When I saw Donnie Yen in a magazine report: "This film is related to the morale of Hong Kong movies", I didn't realize that it would really be a promise. "October Besieged City", a script that has been known to all Hong Kong filmmakers for ten years, seems to be a dream weaving slowly, no one dares to touch and realize it. Until Chen Desen asked Chen Kexin: "Will you build that city for me?" Chen Kexin only nodded slightly; "Yes." So the dream came into reality in ten years.
It is precisely because of this heavy burden that I was still worried when I went into the cinema to watch it. I'm afraid there will be a deviation between dreaming and dreaming. The watching process was very enjoyable, it was the little bit of immersion that I hadn't really experienced in the theater for a long time, unable to breathe, crying and laughing. The most beautiful thing about watching a movie is empathy. It is the moment when the audience walks on the screen, and in this movie, I am always the person in the play from beginning to end.
Regarding the story,
I haven't seen a good storytelling movie in a domestic movie theater for a long time. The director-centered system is now fully embodied. No matter how big the production is, I dare to put the director's name on the screenwriter without knowing the story.
"October Siege" is simple to say, as the trailer said: "They gave up their lives for the sake of a stranger." In order to protect Sun Yat-sen, a group of people were completely involved in the revolution in a very short time. For their own reasons, they fought bloody battles with their opponents, and all the righteous men sacrificed.
The thread is very open, and it is not easy to make a good circle. But the film did it. The focus is not on the theme of heightening the main theme, but on the history of each character in the half-time essay. However, the tighter it is before Sun Wen arrives in Hong Kong, the more the shadow of death can be felt. This is a hint deliberately to the audience, an unknown prophet. As a result, weeping secretly, worrying about the future fate of the people in the play.
I just want people to remember that his name is Wang Fuming instead of the big man with stinky tofu; Fang Hong, who is committed to avenging his father, and who does what she does when the father does; He is heavy to learn that there is a daughter who wants to do something with dignity. Yang; Ah Si, who wants to marry Ah Chun, as long as his master is safe; Liu Yubai, a down-and-out son who is troubled by love but free, and Li Chongguang, who has lived for 17 years only for this hour. Their strength is actually weak, they are completely using their flesh and blood to conduct an extremely unbalanced contest with the darkness, and they can only sacrifice all in the end.
Some people say that this drama is about Western democratic politics, but it is about the loyalty and filial piety of the East. In fact, especially the word "yi". Why a group of people who have nothing to do with Sun Wen, or even with the revolution, died for him? It doesn't seem to make any sense. The "righteousness" itself is precisely this kind of ignorance and fearlessness. This is the ancient Eastern thought that Western individual heroism cannot penetrate. Yan Zhiao is just a promise, he can avenge his eyebrow feet without hesitation. The cruelty of the passing of life itself is a shocking meaning. The story of "The Loyalty" has always been loved by me, to some extent it is the same as "October Besieged". If there is no desolation of giving up life, taking righteousness will no longer be noble.
Regarding the revolution's
desire for the happiness of civilization, it has to go through the pain of civilization. This pain is called a revolution.
A sentence of Mr. Sun became the main theme of the movie. In the end, it was unclear whether it was about revolution or pain.
In fact, this is not a serious epic film in itself. After reading it for the first time, I even felt that it was somewhat counter-meaning. For a 15-minute meeting, so many innocent lives were sacrificed. How much is it worth?
I watched the movie twice, and I cried for half the time almost every time. I am not a person who loves to cry when watching movies. I think this is all because the theme of revolution is easier to touch me. I like the stories of revolutionaries and revolutions in various countries. The revolution is the sickness of Chi crossing the Amazon River late at night and swimming towards his people; it is the talk in Hugo's ABC cafe; here, it is the desperation of innocent little people.
The revolution has always been noble and somewhat absurd. For this year's movie, I gave two films five stars. One is "October Siege" and the other is "Pirate Radio". The two seem to have nothing to do with each other. Some people are born for dreams, defeating defeat is victory, and some people die for dreams, and they all die. It's just that I saw Li Chongguang excited and madly shouting "Support Mr. Sun! Don't be a subjugated slave!" He was only 17 years old, and his understanding of the revolution, I don't think it deeply. Major events are not completely done by sober people, but just need to be unconscious and unaware. In the Huanghuagang Uprising, some martyrs used bamboo baskets to carry home-made powerful bombs to fight the enemy. The impassioned, romantic and comfortable talk on paper is truly implemented, no matter how many books you have read, how much reason you know, or the most reckless and cruel way. Before flesh and blood, everyone is truly equal. Is it the idea or the body that you are fighting for?
In the movie, I like Li Yutang and Yan Xiaoguo's views on revolution the most. This is the most brilliant scene, but there are also regrets. Yan Xiaoguo's explanation is not complete enough and too many cuts. Li Yutang was actually out of order because of Chen Shaobai's disappearance. He mechanically repeated what Chen Shaobai told him about the revolution, which was a bit funny. He is a wise man. He first understood that Chen Shaobai's revolution is about sacrifice. He can no longer tell whether he is harming or saving people. The revolution is right, the society is corrupt, and even if he does not do it, the government will persecute him. But he insisted not to let his son go, this was a level he couldn't get through. Holding the heavy light of death, Li Yutang cried dimly, and while howling he glanced at Chen Shaobai, unable to tell whether it was resentment or helplessness.
Yan Xiaoguo is not a villain, he is the only person in the show who is completely opposed to the revolution. He has a good Western education, but he has his own firm set of theories and beliefs. He is no different from a revolutionary, and he is crazy in his beliefs. In his heart, Sun Wen is already a evil evildoer that harms the country and the people, and desperately wants to get rid of it. The conversation between him and Chen Shaobai in the secret room, and the solemn farewell at the end, is the most profound interpretation of the revolution in the whole play. When Yan Xiaoguo heard Wang Xueqi yelling loudly, he knew that it was not Sun Wen in the car, but he still had to get rid of the man sitting in it like moths to the fire, so that he could smile happily before he died. ,unknown.
As for Sun Wen, his only effective lens is the finishing touch. The director did not shed dog blood, and his eyes were full of tears but did not flow out. Hong Kong is gradually going away. The legend ends here, and a thousand words are spoken.
Regarding blockbuster films,
this is indeed not an era when blockbuster films were born. So that I have somewhat blurred the criteria for judging the quality of a movie. "October Siege" reminded me again of the script about the condensed lines, about the exciting and urgent stories, about the tiny and precise details, about the fierce fighting... all of these, I have experienced it again.
In my learning career about drama, the most impressive thing is that the teacher said: Our stories are not lacking in sentiment, but feelings are too little. I can't tell what feelings are, like the bloody sunset or the deepest and blue mountains.
"October Siege" is not perfect, and there are many regrets. I can cite the unsatisfactory points one by one. But this is finally being measured from the height of a blockbuster, and is no longer an unintentional evaluation of a crude product that died on a low-level error.
Finally, I want to emphasize one point. The producer of "October Besieged City" is Chen Kexin, but the director's name is Chen Desen. He is a stubborn old boy. I have filmed "Purple Rain Storm" and "Children's Dreaming Romance", which is very energetic and has obvious shortcomings. "October Siege" is the child he gave birth after ten years of persistence and driven crazy several times. I sincerely hope that he can be happy with his current achievements.
I don't know if bad movies can rely on gold and tricks to succeed again and again, and go everywhere. But if you encounter a good movie, please let it go to heaven. I would like to present "October Besieged City".
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