Original title: A New Breakthrough of "Double Heroes Mode+Epic Legend"
Wen Shu Zhou Su (President of Higher Education Branch of Beijing Normal University Publishing Group, deputy editor, special researcher of Beijing Normal University Art Education Research Center, director of the Art Education Committee of China Art Theory Society)
New film viewpoint
Special fund support for the development of national film industry
Special feature of 1905 film network The legendary epic film "When the Wind Comes Again", starring the two major film emperors, was released nationwide on February 5th. As the opening film of the 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival, "When the Wind Comes Again" was nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best production designer in the 16th Asian Film Awards, and will represent Hong Kong, China in the best international film Oscar in March this year. Excellent film quality and conscientious creative attitude helped "When the Wind Comes Again" win the general expectation of the audience after the Spring Festival.
As an epic film adapted from the true story of the famous "Four Detectives" in Hong Kong history, When the Wind Comes Again focuses on Lei Le (played by Aaron Kwok) and Nanjiang (played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai), two police strongmen with distinctive personalities, and with their legendary personal struggles of cooperation and struggle, they bear the historical destiny of Hong Kong that has been changing since 1930. In the film, elements such as anti-corruption, brothers against each other and gun battle confrontation continue the fascinating existing genes of classic Hong Kong films. The exquisite treatment of the film in the aspects of sketching the previous history and shaping the role, psychological description and rhythm, detail echo and historical projection reflects the director’s skillful and steady creative control; In addition, the creator’s delicate interpretation of multi-clue character relationship and emotional entanglement breaks through the theme limitation of epic films, which is worthy of careful observation and continuous aftertaste.
The core point of "When the Wind Comes Again" is "The Two Heroes Fight for the Front". From Hollywood’s "Two Heroes" to Hong Kong, China’s, the success of classic films of two heroes in film history is often reflected in ensuring the strength of the "two heroes" to keep the dynamic balance in the portrayal of the two heroes.
As a legendary film with epic elements, When the Wind Comes Again needs to follow the creation rules of gangster epic films, that is, it should always highlight a focus figure who assumes the function of "narrator", and by shaping its core charm as a "chosen son", it will lead to the profound history of the grand era behind the individual. Therefore, when creating such a dual theme as "Biography of Two Heroes+Epic Legend", it is not easy to achieve the "1+1 > 2" effect caused by two male actors in the film.
Based on this, in the role design of When the Wind Comes Again, Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Chiu Wai are carefully conceived, just like the "game masters" who are evenly matched on both sides of the tattoo. Whenever one side plays a wonderful hand, the other side will win back the advantage again after hitting back; With the repeated replacement of black and white clouds, the distinct personalities of both sides of the game are naturally revealed through the interactive demolition of the game. In the film, Lei Yue is like a spear — — He is bold, ruthless, fierce, strong personality and high ambition, which makes him gain the "first-hand" advantage in the early confrontation between the two men. The genius of the director’s narrative lies in the fact that Lei Le’s impulsive personality is portrayed like a spear, which is set off by his powerful opponent Nanjiang’s "chess is superior".
For example, when Lei Le first invited Nanjiang to have a drink at night, Nanjiang responded wonderfully and forcefully: "Let’s make an appointment for breakfast. Not eating breakfast is not good for your gallbladder. Excessive bile secretion will kill you." At the same time, Nanjiang is like a "shield" — — Restrain forbearance and perseverance, which is obvious from the fact that Nanjiang deliberately let Lei Le win the card at the poker table, and then Lei Le found that he felt humiliated and slapped him, and Nanjiang also chose to keep forbearance and not send it. In the film, Nanjiang gradually won the troops and forces originally belonging to Leile by virtue of this hidden and thick "shield" and its delicate and accurate ability to ponder over people’s hearts. The collision between "spear" and "shield" is bound to produce a continuous "contradiction" confrontation, which reasonably expands the dramatic "contradiction" tension in the narrative of the film, and the audience’s pleasure in watching movies is born.
