Author: Zhou Yazhuo
This is the worst era,
this is the best era;
this is the era of doubt,
this is the era of certainty;
some people are like hell,
some people are like heaven;
——Charles . Dickens
forgive me for opening the Infernal Affairs review with the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities.
In my heart, only the same classics can recognize the glory of the era of the classic Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs".
For a post-80s like me, a movie like "Infernal Affairs" is almost a flower on the other side from a boy to a man. For more living beings, it is a beacon when Hong Kong movies are at the end of the road, illuminating the final glory of the vision of an era, guiding you and me, regardless of enmity and hatred, and determined to last forever.
Hong Kong, such a small place, created a different kind of light and shadow miracle in earlier years. Whether in terms of film quality or in terms of commercial box office, Hong Kong movies once undisputedly ranked first in Asia. There is Hollywood in Los Angeles, and "Hollywood" in Hong Kong. This is an arrogant golden sentence that almost every Hong Konger in the 1980s can get out of.
However, with the further loss of its status as the world's financial center, its own film industry has stepped into the abyss step by step in the senseless and self-deprecating joke of "everything goes too far, everything goes crazy".
Similar to today's mainland gods, in Hong Kong at that time, filmmaking became a "low-flying" genre known as the "cultural industry". The producer seeks investment from the bosses, the director is responsible for fooling an actor, and then finds a writer to write the script, and it takes a week or less to create a "movie". The script is arbitrarily modified to satisfy the appetite of the bosses and the so-called market. . After the film was released, more money was spent on advertising, and star meetings were held in various places, and so on.
Hong Kong, as a colony with a history of a hundred years, and the innate tradition of assimilation of Chinese culture, make Hong Kong a very mixed place. British temperament and Chinese culture collided, and what was left at the end became rootless orchids. Hong Kong people speak English, but they are most keen to worship Buddha; Hong Kong people are the most westernized, but they believe in Feng Shui; Hong Kong's democracy seems to have washed away the servile thinking of the Chinese, but the conservative and superstitious Chinese people can still be in a dilemma. A glimpse into the spirit of Hong Kong people. This also determines that the cultural island that is difficult to define even its own position, without the support of the spiritual core, only relying on the interpretation of the contradictions of spillovers will inevitably be a dead end.
Under this long and boring accumulation, a large number of Hong Kong films are shoddy police and bandit accents, and finally its fans are gradually alienated. The Hong Kong film industry, after 2000, can be described as one step at a time... rolling down.
However, in troubled times, there are both bears and heroes.
The reason why the white clothes fluttered in the 1980s, when Gao Xiaosong was eloquent, was also related to the material scarcity and ideological confusion at that time. The people who were full of crisis were not brainwashed and faced the torture of survival all day long. Warmth." The
world has always been like this, born in sorrow and died in peace.
In 2003, when the Hong Kong film industry was at its end, several Hong Kong filmmakers, Liu Weiqiang, Mak Zhaohui, and Zhuang Wenqiang, made the deepest understanding of the city of Hong Kong with compassion, and issued an urgent message to many powerful big names. Wanted", leaving a strong light and shadow legend for Chinese movies.
The first thing to do is to make a popular science, "Infernal Affairs" has a total of three parts, if you watch the movie according to the time logic, it should be 2-3-1, but this article only uses Infernal Affairs 1 and 2 as the sample size.
Looking at the world film history, there are very few films whose sequels exceed the original. It is often the fate of "repeatedly, again and again, and three times exhausted". And the entire "Infernal Affairs" series, in the first part, invited Andy Lau and Tony Leung as the two heroes, supplemented by Huang Qiusheng, Zeng Zhiwei and other powerful factions, after reaching the peak of the transformation of the gods, it was even possible in the second part. It's more than that, and it's amazing to this day! (For myself, the second part is even better.) Of course, when the "Infernal Affairs" series reached the third part, even with the participation of mainland actors Chen Daoming and Hong Kong Tianwang Liming, it was inevitable that they would be exhausted. Exhausted, fell to the altar.
But it is undeniable that "Infernal Affairs" I and II are indeed unprecedented, reaching the pinnacle and coming out incessantly, who will compete with each other? Many Hong Kong films have lost their color, and it can be said that "one will succeed and ten thousand bones will die"!
