2015's "Roadside Picnic" is indeed a domestic literary film that shocked me a lot. It seems so pure, so sincere, and so natural in a crowd of fake literary and artistic films that make a fuss and make a fuss.
Director Bi Gan's paranoia and persistence show that after the creators of Wang Xiaoshuai, Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye, etc., a new creative pure land for Chinese literary films, and this pure land is infinitely close to the essence of images and movies, and it is At present, it only belongs to Bi Gan.
In fact, I have to admit that I didn't understand "Roadside Picnic", and of course, I don't think Bi Gan created this movie to make people understand it. When most literary film directors are pursuing symbols, metaphors and show-off symbols, Bi Gan used his talent to weave a huge labyrinth and fantasy, and as the guide of the labyrinth, he led us into it, and he did not need to pass it on. What values do you need, you don't need to express your judgment on reality. He knows that the moment we give our thoughts to him willingly, we are completely integrated into his image world, and long shots are just a means to better integrate us. That's it.
At the end of "Roadside Picnic", I saw goosebumps all over. This is the best proof of the potential connection between the audience and the creator. Because of this goosebumps, I trust Bi Gan and his works. .
Since the announcement of the production of "Last Night on Earth", this film is the Chinese-language film I look forward to the most in my heart. Even with the blessing of a higher budget, a more luxurious cast and the integration of genre elements, every material in the film They are reminding the audience that Bi Gan has not changed. He is still creating his own film works, but this time, he has more resources to use.
Recently, I have seen Bi Gan's figure on many variety shows and talk shows. This originally low-key director has gained so many exposure opportunities. I originally thought he would be inflated, rhetorical, and full of four books and five classics of art history, but Bi Gan The simplicity, naturalness, shyness, and indifference on the show made me admire this person even more. I even thought that he would really be a genius chosen by the gods, an artist who could not be carved by the world. Jealous in my heart.
I went to the premiere of "The Last Night on Earth" that day, and I was very happy to meet most of the film's main creators, and everyone showed a similar temperament to the film, quiet, lazy, not good at speaking but looking full of The story, and it is precisely with the participation of such a group of people, that "The Last Night on Earth" finally presents such a breathtaking beauty, which has lived up to my long-awaited desire.
"Last Night on Earth" and "Roadside Picnic" are the same kind of movies that are difficult to define. Even if this time it adds elements of suspense, crime and love, it is still the same as "Roadside Picnic" as a whole. It is a fragmented and personal work that combines virtual and real. Compared with the latter, "The Last Night on Earth" is not only a technical improvement, it is also an improvement of the director's awareness and the director's understanding of movies, images and even dreams. an improvement.
Even, in my opinion, "Last Night on Earth" is actually a science fiction movie.
"The Last Night on Earth" is not too difficult to understand just by looking at the story itself, especially after the 2D and 3D parts are disassembled, the general context of each part is still clear, and the content of the film itself and " Roadside Picnic" is also very similar, except that the last time Chen Yongzhong was replaced by this time Huang Jue.
The first 70 minutes of the film is a dark detective story. Characters such as femme fatales, gang bosses, prostitutes, gangsters, half-old milfs, etc. appear in turn around Luo Hongwu played by Huang Jue, the death of his childhood playmate, the murderer's lover The fatal temptation of , the inextricable relationship between his actions and his own past, various elements build a fascinating and suspenseful narrative labyrinth in this part.
Unsurprisingly, under the director's design, this so-called realistic part is still presented to the audience in a fragmented and seemingly irregular way like "Roadside Picnic". The protagonist's narration replaces "Roadside Picnic". The verses in "Picnic by the Side" add a layer of Wong Kar-wai's film flavor to the film.
In this part, Luo Hongwu is like the decadent detective Marlowe in Raymond Chandler's novel, walking through Carey in a trench coat, looking for the traces of his enemies, the footprints of mysterious women, and then a little bit of discovering his own past, There is a delicate connection between present and future.
The moment Luo Hongwu stepped into the cinema, the film opened a whole new door.
The second part of "Last Night on Earth" is also the part that will make a deep mark on the history of cinema. The long shot of nearly 70 minutes creates an unbelievable wonderland for the audience, the beauty of the narrative, the audio-visual The aesthetics of the film are intertwined to the climax of the director's personal aesthetics.
In this part, Luo Hongwu wants to escape from this place as a person who wakes up in a deep mine, and in the process of escaping, he is entangled with the intentions compiled in his subconscious, that is, in this One night, he witnessed the parting and love of his life, and he saw himself being torn apart by time and being reassembled piece by piece. That is, in the dream world, he found what he had been looking for.
Surprisingly, when the original "Roadside Picnic" used two parts of reality and dream to narrate, it was more to explain and restore the character's inner world, his past and future, his inner loss and remodeling. , and the hometown of Carey recorded everything as an excellent carrier.
The difference of "Last Night on Earth" is that it builds a narrative structure similar to a Mobius ring through two parts. Past, future, and present influence and project each other. All the men you see in the story seem to They are all one person, and all women seem to be one person, and between reality and reality, what remains unchanged is a person's pursuit and self-healing.
Many times, our life is just looking for an answer, and then slowly find that on the road of searching, it seems that the answer has already appeared.
The reason why I say "The Last Night on Earth" is like a science fiction film is because it seems to see the joys and sorrows of an ordinary person's life and the causal relationship from the perspective of a higher dimensional life. Same as in Arrival. In this film, time is no longer important and space is no longer important. Countless people in the story, I and countless you keep meeting, parting, and colliding, finally showing the most beautiful rhythm of life.
Your love can make people take off, the house can rotate, this is not a fantasy, this is not necessarily not a reality.
The process of watching "The Last Night on Earth" was a wet, comfortable, lazy, and even immersive experience for me. I was not deciphering the puzzles, I was experiencing the experience itself, and the film was an intrusive experience. The many hours of long shots add to the realism of my experience, which is why when the film ends, it feels like my soul hasn't returned to my body.
Finally, I want to put a sentence from Lu Nei's "Following Her Journey":
"Loving someone or not loving someone is like a long road, and it takes a long time to understand."
It really doesn't matter whether you understand or not, the important thing is that at this moment, as I walk, I will continue to walk.
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