In the review of the last issue of "Annie Hall", I said that Wong Kar-wai had only made one "The True Story of Ah Fei" in his entire life.
In fact, from the beginning of "The True Story of A Fei", Wong Kar-wai's films have drifted away from the "audience" and "reason".
Imagine that in 1994, on Hong Kong Island where many concepts have not yet fully opened up, most of the audience holding popcorn, holding girls/boys/children, and making some strange plans in their minds, watching Takeshi Kaneshiro eat 30 cans of canned pineapples, The expression is mostly like this:
Yes, the closeness, estrangement, attraction, and aversion in feelings are something that everyone has, but not everyone can experience it personally. It is even more difficult to express with words and lenses. Although commercial movies have such a halo, they have logic that everyone can understand. But where is the logic of emotion?
In order to highlight the illogical nature of love, the characters in Wong Kar Wai's movies are marginalized people of varying degrees:
some marginalized people are in occupations-for example, the killer dawn of a primary school classmate;
Some marginal behaviors-Dumb 223 Takeshi Kaneshiro who makes pigs a horse and kills a chicken;
Some of the margins are in the outlook on life-Xu Zai used his own power to make all the people related to him trapped in love.
I will call them "outsiders". There would be no Wong Kar Wai movies without the "departed from the world".
But this time, I just want to talk about those who have joined the world-from "A Fei Zheng Chuan" to "Evil and West Poison", the changes in the people who have joined the world also reflect the change of Wong Kar-wai's mentality of joining the world.
1. Waiting and Fear-The Super Boy
Super Boy of "A Fei's True Story" is the only one who has joined the world in "A Fei's True Story".
Other major roles, whether it is the prodigal son Xu Zai (Leslie Cheung) who has no sense of belonging, the adoptive mother (Pan Dihua) who fought with his adopted son for the
first time, Su Lizhen (Cheung Maggie) who can't get out of "one minute" in her life, and Mimi (Carina Lau) who is crazy about her love , Or the chubby thing in the back seat of the car (Jacky Cheung), who perseveres in the emotion of leaving the world, does not ask about work or about world affairs, and it is difficult to extricate himself from emotions.
In contrast, the super boy played by Andy Lau is a "legged bird" like a fake.
In the 1960s, he had the status of a civil servant (police) who was most satisfied with the parents in the 21st century. In a movie filled with an atmosphere of "I don't like you anymore", he said
something that makes sense; he even represented the official complaint. Zai’s theory of "footless bird" completely pits "footless bird" and "footless bird".
However, just as his angular features are incompatible with the film's tone, the entry into the world is destined to be a tragedy in "A Fei's True Story".
The policeman on duty at night is as lonely as the taxi driver in "Taxi Driver", who can meet countless people in one night, but is always tired of dealing with errands and can't get into the hearts of others.
In the rainy night, he saw Su Lizhen (Cheung Manyu) abandoned by the prodigal son Xuzai (Leslie Cheung) and gave her help (taxi money); on another night, he half-reluctantly listened to her and gave it in a tough way. Concerned, they took the tram together again, and the relationship between the two seemed to have a clue.
It is a pity that those who have entered the world have suffered in this story not less than those who have left the world.
His mother was so ill that he couldn't finish being a One Piece, no, it was a crew member's dream.
In the face of reality, he cannot be as willful as Xu Zai. His story of "Being a man, don't compare" and his school uniform reflects the contrast between him and Xu Zai: he is not worried about food and clothing, and is unpredictable. In front of Xuzai, he was very "poor".
Faced with the girl he likes, dumbly, he will only "call me if no one is looking for you" and "Hey, you still lack the money for the car".
(Please note that this is the only time the indifferent face of Chao Zi showed caring eyes throughout the film).
Compared to using her foster mother's earrings to catch Xu Zai, who is a bold and unrestrained female Mimi, it is really a heaven and an underground...
After this, it is the waiting of the telephone booth.
"I never thought she would call me, but every time I passed the phone booth, I would stop and wait for a while. Maybe, she has already returned to Macau, or maybe, she only needs a person to accompany her all night."
Until his mother passed away, he completely left this place that brought him memories. And Su Lizhen's call came late at this time...
As the first molding work of Wong Kar-wai's style, the screen image of the person who has escaped the world is more brilliant in "The Story of A Fei" than the person who has entered the world. The identity of a person who has entered the world is detached in the play, and the same is true outside the play.
Andy Lau's role was not mentioned as many times as Leslie Cheung, and even Jacky Cheung's role. (The hottest time was when someone put forward the argument that Xu Zai and Chao Zai were gay...)