Looking further, the subtlety of the creation of When the Wind Comes Again lies in the director’s thorough stripping of the "pre-history" and leading the audience to touch the psychological motivation of the formation of the two strongmen’s personalities. Ryunosuke Akutagawa once said, "I can’t be who I am today if I delete any moment in my life." Behind the fierce impulse of Lei Le, the film originated from the tragic past when he was young, and the similar scenes before and after Lei Le picked up the "steamed stuffed bun" and the repeated explanation of the mysterious number "517" formed a closed narrative clue, which linked up the "atonement" psychology that Lei Le had been suppressed into the subconscious, explaining the deep hidden reasons for his ruthless life.
Similarly, the echo of the first and last details of the paper money from the flashlight, and the design of a special picture such as "two-person dance" by Nanjiang alone show the dialectical relationship between betrayal and trust, complexity and simplicity, noise and loneliness, desire and love in human nature deeply off the screen. In essence, Lei Yue’s impulse is radical, just like the "ID" in the personality structure, which represents the instinctive subconscious desire and pursues the only "hedonic principle", so the film shows a large number of Lei Yue’s uncontrolled grasp of power, women and drugs. Nanjiang’s self-care, just like the "superego" in the personality structure, represents the repressed morality after sublimation and follows the "perfect principle" of internalization. Therefore, when Nanjiang finally faced Mrs. Lei Le, who had never wanted anything in his life but took off her clothes at that time, she chose to go over and put on her clothes again.
John Fiske pointed out that the audience gained the experience of "respecting" their familiarity with "discourse" in the interpretation of video texts, which inspired the source of power to continue to actively "reproduce" and "recode". When the audience watched the "contradictory" characters of Lei Le and Nanjiang in When the Wind Comes Again, they actually unconsciously projected their own consciousness and subconscious psychology, and completed the implicit "aesthetic replacement" of the roles between the screen and reality. That is to say, the audience interprets morality and forbearance by watching the surface conscious text of Nanjiang story, and further interprets their current predicament and inner desire in the deep unconscious "hidden text"; And this kind of desire is replaced by watching Leile’s "move". This desire of film design includes two extremes, namely, the pursuit of noble morality like "superego" and the appeal of "ID" instinct of "living". These two extreme conversion formulas depend on a variable, that is, whether the audience sees the weak or the strong in the hidden text of the film — — This is the core secret of the successful realization of the dynamic balance between the two heroes in When the Wind Comes Again.
The genius of the director is that he finally reconciled the "ID" and "superego" on both sides of the chessboard into "ego". In order to achieve this ultimate state, the film is deeply presented through lens language and text intertextuality. For example, When the Wind Rises, a large number of "close-ups" are used to enlarge the "hidden corners" in the characters’ hearts, and the close-ups are interpreted by Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Aaron Kwok and other "drama bones" with full three-dimensional eyes and micro-expressions, realizing the addition and even "soaring" of the character interpretation effect. Another example is the scenes of playing the piano in Nanjiang, dancing in the tap and dancing in the rain, which imply a tribute to classic plots such as Once upon a time in America. The intertextual elements generated by the connection between the characters in the film and classic images or works such as "Lame Hao", "The Biography of 500 million Detective Mayor" and "Once upon a time in America" outline the more full and three-dimensional personality diversity of the two protagonists in When the Wind Comes Again.
As Zhou Anhua, a film scholar, pointed out, the new Asian films, with the "new wave" as the track, "are obsessed with the deep cultivation of local life and show a unique charm for the historical statues intertwined with conflict and integration". "When the Wind Comes Again" breaks through the inherent restriction of the dual theme of "double hero mode+epic legend" with its extremely patient history and meticulous character description, and embodies the unique charm of typical Asian new movies.
For example, in the second half of the film, Leile and Nanjiang reached a reconciliation through the scene of "eating glutinous rice balls", which symbolizes the "brothers reunion" after their poor lives through tortuous games, and also just complements the psychology of the audience during the Lantern Festival, that is, the audience suddenly realized that watching the game between Leile and Nanjiang until reconciliation is actually showing everyone’s compromise and self-construction process. In the last shot at the end of the film, Lei Le, an old man who is dying of wind and candle, is staring at the camera, as if to see through the audience in reality off the screen, as if silently saying, "No brothers, no life."
New film viewpoint
Special fund support for the development of national film industry