But perhaps because of professional reasons, I have always thought of Yang Dechang's "Guling Street Juvenile Murder", a 91-year-old film. A colleague said that the narrative style of "Guling Street" is worth learning from news writing. And I gradually feel that the mechanism of many news incidents is similar to the "Guling Street Juvenile Murder Incident". There seem to be many similarities between video works and text works.
But I think that the expressiveness of images is much stronger than that of words. Because intuitive pictures and vivid details are more likely to arouse a certain sentiment of the audience, which exceeds the content that the author originally intended to express. Coincidentally, "Guling Street Juvenile Murders" was adapted from a short piece of news, and its value far exceeded this trivial news event.
Lonely youthful memories.
I believe that many people can find the shadow of their youth in the "Little Four". Orthodox family education, good studies, silent character, sensitive heart... When Zhang Zhen's immature and shy face appeared When I was in front of the camera, I suddenly felt a kind of intimacy, the look very much like me many years ago.
"Guling Street" is Zhang Zhen's first film, when he was only 15 years old. Without experience, it is more suitable for showing the youthfulness of the small four. In the later "Mahjong", Zhang Zhen already had a little "early atmosphere". After Hou Xiaoxian's "training", he was completely transformed into a literary youth.
Under Yang Dechang's lengthy lens, "Little Four" mostly appeared in a silent and honest image, and he was rarely seen smiling. Even after "Shandong" was chopped down by Honey's friend, the "Little Four" looked thoughtful when they went to the finishing touches tremblingly. Unlike other children, he cannot truly integrate with the outside world. What he has more than others is his observation and thinking of the world. But at the same time, he must abide by his own rules and be an honest child and reliable partner.
But don't be fooled by his appearance. No one can really understand what a person is thinking, especially for a child in adolescence.
The inner world of the "Little Four" is not complicated. The intellectual's father gave him an orthodox family education, but the reality is far from the grand-sounding "benevolence, justice and morality." Neighbors are unreasonable and gloat; the school is only profiting, and the teacher's morality is corrupt. The "little four" does not understand why this is the case, he is confused, and he is silent.
He has friends. But the kitten is a precocious young man with a big kid and loyalty; the plane is honest and dull, and it is not conspiring; the pony has a chivalrous heart but is pampered and self-centered. Among these friends, he couldn't find common ground either. The loneliness of the "Little Four" may be here. He has to bear the contrast between the experience world and the real world, and he cannot get empathy from his friends.
"Little Four" didn't speak much, but his lines were hidden in those silent eyes. He has to grow up and face too many things beyond his own life experience. He can't express his timidity, curiosity and overwhelmingness in words, so he can only lower his head and his eyes thoughtful. Sometimes, you can't bear to look directly at those eyes, because it shows the invasion and pollution of a pure heart by the cruel reality. Of course, you can also understand it as the confusion and struggle in the process of growing up. But what exactly did the "Little Four" realize? You can only guess, but you don't know, only the "Little Four" knows.
Even in front of Xiao Ming, those eyes were still silent. But in this silence, there is already a pretended calm side. Affection is the best comfort for the small four, but Xiao Ming is at a disadvantage in terms of economics and so-called "public opinion." This is no different from the weakness of P4 in real life.
On Xiao Ming, Xiao Si clearly saw himself. He wants Xiao Ming to be independent because he is not independent enough; he wants to protect Xiao Ming because he himself needs protection. He projected all kinds of complex emotions towards himself onto Xiao Ming, even the knife that stabbed Xiao Ming.
Although there were more underlying reasons for Xiaosi's murder, that cut was undoubtedly a denial of his past self. Faced with a completely different environment while growing up, Xiao Si was at a loss. He didn't want to admit it but couldn't change it. Therefore, he said to Xiao Ming who was slowly falling, "Stand up, stand up quickly!" Xiao Ming still fell, and Xiao Ming's psychological support collapsed.
In my opinion, every teenager has traces of a small fourth on his body. Because in our growth, there is always a period of lingering loneliness and confusion. Behind our search for recognition from the outside world, there must be an inner self-denial. Therefore, Xiao Ming killed Xiao Ming and also his "past self".
But even so, reality will not change due to Xiao Ming's death and Xiao Si's imprisonment. At the end of the film, when Kitty brought his own tape to the junior in the prison, the prison guard threw it into the trash can with disdain after fiddling. This detail speaks out the reality's indifference to the value of others. I think this is not only the root cause of the tragedy, but also Yang Dechang's helplessness.
Story and background
If we simply evaluate one thing, we can easily draw conclusions; but if we combine the background, the story is often not so simple.
