The evaluation of the film shows a trend of polarization. At present, the freshness of the film on Rotten Tomatoes is 100%, and 39 professional film critics have unanimously praised it. Among amateur moviegoers, some praised it and compared it to The Shining, while others thought the director was too pretentious and made the movie worthless.
Obviously, the director's painstakingly crafted sense of artistry, obscurity, and alienation is absolutely necessary. It is this kind of cloud cover that makes the audience feel the confusion of Zhong Jiu as a policeman; it is this kind of twists and turns that makes the audience feel the powerlessness of Zhong Jiu as a father. The highness and lowness of the technique is obviously not the original intention of the creation, but more like a subsidiary product of the director's pursuit of perfection when telling the story, and it happens that some audiences appreciate its unique charm, while the rest choose to conjecture it as pretty...
Huang Zhengmin's appearance accurately divided the 156-minute film into two parts, the front and the back. This special structure strengthens the shock of the collision between the virtual and the real. In the first half, we followed two clumsy police officers, wandering around the crime scene in this remote and ignorant area. There was a kind of deja vu of "Memories of Murder", giving people the illusion of a detective movie. Apart from memories and dreams, there are hardly any supernatural elements. Like Police Officer Zhong Jiu, we subjectively believe that all weirdness should have a reasonable and scientific explanation. And as the clues pile up, we take it for granted that we are getting closer to the truth.
In the second half, strange forces and chaos appear one by one. Although the supernatural elements are represented in a more realistic way (there is no special effect, which is also a great part of the film), at least Zhong Jiu finally knows that what he is facing is not ordinary The criminals, poisonous mushrooms, plagues, and we have also fallen into the confusion and fear of the unknown together with Zhong Jiu. The closer you get to the truth, the harder it is to see. Just like the Western proverb says: "The closer you look, the less you see. The less you see, the better for me." And the appearance of Sunlight played by Huang Zhengmin at this time is worth pondering, because as a shaman , he is the intermediary between humans and ghosts, and a compromise point between good and evil (I know, Nikko and the Japanese are a group, I really know...). This kind of unreal, righteous and evil chaos also continued through the role of Nikko until the end of the film, this "unclear" ending.
As he was saying this, Jesus himself stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" But they were frightened, thinking that what they saw was a soul. Jesus said, "Why are you troubled? Why do you have doubts in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, and you will know that it is really me. Touch me and see! I have no flesh and no soul, you see, I have. "
The reference to Luke's Gospel at the beginning of the film comes from the mouth of the devil at the end. As the patron saint of Wuming, holding Zhong Jiu's hand made him feel her existence. There are many similar religious symbols and metaphors in the film. As a non-believer, I can't make assumptions, so I will talk about my own thoughts. Starting from the dual concept of good and evil in the film, it can be understood as the struggle between God and Satan for the human heart. If you further consider that the film represents traditional shamanism and Western Christianity, it is not difficult to see the film's allusions to the exclusiveness of religion. People are willing to believe what they see with their own eyes and what they hear with their own ears, and the devil (evil) is using this to deceive people. It is easy for people to be misled by appearances, and evil lies conceal the truth, which is the source of all chaos and confusion.
Fans also have different understandings of the title "crying". It can be the homonym of the place where the event took place, or it can be the sound of the living crying after death. Today, I suddenly thought of an interesting understanding, which I think is quite appropriate:
Jesus wept. (John 11:35)
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