There are really not many good-looking Hong Kong movies now. From the stagnation in the 1990s to the current recession, there has been a situation where there is no connection, the market is sluggish, and it has experienced financial turmoil. Now few people are willing to pay big money to make movies. In addition, in a movie with a small investment, most of it is the salary of a big-name star, so the production level is often low and a vicious circle appears. In this situation, Johnnie To and his "Galaxy Image" (Milkyway Image [ HK] Ltd.) is a golden sign of Hong Kong movies.
The success of Galaxy Imaging stems from the excellent production team, apart from the initiator To Qifeng, there are also all-rounders like You Naihai, You Dazhi, Wei Jiahui who can write and direct, and To Qifeng has been the most active director in the Hong Kong film industry in recent years. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Galaxy Imaging, it not only released two "Underworld" films, which won the Best Director Award at the Academy Awards, but also recently released a new work "Exile", which has drawn a strong role for Galaxy Imaging in the history of Hong Kong films. a sum of.
Johnnie To is one of my favorite Hong Kong directors, second only to Peng Haoxiang, so as long as they make a new film, I will definitely watch it as soon as possible. As a mainland movie fan, unfortunately, I can't see Cantonese and uncut films for the time being. The original version, a lot of cuts, and the scalp-tingling dubbing still can't erase my favorable impression of "Exile", in which we can see too many elements of Du's film.
"Exile" can be said to be a regressive work of To Qifeng. The overall feeling is somewhat like "Gunfire" and "PTU". Of course, these are also his two best works. After the two "Underworld" This kind of work can also be said to be a plate of dessert served to us by Mrs. Du after the big meal. It does not have the so-called epic sense of solemnity and ambition in "Underworld", but it has a naughty and even ridicule.
The story of "Exile" is very simple, and the relationship between the characters is not complicated. At the beginning of the film, before the director explained the relationship between the characters, there was a cool shootout scene. Not to mention drawing a gun and shooting, and then calm down again, this kind of opening scene in Hong Kong is also the Da Qifeng who dared to play. It can be said that he made a joke with the audience at the beginning, and as a movie watcher, he is also addicted to his eyes. , that is, from this moment, the film cuts into the theme, and the story in the future is very easy to understand. Let's take a closer look at the classic Du's elements in the film.
1. The sense of stage play The biggest impression that
To Qifeng 's films gave me was the full sense of stage play. The most prominent one is "PTU". In his films, the shots always stay in a relatively closed space, including camera positions and lighting. Approaching the requirements of the stage play, it is not difficult to understand that his movies always express some kind of conflict, like the conflict between the five brothers and the gangster in "Exile", and such a plot setting in the stage play is undoubtedly a Appropriately, in "Exile", we can see that To Qifeng continues such a characteristic, most of the scenes take place indoors, and four of the five shootout scenes take place in a small space.
2. Gunfight scenes
Gunfight scenes are what To Qifeng is best at. After experiencing the tepid action scenes in "Underworld", we saw the enjoyable gunfight scenes again. Each of the five gunfight scenes in "Exile" has its own characteristics. The scenes that take place indoors are unforgettable, and To Qifeng's shot scheduling has also reached the level of perfection. It can be seen that after "The Big Event", the director himself has also made further explorations in the field he is familiar with, so that the The control of the gun battle scene has been pushed to another peak, and we also have reasons to believe that Johnnie To will bring us better and cooler gun battle scenes in the near future.
3. Royal actors
Wu Zhenyu, Huang Qiusheng, Zhang Yaoyang, Ren Dahua, Lin Xue, Tan Bingwen. . . There are too many big-name stars who are so familiar that they have given us their best performances. Wu Zhenyu's surly, Huang Qiusheng's acting is deep, and Lin Xue's clumsiness are all my favorites. They are never lacking in To Qifeng's films. Big-name actors and well-placed performances. This time, Ren Xianqi also made a cameo appearance as a police officer. His coolness makes me want to laugh. Ren Dahua's role has changed a lot from the past, and his explosive personality also allows us to see another side of Ren Dahua.
4. the fate of the little man
To Qifeng has been paying attention to the theme of the fate of the little people. The five brothers in the play are all inconspicuous killers in the underworld. The boss of one of them asked him to kill his partner. In the torrent of fate, they chose to go upstream, but the partner Their death forced them to let their fate move their noses, and they even had to flip a coin to decide which way to go. In the end, after accidentally getting a ton of gold, they inevitably died. Everything was a trick of fate. Brotherly love and the experience of mingling in the underworld have been doomed to such an ending.
In fact, "Exile" is a masterpiece of To Qifeng. Every detail of the film is deeply imprinted with To Qifeng's imprint. Although it is not his best movie, it is still very good to watch. The process is also very easy, and a lot of interesting things are added in the film, such as the shot of topping the can in the final battle scene, which seems to be a joke about the Pepsi advertisement, which will definitely make you smile, and the so-called "broken arm" by Zhang Yaoyang. "The ridicule, but the most ridiculous thing is that this film has been rated as a third-level film by the mainland after "Underworld 2". The reason is that there is a scene where Ren Dahua and Lin Jiadong are holding the backhand. Yes, but it doesn't matter at all, everyone should watch the Cantonese version if you have a chance.
ps: "Exile. Banished" originally thought it was quite artistic, but the clumsy Kaigao's subtitles at both ends of the opening and ending are really. . . I won't say it, but I'll have to wait until the Cantonese unabridged version comes out. Remember
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