News similar to "juvenile homicides" abounds in the social editions of urban newspapers, but people often only pay attention to the matter itself and ignore its backing. If we analyze every similar news event, it is easy to come up with different versions of "juvenile homicides." In media reports, this is true of the "Ma Jiajue case", the "Yang Jia assaulting the police case", and the same is true of the "Juvenile Murder Case" which borrowed from the film's narrative techniques.
The occurrence of any event is not accidental. Behind a seemingly extreme story, there must be complicated personal, family, social, and even historical factors. Compared with all kinds of small incentives, a clear background of the times is more important.
The "Guling Street Juvenile Murder Incident" occurred in the 1960s. At that time, the mainland was undergoing a vigorous political movement, and Taiwan was under the suffocating rule of the Kuomintang, but at that time Taiwan had already begun to open up. . "Kitten" is just a child who can't reach the microphone, but because of the wonderful interpretation of Elvis' songs, he has a small reputation in the bar, which shows the popularity of "exotics".
The society is open, and the pursuit of materiality and vanity follows. The places where "Little Four" most often go, except for home and school, are the bars where cats reside. Bars are places where they feast and dream. Instead of saying no to teenagers, they do everything possible to attract them to consume. Even the school has become a place where the dignitaries are attached and the teacher’s morals are degraded. In the movie, the teacher’s image is very vague. Apart from the reprimands and insults to the students, they do not act like others, and the principal is even more so. Indifferent, selfish, and unreasonable. Correspondingly, the father who adheres to the traditional moral standards has repeatedly suffered setbacks in his life and career. He is not only implicated in political movements, but also betrayed by his friends.
Behind these not grand times background, there are deeper social and historical factors. The estrangement between mainland immigrants and the aborigines in Taiwan, the uncertain political environment, the embryonic form of gang struggle, etc., can be seen in Yang Dechang's long lens.
In these contexts, the motive of the "Little Four Killing" seems to be easy to understand. Although as a teenager, Xiao Si still cannot have a clear awareness of all kinds of outside world, this kind of reality is undoubtedly a fatal blow to a fragile soul. When dissecting the incident in this way, the image of Xiao Si slowly came to life. He was no longer a ruthless murderer in news reports, but a tragic teenager who was tortured by society.
More importantly, Yang Dechang has injected a strong intellectual feeling into the image of Xiaosi. When he saw that short piece of news, Yang Dechang might not understand the growth experience of the protagonist. But when writing a screenplay, he must enrich the story. Therefore, in Yang Dechang's writing, Xiaosi had an intellectual father who was born in Guangdong, a brother, two sisters and a younger sister, a group of "buddies" who were loyal but unable to communicate, and had a sensitive and silent personality. . I prefer to believe that this experience is based on Yang Dechang himself, not only because his own experience can make the story more real, but also because Xiaosi’s thoughtful demeanor makes him look like a "thinker", and Yang Dechang is good at fiddling. In his long shots, there are observations and reflections on life everywhere.
Adapting a trivial piece of news into a textbook-like realistic film shows Yang Dechang's profound skill. In fact, Yang Dechang did not make too many changes to the story itself, but spent a lot of pen and ink to make the background of the story clear. Therefore, when I recollect this four-hour movie, I feel heavy rather than lengthy. This also provides people with a good perspective: Don't look at a thing in isolation, put it in its original context, the face of the story will be very different.
Similar references can be seen in many news works. Reporters are more inclined to explore the protagonist’s growth experience and source of personality through the writing of the novel, so as to make the article more vivid. Although this method is still controversial, there is no doubt that readers like it.
I used to think that in news writing, any independent event can be clearly stated in no more than 3,000 words. But now I feel that the content of 3000 words is very limited, and it is not an exaggeration even to use a novel to truly restore the original face of a news event. However, the characteristics of news reports determine that it is often unable to spend a lot of pen and ink to render the background, but can only describe the event itself.
Correspondingly, readers seem to be so numb that they will only look for the bizarre and vulgar side of the story from the thin news report, instead of paying attention to the reality behind it. In a sense, the mass of reporters and readers ignores the protagonists of news stories, just like the ignored four in the movie.
Yang Dechang
My original intention was to say "Yang Dechang understands the Chinese better" because his narrative background is usually Eastern culture. In the context of Eastern culture, Yang Dechang expressed the Chinese people's loneliness, restlessness, indifference and even intrigues so naturally, which surprised me. What is even more surprising is that this description was completed by a Taiwanese director, not a mainland director.
Is it because Yang Dechang understands Chinese people and Chinese culture better? Not really. The mainland’s cultural tradition is obviously deeper than that of Taiwan. Compared with the “fifth generation” of mainland directors who have received orthodox cultural education such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Yang Dechang does not necessarily understand Chinese culture better, and he has also studied in the United States for many years. background.
But perhaps it was this experience of "studying abroad" that enabled him to better understand the differences between Eastern and Western cultures, so that he could look at Chinese people and Chinese culture from a newer perspective. This obviously affected his narrative style.
