The best films of Chinese director Jiang Wen

in moviechineseculture •  2 years ago 

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"Because of being too servile and brazen to praise Jiang Wen, the film review has been harmonized."
This sentence is a movie review I have prepared (or copied) before I go to the movie.
Ladies of my generation, spend money to go to the cinema just for entertainment. Come back and blow water, and spit on the Internet. A serious and objective evaluation of a movie is like a cloud to me, it is a movie that I watch with such a strong prejudice. There are only a few domestic film directors. Considering their amazingly stable performance in recent years, we have already chosen our attitude before watching the movie.
For example, the orphans of the Zhao family and Chen Kaige will definitely bring us tragedy. He lives in his own little tragic feelings. He always wants to shoot a tragedy, and he must play it again. The whole is a pure tragedy. We bought the movie tickets and stared intently at the screen, lest we swear and banter enough afterwards. For another example, let the bullets fly, Jiang Wen will definitely surprise us. We bought movie tickets and waited for him to translate the surprise of TMD for us. If I don't understand it, I say that this film is really deep, but unfortunately it's too small. When he understood it, he praised him as a god, lest his attitude was not humble enough and his bowing down not fast enough. I just hate that the structure of "willing to be a running dog for Jiang Wen's family" has been abused by Wang Xiaobo and Xu Wenchang.
People always crave recognition. The so-called "a confidant in life, and no regrets in death" describes the pleasure of this desire to be satisfied. Human nature can't compete with this. This group of big directors and big players can't be refined, but they have a slight preference. Feng Xiaogang and Zhang Yimou understood what he was doing and pursued box office approval. Chen Kaige is arrogant and talented, and pursues the recognition of young people who pretend to be B with a little literary accent. My generation pretends to be young and has a low level. In order to widen the gap with the public who do not pretend to be B, everyone hugs tightly like an egg, pursuing the identity within the egg, and is called the same as the egg. There are also some youths in big costumes who like to be the naysayers, and seek to open the gap with the small costumes. They appear to be of a high level. Some people will come to worship them and call them gods.
Jiang Wen made a movie, and he was also recognized. His four films in different styles all share a strong desire for self-expression. The "I" in every film, including the one played by Xia Yu, is a partial projection of his heart. The selection of the first three films, the vision of casting, the grasp of the rhythm, the camera, the level of storytelling and thinking, and other hard skills have been enshrined in the hearts of our young people. But Jiang Wen was not satisfied, he pursued a broader identity. "Ghost Come" was banned and "The Sun" did not fare well at the box office. These disapproving voices lingered in Jiang Wen's heart.
More than two years later, Jiang Wen fired a carefully structured bullet that sought to break the game. His ambition is to gain the common recognition of his peers, the public, young people, great gods and the government. In a nutshell:
I, Jiang Wen, can also make money "standing".
I have never seen a domestic director have such a big ambition, and this ambition sounds so unrealizable. Peers are enemies, young people want to get away from the public, the great god is higher than the young people. The most important thing is that what the government agrees with, the young people and the great gods do not agree with. It's easy to please the public at the same time. However, the three groups of young people, the great gods and the official government are intolerant in their attitudes.
This is the reality. After the government released it and the mouthpiece praised it, the film's own quality quickly won the favor of its peers and the public. After a short wait and see, the majority of young people in small clothes saw Ning Caishen's sentence "The Jiang Wen Dynasty is coming!" and immediately surrendered. Luo Yonghao, why are you waiting for the great god to jump out, "Ri, the evaluation is so high, it's not so good. (This movie has no thoughts)", "Next time I will make a more ambitious movie", "Why are you excited? what". More extreme people began to curse, "Jiang Wen betrayed us, betrayed our ideals, corrupted money worship, and pursued box office." "Standing, you can make money" is nothing in their eyes. "If you kittens the public and let everyone understand it, you have already knelt down." "You have kittens the government and stopped playing political satire, and you have already knelt down!".
Even me, a gregarious young man in small clothes, was full of doubts after reading it. The first two hours were driven by the director at high speed, which was refreshing, but the rhythm change at the end left me at a loss. Zhang Mazi defeated Huang Shilang, but in the end he got nothing, and his brothers and women also left him. The scene of him slowly leaving on a white horse made me very lonely. Although the last "uprising" tends to be dangerous... but is this what Jiang Wen's film wants to say?
The bullets roared and passed through my body, but I didn't feel the slightest bit, as if I missed it. I don't even want to write a movie review anymore.
Jiang Wen said: "Let the bullet fly for a while".
At the beginning of the movie, Zhang Mazi fired a shot at the white horse. The shot was aimed at the knot, but it didn't break. The white horse continued to run, and the ropes could no longer be exhausted. Let the "bullet fly for a while", the rope finally broke, and the white horse ran away. At the end of the movie, Jiang Wen shot me. The white horse ran in my head day and night, and the rope finally broke, and I felt comfortable.
If you see the dark thread drawn by the thoughts, you will understand that Ning Caishen is wrong. "Jiang Wen's dynasty will never come"
With so many film reviews, the one who complains the most is Huang Shilang, played by Chow Yun-fat. This landlord bully, speaking words, playing "Jiecuo", always dragging texts, and the money is outrageous. These qualities are ridiculous, unnecessary, and unreasonable. But the clue to uncovering the dark line lies in these "irrationalities". The dark lines of the film are almost subtly buried under the jokes.
Question 1: When does the story take place? 1920.
The county magistrate Ma, played by Ge You, said shortly after entering Goose City: "No, we are late. The former county magistrate has already pre-collected taxes for 90 years, and it will be 2010." The story in the original book took place in 193X, and Jiang Wen deliberately changed it to 1920.
Question 2: Is Huang Shilang just a landlord bully? not that simple
When Huang Shilang handed over the fake Mazi (Hu Jun) mines, he said a lot: "I don't know about northern China, but there are only two such limited-edition mines in the entire southern country"; "The first one exploded during the 1911 Revolution. Sound"; "Shocking, earth-shattering, and crying ghosts and gods"; "1910, made in U.S"
The 1911 Revolution took place in 1911, and it was only produced in 1910. Huang Shilang not only knew what type of mines the Xinhai Revolution was, but also had the only twin mine. Excuse me, what role did Huang Shilang play in the Revolution of 1911?
Huang Shilang participated in the core planning of the uprising in Wuchang, and is a veteran revolutionary party of the 1911 Revolution! Do not believe? There is evidence below