I really can't find a second Hong Kong film that is generous, invested, ambitious, both art and business, and which fans and critics praise in unison.
"Infernal Affairs" was powerful as soon as it was released that year, overwhelming the "Heroes" and "Harry Potter 2" of that year. After two weeks of release, its Hong Kong box office easily broke through 30 million Hong Kong dollars, and finally became the Hong Kong box office of that year with 55 million Hong Kong dollars. The box office champion of the movie market. Even in 2006, Americans also came to buy the copyright of "Infernal Affairs", took it to Hollywood, let the master Martin Scorsese direct, Jack Nelson, Leonardo and Matt Da Meng was playing on the same stage, and she was very popular at the Oscars that year.
That year's "Infernal Affairs" seems to be a tube of chicken blood of several hundred CCs, saving Hong Kong movies from fire and water. Let more filmmakers begin to understand how to work hard to create a good movie, instead of just thinking about how to live.
So when it comes to this, what kind of movie is Infernal Affairs?
"Infernal Affairs" is a completely adult movie.
Because everyone in this movie is not happy.
When the movie asked the question of "is he a good person", "Infernal Affairs" had already decided to part with ordinary Hong Kong-style sketches. Because asking "is he a good person", as long as it's not a joke, it will never be a pleasant topic in the eyes of adults.
"Is he a good person?" This question mark hits the depths of every viewer's soul, avoids all excuses, and resolutely seeks a simple answer.
Yes or no!
I think it is only when we find that we are no longer children that we know that sometimes life is just like Andy Lau said on the rooftop. At that time, I had no choice. .
In the film, Edison Chen plays the young Liu Jianming, and Andy Lau plays the middle-aged Liu Jianming; Liu Jianming is an undercover agent sent to the police by the underworld leader.
So what if he is a policeman who has done so many good things and caught so many bad guys, so he must be right?
Shawn Yue played the young Chen Yongren, while Tony Leung played the middle-aged Chen Yongren; Chen Yongren was the undercover agent sent by the police to the underworld.
What if he is a young and dangerous boy, he fights and kills every day, eats, drinks, prostitutes and gambles, and loses his conscience, but he can still get on the rooftop and see the light.
On the rooftop, Tony Leung pointed a gun at Andy Lau, and Andy Lau said, "I didn't have a choice at that time, and now I want to be a good person." Tony Leung bowed his head slightly and replied for a moment, "Okay, go and talk to the judge! Let's see what he will do. I won't let you be a good person." Liu Yi frowned and replied, "Then you just let me die." Liang smiled, "I'm sorry, I'm a policeman."
Andy Lau stared into Tony Leung's eyes and said fiercely, "Who knows? !" The camera suddenly moved from a close-up view of the psychological scene to a distant view, with blue sky and white clouds, a glimpse of light...
In my opinion, this is almost the best bridge in Hong Kong films, and it is also the best dialogue in Hong Kong films in my memory. In my student days, this line of dialogue was played over and over again by those little gangsters who didn't like to study, at the wine table, by the school gate, and on the way home. Every time I hear this line of dialogue, the boys will calm down in the fight, one person plays Andy Lau and the other plays Tony Leung, thinking that they are cool. Isn't this very similar to the story in "Broken Chapter" where reality and light and shadow adorn each other? To this day, I still have an endless aftertaste.
Of course, this is not just about the two big movie stars on the same stage at the film level. What's more important is that this deeper warning, whether Hong Kong or Hong Kong movies, is not only the so-called anti-intellectual like "Pulp Comedy" The cultural realization of ism is only a shopping paradise for shopping and shopping, and only the pace of rushing to and from get off work. The "Infernal Affairs" series explores a positive and enterprising living space with incomparable courage, and faces the rise and fall of this Oriental Pearl.
This is the reason why "Infernal Affairs" has a realm of its own. For creators of culture and art, what is more important than creative ability is how to use works to interpret life and embrace reality. And "Infernal Affairs" uses these short three words "who knows" to question the times and at the same time achieve this.
Even though "Infernal Affairs" contains metaphors about the best or the worst of times after the return of Hong Kong, it must be admitted that in the face of the general atmosphere of the times, blindly emphasizing that the times always seem pale, is it just like a reed, Ling Wanqing was at a loss. The vivid characters and the stories that happened to them are what makes us linger the most.
