This is the kind of feeling that the grim story of "Guling Street" brings to the audience. After the improvement of the picture quality of this restored version, it really made me notice a lot of details, and these details can make us feel a work. of greatness.
1. The depiction of details is natural
. The details of "Guling Street" are definitely worthy of everyone's repeated scrutiny. All the screen and scene scheduling are made by Yang Dechang's heart. The explanation of each screen has a role. Meticulous, not a single waste lens.
If you have a chance to watch the remastered version again, please pay attention to a few details:
at the beginning of the film, when Xiao Si’s father was talking to the teacher about the test paper, the girl who handed his father water was the heroine, and everyone thought that the heroine would wait for half an hour. The appearance has actually already appeared in the story;
everyone thought that the first time Xiaoma appeared was to transfer to the class and sit at the back of the class. In fact, the first time Xiaoma appeared was when Xiaosi and Xiaoming met after school, and Xiaoma was the first. The next time I passed by on a bicycle; the
ice room proprietress was swiping for money, crying and breaking up with a soldier. In fact, when Elvis sang, the camera swept the couple who were hugging and dancing.
We didn't pay attention to many details when we first watched it for the first time. This time, we did see that many details were ignored before. Through the restoration of these details, we admire Yang Dechang's control and characterization of the movie even more. All the movies are like Ukiyo-e is presented in the same way. It seems to be in a mess, but in reality, it restores the era and the cause and effect of the event to the greatest extent possible.
There are more than 80 actors who have lines in the whole film, and the main characters and the core of the story are highlighted by shaping the group portraits.
2. The film about the restored version seems like a lifetime
The restoration was indeed successful in terms of picture quality.
In the past, to be honest, I admired Yang Dechang more than Hou Hsiao-hsien, so that every time I mentioned it, I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, so I didn't dare to talk about it.
When I saw director Li Xiaofeng talk about the issue of the restored version before, he said:
"I don't want to talk about Yang Dechang, the movie you cherish, talk about it a little more, and it's a little less tasteful. I asked someone to buy a copy of "Guling Street Boys". "Murdering Incident" Blu-ray, I feel like a thief and dare not speak out. But why do I speak out? Because of fear, after the so-called repair, it will be complete? It will be beautiful to make the picture that I saw on the video tape clearer? I think of my excitement when I smoked and chatted with Mr. Yang Shunqing on the streets of Taipei about Yang Dechang's film. Please understand my fear. I am afraid that a film will be restored to be 'accurate' or even 'correct'. I hope that those places are black, that is, completely black ." On the
surface, he expressed his opinion on the restoration of the film itself, but in fact he was in awe of Yang Dechang's reverence.
At that time, I didn't quite understand the purpose of the restoration. I watched it this time, and I gathered the courage to experience "Guling Street" again for four hours. After thinking about it for a day, I decided to write a few words to express my thoughts on the film. admiration and love.
3. The tribute to youth makes people sigh
. "Guling Street Teenage Murder Case" is Yang Dechang's work in 1991, the fourth of all his films, and the pioneering work of his independent production of "Yang Dechang Film".
In this film, Yang Dechang uses his childhood experiences to portray and restore the social scene of Taiwan's "anti-Communist suppression" period of change in the 1960s.
With Yang Dechang's control of the film, the audience can feel that the film is rigorous in structure and vivid in details. Although it is complicated and redundant, the relationship between the characters is clear, and the arrangement seems complicated but has a strong sense of substitution. The audience is not disgusted. This is the film's most difficult to grasp. However, Yang Dechang used his pictures to explain it in an orderly manner.
"Can't stand the passing years, can't escape the youth here"
The youth theme of Chinese-language films has been popular in the market recently, but there are very few classics, such as "Guling Street" and "Sunny Days" It is one of the best. Most directors will use influence like their youth to say goodbye, express their heart and past, let us feel it, youth is a journey, we can't go back, youth is a meeting, we can't forget it. Lost, youth is a pain, too late.
4. It cannot be ignored that history is doomed to a tragic end
The true history of Taiwan in the 1960s was like this. During the decades of anti-communist and martial law in Taiwan, the people at that time were accustomed to a saying - "the troubled times use heavy code", so they seldom thought about whether martial law really existed. necessary.
The "government" will say, "This martial law is for the enemy, not for the compatriots." "Just like a metal detector only reacts to metal, and a mahogany sword will only give goblins a headache, if it is not the enemy, martial law will not affect him. ".
There seems to be nothing wrong with this statement, and in fact, for decades, ordinary people have lived their lives as they should. Logically speaking, martial law should not have much impact, but "counterattack on the mainland" was the most sacred in the early days of martial law. An unshakable task, everything is prepared for the "counter-offensive", the most obvious example is the ubiquitous slogan and slogan, not only on the wall, but also envelopes, movie tickets, train tickets, cigarette cases, wedding invitations, and even children's toys. You can see the words "Recover the land of the mainland and rescue the suffering compatriots in the mainland".
