More than 160 years ago, the first World Exposition was held in London, and a "Crystal Palace" built of steel and glass was unveiled for a brave new world in front of all beings. In the time and space of "The Grand Master", the steel-paved station and the glass-encrusted golden building are all phantom projections of the "Crystal Palace". It is a domineering side leak of the modern era, and it is rare for martial arts kung fu films that specialize in palace inn and landscape bamboo forest.
This is Wong Kar Wai's characteristic martial arts. Ye Wen often kicked his opponent Zhenfei down—it's not too bad for a person to fall down, it's only when the screw breaks, the glass shatters, and the iron door is knocked over. The profile says he has great fists and kicks. But even more powerful is the Times Train. The highlight of the duel between Gong Er and Masan Railway Station is the ancient and modern battle between the flesh and steel. The train sped out, and Gong Er was in the position where it collided head-on. The train moves forward in a destructive way, and if the flesh and blood collide, it will only be scattered. Ma San sneered: "What time is it, you are still playing monkey show here!"
Another kind of glass material, in Wong Kar Wai's urban films, used to be the cat's eye on the door, the crystal bead curtain, and the waterfall table lamp in "Springtime". The old attic is rotten and dusty, and glass is needed to make this Republic of China world shine. In multiple scenes, the same person is reflected in many figures, like a luxurious cut surface polished by a diamond, like a dream. After Gong Er passed away, Ye Wen looked back and saw "Gong Ruomei" on the sign of the hospital. The handwriting is a reflection, presumably through a mirror. The words of Liu Yichang quoted in "In the Mood for Love" are here: "Those years gone by are like a piece of dusty glass that you can see but cannot grasp." Of course, the unforgettable scene also includes Gong Er, who was covered in snow, spit blood on the glass, "white snow and red plums in the glass world", like a fake.
Wong Kar-wai's martial arts thus opened up two worlds without semicolons: the ancient and the modern, the reality and the dream, the clear and the hazy, the lingering and the confused, the disappearing and the future... It's surprising What's more, Gong Er's victory over Ma San was not only because of the outdated "Old Ape Hanging Seal", but also because of the trend of the times, and he used his own way to treat his own body. Masan was caught in and thrown out like a meat grinder, so he lost. Facing the alternation of old and new, he knows how to take advantage of the situation like Gong Er, and can also advance and retreat freely - Ma San said that she "doesn't know how to advance or retreat" is wrong.
The colored glass is fragile, the sky curtain falls, and the Leifeng Pagoda will fall. The train goes forever, neither heading for heaven nor falling into hell. "It's better to think ahead than to stop." In other words, Jodie Foster just said when she won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 70th Golden Globe Awards: "Change, you have to like this word."
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