However, Jiang Wen's "Sunny Day" is an exception. Many people accuse this film of erasing people's collective memories, deliberately avoiding the pain of the Cultural Revolution, and even beautifying the suspicion of the Cultural Revolution - Jiang Wen's later film "The Devil Is Coming" It is to face more subjective blame-for the criticism of this film on the historical level, we can not call it completely unreasonable, but at least we can say that they did not understand the director's intention to express.
In terms of themes, the director deliberately expressed his ambiguous feelings for the Cultural Revolution. On the one hand, Jiang Wen told the viewers the cruelty of youth in a specific era; Mental life worries.
Judging from the mainstream values of today's society, how to quickly integrate into the commodity society has become a real problem before young people. Under such pressure, teens begin to engage in a strange socialization war, knowingly or not. In the process of their growth, the negative impact of the college entrance examination, material and spoiling may be more than the pain of the "Cultural Revolution" generation. Director Jiang Wen's intention is to expose the cruelty of the real society, that is: to ruthlessly deprive people of their youth, young people lack the experience of life, and they are involved in society without psychological preparation, even if they are successful in society. Even if you gain status, you can't find your own spiritual sky.
I appreciate Jiang Wen's contradictory attitude towards the Cultural Revolution. A large amount of management vacuum has created space for the growth of young people. They can do whatever they want. As a result, the birth of a small group became a unique phenomenon of that era. The birth of this small group can be seen as a process of socialization of young people. In such an environment, Ma Xiaojun has withstood the test of friendship and love. In terms of friendship, because he needs to gain the recognition and support of his peers, he has adopted various ways to show his strength. In terms of love, Ma Xiaojun was at a loss because of his admiration for Milan, and he continued to show his love to express his inner love. In the face of all kinds of anxiety in his heart, Ma Xiaojun finally became unbalanced, and when he came to know his own character After his weakness and the failure of love, he resorted to extreme methods and attempted to rape Milan. In the final expression, it can be said that this is a psychological outbreak of Ma Xiaojun, but it can also be seen as a rebellion against his own consciousness after Ma Xiaojun grew up.
Jiang Wen used the contrast between black and white film and color film to portray two different eras: the contemporary era and the Cultural Revolution. In the director's seriousness, modern society is a very materialized society. They can drive extended RVs and drink Remy Martin, but they have lost the unique spiritual experience of the Cultural Revolution. That's the real intention of the director. From the perspective of the film's camera, Gu Changwei uses a large number of overexposed shots to express the mental anxiety of young people, and through a few blue-tinted psychological imagination shots, he depicts the cruelty and helplessness of youth.
In terms of character design, the director drew on the essence of the original novel "Ferocious Animals" and designed a character opposite to Ma Xiaojun: Liu Yiku. As the leader of a group, Liu Yiku greatly influenced Ma Xiaojun's personality expression. On the one hand, he had to forcefully follow Liu Yiku's intentions, on the other hand, he would not buy Liu Yiku's account, and the object of his love, Milan, loved him. When he got on Liu Yiku, Ma Xiaojun was finally torn apart in such a state of anxiety, and had the idea of attacking Liu Yiku, and then attempted to rape Milan.
Behind these things, Ma Xiaojun always appears in a growing posture. Obviously, this is not what the modern teenagers who want to suppress do not have. There has always been a question that makes me anxious. After the reform and opening up, people's material wealth has been enriched, and their spiritual life has also been enhanced? Jiang Wen gave us the disappointing answer in the film. Of course, this cannot deny the value of reform and opening up, nor can we forgive the pain caused by the Cultural Revolution. I think this is what director Jiang Wen should also understand.
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