Inscription: As an individual, it is impossible to deviate from the era in which he lives. His fate is like a wave in a long river. Whether it is his singing or his groaning, it is engulfed by the torrent of the times. It is impossible for him to completely dominate his future, and he does not have absolute freedom. The individual notes are always submerged in the grand main melody, and it is only possible to seek harmony with it but not to go against it.
Part 1: Introduction to the
film The film opens with an empty shot looking up at the blue sky and the fiery melody "The revolutionary wind and thunder are raging, and the soldiers have the sun in their chests", and the film opens with the statue of Chairman Mao looking up and shooting. The director interprets the times in a very condensed way.
The group frenzy of the whole nation brought by the Cultural Revolution unfolded like an epic in the majestic and passionate background music through the noisy crowd, speeding cars, running children, and flying dust. You can even smell the smoke of gunpowder in the commotion, and the
last shot of the plane resolutely rushing into the distance with thick smoke shows a kind of heroic spirit. All in all, this opening is a very good place to clarify the theme of the times.
This is followed by the second play of the elementary school years. The shot of three lovely girls rehearsing their dance in a "sunny" classroom is a beautiful picture. When shooting, the sunlight was intentionally rendered, making people feel the illusory and warm light.
The background music is the flying geese. Immediately afterwards, this short-lived warmth was smashed by the boys' stones, and the background music was replaced by a cheerful cavalry march. In the polka-style fast-paced run, a few naughty elementary school students were arrogant and carefree. Years of , on a small mound, staged a wonderful play of throwing schoolbags. Four boys, under the same blue sky, threw their schoolbags upwards. When it was Ma Xiaojun's turn, the schoolbags were thrown into the blue sky for a long time and did not fall. The four children looked up at the blue sky together, but only saw the falling schoolbags and scattered books. When it came to Ma Xiaojun, time had already crossed over to the junior high school era. Under the blank blue sky, books that symbolize knowledge are scattered helplessly, and the slow motion effect used intentionally makes people taste meaningful.
This scene is the most creative part of the entire movie. Looking up at the blue sky represents that generation's desire for knowledge, and their eyes when looking up are with saintly piety. However, just seeing the books scattered, it symbolizes the abandonment and contempt for knowledge of the times. Moreover, this kind of ignorance and ignorance has been playing a role, has continued to Ma Xiaojun's junior high school era. The director conveys rich information in the most concise film language, which makes people feel endless emotions and constitutes the poetry of the film.
The junior high school era is described in the entire movie. There is a noteworthy monologue before the official start of the story: "This city belongs to us". This sentence can be seen as a psychological summary of adolescence for the generation in the mid-1970s. Because of this, they dare to use various means to humiliate teachers in the classroom, and dare to make their own keys to slip the door and pick the lock, which is full of primitive wildness. The rhythm of the film here is noticeably slowed down, and the story progresses slowly like a trickle in the serene monologue. In a seemingly irrelevant narration, the director naturally expressed his views on the era: "People didn't have much money, and those household appliances that were now considered essential were unheard of at the time, and most of the houses were issued by the unit. Furniture" "At that time, except for some cadres with questionable political qualities, corrupt officials were few and far between." These two paragraphs seem to be ordinary, but they are actually a summary of the social situation in the 1970s from both economic and political aspects in simple language. There are some additions later: "At that time, people never slipped to work" "And because they never lost anything, they never caused any vigilance." The director deftly expresses his special feelings for special times through a seemingly casual narration.
Then came an important play. The hero slips through the door and picks the lock into the heroine's room. The director deliberately rendered the "sunshine" here. Filling the room is a blur of sunlight, as if mixed with dust.
When the male protagonist was playing with the binoculars curiously, he was humming the heroic hymn in "The Heroes and Sons". He always had a heroic dream in his heart. This theme has been reflected many times in the front, and will be repeated many times in the back. repeat. While holding the telescope reluctantly spinning, Ma Xiaojun was excited, curious and dizzy, and when his sight touched a photo of the heroine, the divine sunlight descended. The pure image and bright smile of the heroine made Ma Xiaojun's heart tremble. He stepped back involuntarily, showing a sense of respect and awe. He picked up the binoculars and looked at the heroine again, which just provided an opportunity to strengthen the theme, and the close-up shots of the hero and heroine appeared again, handled very naturally and smoothly, without the feeling of rigidity.
