Film Name: 满江红 / Full River Red
When I was a kid, I watched the animated movie “China’s Little Pawnbroker”, and I was particularly impressed by one part of the movie: in the preliminaries of the Special Chef Competition, which called for noodles with the theme of “Unrivaled Masters of the Nation”, Fei (Lan Feihong) made a bowl of Longshu Noodles with the theme of “Unrivaled Masters of the Nation”, which made people scream with its unique angle of “one body, two faces cannot be separated”. He used the unique angle of “two sides of the same body cannot be separated” to emphasize the theme, which is very impressive.
Today, I watched the movie “Full River Red”, which once again gave me a sense of the subtlety of this strange writing style.
Full River Red” can be in this Spring Festival market to win the first prize, there is indeed real material, director Zhang Yimou rich ideas of casting and supporting drama and mature and sophisticated photography control, screenwriter Chen Yu has a target of the type of elements selected, Shen Teng, Yi Yiqianxi, Zhang Yi, Lei Jiayin and other loyal to the role of the performance and so on, can be said to be the best.
And the movie uses one after another seemingly humble “absolute beauty” to sing a song of “unparalleled” that has been recited through the ages, which further illustrates how important storytelling techniques really are.
[Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below.]
The basic audio-visual experience is probably the least of Zhang Yimou’s worries, and Zhang’s exuberant desire to create and his steady high production in recent years have not affected this aesthetic standard in the slightest.
The story takes place on the eve of Qin Hui’s meeting with the Jin Empire, more specifically an hour before dawn, and the film’s main color scheme is dominated by large swaths of grey, black, dark green, and dark yellow, in keeping with the suspenseful tone of the film.
However, unlike Zhang Yimou’s Shadow, Full River Red’s colorful images are far from “extreme”, and it will be accompanied by a lot of bright colors that look slightly “abrupt” to make decorations, such as Qin Hui’s red, He Li’s green, as well as Yao Qin, Blue Jade, and the color of the sky, and the color of the sky, and the color of the sky. As well as Yao Qin’s red, He Li’s green, and the colorful costumes of Yao Qin, Lan Yu, and Lv Zhu, coupled with the occasional appearance of blood red, the viewer is visually very easy to get into the scene and comfortable.
The movie’s soundtrack is also unique, generally still traditional, such as how to stand knocking people when the Peking Opera tune, but we should be more impressed by the transition of the “Yu Opera-style rock”, effectively enriching the sense of view when switching scenes, not to mention that, there is a kind of “cooking a small fish do not forget to explode the oil! The movie also has a sense of “cooking a small dish without forgetting the oil explosion”, which is out of place and somehow exciting.
Of course, the best thing about Full River Red is the relatively self-contained chapter-by-chapter narrative, and the excellent pacing that goes along with it.
The plot of the film is small and meticulous, the opening with the death of the emissary of the Golden State to pull up the atmosphere, and quickly let Zhang Dai and Sun Jun team up, began to shuttle in the compound around the investigation, the process of reasoning, interrogation, argument and regurgitation, supplemented by the appropriate elements of comedy to spice up even if you don’t use your head, the ornamental are not low.
Moreover, in this closed space, first there is the prime minister Qin Hui hanging over his head, and then there are He Li, Wuyi Chun two different backgrounds of the general manager of the needle, as well as Yaoqin, Ding Sanwang, Liu Xi and others have a plan, with the layers of the cocoon, the successive emergence of the case in the case, the bureau in the Bureau, but also continue to pull viewers deeper into it.
Although Shen Teng as Zhang Da has more laughs and points of interest, but to really eat Full River Red in one place, the key clues and grips, in fact, is the core of the story Sun Jun, played by Yi Yi Qianxi.
Sun Jun is the only one who participates in all the schemes and “bureaus” in the whole movie, and also the only one who does not have a stable persona and has a complex character with a growth curve (Lei Jiayin’s Qin Hui is also a little bit of this meaning, but in the design of the play was separated from the body and the body double).
