This is the title of the film "Suzhou River" directed by Lou Ye. There is no video, no music, or even "light". There are only a few lines of words beating on the black screen. A man and a woman are almost emotionless. This pulls open. Like Lou Ye's previous style, he uses his own perspective to awaken the forgotten memories of urbanites. The
lens swept across the water, with rippling waves reflecting the shadows of houses and bridges. Going down the river, there are unfinished buildings, crowded small barges, bridges with concrete railings, and the scenery on the shore is fleeting. The dim sky, the icy buildings, the dilapidated steamer, the laboring fishermen, and the hurried pedestrians, when the three characters of the film title Suzhou River appeared in the camera, the quiet bass slowly said, hoarse but a little painful, It seems to be talking about the present, and it seems to be talking about the future, or the past. The beginning of the film seems a bit absurd, why can the Suzhou River be associated with the mermaid, and why every boatman on the Suzhou River says that he has seen the mermaid in the Suzhou River. What exactly is a mermaid, and what untold stories happened to her?
4:23~4:51 (I'm a photographer...my camera doesn't lie)
From the beginning to the end, the film is narrated by a photographer who did not show up, he was a freelance photographer and left his pager number on the wall , and wait for the person who needs to be filmed. As long as there is money to be made, there is nothing to shoot. The so-called art and pursuit are just flowers that have long since faded under the soil. However, he can still record some fragments of the story, he said, you have seen it, don't believe it. But he also said, my camera, don't lie. This love story begins with his narration, although he is not the protagonist of the story. In his lens, you will see two kinds of love, one is the truth and the other is a fairy tale.
"Night Shanghai, Night Shanghai, you are a city that never sleeps." In the photographer's lens, the true face of the mermaid finally appeared, her name was Meimei. Dressed in sequined costumes, he played a mermaid in a large water tank to attract customers, and worked in a bar called "Century Happy Pavilion". Meimei is under the lens, beautiful and free. Scattered eyes, stunning blonde hair, shimmery eyeshadow. Green suspender skirt, red long-sleeved jacket, so gorgeous. The face without makeup is in the night, with the temperament of a girl, but it is lonely and not gentle, the hair is hidden on the cheek, there is a kind of depraved beauty, and the first love story begins in her retrospect.
9:37~10:36 (I often go to the balcony alone and look out the window... I can make up love stories everywhere)
The protagonist of that love fairy tale finally appeared, his name is Ma Ma. Twenty-six or seven years old, after dropping out of school, he spent all day wandering around Suzhou River until he encountered the stolen motorcycle, he was riding it, and the breath of Suzhou River was blowing in front of him, friends Chasing restlessly from behind, the motor, who has always had a reckless and rigid expression in the film, laughed out loud for the only time in the film. He thought that he would ride this motorcycle to a great distance, make a career, get ahead, and return home. But when he arrived (liao, third tone), he became a delivery guy. But he didn't know yet that this motorcycle made his acquaintance and love with Peony, the heroine of the fairy tale. Motorcycles are associated with infinitely extending highways and infinitely expanding cities. Anything can happen on this road.
As a delivery gangster postman, Motor takes unexplained items from one end of the city to the other on a motorcycle bought from thieves. And this time, it's not an item but a pick-up girl Peony. Peony and Meimei look exactly the same, but they are completely different. Two breathtaking flowers, one enchanting blooming, charming and indulgent; one budding translucent, beautiful and pure. Peony has two braids, big clear eyes, and a petite body, but there are hot and hot feelings hidden inside. Peony's parents divorced and she lives with her father. Her father was a smuggler, and the family was not short of money, but money could not bring her any comfort. Whenever my father wanted to have fun with a woman at home, he would pay someone to send Peony to her aunt's house. Her mother's early death and her father's absurdity had long been accustomed to her, and she didn't feel real happiness until she met Ma Ma.
She is still an immature child, but she has already been devoured by the indifferent and materialistic urban life. However, Peony is still a child after all, and her pure heart is still full of sunshine. Motor just said "sit down" to her when she got in the car, crouched down to help her tie her shoelaces when she got loose, gave her a mermaid doll on her birthday and played with her, and sat with her on the sofa Watch pirated CDs until dawn. These simple and delicate cares injected a powerful warm current into Peony's body, she gave her whole heart to Ma Ma without any precaution, and poured out all her love and trust.