Just like when Tsai Qin used her sweet high pitch, alto and thick bass to sing the theme song "The Forgotten Time" in "Infernal Affairs" at the 50th Golden Horse Awards Gala ten years later. Crows in the audience, their ears focused, their voices humming, resentful like admiration, like crying like complaining; the lingering voice curled like a thread... And before singing, Cai Qin stood on the stage and asked leisurely, "Andy Lau, Tony Leung, will you still sit together and be my fans?" The
two of them smiled and looked away, nodding their heads and saying nothing...
Of course, classics like "Infernal Affairs" don't stop there, enough for fans to feast on them Yes.
When Andy Leung was held hostage by Tony Leung to go downstairs in the elevator, the gun slammed, and the man collapsed. The half-opened eyes closed the closed elevator door.
When Huang Qiusheng fell to his death from the rooftop, Tony Leung was stunned and surprised, his right hand was astonished, and the music of "Goodbye Police" sounded.
Edison Chen sat in the car and called Carina Lau, and saw with his own eyes his beloved Marry fell in a pool of blood. Brother Guanxi's tender and dripping eyebrows blinked.
Even the music, "Infernal Affairs" tries to be the best, with Lin Xi's composition and Beyond's interpretation. Plus Tsai Qin's transparent "Forgotten Time".
Liu Weiqiang, Mak Zhaohui, and Zhuang Wenqiang wrote the script carefully in the "Iron Triangle", seeking only a few words of perfection and a few words of simplicity.
Of course, it's not enough to have a good book. It's superficial on paper. There is no shortage of directors in Hong Kong or the mainland who can turn a good book into a bad movie. The gap between the art of light and shadow and the art of words has always been like the twin flowers of the signifier and the signified. When a thought arises, the world is so close;
In the same way, putting all the big stars together does not mean that it is good, just like putting all the good dishes together is a full feast. You can see John Woo, who has become a second-class businessman from a first-class director. "Red Cliff" is not enough, "Peace Wheel" can't wait to invite Guo Jingming, isn't it doomed to sink? Chocolate-flavored shit and shit-flavored chocolate are probably hard to swallow.
The good thing about "Infernal Affairs" is that it not only invites a powerful group, but more importantly, it seamlessly blends these big names together to play an era elegy full of Hong Kong flavor.
Carefully read "Infernal Affairs", every character arc in it seems to be able to secretly intertwined with the actor's character traits, and all this is due to the director's careful planning. If a good script can make the actors play eight successes, it is considered perfect, then "Infernal Affairs" can make the actors play twelve points, and they will be surprised after the performance! What's more valuable is that "Infernal Affairs" is just very calm. It is a pre-set chess game, a rigid prison, with people in the middle, waiting for the occurrence, the process and the end, and in the end there is only one song left.
Just the right characters and plots are left blank, giving the viewer an endless universe to exchange for a red bean of their own. Jiawei has a saying, "Anything that can't be left behind will be meaningful, and if you can't keep a word of it, it will go far." The
veteran actor Huang Qiusheng also once said such a heartfelt admiration, "There are two kinds of scripts that can be left to chance. Actors are imaginative, one is an unscripted rotten movie, and the other is "Infernal Affairs"."
Just like the proposition that the times create heroes or the hero achieves the era has been arguing for thousands of years, this movie It is also a perfect fit of all good things for you to see, so that you can't put it down but don't know why.
As mentioned above, the most beautiful essence of a movie is not because it can bring you and me the dream of light and shadow, but more importantly, it interprets life and embraces reality. And the most beautiful part of the adult story "Infernal Affairs" is between fiction and reality. "Infernal Affairs" is fiction, but I have seen too much real. People will yearn for the light, and it will be difficult to choose between conscience and reality. Some people will firmly move towards their own goals, and some people will walk, but deviate from the original track. Dust is too complicated to describe.
"Infernal Affairs" is the movie I've seen the most, dozens of times since my middle school days. Every time I see it, there is something hot in my heart, burning and urging me to learn to grow up.
