described this stupidity. I look forward to seeing him on the big screen again in the future. ?

In addition, it is worth mentioning that many extras in this film also performed well, such as the fat man who finally took care of Mazi Zhang and served as the host. On these two occasions, I paid special attention to the expressions of all the people in the middle during the mass uprising, which were basically in place, and the first few were particularly prominent. It is not easy to see fakes in mass performances. ?

Photography?

Take a lot of back shots. Hit a lot. Fast forward and fast backward. A large number of side backlight lenses are used to show the spirit of pockmarked Zhang and his brothers with halo. ?

In the scene of the hongmen banquet, a circle was placed outside the dining table, and three cameras were placed at equal intervals. Slow counterclockwise rotation, plus forward and backward strokes, has achieved excellent results. A similar method was later used once. ?

Bandits on the Mountain is a classic in film history. ?

Music?

Next is the soundtrack of Joe Hisaishi's The Sun Also Rises, which is better than last time, because there are enough plots. There is a rule that when Jiang Wen tells jokes or develops necessary stories in business, there is no soundtrack; Every time you play a style in Jiang Wen, the music comes up?

Editing?

All the way from beginning to end is very fast, which keeps the audience high, but it also makes some people have no time to think, pay no attention to details, and accuse the film of being crazy and superficial. ?

5. A little personal feeling?

There are very few art films I can watch, and there is almost only one director I like, so I point to Jiang Wen and pretend to be forced. In the past few years, I have gradually become practical through many things. But watching Jiang Wen's movies, I always feel that some feelings are worth keeping.