I watched "Exile" on nights when I couldn't work, and the style is something that takes shape through creativity and then gets killed through inheritance and abuse, and that's how I feel when I watch it: the kind of dark coldness that Du creates. The feeling is so exciting in "Underworld", but in "Exile", it becomes a complete pretentiousness. The atmosphere and emotions have become components similar to toolkits, and there is no need to "shake". Come out, look a little boring. Of course, it must be admitted that these tricks are consummate, and the setting of some clues, including the sensational proportions, is well mastered-maybe it is too precise, absolutely "playing on the scene"! Even Huang Qiusheng and Wu Zhenyu's performance have become a kind of routine. I think Du Qifeng can consider taking a break for a year and a half to eliminate aesthetic fatigue.
"Exile" reminds me of "Gun Fire", which is too particular about rhythm control and cleanly strips reality - representatives of early gangster films in Hong Kong, such as John Woo, are taking a path that has nothing to do with reality, heroism and "violent aesthetics", rising When it comes to aesthetics, it is natural to highlight the sense of form, and greatly exaggerate the "morality" at the connotative level and the external visual enjoyment. And this was originally what To Qifeng, You Dazhi and Wei Jiahui intended to do when they debuted, "The Birth of a Word", "Two Only Live One", etc., deconstructing heroism with absurdity, and deconstructing the traditions of the rivers and lakes. The values are ironic, and the plot is driven by daily conflicts. This way, I have played to the peak. The best one is "Very Sudden". Because of daily life, there is pressing cruelty, which "violent aesthetics" cannot do.
The above-mentioned works are only anti-traditional drama conflicts in the way of narration, but there is still a gap in the real space in the big background. And "Underworld" has already brought this theme back to the human world from the description of its fundamental state. Its coldness is actually quite close to that of "The Godfather". It is full of trivial daily elements, simple and strong, and it also reflects human nature. As for the tension of the drawing, I have never seen the point of view that brings "Underworld" and "The Godfather" together, but it is impossible for me to see the end of "Black" without thinking about "The Godfather 2". "Underworld" brings the underworld back to reality - "Bewitched Boy" is cool by handsome guys posing, while "Underworld" plays the inner part of the old hooligan, which is not the same. The former looked like a cartoon, the latter like what happened next door.
There are always people who like to say that Johnnie To has succumbed to business and went mainstream for a period of time. This is ridiculous. Hong Kong movies are a whole of a model, and they are not as clear-cut as the mainland literary and artistic youths imagined. It is nothing more than the bias of each work. "Exile" tries to continue the successful atmosphere of "Underworld" in tone, but the core of the narrative is thin and old-fashioned, so the management of the atmosphere has changed from a means to an end itself, which can be imagined as pale. The details of "Underworld" show a very vivid daily texture, while "Exile" recreates the narrative background. Its operation is like "Gunfire", and the atmosphere learns from "Underworld", but it has neither the instant tension of the former nor the aftermath. The tight pressure of the plot. Narratively, it tells an old-fashioned story, but it has to copy the technique of "Underworld", which is very contradictory. Without the thickness of conflict, the texture is just MTV. Of course, some places have completely moved towards Woo-style romanticism: as soon as the details of the harmonica and bells come out, we easily think of "Bloodblood", which is a bit confusing.
The skills are worthy of admiration, but at the level of To Qifeng, the height of the skills should arouse vigilance. It reminds the author that the level of storytelling and the loose feeling of creation must be placed in a more important position! The so-called "Hollywood bad movie" in the public's mouth, to put it bluntly, is that the bad original can not keep up with the skilled production process, and then people give the most hatred to the process itself.
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