The camera fades out of Milan's smiling face and cuts to another heroine, Yu Beibei. In Yu Beibei, the director concentrated on the characteristics of a dissolute young woman. She mingled with a group of young men who were also in the turmoil of adolescence. Her image and Milan formed a great contrast.
Afterwards, a scene where the Cambodian head of state was welcomed was another "detail" fragment that was outside the theme. The blushing face and hysterical mechanical movements, although people wear festive costumes, can't hide the group perversion in a specific period. The background music is "Blossoms of Friendship", which closely reflects the characteristics of the times. The director's score is very well done.
It is worth noting that the director inserted a lot of "details" into the normal narrative structure, setting up a broad era stage for the protagonist's activities. This approach continues throughout the film.
Next is the classic fragment of Ma Xiaojun's fantasy about love that leads to confusion. In this passage, "sunshine" is once again strengthened as a theme. Ma Xiaojun came to Milan's bedroom again. He developed a hazy love for the heroine in the photo. He lay quietly on Milan's bed, picked up a strand of hair, and looked at it carefully against the full sun. It was a pure emotion, and his holy gaze and careful movements showed how seriously he valued it. The background music here is the country knight of Mascari, and the soothing and slightly melancholy melody plays a good role in setting off the theme.
On that sunny afternoon, Ma Xiaojun wandered aimlessly around the house. What was he looking for? Maybe he didn't know it himself, he was just running around "like a cat on a hot tin" on the roof. Such a trance-like state of losing his soul profoundly expresses the restlessness and confusion in Ma Xiaojun's heart. Only those who have experienced that kind of panic can deeply appreciate the helplessness and desolation contained here.
The result of searching hard is fruitless.
I didn't lose anything, but I felt lost.
There is sunlight in every shot, but it seems to be the afterglow of the setting sun, dim and powerless. In a series of medium shots, only one protagonist appears, which effectively highlights the image of Ma Xiaojun as a single shadow, thus creating a kind of loneliness Depressed atmosphere.
The segment ends with a contrasting medium shot. The strong contrast effect will mobilize the atmosphere to the climax.
After that, Ma Xiaojun returned to Milan's bedroom. This time, Ma Xiaojun met Milan, who had always existed in his fantasy.
The director's method was to let Ma Xiaojun hide under the bed to peep at Milan's calf and feet, and did not appear in other parts of Milan.
In this way, on the one hand, it can leave suspense, which is conducive to mobilizing the audience's emotions; on the other hand, it is also in line with Ma Xiaojun's character. The conflict between Ma Xiaojun's tension and Milan's ease and casualness is the drama of this scene. In Ma Xiaojun's eyes, the angelic and beautiful Milan has such thick calves, and her movements are not as gentle as she imagined. Reality always shatters fantasy easily. In the end, Ma Xiaojun's long sigh is not only a relaxation after a high level of mental tension, but also his helplessness over the gap between fantasy and reality.
Next, the director once again strayed from the main axis of the narrative. The story took place in front of the concert hall where the Korean People's Army Concerto came to perform in China. A middle-aged man pretended to be a North Korean ambassador because he liked music, but was kicked out of the concert hall by the police. This reflects the poverty of the people's spiritual life in that era, and the director complained through dark humor. Ma Xiaojun was later mistaken for a young gangster and taken to the police station, where he was reprimanded by rude police officers. Ma Xiaojun's crying and begging for mercy showed the cowardly side of his character, which was one of his important character traits. When escaping from the police station in embarrassment, the director's camera pointed to the dark iron gate and tombstone.
After returning home, Ma Xiaojun fantasized about revenge against the police in the mirror and immersed himself in narcissism. It was followed by a wonderful "fighting" scene. The director depicts the scene of two gangs of youth fighting through 24 long and short shots. Under the background of the majestic and powerful Internationale, the "battle" was carried out tensely, and various "tricks" were staged one by one. There are a few longer shots, and the shots are steady, not shaken, but rather tense by panning back and forth quickly. Ma Xiaojun was embarrassed at the police station, and finally found an outlet to vent, so he became "brutal", slapped the "enemy" on the head with a brick, and staged the "whip corpse" behavior. The irony of the Internationale is impressive. In the torrent of the whole era, this group of ignorant young people cherished heroic dreams and gradually degenerated into abusive prostitutes, resulting in a tragic ending.