If this pattern continues, the story will undoubtedly lead to a happy ending for the two of them together. But tragedy is to tear up the most beautiful things and present them to you. "Maybe the motor is more than just a delivery..." A twist in the narrator leads seemingly simple love to brutal truth. Soon Ma was involved in a kidnapping conspiracy. The kidnappers attempted to blackmail Peony's father in exchange for money. The kidnappers were Ma's underworld friends. They asked Ma to take the opportunity to kidnap Peony on the way to deliver Peony. Ma was unwilling to do so, and under pressure from friends, he had to agree. Mada brought Peony drunk to the abandoned attic on Guangfu Road, sold Peony for 450,000 yuan, and broke Peony's trust in him. Peony, who finally knew the truth, realized that he was being used by the person he loved the most. , she glared at the motor fiercely, angry and desperate. In the small space, Peony was sitting on the bench with her knees in her arms, and Mo Ma was squatting on the iron escalator. The two stared at each other for a long time, silent. A dark wall, a sad state of mind.
Around 34:16~34:40 (how much did you ask my dad to exchange for me... you don't care about me) If the volume is lower, it will be very abrupt
, "I'm so cheap", Peony shouts so loudly that it breaks my heart. Peony running all the way, red sportswear, sneakers, long braids, condensed into a clear back. She finally ran to the bridge, crossed the railing, and bowed her head to the flowing Suzhou River. Mada chased all the way, came to the railing, confronted Peony, and finally Peony jumped into the water, leaving only one sentence: "I will become a mermaid and come to you." Grief seems to be greater than hatred, but still love motor.
This is the love story about Ma and Peony, but was killed by Ma and pushed Peony to despair. Peony's short-lived appearance appeared in his life, leaving an indelible mark that once bloomed brilliantly. It was like the lightness of his life that he could not bear. In the face of the cruel reality, Peony, who knew the truth, slowly let go of her hands, smiled desolately and despairingly, and threw herself into the arms of Suzhou River, together with the mermaid doll she held in her hand, Return to silence. But even so, Ma Ma still firmly believes that she still lives in a corner of the city, so since then, looking for peony has become the only driving force in life. He kept walking, kept searching, and others thought he was crazy, living in the waking world of others. He was just drunk, he thought he could always find his peony with a heart of hope.
(The background music is the background music of the self-narration in the movie.)
Meimei in "Happy Pavilion" swims back and forth in the fish tank, with gorgeous mermaid costumes and fish-scale sequins flashing in the water. Motor's apprehension is right. Before she died, Peony said that she would turn into a mermaid and come back to find the motor.
And Meimei's body is covered with the shadow of peony. Smart, spiritual, and thoughtful, the most important thing is her mermaid outfit, just like Peony's grievance before her death.
The girl with heavy makeup in front of her, with pure and straightforward character, is like a peony in memory. Ma Ma's numb expression tried to find the shadow of Peony on Meimei's face. Here, the film finally makes the four protagonists of the story and the protagonists of the two love stories have the most profound intersection.
50:02~50:18 (I just wanted to say... you were called Peony at that time)
Ma Ma followed Mei Mei to the house on the pier in a panic, and after being splashed with beer, he wiped the wine on his face while talking . I couldn't tell if it was alcohol or tears. Mada told her about peonies, about their love with peonies. Pleasantly listen to God. His eyes were also centered. At that time, Ma Ma thought she was his peony.
The fish tank appears several times in the film. Meimei dressed as a mermaid laughs at the horse in the water, the water is clear and soft, like a beautiful dance. The light glaze of "Happy Pavilion" is dim, and the outside of the fish tank is noisy and confused, while the girl in the fish tank is peaceful and tranquil. I was fascinated by the motor when I first saw it. He confirmed that Meimei is Peony, and even though Meimei denied it, Ma Ma told Meimei about his love in detail, as if she thought she was Peony with amnesia. The appearance of the peony, the death of the peony, and the peony flower pattern on her thigh.
55:14~55:45 (Your peony, what does she look like...and the peony flower pattern on her left leg, Mei Mei laugh)
Ma Ma sat at Mei Mei's table, carefully recalling the appearance of the peony. And when Meimei lifted the horns of her skirt and showed Ma Ma the peony pattern on her legs, Ma Ma was slightly startled. Meimei said that this peony-printed watermark is sold everywhere on the street. She took Ma Ma's infatuation as an excuse, thinking it was just a cover for a man to approach her. But secretly, the self in Meimei's illusion is also quietly transforming, and she begins to become attached to the kind of love that Ma Ma told her: the girl jumped off the filthy Suzhou River, and the boy searched like a day for decades. Even if it's fake, the motor is really well programmed.