Question 3: Is Zhang Mazi just a bandit? of course not
It is clearly stated in the movie that Zhang Muzhi, who followed General Songpo (Cai E) in his early years, was the pistol captain under his command at the age of 17. It is from the Lecture Hall (considering Cai E, it should be the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall established in 1909). After Cai E's death in Japan (1916), Zhang Muzhi returned to China and fell to the ground.
Who is Cai E? Liang Qichao was an apprentice, the founding father of the Republic of China, and the military god of protecting the country. On the 20th day after the Wuchang Uprising of Xinhai in 1911, Cai E launched the Double Nine Uprising in Yunnan in response to the revolution. In 1915, he launched the protectorate against Yuan and won the victory. Zhang Muzhi followed him in his early years, and he was considered a veteran of the Revolutionary Party of 1911.
Zhang Muzhi and Huang Shilang were once revolutionary comrades-in-arms? The film gives clear clues
Question 4: A one-sided relationship in 1900?
When Zhang Muzhi and Ma Bangde went to Huang Shilang's Hongmen banquet, Huang Shilang said. "Twenty years ago, Zhang Mazi and I had a relationship." It can be seen from the film that Huang Shilang knew from the beginning that the fake county magistrate was Zhang Muzhi and Zhang Mazi. This one-sided relationship is the one that he deliberately opened to knock the mountain and shake the tiger. The film definitely took place in 1920. 20 years ago was 1900.
Huang Shilang and Zhang Muzhi met this year? What happened that year? We continue to start with Zhang becoming Cai E pistol captain at the age of 17.
The question is, how old is Zhang Muzhi now, and what year did he meet Cai E?
Cai E was born in December 1882. In 1899, he went to Japan to study in Japan under the sponsorship of Tang Cai and Changde, a teacher of the Shiwu School. He graduated from the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School in 1904. After returning to China, he trained in Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan and other places successively.
If Zhang was Cai E who met after 1904, then Zhang Muzhi was no more than 13 years old in 1900. Such a child should not attract the attention of Huang Shilang. And at the age of 33 in 1920, it seems to be a little more tender. Cai E was only thirty-seven years old at this time. Before 1899, Cai E was just a student under the age of 16. Although his reputation was not weak, he would not be equipped with a pistol captain. The meeting between Zhang and Cai should have happened when Cai E was studying in 1899-1904. Why did 17-year-old Zhang Muzhi make a pistol captain for an international student?
After checking, in 1900, Tang Caichang planned to launch an "independent army uprising" in Wuhan. When Cai E heard the news, he returned to China to respond to the teacher. But Tang saw that he was young, so he sent him to Hunan to deliver letters. Later, Tang Cai was often beaten by Zhang Zhidong, and Cai E body escaped this disaster in Hunan and returned to Japan (in fact, it was only at this time that he changed his name to Cai E and went to study the military). I thought it was this year that Zhang Muzhi became the captain of Cai E's pistols. It is estimated that Tang Caichang was worried that Cai E would go alone, and sent Zhang Muzhi, a hairy young man of the same age, to be his bodyguard - "Captain Gun" (presumably the captain of the bald-headed team). In this way, Zhang Muzhi was 37 years old when the film took place in 1920, which also fits the character image very well.
Huang Shilang met Zhang Muzhi in 1900, two possibilities. 1. Huang also participated in the uprising of the Independent Army and met Cai E and Zhang Muzhi in Wuhan or Hunan. 2 It was Cai E who brought this little pistol soldier to Japan, and then had a relationship with Huang in Japan.
I am more inclined towards the latter, because Huang Shilang and Zhang Muzhi have obviously spent a lot of time in Japan.
Question 5: Has Zhang Muzhi and Huang Shilang been in Japan? It should be, they are all very familiar with Jiecuo
Let's first introduce the error:
The Japanese don't like hanging themselves, they feel it is honorable to cut themselves to death. But the abdominal incision is very difficult to operate, and it is very painful to stab in a knife. The body was twisted and twisted, and the blood was all over the floor when he struggled. The appearance of death was ugly, especially indecent. Therefore, in many cases, a chiropractor will make a trusted friend a "mistake". Jiecuoren stood behind him with a long knife in hand, and chopped off his head at the moment when the short knife cut through the belly of the suicide.
Everyone is familiar with cutting belly, but Jiecuo is relatively unfamiliar. Not to mention that in the 1920s when there was no Internet and TV, if you weren't quite familiar with Japanese culture, you wouldn't be able to say these two words at all.
Huang Shilang said at the Hongmen Banquet, "If these three people confess to me, I will cut my belly and ask Xiongtai to be my fault." Zhang Muzhi said, "You are mistaken, the wrong person used a long knife." Both should have been in Japan for quite some time. Especially Huang Shilang, a good-looking Chinese who has nothing to do with cutting his belly. If Zhang Muzhi wanted to mix in Japan, it could only be 1900-1904. Because Cai E didn't go to Japan much after he returned to China in 1904 (actually, I'm not familiar with it, too), as Cai E's pistol captain, Zhang Muzhi couldn't go to Japan either. When Cai E went to Japan for treatment in August 1916, Zhang Muzhi must have followed him to Japan, but it is estimated that during this time he was not interested in researching abdominal incision. Moreover, Cai E died of illness in early November.

