"People always think a little is better than nothing" - to my best of the year

Lon 2022-04-09 09:01:07

I started to look forward to this movie when I learned that it was going to be released this year. I even worried that it was a US military story and would not be released in China. Then I knew that Beijing was fortunate to have one of the top five movie theaters in the world, and I was even more fortunate that I could buy the first movie. After watching 120fps/4K/3D last weekend, I couldn't wait to experience it again in a 60fps Dolby Hall the next day. It is even more certain that this film is the best of the year in my mind.

Before the full release, Ang Lee visited Tsinghua University and talked with Feng Xiaogang and Ang Lee. In the last session of the exchange, a boy asked, "Each breakthrough in technology before was performed on an epic theme, why did you choose this film this time?" This question spread all over the country through the Internet. , The boy was also scolded by fans as a brain-dead.

Really insane. After watching this film, the answer in my mind was: Ang Lee made it, and it became an epic.

"Billy Lynn's Midfield War" is the perfect template for this technique. Why this movie? Like the war scene on the battlefield, there are grand halftime shows on the rugby field, and there are also delicate indoor scenes, which perfectly present the characteristics of this technology. Why did Ang Lee use 120 frames, just to create an ultra-realistic, ultra-real, immersive visual experience, I would like to ask the self-righteous questioner, the giants such as Avatar and The Hobbit that you mentioned in your book bag, Some of them are based on real events, and some of them don't need to rely on makeup and computer processing to present visual effects.

How good is 120fps/4K/3D? It is indeed very realistic. It is true that every freckle on the face, every pore, is very realistic. In the film, there is a shot of a child's eyes full of fear. The expressiveness of the high-definition picture is amazing. There will be an unparalleled sense of movement when you are in the movie, just like a football in the film flying in the direction of the audience, and the people around me and I observed all dodge subconsciously (even the second brush will have this kind of reaction). ), the deafening artillery fire scared the girl next to her head, and she could clearly see every bullet that jumped out of the magazine. People commented that "a short-sighted person suddenly puts on glasses of the right degree, and the world becomes clear all of a sudden". During the halftime show, the photographer followed the shooting all the way. With this perspective, there is an immediate sense of you being there, standing in his position. In the past, when you watched any stage show in a TV movie, you would have There is a clear sense of distance.

Before and after watching the film, I have read the high comments of many film critics. Many professionals believe that this film can be better for Ang Lee; some people say that they will be distracted when watching it; Very mediocre. But I think that maybe these authors started to draft the articles to be pushed by the WeChat public account when they put on glasses to watch the film, and they were not too invested in watching it - or, as some people said, they patronized the sigh effect. It's awesome, adapting to the ultra-clear world in front of you.

Those who love Ang Lee's films like his delicate feelings flowing in "Sense and Sensibility", as well as his discussion of family and interpersonal relationships in the trilogy, and think that Ang Lee's films will always have There are some delicate emotions in it, not the big scenes of this film. In my opinion, this film still has many details to be commended:

1. Everyone who came back from the battlefield has PTSD. The only term mentioned in the film is in the conversation between the doctor and Lynn. The dialogue says, "Actually, many American veterans suffer from this problem, if you Being able to stand up will help more people." This is not just an excuse for my sister to keep her brother from going to the battlefield for the time being, but a reality. Lynn sees any battlefield-related scene and thinks of the day the mushrooms left; everyone can't change the eating habits of gobbling down in the military camp; Gu's Sykes will cry at the thought of his family, and Clark is full of violence And bloody, the description of the two in the film echoes layer by layer. Sykes said in the car that he missed his family, in the battlefield he said he bought a DVD for his daughter, said he missed the child at the press conference, and cried after the performance; Clark's attitude in the car, at the press conference, and the disputes between the performance and the staff all show that he is a combative person, and these are actually PTSD.

2. For the protagonist, there are two events that are not synchronized with the current timeline, one is the family scene, and the other is the battlefield and mushroom-related scenes. The two things are transferred through sound and light, giving people a visual and auditory impact, which is very ingenious. And the expressions of the two stories are different. For the sister's story, it is "see the person first, then hear the sound". We see the sister's scar first, and then know what's going on. For the story of the mushroom, it is On the contrary, it is to know that he sacrificed first, and then to understand how he sacrificed. And these two stories also played the role of the entrance and exit of Lynn's second half-the sister's incident made him enlist in the army, the mushroom incident made him get this "intermission", the sister hoped that he would not enter the second half, but through the Memories of the mushroom incident put Lynn back into the second half.

3. The same line, from the mouths of two people, expresses opposite positions. This point is quite subtle in my opinion:
①My elder sister and Feishan both said to Lynn: "You are a decorated hero." When elder sister said this, she wanted to express that you are already a hero, and you have paid enough There is more, there is no need to go back; and Feishan believes that as a hero, as a role model, you should not shrink back and run away. One is out of concern that the blood of relatives is thicker than water, and the other is out of the love of the heroic image.
② Both Lynn and Daim once said: "Did I have choice?" Lynn's sentence appeared in the conversation with his sister in the room. What he said was a question: Do I have a choice? No, but in his heart he wanted to find an answer that could say "yes" to this question, and he had begun to waver. Daem said emphatically when Lynn asked him a question, Do I have a choice? no! This is a rhetorical question, and his heart is very firm.
③Both Lynn and Feishan once said: "I dont wanna lose her/you." When Lynn mentioned Feishan to his comrades, he expressed his pure love for this girl, thinking that the two of them were four. The eyes are on the same page and don't want love to be fleeting; and when Feishan said this, she didn't want the hero to leave and the role model to go away. In her eyes, it may be just admiration and attachment to the hero, not the hero. love.
(④ This is a bit of my own brainstorming. When Lynn told about her sister on the horizontal bar, she said that "she was on the highway", and her sister also mentioned "I was on the highway" on the way to the football field. ”, the result of these two details is the same: Lynn joined the military camp.)