Yang Dechang likes to put the camera in an inconspicuous corner and peer into people's lives coldly. In the camera, people's movements and expressions are so natural, as if they are not performing but living. This kind of expression similar to a documentary is easy to make people feel boring, but when you look closely, it is profound. In "Yi Yi", Min Min tells her comatose mother-in-law about what happened every day, but soon she cannot accept the emptiness under the busy surface of life, "Why do I have so little? Why do I have so little?" Minmin cried The lens of questioning myself has become one of the most impactful images in the film. So, when we reflect on our lives every day, will we be blown into tears by this emptiness? This is Yang Dechang's calm question.
Yang Dechang narrates every story like a bystander. He tells it in a complete and detailed manner without any emotion, so you can make different interpretations.
Perhaps due to too much influence from domestic movies, I am more accustomed to getting a complete story in a movie, gaining a clear truth, and having the same movie-watching experience as other people. Because mainland directors are more inclined to project emotions on the protagonist, and build stories around him, the main line of this kind of story is often very clear, and the audience can easily figure out the director's meaning. Therefore, when I watched Yang Dechang's film for the first time, I was quite unaccustomed to this "discrete" and "slow" narration, especially when I watched "Yi Yi". In this film known as the best in Taiwan, I tried to figure out what Yang Dechang was going to say. In the end, he found that he wanted to say everything but he didn't seem to say anything. He just cut the fragments of life and re-spliced them together to form different shapes, letting you think about it.
In fact, the so-called "good movie" is just a feeling. If you have to say one or two, you lose that flavor. But in the movie, the director's shadow is clearly visible. In my opinion, the director’s control of the film should be reflected in the maintenance of the story rather than interference. If there are too many coincidences and accidents in the story that make you "see the beginning and think of the end", it must not be a good movie. . The role of a good director should be like a good football referee, maintaining the smoothness and excitement of the game, allowing the audience to appreciate the game instead of discussing themselves.
Yang Dechang is an excellent narrator, but he is not a complete "outsider". He projects some of his own characteristics onto the characters in the movie to complete the interaction with the movie. There is more or less the shadow of a Confucian in Xiao Si in "Guling Street Juvenile Murder Incident", Lun Lun in "Mahjong", Xiao Ming in "Independence Age" and Jian Nanjun in "Yi Yi". This is Yang Dechang.
This is not surprising, but proves that the director and the film have been integrated. Yang Dechang didn't want to explain anything through the changes in the fate of these people, but to express his confusion through their confusion, and express his own thinking through their thinking. In life, Yang Dechang is a Confucian, and he naturally has his own thoughts and perceptions. The difference is that his career determines his experience of life more meticulously, so he will naturally incorporate his experience into the movie. For example, Lun Lun in "Mahjong" and Xiao Ming in "Independent Age" are Yang Dechang's spokespersons in the film. Although they are not the protagonist, their thinking runs through the entire film.
The last thing I want to say is "speaking". I cautiously agree with the view that "Yang Dechang is a preacher", which can be seen from the end of the two films. At the end of "Mahjong", at night in Taipei, Lun Lun went out to find Martina. After some searching, the two finally met and kissed in the street... I always thought that this ending had traces of deliberate design, "Lun Lun "Going home disappointedly after not finding Martina" should be a more reasonable result. But Yang Dechang didn't seem to want to be too cruel to Lun Lun. After losing his friend, Yang Dechang "generously" gave him love and also brought a touch of color to his life.
At the end of "Independence Era", Xiao Ming and Qiqi both realized the moment after they broke up, and finally met to "go for coffee". This is also a result that surprised me. According to Yang Dechang's consistent sharpness, it is impossible for him to set a perfect ending for the movie, but this is the case for these two movies. Did Yang Dechang really solve his confusion and be confident in life? I suspect. I prefer to believe that he is too kind and does not want to cast the shadow of "reality cruel" on the audience. Coincidentally, "Mahjong" and "Independent Era" are two films with the theme of teenagers and youth. Perhaps the pessimistic Yang Dechang still has hope for the younger generation.
In contrast, the endings of "Guling Street Juvenile Murder" and "Yi Yi" are unmarked, natural, and memorable. Although "Guling Street Juvenile Murders" is based on the theme of juvenile delinquency, it aims to express criticism of society, and "Yi Yi" focuses on people's spiritual level, on these two more macro themes. , Yang Dechang expressed his true thoughts.
This is not to say that Yang Dechang in "Mahjong" and "Independence Times" is untrue. The "warm" treatment of the ending just reflects Yang Dechang's benevolent heart as a Confucian. But I think that in this process, he was in pain, like the little fourth in "Guling Street Juvenile Murder", real pain.
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