After answering these 5 questions, let's look at Huang Shilang again. He stayed in the West and also in the East. He likes to speak in prose, and pretends to be an idiom. His foundation in Chinese studies is not bad. If you think of him as a landowner, these settings are obviously lame; but if you think of him as a revolutionary party who followed Sun Yat-sen in the early days, those settings are quite appropriate.
Huang Shilang is not just a simple rich man. He is a corrupt ex-revolutionary, now in the establishment. In Goose City, he is the spokesperson of the "official government".
I summarize the dark lines:
In 1900, Zhang Muzhi followed Cai E to Japan, and had a relationship with Huang Shilang.
From 1900 to 1911, Zhang Muzhi and Huang Shilang were in the same revolutionary camp, but they had no intersection.
On October 10, 1911, in the Wuchang Uprising of Xinhai, Huang Shilang was the core member. On October 30, Cai E launched the Double Nine Uprising in Yunnan, and Zhang Muzhi was also a core member.
1911-1920. After the victory of 1911, the revolutionary Huang Shilang began to use the power in his hand to make money. He took refuge in the powerful warlord Zhang Jingyao (or Zhang Zongchang? In fact, I didn't hear clearly. It can't be Zhang Xiaozhun.) After this backing, he became more and more unscrupulous and reckless, and even more painstakingly managed with his hometown Goose City as the foundation, and controlled the small half of the Republic of China. Trade and make a fortune.
After the victory of 1911, the revolutionary Zhang Muzhi continued to follow Cai E without seeking power and money. Cai E died in Japan in 1916. After that, Zhang Muzhi was disappointed with the current situation and simply fell for the pirates.
In 1920, Zhang Muzhi's horse Bond came to Goose City and the movie began. Zhang Huang fought with his methods and set off a small uprising in Goose City. After the victory, Zhang Mu had nothing, and the beloved woman left with his brothers. In this "revolution", just like the 1911 Revolution, he gained nothing and even lost a lot. The chair he was sitting on was also resisted by another man.
This is Jiang Wen's political metaphor in this film. Who will join the revolution? There are heroes like Cai E and heroic parties like Yuan Shikai, but Yuan Shikai will definitely gain power in the end; men like Zhang Muzhi will meet, and speculators like Huang Shilang will meet, but it will be Huang Shilang who will benefit in the end. When Zhang Muzhi started the Goose City Revolution again, he was neither for money nor power, neither for women nor for the public. He said to Huang Shilang: "Without you, it is very important to me."
If you think this metaphor is not enough, there is another line at the Hongmen Banquet. "When and then?" "Just at this moment" (decline to associate, please do not cross-province).

