Unreasonable criminal motives-"The Devotion of Suspect X" (Director Fang Yinjin, South Korea)

Maiya 2022-01-24 17:48:55

"The Devotion of Suspect X" is adapted from the novel of the same name by the famous Japanese mystery writer Keigo Higashino. There are now three versions of Chinese, Japanese and Korean films. I did not intend to make a comparative analysis of film reviews. Today I chose to explain Korea. "The Devotion of Suspect X" directed by Fang Yinzhen. Under the pressure of the original work, this work is a reasonable and innovative partial adaptation on the basis of respecting the spirit of the original work. "The Devotion of Suspect X" is the first novel in the Galileo series where Yukawagaku is the main character, and it is also the masterpiece of Keigo Higashino. After stopping four nominations, Keigo Higashino finally won the Naoki Award, the highest honor for Japanese popular literature, with this work. This work is also the champion of three major mystery fiction rankings in Japan: "This mystery is amazing 2006", "Benge Mystery BEST 10 in 2006", and "Weekly Wenchun Mystery BEST 10 in 2005". Of course, the "Devotion of Suspect X" directed by Fang Yinzhen is also amazing and adds Korean film and television features and cultural renderings, which is remarkable.

How to tell this story in audiovisual language? The core essence of the whole film is two, one is expressiveness, picture advancement, shot transition, detail processing, styling, clothing, scene selection and other shooting essentials are smooth and natural; the second is content power, plot setting, script writing, The output of grammar skills of movies such as character settings. Whether it is telling stories or expressing ideas, the essence of a good conceptual film lies in the seamless connection of the world, connecting the pictures and connecting the plot. This is especially important for reasoning crime films. The Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, who was appraised by the world as “creating a brand-new movie language”, once said that I am not interested in the development of the plot and the series of events. I think my movie is a No plot is needed for the part. This sentence is understood in the context of the film "The Devotion of Suspect X" by the Korean director Fang Yinzhen, that is, for movies that reason about suspense themes, the layered advancement of the plot does not lie in the close cohesion and tight linkage, but Due to the natural and smooth narrative technique, the plot will inevitably have traces of the director. The important thing is how to cleverly leave the dark lines without processing traces. This can be seen in the Korean director Fang Yinzhen’s "Devotion of Suspect X". A film technique full of "story" tension.

The film "Suspect X's Devotion" mainly tells that "genius mathematician" Shi Gu taught in a high school in South Korea, but because of his paranoid personality (obsessed with math problems) and the reason he has been unable to solve Goldbach's conjecture, he has been living alone. Ordinary boring life. One day, Shi Gu was about to hang himself to end this gloomy life. At this time, the doorbell suddenly rang. It turned out that it was the newly moved female neighbor Hua Shan and her niece. Hua Shan’s beautiful and friendly smile struck in an instant. In the heart of Shi Gu, the playfulness and gentle dialogue between Huashan and his niece made Shi Gu, who was lonely and boring, feel the beauty of life, and at the same time gave up the idea of ​​death. He had a wait-and-see expectation of life until later. This kind of wait-and-see move towards caring and even guarding with life.

(Shi Gu was moved by the loving interaction between Huashan and his niece, the emotional expression under the contrast of light)

The female neighbor Huashan works in the breakfast shop near Shigu’s office. Shigu buys a breakfast called "A Good Morning" every morning. For Shigu, seeing Huashan means "a copy". Good morning". Huashan has gradually become the only light (hope and sustenance) in Shi Gu's life, until Shi Gu is willing to guard this hope of love with death. Huashan’s ex-husband found Huashan’s newly moved home and harassed Huashan. Huashan and her niece accidentally killed her ex-husband during a fight with her ex-husband. After Shi Gu knew about it, she designed a perfect absence for Huashan. It proved that the specific modus operandi was that Shi Gu himself replaced his ex-husband’s corpse by killing a tramp under a bridge, and the real corpse was sunk into the bottom of the lake. This is what Shi Gu’s students commented that Shi Gu liked to use different types of math problems. The hint of "confusing" the question can be seen (picture below).

Implications of Shigu Manufacturing’s alibi's modus operandi

Director Fang Yinzhen's overall shooting plan is to express the inner world of the characters through the right scene and the use of light. In order to reflect the character of the characters, the Zhijing team also worked hard when designing Shigu's room. They chose a dark and depressing overall tone to express the protagonist’s inner closure, and the cramped room was filled with mathematics books and scattered formula calculations. These seemingly trivial formulas are not easy to come by. All of them are real calculations and deductions. In addition, illuminator Li Zhewu also used his brain to express the emotional interaction between the hero and the heroine. In order to achieve a feeling of throbbing, in the scene where "Shigu" and "Huashan" meet, Li Zhewu used a lot of golden light to make the whole picture exude a moving warmth. (Quoted from the secret behind the scenes of suspect X from Mtime.)

(Shi Gu looks towards Hua Shanshi's overall color of the picture is bright and warm tone)

There is no need to introduce too much controversy about film techniques, return to the film itself, or the propaganda essence of the film to pay tribute to life, life and love. The famous Italian director Federico Fellini said in "Film Making" that film is a kind of ritual, and the masses passively succumb to it. Therefore, whoever makes commercial films will accept a large number of them every day. The public who visited the screen images planned the direction of thinking, customs and psychological atmosphere. I think a movie can be derived from a meaningless minutiae, such as the feeling of a color, the recollection of a look in the eyes, and the entangled nostalgia for a melody that circulates in your ears all day long. The film narrates its world, its story and its characters, using images. Isn’t it the dream that uses images to make you fascinated, panic, excite you, anxious, and nourish you? The movie brings more not spiritual comfort, but also the inspiration of spiritual energy and the enlightenment of life philosophy.

The biggest theme of "Suspect X's Devotion" is not the progressive case reasoning, but the inner despair created by life circumstances, the courage to come back and the reckless recklessness given by love, both courage and recklessness. Out of self, out of the mood of guarding love. For the movie "Suspect X's Devotion", there is no need to enter the circle of love and law, the quantitative and qualitative problems of crime and punishment cannot be solved, but the story of guarding and love, the mental journey of crime and being saved.

At the end of the film, Shi Gu wrote to Huashan in a letter that read "If you can't be happy, all my efforts will be wasted." This is just as Higashino Keigo said, the end of logic is not the ideal country of reason and order, but the love that I dedicated with my life.

(The note that Huashan wrote to Shi Gu became a cat-like warm and radiant existence in Shi Gu's life.)


In the overhead world of film language narration, what is needed is more "irrational" but reasonable.

Because more often movies are an artistic emotional care, there are still rare emotional comforts beyond the cruel logic of reality.

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Extended Reading
  • Arielle 2022-04-24 07:01:23

    Please don't move the camera and close it up! The music doesn't work, the photography doesn't work, the details don't stand up to scrutiny

  • Krystal 2022-04-22 07:01:52

    All kinds of bugs, but they are beautiful. In addition, the Great Celestial Dynasty really don't want to obscure that the whole world is watching China, and the real understanding of China is still before the 1970s and 1980s.