All areas of society have been infected with this tense atmosphere, and many public offices will hold various exercises.
Male employees have to work the night shift at night to patrol in various places in turn. They need to carry flashlights to patrol all parts of the unit. If they are infiltrated by security personnel, they will be in bad luck if they are infiltrated by the colored notes that represent bombs and have not noticed it. At the end of the year Score deductions.
School teachers will also tell children that if you see pens or soda bottles on the road, don't pick them up, it may be a bomb...
In society, it was emphasized everywhere at that time: Be careful that "spys" are by your side. However, very few people have really seen what "Bandit Spy" looks like. The impression of "Bandit Spy" comes from various comic posters that are drawn in a terrifying, vicious and cunning manner, as if "Bandit Spy" will appear at any time.
This kind of propaganda lasted until the 1980s. The part of the movie where he talked to the "Police Chief" who arrested Zhang Zhen's father was very reductive to history. The product, in the past, was an organization that changed people's opinions.
This "police chief" business is full of mountains and seas, and it can manage anything and everything. It can even command the military and police, gather party, government, military, love, special In one suit, he is a minion of the Kuomintang in terms of political detection and defense, and a thug of white terror. For the Kuomintang, it is simply too useful.
During the period of martial law, the "general police officer" was walking, and any actions and speeches could be restricted and regulated under the premise of "national security". That is, one should not say nonsense, write words, sing songs, and dance indiscriminately. , Even the hair can't grow long, the newspaper ban, the hair ban (students must keep the watermelon head), the party ban, everything is banned, an era full of taboos.
You can imagine how the Chinese teach their children, how the Kuomintang manages Taiwan, don't make noise, don't make trouble, obedient people don't necessarily have candy to eat, and if you don't, you will spank.
5. Xiao Ming's survival rule is the helplessness of society.
"Sunny Days" is adapted from the novel "Ferocious Animals". The story is based on the "Cultural Revolution" and describes the growth process of a group of young people in a military compound in Beijing. , Beasts will eat people, and in the era of wild beasts, he has his own rules of survival.
"Kuling Street", which was earlier than "Ferocious Animals", made a more profound criticism of the times. Many people said that Xiaoming was a disaster. If there was no Xiaoming, then Hani would not die, his slickness would not change, and the fourth They won't go to jail, and the pony will not regret it. In fact, if there is no Xiao Ming, they will still have such encounters, because Xiao Ming is the epitome of that era. A tragedy is doomed.
Xiao Ming's survival dilemma comes from the Battle of Xu Beng, which is our Huaihai Battle. As the national army's signal corps, he died on the battlefield. His mother took Xiao Ming to Taiwan's military dependents' village, and his mother's health was not good. When the sense of security matures, in order to survive, I have to compromise like society. Losing myself in the compromise is also what Director Yang thinks about the reality of Taiwan, so Xiao Ming under his lens, in that world, no one can really treat another person. Feel the pain.
Even if you feel that arrows pierce your heart and you want to die, it is only your business. Others may sympathize or sigh, but it will never be clear to what extent your wound is festering.
Xiao Ming is a girl who deals with multiple boyfriends, she just wants a kind of protection. The frail and sick mother told her early, "You have to grow up quickly and take care of this family", and she also understood that the reason why all men help her and take care of her is to be the one who "protects her".
They live in Taiwan's society in the 1960s, where various interests are entangled. With their unique brilliance of idealists, they are destined to be intolerable by the laws of social survival, and they are destined to have a tragic ending of helplessness and confusion for a confused generation.
6. The story behind the prototype of the movie
On June 16, 1961, Taipei's "United Daily News" published a news report, "The Murder of a Bad Boy": "At ten o'clock in the evening on the fifteenth, the city's Guling Street At the bottom of the seven alleys, there was a murder case of a bad boy. The 16-year-old "Biyu Gang" Mao Wu, the eldest of the "Biyu Gang", killed a fifteen-year-old girl Liu Min five times in a row because of jealousy. He didn't escape, and pretended to be the victim's brother, but he saw the flaw for the criminal policeman of the Seventh Bureau, Chen Hanying, and immediately arrested him for investigation..." The
report not only traced the killing process and the information of the parties in detail, but also skillfully focused on the key points. On "Love Killing", "Dai Liangchuan, Chief of the Seventh Division of the Municipal Police...I hope parents and schools can strengthen education to prevent the recurrence of such cases." With the passage of time, in order to prevent readers from forgetting, the reports are getting shorter and shorter. The key words that can always remind the incident: juvenile, love murder, natural cruelty, justice...
This situation continued on and off for more than two years, and finally the dust settled. Thirty years later, a poster for a film was printed with the words: some of the above news items were soon Forgotten. This means that even the loudest news events will quickly fade away.
The name of the film is "Guling Street Teenage Murder Incident", and the director Yang Dechang is a classmate of Mao Wu's class. After the death of Director Yang, the World Film Foundation led by Martin Scorsese began to restore it in 2009, and in 2016, the restored version was launched in North America after various coordination.
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