"The Last Emperor" is a classic of classics directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1988, starring Zun Long and Chen Chong.
The film won nine Academy Awards in 1988 for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume, Best Composition, Best Editing, Best Sound Effects, Best Cinematography and Best Artistic Design Image Award, French Film César Award for Best Foreign Language Film
It is somewhat different from the Puyi in our impression. In the movie, he is just a poor man who was imprisoned and abandoned by the times, just like the black grasshopper at the end of "The Last Emperor". It never left the cage. The door was never opened.
In such a tragic film, the soundtrack of the film plays a decisive role.
There is a clip in the movie, when Puyi lost his wet nurse when he was a teenager, he chased him in the huge Forbidden City, asked "Where is Armo", ran to the door and called "Open the door" and everyone was afraid of him, but No one can catch up to this king with supreme power, and no doors can be opened.
(screenshot of the movie)
This is where the main theme of the whole movie appears. The soundtrack "Where is Armo" brings the viewer into such an emotion, the urgency of searching, the sadness of not being able to catch up, and the despair after losing. At this time, Pu Yi's sentence "She is not my nurse, she is my butterfly" made people feel distressed and burst into tears.
Where Is Armo?
Ryuichi Sakamoto - The Last Emperor Original Soundtrack
The composer is today's protagonist - Ryuichi Sakamoto, a man on the altar of Japanese music
(Sakamoto Ryuichi, David Byrne, Su Cong "The Last Emperor" Oscar Award)
At that time, some very interesting stories happened to the soundtrack of "The Last Emperor".
In the beginning, Bernardo Bertolu was invited to appear in the movie "The Last Emperor" after meeting Ryu Sakamoto for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival (yes, he was originally here to act)
(Sakamoto Ryuichi's "The Last Emperor" stills)
A few months after filming in China, the director asked him if he wanted to score the film, but it wasn't just that.
Once he asked Sakamoto to write a short piece of music for Puyi's coronation scene (the director's routine is really deep). He wanted Sakamoto to write and record it in two days, the day before that scene was filmed.
But there was nothing there, no piano, not even a piece of paper.
Bertolucci was surprised by his complaint: "That's how Ennio (here Molicone) works!" Do it now! Later they found a piano for Sakamoto (severely out of tune) and wrote music all night.
In this way, Sakamoto, who had never listened to Chinese music before, spent two weeks writing 44 pieces, including this piece "Where is" which is played by the Western instrument violin and perfectly combined with Chinese instruments such as erhu, guzheng and pipa. Armo swept the Academy Awards, Grammys and Golden Globes.
Speaking of Ryuichi Sakamoto, I have to say that another movie "Merry Chirstmas Mr.Lawrence" was directed by Nagisa Oshima and starred by David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tom Conti, and Takeshi Kitano (starring all big names)
(Merry Chirstmas Mr.Lawrence stills)
In the filming of "Merry Chirstmas Mr.Lawrence", the director who has always been strict, spoiled Sakamoto Ryuichi to the extreme.
Sakamoto, who was acting for the first time, didn't know that acting was to memorize the script. He came to the set without any preparation, and was late. The director just didn't blame him at all.
During the performance, it was Sakamoto who made a mistake. The director rolled up the script and beat the person next to him.
And although Sakamoto Ryuichi played the role of an army captain, he still insisted on drawing eyeliner, and Director Nagisa Oshima favored him and drew as he pleased.
(Professor who draws eyeliner, learn about it)
The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 36th Cannes Film Festival, and Tom Conti, one of the male protagonists, also won the National Critics Association for Best Actor.
In addition, this is Kitano Takeshi's debut. After this film, Takeshi Kitano began his legendary career on the screen.
There are gossips that when Sakamoto finished the film, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he was not good at acting, so he ran to Takeshi Kitano, but Takeshi Kitano also felt that he was not good at acting, so the two discussed whether they could find a way to make the film. Steal it out and destroy it to remake it...
Speaking of the soundtrack, "Merry Chirstmas Mr. Lawrence" is his first movie appearance and his first time creating music for a movie. The movie soundtrack theme song "Merry Chirstmas Mr.Lawrence" is one of his most classic works
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
Ryuichi Sakamoto - /04
At that time, the director hardly asked for anything. For the soundtrack, the only thing the two did together was to make a separate list of "where to put music in the movie" before Sakamoto started writing the soundtrack.
The last comparison, actually 95% is the same. Director Nagisa Oshima was very happy at the time. He only said to Sakamoto at the time: "Go! You can do the music yourself and leave it to me!"
Sakamoto himself stayed in the studio for three months, and the director never came. In the end, the director used Sakamoto's soundtrack, which is really rare.
In this way, there was no cut in the film, and the music was matched where Sakamoto wanted. As we heard in the finished film, that's what he wrote back then.
But every note tells: love is separated by mountains and seas, mountains and seas are not flat.
In the movie, Takeshi Kitano finally opened his mouth and smiled like a child, saying a broken English: Merry christmas Mr.Lawrence
Let countless people be moved
(Merry Chirstmas Mr.Lawrence stills)
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