4. Ang Lee portrayed the different understandings of the war and the American soldiers of several characters in a short period of time. Including Lynn's family, the agent who helped them find film investors, the cheerleaders, the people talking in front of Lynn in the aisle, the audience sitting in front of them talking loudly, the female director, the football field staff, the football team players , team owners, businessmen... Everyone has their own side, everyone has their own role in life, and everyone has a different understanding of war and soldiers. And most of these understandings are hated by soldiers. People always try to care about you from his point of view and in his own way, and judge you based on his experience, but they don't know that they cannot reach the level of understanding, and those who can truly empathize are only born into death, lying in bed. comrades in the same trench. This proposition about "understanding" and "care" is also a proposition that runs through the whole film.

In the movie, they call the scene where Lynn, Daim and the team boss face off in the war room as "the real movie climax", and Ang Lee also thinks this scene is the "real movie climax" he set up, indeed , the halftime show is the climax of the visual, and this scene is the climax of the spiritual concept, and it is also the scene with the strongest concept conflict, and the environment in which he takes place happens to be a competition command room called the "war room" , it is undoubtedly a remarkable detail to talk about the understanding of war in this place. This scene gave birth to two lines that I like very much:

a. We are not going to make a good movie, but a great movie.
b. People always think that a little is better than nothing.

The reason why I like these two lines is that he and Ang Lee's film views form an intertextuality. In the case of "Billy Lynn's Midfielder", it has moved beyond the "good" category and entered the "great" category. This is Ang Lee's film concept of excellence and continuous improvement, a directing attitude that is unwilling to settle, a dedication to trying to explore the best, a craftsman spirit that constantly tries to push up film shooting and production, and also contributes to film production. The industry has come up with a new normative model—although, it will be difficult to achieve in the short term. Even so, he was still humble. He said, "If you don't like it, just scold me. Don't scold technology. Technology is innocent." , just like the new director is treating his debut; for different specifications of the theater, give different, specially debugged film sources, so that no matter where the audience is, they can get the best possible experience.

Instead, "people think a little is better than nothing" reflects the attitude of another group of filmmakers.

Some commercial directors, no matter whether the script is right or not, whether the plot is logical or not, whether the subject matter is vulgar or not, just shoot it out, because "a little bit is better than nothing"; for
some movies, as long as there is a little money, they will hire a star, as long as someone is willing If you give money, you will put hard and wide inside, and you will not watch the film whether it is smooth or not, because "a little is better than nothing";
some distributors like to make movies into 3D, or even special 3D, in fact, that is Snowflake Stereo, Feather Stereo, and Subtitle Stereo, because "a little is better than nothing";
In some theaters (a large part of it can be said), I just need to put the movie out, brightness? You can see it, the seat? You can sit, but the line spacing is not too big and the drop is too low? I don't care, because "a little is better than nothing".

I dare not say that Ang Lee's works have set a model for the industry, but if I have experienced the best, I know how bad the "bad rules" in the industry are now. Even if it is impossible to achieve 120 frames, I think 60 frames is also very good (the actual measurement of 60 frames will have some loss of clarity, but it is not obvious, it is still far better than ordinary theaters), and now the theaters that support 60 frames are no longer available. Forget it, at least can the movies that are advertised as 3D are real 3D, and the theaters that claim to be giant screens and IMAX really have such a big screen, can the sound be made into a real Dolby effect? Is this difficult? It's not difficult, but there are too many bad habits that can't be changed for a while.

It is hoped that the quality of theaters and movies will develop in the direction that Ang Lee and we expect in the future. The progress and development of the film industry is really "a little bit better than nothing".

View more about Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk reviews

Extended Reading
  • Oda 2022-04-04 09:01:08

    Ang Lee made a 180-degree reversal of the image of the masked soldier in the eyes of others, and the audience saw a full three-dimensional living Billy Lynn. What he thinks and thinks in one day reflects the growth of a boy, Li An can really see through a person, and by the way, reflects the contradictions and dilemmas of society and human beings with a small and broad. A movie that really writes people, who said the story was not told well? [A-]

  • Davonte 2022-04-02 09:01:18

    Whee. Then let me say a few more words, Li An has been obsessed with technology for these years, and has pushed forward its development like a demon. This innovative spirit is indeed to be admitted, but his expression is really backwards. This problem has already been exposed. This time the creation is quite conservative, and it is impossible to directly hit the heart like he used to, which is actually quite separate from its technology. As far as the matter is concerned, if it hadn't been filmed by Ang Lee, I might have given it one more star.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk quotes

  • Norm Oglesby: [from trailer] Your story Billy, no longer belongs to you. It's America story now.

  • [last lines]

    Dime: Seatbelts, ladies.