Now the ceremony is over, but I don't want to change her feelings at first sight, and I also want to go into the theater with her feelings and recommendation to enjoy "Old Man of Mountains and Rivers". As the article wrote, "Whether Director Jia finally wins the award or not, "Mountains and Rivers" has already shined in Cannes." A good movie shouldn't be missed, at least watched.
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On my eighth day in Cannes, I finally got my first official invitation. What makes me even more happy is that this is indeed the movie I want to see the most this year. Before I watched it, I heard that the voice of "The Old Man of Mountains and Rivers" was very loud. With excitement, I looked at the passers-by holding the "vote-seeking" sign next to me. I stepped on the red carpet and finally walked into the legend The Grand Théâtre Lumière. The theater is a standard theater structure, divided into two floors, and the general audience (such as me) can only sit on the upper floor. With a round of applause, the lights dimmed, and the film began.
After watching the film for more than two hours, I have to say that "The Old Man of the Mountains and Rivers" is the best work I have seen since arriving in Cannes. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a favorite to win awards. Not to mention the level of other competition films competing with it this year, "Old Man of Mountains and Rivers" itself is definitely a film worthy of the Palme d'Or, and regardless of whether Director Jia finally wins the award, "Mountain" has already been released in Cannes. Brilliant!
I understand that I am determined not to spoil things, but I can't restrain my inner excitement and must express it. First of all, I feel that Director Jia has made progress in each work, and we can see new things in each work. I have always admired a director who can use the most simple camera language to tell an ordinary story that can no longer be ordinary. There is no sudden accident, no deliberate rendering, no romantic dialogue, and no exaggeration. The visual effect, but it can touch the deepest and most vulnerable chord in your heart. Such directors are called masters. And this time, I think Jia Zhangke did it! He's one step closer to becoming a cinematic master. My tears are also proud to be able to show such an excellent Chinese film on the international stage of Cannes (I cried with the other two friends who watched the film and were dizzy).
There are several points in the film that are particularly worthy of attention. The first is the change of the frame. With the change of time, the film from 4:3, 16:9 to ultra-wide tells the different situations of Chinese people in different time and space in the past, present and future. Last year's jury award "Mummy" also saw a change in the size of the picture. When I first saw it, I was a little worried about whether it would be intentional. After reading it, I found that such changes echoed the plot, but improved. the emotion of the film. The same is true of "The Old Man of the Mountains and Rivers".
The second is the use of time in The Mountain. The film starts from 1999 to 2025. Such a time span is not really challenging, but Jia Zhangke, as a director who shoots realistic themes, even said before that the reason why Jia Zhangke is popular internationally is that he is only good at it. Photograph the lives of some of the poor and backward people in China. Then I want to say that this time, "Old Man in Mountains and Rivers" really gave those people a slap in the face. A large part of the film takes place in 2025 - the story of the future world. Most of the movies related to this year are some sci-fi or light sci-fi themes, and they all deliberately emphasize the sense of the future. However, Jia Zhangke still shoots such a year in a realistic style. What he pays attention to is not the time, but the characters. I've been wondering why the director chose such a span of years. Like a sentence in the film, it probably said, "Sometimes time doesn't change a person." Time goes on and on, but some things are forever indelible.
The third is the (almost) full English dialogue for the future part of the film. Generally speaking, in Sino-foreign cooperation films, the part of the dialogue that uses the director's non-native language is often the hardest hit area of the film, whether it is "Wolf Totem" or "Nightingale" ("The Last Emperor" and "Memoirs of a Geisha" insisted on using the director. Familiar English as dialogue). Moreover, when directing some contemporary urban scenes, there are often situations such as "fake" and "boring". The audience may even think that only country dramas and period dramas can be felt in Chinese movies, but these problems are not seen in "The Old Man of Mountains and Rivers", which makes people have to admire the ability of director Jia Zhangke.
Last but not least is the emotional appeal of the film. "The Old Man of Mountains and Rivers" is different from "Heavenly Destined", the latter refers to "special phenomena", while the former refers to "universal phenomena". What the protagonist in "The Mountain" has experienced is exactly what the general public has experienced. Even if some of them have not experienced it personally, friends around them will have similar experiences. I think it is because of this that "Mountain" is particularly moving. When watching the film, the foreign audience around me was already crying, and I still have tears in my eyes when I recall some of the scenes in the film. The most impressive line is "A person can only accompany you for a period of time, and people always have to be separated". Seeing the life and death experienced by the protagonist in "The Mountain", and thinking of myself, isn't it also experiencing the same thing?
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