Zhang Yimou is not a director good at original stories, and his films rely on various adaptations. Because of this, his films always have a strong literary character of the original. This gave Zhang Guoshi a pass to the ivory tower. "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" is another film adapted from a novel, but Yan Geling's novel is very short. Although it mixes grand elements such as Japanese invasion of China, nationalism and patriotism, the theme is arrogance and prejudice. Obviously, such a small and fresh theme lacks the grand narrative temperament of the two blockbusters, so Zhang Yimou put aside the Hollywood doctrine of "Less is More", and abruptly stuffed a novella into a lot of things that can attract the attention of foreign adults and step on China. Elements of human nerve drum up dozens of pages of novella into a three-hour movie.
"The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" seems to bear the heavy responsibility of revealing history, but in fact it is still a historical speculation by patriotic thieves. Usually the "World War II" films that explore human nature will attract international attention no matter how bad they are, which is why the bad film "Nanjing Nanjing" can win awards abroad. Likewise, ethnic hatred is the tail left over from China's evolution from a third world country to a developed country. Therefore, films such as "Huo Yuanjia" and "Ip Man" can make Chinese audiences scream by stepping on this tail. . The speculation in "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" is far more than that. Two Zhang took a fancy to the fragrant elements of prostitutes fighting against Japan in the novel, hoping to replicate the successful model of "Lust and Caution" using physical curiosity. As a result, the fresh prejudice theme in the novel was turned into a glamorous "prostitute anti-Japanese" by speculators, and a massacre tragedy became a group P comedy.
The film's use of film techniques exposed Zhang Yimou's lack of ability. Usually war films directed by academic filmmakers will boldly use many film techniques to express the five flavors of war on the basis of literature, but in Zhang Yimou's "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", the film techniques are pitiful. The church has many Western symbols, but obviously, Zhang Yimou has not used any religious symbols except a colorful skylight. Bell's John lacks the necessary transition of transformation and soul redemption. In addition, the film's perspective is also a big problem. Looking at the cruelty of the adult world from the perspective of children has been used badly by films such as "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Frankenstein", "The Hive", "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Loch Ness Monster", but if the narrative method is correct , can still move the audience. "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" is very nonsensical. The film uses both the perspective of a little girl and the perspective of the national army. It even jumps out in the middle of the film and presents the perspective of the fake priest John. The unclear perspective weakens the creator's subjective expression.
The war scene is a major selling point of the film, and Zhang Yimou has indeed stolen a lot from Hollywood war films. The national army, with a strong sense of presence, confronted the Japanese squad head-on with a high level, although the bridges of several grenade bombing tanks were a little overhanging, the overall audio-visual effect was good. Usually war films are a test of the director’s ability to perform in a group. Through a few simple bridges, the characters can be shaped, the background of the characters can be explored, and the individual soldiers can be famous. However, the national army in “Jinling Thirteen Hairpins” is not only Instructor Li, other The national army lacked character building, and the deaths of these soldiers could not inspire sympathy from the audience, and the dialogue between Pu Sheng and Cardamom was quite joyful. The war scenes in the film are full of obscenities that lack a realistic foundation, and the exaggerated war scenes seem to provide another possibility for history through time and space by the Terminator. Zhang Yimou tried his best to exaggerate the bravery of the sniper Instructor Li, who could kill a platoon of the enemy alone. He's like a master escape, and he can dramatically rip the earth when he dies. Unlike "Saving Private Ryan", "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" is not a documentary style, so some bloody scenes in the film, such as the bloody scene where cardamom is stabbed to death by the Japanese army, are unnecessary. Zhang Yimou's blunt expression of a big bowl of blood exposed his incompetence as a film director.
The actor's performance is also not the selling point of the film. Kristen Bell, who won the "Fighter" award, is an international star of the film, but he is born with a pair of sharp and cold eyes, and his temperament is not suitable for such roles. In "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", Bell failed to interpret the complex psychological changes of an American gangster who loves money and lust. The John he played is sometimes ignorant of profit, sometimes sympathetic, sometimes condescending, and sometimes full of justice. When John put on the priest's clothes, he almost became a holy priest, but at this time he had a shot with Yumo, which made the film less of the loss in "Lust, Caution". The performances of other actors are quite satisfactory, lacking the bright spots of your comings and goings. In the film, the Japanese army who was responsible for creating a terrifying atmosphere was as stupid as a straight bamboo, unable to hold Bell's aura at all.
"The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" is another speculation by the two films using ethnic themes such as "massacre" and "prostitutes against Japan". The two aimed to integrate into the Western film family through flattery. However, the film itself lacked the bright spots it should have, and it appeared empty once. Clumsy flirting. (The movie is crazy/irritating, please indicate the source for reprinting)
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