When he first appeared on the scene, Sun Jun’s image was very simple and flat, a sharp and bloodthirsty knife, emphasizing the word “ruthless”: the soldiers and servants who couldn’t ask for information were killed with their swords drawn, and Zhang Da, who was able to make use of his “relatives”, was also unforgiving. The fake public assistance to get rid of their own commander Wang Biao, regardless of the authenticity of the kill not wrong ……
Sun Jun in the early stage looks just an ambitious young general, he can be at the mercy of Qin Hui, He Li and other people with real power to take what they want, and do not hesitate to act as a cold-blooded executioner and tool man.
However, this cold and brainless enforcer role soon came to a bottleneck, Sun Jun, even if he was stupid, would have sensed that he was not looking for the murderer but was looking for something …… not to mention that he was smart enough to understand that even if Zhang Da did not pick it out, he understood that he was involved in a conspiracy that would cost him his life.
When Zhang Da told himself about the existence of the secret letter, Sun Jun’s behavior was different, he began to become flexible and reserved, gradually completing the transition from NPC to player.
By this time, the identity of Zhang Da as the conspirator (in front of the audience) has been unraveled, and the point of view has shifted to the content of the secret letter and the suspicion of counter-evidence, Sun Jun not only has to fulfill his new commander’s duties in the open, but also has to be well thought out in the actual implementation, leaving a way out for himself and not leaving a trick behind.
For example, when Wuyi Chun plans to return to Lin’an to face the saint with Yao Qin in private, Sun Jun firstly anticipates this and draws He Li to confront him, and then when the two chief governors sit down to drink tea and play a clear game of cards, he has the good sense to take a backseat, accomplishing his goal but staying out of the limelight.
But if that’s all it is, then Full River Red is at best a tale of battle of wits, lacking the emotional and value output to match.
Here we should talk about a scene that I like very much, also in the scene of four people drinking tea: Wuyi Chun pulled out the imperial gold medal, Zhang Da saw immediately attached to the kneeling, He Li saw the buttocks did not move, only Sun Jun first got up to pay homage to the gesture, and then in the paper fan of the He Li blocked the salute stopped – this detail shows that Sun Jun both to the imperial power to hold a reverence, but not entirely This detail shows that Sun Jun is both in awe of the imperial power, but not completely tamed by the power of the temple in the sky high and far away.
In other words, Sun Jun is also the only one among the four people on the spot who has not been “stereotyped”, and only this kind of people who still have doubts and uncertainties will be shaken after Zhang Da puts his plan on the table.
The fact is, Zhang Da has Zhang Da’s plan, Qin Hui has Qin Hui’s game, Wuyi Chun has Wuyi Chun’s plan, He Li has He Li’s mind …… Only Sun Jun does not know the whole picture of any plan, he can only rely on his own wisdom and heart to face one after another seems to be simple, but the difficult choice.
Therefore, Sun Jun tortured Zhang Dai to confess his guilt when the ruthlessness is true, see Zhang Dai back on the “loyalty to the country” after the intention of chaos and annoyance is also true, and ultimately became Zhang Dai plan and the film turned to the real climax of the “last move”.
In terms of character, what Sun Jun experienced is the process from blunt to sharp, from insensitive to sharp; but in terms of temperament, Sun Jun is gradually shifting from smooth and stern to chaotic and thick …… This role is not a good one to play, and the four-lettered younger brother is doing well this time, especially in the sharp and introspective aspects, so I hope to keep up the good work.
Finally, let’s talk about the outstanding feature of Full River Red, that is, the way it tells about the feelings of the family and the country – if you were to write an essay and create a work on the topic of Yue Fei’s Full River Red – Raging Hair, what would you do?
I’m afraid that many people will start from the hero Yue Fei, the history of the Southern Song Dynasty, the appreciation of the words, the spirit of will, etc., but the movie “Full River Red” has changed the idea, it is in the death of Yue Fei, Qin Hui in power in the context of the pen, with most of the time to tell a seemingly irrelevant story, in the subtle gradual, step-by-step, with the use of Sun Jun, Zhang Da, and many martyrs of the ” The “Perfect Beauty” is a powerful and powerful song, “Full River Red”, which is worthy of the title “Unrivaled Scholar of the Nation”.
This is what Full River Red is capable of: the final emotional outburst of the film is so well measured that one point too much would be too positive and turn it into a serious speech, and one point too little would be too awkward and make it look like a monkey with a crown. The Four Uns.
We need movies that tell stories like this.
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