Zhang Chu, one of the three heroes of Magic Rock, sang calmly in his "West Out of Yangguan"; "I can't look back, the lights of the city, it's too panic to go alone."
When we need to go alone , Occasional throbbing and panic, often bruised nose and face, and then grew up in an instant.
In "Infernal Affairs II", Wu Zhenyu, who plays the boss of the gangster, has just been shot by a killer. He settles the four "talkers" who are "anti-water" alone, and goes to the midnight food stall where his father used to go for supper, Wu Zhen Yu Mu said fiercely to himself, "Dad used to open a small gambling stall, from a small business of a few cents to now, no one in Tsim Sha Tsui does not know him. He often said that when he ran out, he had to pay it back. I can't think of today... I will always remember today." Then, with a swipe of the corner of his eyes, facing the dim light, he spilled the wine under his feet, raised a glass over his head, the piano sounded, and the camera gradually zoomed away...
This kind of cause and effect seems to be vaguely revealed. Out of the shadow of the magical realism of Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude". And Infernal Affairs II is better, I think, because of that.
When a person begins to grow up, does not depend on others, gritted his teeth and experienced hardships alone, is not pretentious, does not compromise, and is a different person from the world, he or she can appreciate the beauty and beauty of this world. Big Love.
And the incompleteness or regret that some people or things cannot accompany is just a process of life. This kind of helplessness is just a memory after a meal and waking up in the middle of the night, so let it be like this.
Everywhere in life knows what it is like, it should be like Feihong stepping on slush. Occasionally left fingers and claws on the mud, Hongfei reckoned things.
At a station where the cold wind penetrated after leaving the homeland after the New Year, the smell of pillows before going to sleep during the festive season in a different place, after a hangover on the street in the early morning and eating a bowl of steaming ravioli that the old man scooped up for you at a stall early in the morning , those yellowed carbon inks in his drawer, when he wakes up from insomnia and sits alone for a moment, he breathes a breath.
Whenever I experience such a moment, I always shrink my neck, fight a cold war, and think about a certain moment when I suddenly grew up.
And growing up is not fun at all, is it just to avoid being laughed at? Is it just to laugh at others? Just like in the movie, every time Zeng Zhiwei eats lunch at the police station, the hot pot shared by the four "talkers" is always greedy.
The word "Uninterrupted" means "Uninterrupted Hell" in Buddhism. "Uninterrupted Hell" is one of the eight hells in Buddhist scriptures. The "Uninterrupted Hell" is huge, vast and uninterrupted, and the ghosts who have entered hell cannot escape, and will suffer forever in hell.
Murder and set fire to the golden belt, repair bridges and make up roads, and there are no corpses. If it really is what Qiusheng said, are we really going to be bad people?
Wrong, wrong, wrong, after entering hell and still keeping a kind heart, you can see that the flowers and branches are full of spring, and the heart of the sky is full of moon.
Mo Momo, murder and arson are called "incessant", and repairing bridges and roads is called "dao".
Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and all things are dogs.
If you carefully observe the word "person" in the oracle bone inscriptions, you can see that the shape and meaning of a person is like a person, standing between heaven and earth with a hunched back. This is a person, and this is growth.
Growing up is like this, speaking insincere words and dreaming dreams that are so disgusting. Learn from Wu Zhenyu's determination and wipe away the tears from the corners of your eyes, so I won't show you tears! Laugh, everyone laughs; cry, weeping alone. It's always been that way.
I've grown up, if I don't go to hell who goes to hell? If you don't hit the water in the middle, how can you slap Fang Qiu?
Then don't you just grow up? Then isn't it just embarrassing? Who won't be fooled? Who wouldn't? ! But don't forget your heart, don't forget poetry and the distance, don't forget who you are cold to, and who you are willing to do, don't forget love.
After writing this review of "Infernal Affairs", I seem to have survived a calamity and entered a hell. I felt the third button of my shirt and felt that I had grown up too.
Ask Yu Heshi, and Guor died.
Xiaosheng speaks arrogantly, and he has nothing to say.
It is called "uninterrupted", sending mayflies in the heaven and earth, one drop in the vast ocean.
It is called "Tao", Tao can be Tao, very Tao.
It's called -- Infernal Affairs.
Week D in Lu'an, Anhui
20150131
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