Twelve years later, "Let the Bullets Fly" is still a rare classic.

The film’s brilliance is also frustrating.

Throughout the movie, Jiang Wen sought countless ways to enlighten people's wisdom and try to make people stand up spiritually. In the end, he was frustrated to discover that people just like to indulge in sex, and like to kneel down in ignorance and helplessness.

People don’t care about the fairness of jelly, the dignity of whether to turn on the light when being pressed on the table, or the justice of who is the gangster, the county magistrate or Mr. Huang. People don't even care whether "Zhang Mazi" will kill them. The most horrifying thing is that "Master Huang" who really kills them doesn't need to see them to deprive them of their property and lives.

They don't care about Mr. Huang's life or death. They are busy moving away valuable things. They are more concerned about the fucking surprise. At the same time, they were full of anxiety and expectations about how the new county magistrate would sleep with them.

After so many years, I don’t know whether the people’s wisdom has been opened or not. It is indeed difficult for people to stand up. There is a kind of torn pain. On the one hand, you have to sympathize with the people out of conscience and have compassion for life. On the other hand, you are really angry and want to help him. He even wants to make you kneel down.

For most directors, the human voice is weaker than the work. Many film masters look quite weak on the outside, and it is difficult to connect those cruel film expressions with themselves. But Jiang Wen is an anomaly. Jiang Wen himself is as powerful as a movie. At least that's how it looks, what it says, and what it does. If he is not, it can only mean one thing. His acting skills are so perfect that he can even deceive himself when he is ruthless, or he just hopes that he can be that kind of person. Even if he isn't.

Let’s briefly talk about Jiang Wen’s creative process.

Back then he went to the United States to film a TV series. It's like the promising eldest son of the family, who went out to look at other people's high-rise buildings, and then came back and looked at the ruins of his home, thinking that this is not going to work, right? How about I get one?

If this family is compared to a broken ship, Jiang Wen is one of those who has the ability to abandon the ship and escape, but has not made this choice. It doesn't make much sense if he doesn't criticize those who escaped, or in other words, he doesn't even bother to look at those who abandoned the ship and escaped. He wanted to work with everyone to repair this broken ship to be stronger, more reliable, and more decent.

He hoped that the new people in this broken ship would no longer be as ignorant and full of fear of the unknown as the old people in "Devils". He was the one who rushed out and snatched the Japs' knife. He held it in his hand, weighed it carefully, put it on the table and said to everyone:

Translation What is a fucking surprise? What the hell is this? Katana, isn't it just a dagger? He is expressing this through movies. He wants to shake everyone up. He wants to say that the sun is shining on you, so wake up and don’t sleep. He hopes that everyone is capable, and he hopes that this home will be full of vitality where a hundred flowers can bloom. This is what he, a capable boss, wants to see, not that he is tired of having only one pillar in the family.

Comments section:

I have observed countless stupid people and feel that I am the "sober" savior; I have seen countless frivolous speeches, but I have misunderstood them as profound, which leads to I have a pessimistic conjecture: We are all cannon fodder who have been dazzled by the grand narrative, but I don’t want the occasional passion to cool down quickly. So still observing.

Jiang Wen does not have a condescending dislike for the public. An empathetic creator must have a very low profile. Jiang Wen is helpless and confused: Why are everyone so weak? Or are you willing to continue to be weak? Jiang Wen naturally has an elite consciousness and cannot expect a smart person to turn him into a fool.

He has enough capital to be proud, which is another form of sincerity. He calmly accepts his own strength and the differences between people. This is another form of kindness.

But he is not pessimistic, and he has no malice towards life. He never felt that the past was so good. He felt that the present was pretty good, and the future would definitely be better than the present. This is what he said personally to Xu Zhiyuan in "Thirteen Invitations". I am very willing to believe that his words are sincere.

This is not sincerity directed at Xu Zhiyuan, this is sincerity directed at the famous school of the century, Peking University. This is sincerity directed at the audience of "Thirteen Invitations" who have a certain review threshold. He is willing to give sincerity to the "smart people" he considers, not Use the banter he's good at outside of movies. Or maybe after a few works, he discovered that there weren’t as many smart people as he thought? He is old and willing to say simple and clear things.

Rather than saving the world, he hopes everyone can love life and save themselves first.

Reply to one of the comment areas

Jiang Wen is a true genius in the history of Chinese films, and his works can withstand "overestimation". Both Guoshi and Li An are diligent and down-to-earth creators, but this does not mean that Jiang Wen's creative standards are not high and his creative attitude is not sincere. Please go back and watch the Japs and the Sun a few more times before talking about Jiang Wen.

A Bullet Flying has stood here for twelve years unrivaled, let alone one with the sun hanging in the sky.

His talent is inexhaustible, and he does not need what others have to work hard to come up with. What others can't dig out even if they dig hard, he can spread it out without caring. Although the level of "Xie Bu Ya Zheng" seems to have dropped, there are many things worth reading carefully. The skeleton of the original "Xia Yin" was directly thrown away by him. Do you think this person is crazy? Just based on his creations in recent years, we can judge that Jiang Wen is a simple and despicable creator. Let's put it this way, the failed "One Step Away" is also a height that some directors can't reach in their lifetime.