At that time, Wong Kar-wai, in movies and in life, was in the trial stage. He is pessimistic about joining the WTO, and this pessimism is truly reflected in the character of Chao Zai.
two. Simple and passionate-
If Chao Zi in "Evil East and West Poison" was unavoidably part of the tragedy, four years later, the North Beggar became "Evil West Poison" "A puddle of clear water in a desert has injected a different vitality into the tragedy.
Just like "A Fei Zheng Chuan", the main characters of "Evil and West Poison" are all escapers:
Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), a killer agent who escapes the world in the desert, drunk drunken life and dreams of death and wine, bears all the people of the world and forgets everything. Huang Yaoshi (Liang Jiahui) who is in the world, the lone sibling who splits his siblings due to love and hatred (Lin Qingxia), the sunset warrior who gradually loses his eyesight (Leung Chaowei), who is desperately waiting for revenge in the desert with a basket of eggs Ms. Egg (Yang Caini), the woman watching in the water (Carina Lau), the sister-in-law (Cheung Maggie)
who thought she had won but lost everything... They carried strong love, but with stronger self-esteem, and finally they lost everything. Fleeing to the desert and closing oneself has become their way of escaping from life.
It was Hong Qi who chose to walk out of the desert without shoes.
He was poor and white. The shoes he wore when talking about business came from Ouyang Feng's "full help", because wearing shoes can get a higher price. In terms of status, he is not even as good as Super Boy.
He is only poor with a wife who will never abandon him. But he refused to take it with him—"Who would take his wife into the rivers and lakes". At this stage, Hong Qi's wife, like Chao Zai's mother, is a real problem he wants to escape, but has to face.
If he chooses to hide from his wife for the rest of his life, or like Ouyang Feng, to become a person with the highest interests, then he will be trapped in the desert and become another "out of the world" under Ouyang Feng's banner. It is only a matter of time.
Why is he finally able to have a completely different fate from Chao Zai? Because he has the advantage that the escaped and the super boy do not have: simplicity.
Behind Chaozai's kindness, there are countless realistic concerns, not to mention his introverted personality that made him miss Su Lizhen. And Hong Qi's nothing, on the contrary, made him have greater courage to be a chivalrous man. Compared with the self-interested Ouyang Feng, the pleasure brought by money is far weaker than the pleasure brought by a chivalrous man and righteousness. Ms. Egg, who was bent on revenge, could not get the help of Ouyang Feng or the sunset samurai, but got the help of Hong Qi who had nothing.
In revenge for Ms. Egg, Hong Qi lost a finger. Throwing a finger away, the pain of a martial artist is comparable to a severed head. At that time, Hong Qi was seriously ill again, and we seemed to have seen the birth of another super boy.
What's interesting is that severing his fingers completely separates him from the escaped. Because of rejecting Ms. Egg's proposal to sell herself to save herself, Hong Qi finally felt the warmth his wife could give during his recuperation.
"Rootless" is one of the motifs of Wong Kar-wai's movies, and most people who have escaped from the world are immersed in the anxiety of rootlessness.
Looking back at "The True Story of A Fei" again, the source of everything is that Xu Zai finds his birth mother. There is only torture and struggle with her adoptive mother, and it is difficult to enjoy the warmth brought by the family. Other characters are also in a state of no family and no support. Even the super boy, after the death of his mother, completely escaped from Hong Kong and became a crew member.
As a result, in the star-studded "Evil East and West Poison", the most mediocre-looking wife turned out to be a haven for all the characters. With a sense of belonging, Hong Qi finally got rid of the prejudice, took his wife, and wandered the world.
He said this before leaving:
From "The True Story of A Fei" to "The Evil in the West", Wong Kar-wai is no longer so pessimistic about the situation of those who have joined the world. In "The True Story of A Fei", Chao Zi is far away from the people he likes; when it comes to "The Evil in the West", Hong Qi ignored Ouyang Feng's words, "There is nothing different on the other side of the mountain", and bravely crossed the desert symbolizing predicament and became a nine-finger hero on the rivers and lakes.
In addition to the intervention of family factors, the variables also show that Wong Kar-wai is no longer full of worries and fears about joining the WTO. On the contrary, bravely stepping out of the demons and actively joining the WTO is the first important thing to get out of the predicament.
Unexpectedly, the story of Wang Jiawei’s entry into the world is not finished yet...
Finally, out of selfishness, I personally add two sentences:
1. The original soundtracks of "A Fei Zheng Chuan" and "Evil West Poison" are really good, especially It's the latter. The military merit chapter of the original soundtrack of "A Great Westward Journey" has two-thirds of this one.
2. Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung are still the most handsome in "The True Story of A Fei" and "The Evil in the East" and "Evil in the West"...
Whee.
The article has been published by the public account: Muwei does not have a holiday first,
welcome to pay attention and exchanges~
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