The light streamed down from the ends of her hair, and Meimei changed the peony watermarks on her thighs again and again. If one falls off, replace it with another. The peony watermarks that can be bought everywhere on the street seem to have become the "labels" of fairy tales. She imagined herself as if she was really approaching the peony in the fairy tale. She longs for a love like a peony, but she knows that she is not a peony of a motor. She is uneasy and hesitant, but she really hopes that she is the lucky girl. Meimei gently asked the motor lying beside me, am I the peony you are looking for (just this sentence).
Two kinds of love, leaving the intersection here. The intersection makes Maa wake up from Meimei's dream. He realizes that Meimei is not his peony. He leaves the seemingly beautiful absurdity in reality without hesitation, and continues to search for peony and his own love.
This peony with two pigtails is bouncing around, stubbornly running on the motor in the city, painted with green eyeshadow, and the beauty of walking is charming, so real and a little cold cameraman, they are ordinary people living by the Suzhou River, staged the show The most ordinary yet tragic story. Maybe it is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes, there are always some things that need to be relieved. As Meimei has been asking, am I your peony? In Suzhou River, peony symbolizes a kind of lost purity, and Meimei is just a believer of love. Peony is not a belief, the real belief is love. But who is whose peony? Who can really stage a fairy tale of love with whom?
67:14~67:45 (many days later...that's how I found Peony)
68:00~68:13(excuse me...yes, 175) Post-interlude (interlude music played at 68:46)
100 turns After a thousand times, Ma Ma still found Peony, the still young peony who likes mermaids. They went back to the old bridge, still buffalo-grass Votgar. The eternal picture is the silent and grand back of them leaning against each other under the sunset. Under the infiltration of sunlight, everything with a hazy outline opens up a huge and quiet scorpion. Such love is enviable. Maybe time should stop here, maybe the movie should stop here, but - in the
early morning, two bodies were salvaged from the Suzhou River. Peony and Ma, the serene corpses of young lovers on the river bank, all wet in the rainy weather, lying on the cold stone embankment, peaceful as if they should not belong to this world. No one knows if it was an accident or intentional, but this time they will be far from apart. Only in this way can they protect their love that was once full of lies and betrayals.
When Meimei learned that Ma Ma was dead, she ran to the scene frantically, and watched the woman who looked like herself lying quietly and happily beside Ma Ma, she was very happy without breathing. In the camera, Meimei's face immersed in the past and her desperate eyes made her cry. She finally knew that what Ma Ma said was true. There really was such a girl who looked exactly like herself, and there really was a girl called Peony. Mada really found her and they were really together forever.
73:04~36
The end of the film still returns to this dialogue, which is the main line of the film and the difference behind the two loves. The love of motor and peonies. Whether it is a tragedy or a fairy tale. What about the photographer and Meimei? Is it cheating or loyalty. And Ma and Meimei are just islands of each other. They find answers from each other.
Meimei finally chose to leave alone, leaving a note of "come to me" and drifted away. Looking for a kind of love that may be vigorous, lingering, or dull and long-lasting.
Therefore, Suzhou River is a whole real world. This river has its filth, its sparkling waves under the sunlight, and it seems to have its secrets and unspeakable secrets. The story can only be real if it is experienced, Peony and Meimei, two girls who are so similar, like a meandering stream or a galloping river, flowing through the Suzhou River of Ma and the photographer. After all, Peony and Ma will come together, no matter if they go into the sea or in the desert, and Meimei and the photographer, their story seems to have just begun but ended in a hurry. The movie is over, but some things will not disappear: Portable photography The shaky lens, the obsolete feeling of the film, the orange-red tungsten filaments of the indoor lights appearing in every corner of the lens, the night of Shanghai. The Suzhou River full of rubbish, the busy Suzhou River carrying ships of all kinds and hard life, the Suzhou River that traverses the ancient and emerging city of Shanghai has surpassed the original existence of matter, and The remaining concepts in the film are Lou Ye's thoughts on love and life.
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