the end, I went out of my way to watch "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle", 3D/4K/120fps.
This is its highest version. The high frame rate format will greatly improve the clarity of the picture. In the media reports, "Billy Lynn's Midfield War" was also labeled as "technology".
The first thing that comes to my mind is the Lumiere Brothers' "The Arrival of the Train."
Arrival at a Train Station is probably the most famous early film, and in fact a very good filmmaking.
This "video", which is only about 1 minute, records the process of a train entering the station, picking up passengers, and leaving the station in the form of a fixed shot.
The Lumiere brothers found a very good angle for the camera to visually create the effect of the train coming from a distance and possibly galloping off the left side of the screen.
It is said that the person watching at the time was so frightened that he got up and ran away.
Of course we haven't experienced it, so we can't say we fully understand it. But this kind of technological development from scratch naturally has absolute power.
In fact, if you watched the 3D giant-screen version of "Avatar" in 2009, to a certain extent, you can understand how people felt when they watched "The Train Arrives."
James Cameron set a new visual standard for the movie, and I was stunned that I only bought the first row at the time. Since then, watching any 3D movies will feel that they are more or less suspected of being "special in China".
This time, I really want to say: Ang Lee has defined a new standard for cinema with 120 frames. I like almost all of Ang Lee's films and admire his achievements.
But I hate myself, I don't think so.
If we compare the 24-frame movies we usually watch to TV, then "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle" is high-definition TV. In 3D, it's an HDTV close to your face.
This extreme clarity is not without effect, and the explosions and fireworks scenes of the film really impressed me. (In fact, I haven't had a chance to compare the exact same footage at 24fps.)
But most of the time, the too-sharp details became a burden to me. I don't want to waste energy on freckles on actors' faces anymore.
I also don't think that's what the movie is after.
People usually like to see things a little more clearly, but in a movie theater, I think a 24-frame "blurred movie" is an image worth spending time on.
If Ang Lee makes another 120-frame format for the next Muhammad Ali biopic, in the current situation, I will choose to watch a 24-frame "blurred movie".
Whether 120 frames can become mainstream still needs time to test.
However, this negative attitude about HD movies doesn't stop me from liking Ang Lee's new work.
The film structure of "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle" is: positive narration + flashback. The selected perspective has always been the protagonist Billy Lynn, a limited perspective that describes the inner world and the surrounding world through a person's feelings.
The main narrative is about the heroic fighting team, who briefly returned from Iraq, is invited to a halftime performance of a rugby game, during which a series of conflicts over money, values, and emotions take place.
Flashbacks are based on the story of the combat team on the battlefield in Iraq, describing how the war played on Billy Lynn.
The two parts of the story are edited in parallel to express the meaning of "American soldiers sacrificed a lot, endured loneliness, and the American people are puzzled and bastards."
Those criticizing audiences mostly thought the film's story was too generic, but for Ang Lee, it wasn't just the story.
For Chinese audiences, the two most familiar Ang Lee films are probably Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Pi's Fantasy Drift.
These two films are excellent representatives of Ang Lee's film aesthetics, fully demonstrating his unique ability to integrate Eastern and Western philosophical thoughts.
Just like the classic bamboo forest play in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", it is like playing Tai Chi, which is free and calm, with four or two strokes.
Ang Lee's films are excellent products of this kind of thinking, esoteric but not difficult, and infinitely meaningful yet embrace the common audience.
The flaw in "Billy Lynn" is that it embraces the average audience too much. This story is too easy to understand. When the audience understands a main drama, especially Ang Lee's movies, they will think that the director is incompetent, and those things that they cannot understand are regarded as Ang Lee's greatness.
I really like this mainstream Hollywood story, and the inner complexity it expresses.
Billy Lynn's back-and-forth between dewy lover, comrade-in-arms, and family made me feel the boundaries of what the spiritual world can reach. Even that alone, Ang Lee has succeeded.
At the same time, Ang Lee's handling of flashbacks also makes people feel very comfortable. For a movie that relies on flashbacks to support its main structure, Ang Lee has done a fantastic job.
"Billy Lynn's Halftime Show" is a movie worth watching, but you don't necessarily have to watch it at 120fps.
Maybe in the future you will be able to experience this kind of viewing on HD movie channels too, as long as you get closer to the TV.
Finally, I would like to express my support with the director's patch I personally shot.
The image is captured before the film starts, not on the screen.
Because I was caught off guard, I took out the phone a little late...so I missed the first few seconds.
Trust me, I've tried my best.
View more about Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk reviews