Question 6: What is Jiang Wen going to do? "Let the bullets fly for a while"

After solving the first 5 problems, we can understand how Jiang Wen can please the three groups of Xiaozhuang, the Great God and the government at the same time. That is the time difference. It's a movie that lets bullets fly for a while to be deciphered, and the gunpowder in the bullet is hidden under the shell of comedy and business, eluding the scissors of the government. If he unmistakably pointed out that Huang Shilang was a villain who stepped into the ruling class by means of XX, and cooperated with the final "Goose City Movement", then this piece of death would definitely be more tragic than Ning Hao's "No Man's Land". After the bullets flew, the government woke up, and the film was released.

From a technical point of view, Jiang Wen deliberately buried a burden behind every important clue to divert his attention in pursuit of the effect that he only understood after flying for a while. For example, Zhang Muzhi just announced his identity, saying that he had messed with General Songpo. Before the audience could turn their muscles around to figure out who Songpo was, Ge You jumped out and made a gag: "That year, I was seventeen, and she was seventeen...". While amusing everyone, the audience's attention was diverted from clues like "Songpa" and "Seventeen". Avoid the video being immediately understood.

Jiang Wen's films like to quietly involve some politics, but to shoot bullets at the government would be self-defeating. Who is he going to hit? This is the question that will be discussed at the end of this article, and it is also where Jiang Wen's greater ambition lies. The judges can think of his ambitions without fear of death, but I don't dare to write nonsense. I think he aimed the gun at the current film industry, at a certain official spokesperson of the film industry.

Let's review Jiang Wen's sentence "
I am Jiang Wen standing, and I can make money.” The audience can see this ambition, and it is not difficult to understand Feng Xiaogang, who is a bit teasing and making money. Is Director Feng this teasing person? He made a cameo appearance with Master Tang, and starred together with Ge You to make money. (Director Feng not only made money from filming, but also died in the first five minutes of his cameo appearance.) Master Tang fell into the water and died. Master. It can be said that in the movie, Ge You represents Feng Xiaogang. What Ma Bonde said is what Master Tang said. It is also what Feng Xiaogang said.

Master Tang wants to make money, who does he kneel to? The official spokesperson "Huang Siye". How does he make money? The fourth master Huang took the lead in paying the money, and the others had to follow the money, and then returned the money to the fourth master Huang, and the profit was 37%.

If Zhang Muzhi wanted to stand and earn money, he had to, with the cooperation of Master Tang, first flicker "Yellow Fourth Master" out of 1,800,000 taels of silver.

The key question is coming. Master Tang wants to make money, so he has to kneel down to the official spokesperson Huang Siye, and Director Feng wants to make money.

In the current film circle, is there a "Master" who is recognized as the spokesperson of the government? If this master is as bad as the fourth master Huang, and has become a cancer of Chinese movies, it will be good enough. If this grandfather made a fortune like the fourth grandfather of Huang, he would first devote himself to "guiding", move closer to the government step by step, and eventually become "grandfather", it would be all the better.

Is there such a grandfather that a manly filmmaker like Jiang Wen thinks? "Master X, without you, is very important to me." The clues are still in the movie

To understand the political metaphor of bullets, the breakthrough point lies in Jiang Wen's changes to the time of the story compared to the original.

To understand the reality of bullets, the breakthrough point lies in Jiang Wen's changes to the character's name compared to the original.
In the original book, Huang Caizhu's original name was Huang Tianbang, "Huang Tianbang". In the movie, he was called Huang Shilang, "Huang Siye".

Third Master Han, how fearless do you have to be to put your name on the producer of this film? How much did you put into this movie, not eighteen million

(The original master’s surname is Chen, and there is no county magistrate. In the movie, soup and horse are respectively installed. The word will be “Feng”, which is a bit of an association. Putting a picture in parentheses is fun.)

In the second half of the movie, Zhang Mazi shot a false shot at the carriage sent by Huang Siye, "let the bullets fly for a while". For a moment, gunfire rang out.

"Let the Bullets Fly" will eventually become a prairie fire after it is released for a while. Other directors, screenwriters, actors, magazines, critics who have guns in their hands can't wait to shoot out the bullets that have been hidden in their stomachs for many years.

Jiang Wen will definitely disintegrate a "Three Master's Dynasty" and "Scissorhands Dynasty". Let the dark horses fall, and the white horses can break free from their heavy shackles. But "Jiang Wen's Dynasty" will never come. He will stand up from the chair calmly and let others move away. Ride a white horse by yourself, leave our sight leisurely, and turn into a legend.

Let the bullets fly for a while!

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