Next, the director spent a lot of space telling the story of Ma Xiaojun's relationship with Milan. We found that from the moment the two met, they were in a very unequal position. Milan has an overwhelming advantage in age and temperament, but only regards Ma Xiaojun as a child.
When Ma Xiaojun saw Milan, he didn't have the masculinity at all, and some were just the little boy's fear of the big sister. This can be seen from a few close-ups: Ma Xiaojun's embarrassed smile and Milan's composure highlight the inequality between them.
The few sets of close-up shots left a deep impression on the audience and successfully portrayed the character characteristics of the hero and heroine.
When Ma Xiaojun invited Milan to play in their compound, Milan met the tall and handsome Liu Yiku. What she has for Liu Yiku is the real love, and for Ma Xiaojun, at best, her sister's "kindness with courtesy" concern for her younger brother. Ma Xiaojun seemed particularly excited. He performed a clip of "Lenin in 1918" for Milan. He ran up to the chimney and almost fell to his death. However, he found that all the efforts he made could not be favored by Milan. This is a major setback on the road of Ma Xiaojun's love.
Since his father found out about making friends with Milan, Ma Xiaojun was severely scolded by his father. Compared with the mother's scolding against him in the previous paragraph, the language between father and son is very concise, with a crisp slap in the face as the climax of the conflict. This is a typical way of writing in literary and artistic works, and there is no need to discuss it further.
What follows is another important "stubby" segment. The props used by the director this time are the ballet The Red Detachment of Women and the movie Lenin in 1918. There is no rich literary and artistic works, only a monotonous spiritual life. Crowds gather in the compound and watch the same works again and again, and a group of people can recite the lines in the play at the same time. Everyone said in unison, "Oh, be careful, it's poisonous", which attracted laughter from the crowd. What the film itself wants to convey is no longer important, and people have to be entertained by this kind of thing attached to the film. However, in the movie theater, a "criticized and highly toxic" movie was being shown, and the one sitting in the first row was a white-haired chief and his enchanting secretary!
The tearful laughter reflects the director's excellent critical ability.
The young people sang the evening outside Moscow on the roof, forming a beautiful and warm picture with a sense of nostalgia. Until the sun rises, the timeline smoothly transitions to the next day.
Ma Xiaojun spent the happiest day of his life. In the warm sunshine in the afternoon, in the romantic grove, Ma Xiaojun indulged in Milan's words and deeds, and his heart was extremely warm, just like this sunshine. The lens still highlights the sunlight theme. The director intentionally repeats this theme everywhere, creating a hazy beauty, as if it is a real memory, and it seems to be an illusory fantasy, where the real and the fake are intertwined, and the virtual and the real.
Ma Xiaojun's maternal grandfather died, so he temporarily left the small group and returned to Tangshan for the funeral. Here, the director explained the obstacles in Ma Xiaojun's parents' marriage, and the class issue is like a ubiquitous magic net, spreading all over the social life.
It is worth noting that the train whizzes past the setting sun. If you have seen Jiang Wen's other film "The Sun Also Rises", you will be amazed that the director's personal style is so fixed. This is almost the same shot! We say that this shot is very poetic. The sunset and afterglow are relatively dim, which can make people feel depressed, and the appearance of the train brings a sense of helplessness. The director's skills in selecting materials to create atmosphere can be seen!
After returning from Tangshan, Ma Xiaojun met the fool Gu Lunmu. The fool was crying in sadness, Ma Xiaojun called out Gu Lunmu symbolically, and the fool returned a symbol of Oba. The meaning of this passage is very vague, but the feeling conveyed to the audience is very clear, making people feel that there will be a misfortune in the future.
Indeed, during the days when Ma Xiaojun was not in Beijing, the relationship between Milan and Liu Yiku had made new progress. Ma Xiaojun was jealous when he witnessed the two rubbing each other's ears and flirting with each other. The director expresses this mood by stepping on the pedals of the bicycle, which
is very good.