It was only after Hou Hsiao-hsien read Shen Congwen’s autobiography that he started to create films of a higher dimension. Who knows how many books Jiang Wen has read? A diligent director with few outputs, are you telling me that Jiang Wen’s films have no profound meaning and are not worth reading? A little ignorant and narrow-minded.

Reply to comment section 2

Don’t talk about this if you are not 30 years old. Society is more complicated than you think.

The ancients said that when you see a wise person, you should think about them together, but they never said that when you see an old person, you should think about them. If the ability and vision in this world could be calculated based on age, we would have conquered the solar system long ago in China for five thousand years, so why are we still fighting for it here on Earth? When some people call you high-minded and low-handed, they are flattering you. According to your logic, should I go out to the street and see an old man and go up to him to become a teacher and ask him to teach me how to understand society and how to write?

If you have a high opinion, please write a long comment, I will give you three points. I'm not good at writing, but I'm really good at criticizing people, right? I'm really shocked by your brain circuitry, even more shocked than you were when you accused me of eating jelly and didn't pay me. My article is here, please. I feel sorry that Chinese movies have audiences like you. Translate translate what is a fucking waste.

Reply to comment section 3

Some people are worried about bullets being banned, but there is no need to do so. You can doubt the freedom of speech from above, but don’t doubt their standards and vision.

There are always more people who hope that this family will get better and better than those who are selfish. And the higher the level of education, the more trust one should have in their ability to restrain evil. If knowledge can't restrain evil, I don't know what can.

There are also comments saying that they want to be someone like Jiang Wen. My advice is don't.

If Jiang Wen were to do it over again, he would not necessarily become what he is now. Don't lose yourself, accept yourself, accept your limitations, accept that you can be an ordinary person, and then continue to work hard on this basis. Others are just others. All Jiang Wen can do is help you think and won't give you a bite to eat.

Live your life and be yourself.

Reply to comment section 4

Many friends are too entangled in those two words.

The following words are the key points I want to say:

In peaceful times, everyone is responsible. Everyone can find where their talents lie, and everyone can enjoy themselves in their small world without interfering with or harming each other. Everyone can love music and appreciate beauty.

Everyone can respect women and neither be arrogant nor belittle oneself. You can use as much strength as you have, and eat as much as you can.

Everyone can respect individuals and respect their dignity as human beings. Everyone can make money based on their own abilities but not be enslaved by money. Everyone can respect authority but dare to question authority. Everyone can love freedom and have the ability to pursue freedom.

But in turbulent times, he does not want everyone to be like the Jews who faced the massacre. They were not killed by bright swords, guns and cannons, but were broken down into one program after another, and were poisoned like boiling frogs in warm water. remove. He hopes that everyone can be peace-loving, but brave enough to stand up in the face of intrusion.

Because this is not just a question of making money while standing, it is also a matter of humanity: die standing or live on your knees. War is a luxury that humans cannot afford, but Chao Wendao's death is the real value of human efforts to survive. This is the highest tribute to teacher Xie Jin. He wants to tell everyone that people cannot live like animals as said in "Furong Town". He can understand it, but he does not accept it!

This is the core of the bullet.

Author's Chat

Ask yourself, am I interpreting Jiang Wen's intention in the film?

Yes, but not all. I mixed in some personal stuff. This is inevitable. I am not the tapeworm in Jiang Wen’s mind.

There is another comment that is more irritating:

"An attempt to enlighten people's wisdom through a movie."

A little disdain and ridicule? Let me reply. If art cannot awaken people's thoughts, what method do you hope to use? The heavy hammer of life or the insult of others? Don't be like this, keep your pessimism and inability to digest, and don't affect other people's progress.

It is the silent marching ascetics who make the world progress, not the onlookers on the roadside. You are one of those people who complains about why others left you behind.

Conclusion

The first few paragraphs are the purest and belong only to my communication with "Bullet".

After all, the movie is a one-on-one dialogue, and it can arouse everyone's cries, which shows that my words are contagious, and I am very happy. Later, I felt lost. When I started writing, there were many talking mouths in front of me, and many pairs of eyes waiting to see the joke. This illusion made me feel disgusted and sick.

To be honest, I have little interest in exploring human nature. Compared with the progress of science and technology, the progress of human thought has been at a toddler stage in the past few decades. There are really not many works that can break through the confinement of thought. Even if they can break through, it is difficult to put it into practice, and there is a sense of powerlessness that the efforts are in vain. After all, no one dares to say that they have a vision that transcends the times. So my decision is not to move forward anymore, I want to take the initiative to stop. Go around in the ocean of thoughts of the past and pick up some fragments of civilization to support yourself in living.

I will write more film reviews in the future. I cannot guarantee the quality. The starting point everyone gave me is too high. If you want to write a good movie review, you must first write a good movie review. Only when ideas are turned into practice can they have influence. I can only keep writing. As for the fate that follows, these words belong to me, and all I can do is let go. Let them go out to try their luck, and if they get lucky, it's theirs, that's all.

Nine times out of ten things in this world, you know whether you are warm or cold.

The only thing I can control is to continue writing. The only thing I can save is myself.