At the birthday party held in the evening, after dancing the perverted swan dance, Ma Xiaojun stared at Liu Yiku and Milan with hatred eyes, as if burning with anger, making people feel that there will be a storm soon to come.
Immediately followed by a conflict in the swimming pool, Ma Xiaojun's cowardice and Liu Yiku's heroism formed a pair of conflicts. In the battle for Milan, of course, Ma Xiaojun was eliminated. This is where Ma Xiaojun completely lost his love.
The conflict that has been lurking for a long time finally broke out in a Moscow restaurant! Ma Xiaojun vented all the dissatisfaction in his heart. He insulted Milan's personality and slapped Liu Yiku in the face. Those slaps were simply and powerfully, which made people feel very enjoyable. And when Ma Xiaojun picked up the broken beer bottle and rushed in front of Liu Yiku, the atmosphere reached its climax! The audience felt that Ma Xiaojun, a rabbit in a hurry, would also bite people, and placed high hopes on him for this outbreak! However, the director is joking with the audience! This is just Ma Xiaojun's fantasy! After it was revealed that this was a fake scene, the director immediately gave the actual situation at the time. Ma Xiaojun was still so cowardly, with so many smiles on his face during the party, where did his unwillingness and grievances go? already? It became a hoarse cry after the rain. Originally a storm in the restaurant became a storm for Ma Xiaojun alone, and Ma Xiaojun's cowardice made him a victim.
The concept of this part is very strange. The emotions of the audience are completely controlled by the director. First, they are excited and then helpless, and then they can experience Ma Xiaojun's inner world more deeply. The director's conception of the narrative structure is very successful. In terms of tone, the splendor in "Old Mo" is in sharp contrast with the desolation in the storm.
The psychologically distorted Ma Xiaojun finally made a wrong decision. He raped Milan with hatred. However, his cowardice once again defeated him, and he was completely abandoned after the attempted rape. Since then he has become an outcast, and his former buddies are alienating him. The village knight of Mascari sounded slowly, Ma Xiaojun solemnly stepped onto the diving platform, and then jumped off. This jump completely shattered Ma Xiaojun's heroic dream and symbolized his return to mediocrity! Struggling in the water, what he got was everyone looking down and stepping on his feet. Without a helping hand, he had nothing... Ma Xiaojun, in despair, finally floated in the swimming pool like a dead corpse. Tragedy is over!
The last bright spot is that after the reform and opening up, when the buddies of the year met again, they met the fool Gu Lunmu. When they called Gu Lunmu's name, the avant-garde fool replied "Silly B" with disdain. This is the end of the movie. Who the fool is saying is fool B? Maybe we all are.
The second part of comprehensive evaluation
This movie is one of my favorites. I most appreciate the director's talent in theme selection and soundtracking. The whole story is adapted from Wang Shuo's novel "Ferocious Animals", which is a tragedy of the times. It tells the story of a youth in the mid-1970s, but because the story is placed in a specific period, one cannot help thinking about the relationship between the individual and the era in which he lives. As stated in the inscription, an individual's destiny is like a wave in a long river. Whether it is his joyous singing or his groaning, it is engulfed by the torrent of the times. It is impossible for him to completely dominate his future. He has no absolute free. This is how I really feel after watching this film over and over again. Director Jiang Wen expressed the tragedy of such an era through the combination of documentary and romance. If tragedy can only provide aesthetic value, it will inevitably slip into the real tragedy. I think the ideal tragedy should be the interpretation of the beloved with blood and tears, and it should be able to save the innocent who drowned in the unconscious collective depravity. The greatest tragedy is the reversal of the factors that distort human nature. The dark humor in this film has a strong irony power, which provides an opportunity for us to examine the absurd era of the past. At the same time, it also allows our thinking to touch the current society. We can't help but ask, are there any factors that have caused the tragedy of the times in the current society? A movie can do this, and it also realizes the social function attached to its aesthetic function. I think this is one of the important reasons why "Sunny Day" can be popular.
View more about In the Heat of the Sun reviews
