The Confucius in history was once trapped in Chen Cai, and the Confucius in the movie was trapped in a mediocre frame.
As a movie, "Confucius" is an overly conservative work. After watching the opening five minutes, this conclusion can be drawn. Photography, editing, everything is so unremarkable. The upside-down flipper seems to be a metaphor for the whole film, telling us how terrifyingly straightforward is hidden behind this seemingly ancient work.
"Confucius" once again raises an enduring question: how to represent our cultural heroes on screen?
In a biographical film of a hero, there are many ways to create a tall image of a great man. The most stupid one is to let the great man come out and tell everyone how great he is. Unfortunately, Confucius is exactly this line of thought.
Confucius in the film has almost become a machine for repeating aphorisms, and often before the aphorisms are read or even started, Zhao Jiping's symphony has already impatiently reminded everyone to "stand at attention, the motto is here"! Those who are interested can pay attention to how many times the trick of "Motto and Symphony" is repeated in the film. If it weren't for Chow Yun-fat's seasoned lines, he would have laughed. Fager Wei'an's figure and piercing eyes have become a shield against such poverty, whether it is fortunate or unfortunate.
To express great men by means of movies, filmmakers from all over the world have their own tricks, which is somewhat different from the assumption that "pictures are an international language" that people usually think. When Europeans and Americans take pictures of Christ or angels, most of them will use backlighting and fill in the light from the front, so as to capture the power of the person "come with the will of God", and the strong light behind it is a metaphor for the grace of God. This is closely related to the idea that Westerners have a single personality God - God. Similar to this, when shooting "divine landscapes", it is good to use the straight rays of light from the dense clouds. The ordinary Tyndall phenomenon in nature, in the eyes of Westerners, hides the will of the kingdom of heaven, as if to redeem the world. the messenger. These extraordinary scenes are all means of having both a Western cultural background and the characteristics of the film. It is the crystallization of the development of western movies for more than a hundred years.
The Japanese do not use this method when shooting samurai. Most of what they focus on is the posture and expression of the characters, as well as the position of the picture and the background of the surrounding characters, which is an interesting comparison. During the 17-year film period, China has also developed a unique set of aesthetics of "rewarding the good and punishing the evil". Simply put, the good people must use the elevation angle and the flat light, the bad people must use the depression angle, the light source comes from below, the good people stand high, and the bad people stand It is very low, and the old audience is very familiar with this encoding system. Li Xiangyang and the pig head team captain appeared, and the audience could tell the difference between good and evil at a glance. At the same time, Hong Kong people have also developed a set of methods for shooting heroes. One of the key elements is to use "close-up of time"-slow motion to express the hero's power. Back then, I watched a lot of hero films. Occasionally, when I saw Chow Yun play without slow motion, I would actually make some plays.
It would be interesting to compare this difference between East and West. The Catholic theologian Kong Hans once had an incisive summary. He believed that the world's religions are divided into three major river systems: the "prophetic religions" of Europe and West Asia, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and the "mysterious religions" of the Indian subcontinent. , including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, as well as the "sage religion" produced in China, the standard version is Confucianism. The object of Western religious films will never be God himself, but his messenger or agent in the world - the prophet. So we can understand that the effect of backlit shooting is specially prepared for the prophets who "have the backing of God". The Eastern "religion of sages" pays attention to the virtues and etiquette of the human world. It cannot deny or deny the things of the gods, but only respects ghosts and gods and keeps them away. Whether it is Japan, the mainland, or Hong Kong, when shooting a hero, all attention is paid to his attributes as a person and his relationship with others. Hidden behind the slow motion mirror is the unique sensitivity of the Orientals to the passage of time, as well as the concept of "heroes are immortal in the past".
Looking at Confucius from this angle, you will find that there is no complete aesthetic system behind it. In addition to making Fage face the camera with a sincere face, the director does not seem to have a consistent concept of creating heroes. Various methods have been used a little, but to no avail. The whole film has been shooting Confucius with a head-up lens for most of the time, but the composition and scene scheduling are mediocre. You have to say that he is deliberately emphasizing that "sages are also ordinary people", and the "Confucian and Taoist summit meeting" is obviously not the case, indicating that the director still wants to highlight Confucius, but there is no way. The most terrible thing is that even this "unstyled style" has not been maintained. Since Ji Sunsi sent people to welcome Confucius back to his hometown, the audio-visual style has changed abruptly. Confucius and his disciples first stood proudly in the backlight, showed a "hero group portrait", and then returned to Lu under the "protection of the divine light", all of which are obviously copying Western movies. After that, Confucius knelt down and worshiped the old city, and used an unprecedented camera. Looking at the meaning, it is a compliment to the lofty ideal of "the lost dog" has finally been recognized by the motherland, but is it not lofty for Confucius, who was starving and freezing? This look up is a bit snobbish.
This problem with "Confucius" is also a problem with Chinese films. Since we got rid of the revolutionary film aesthetic of "the enemy is down on me", we have no way of creating heroes. "Swept the Great Southwest" and others copied the slow-motion slow-motion scenes of bullets and bullets in Hong Kong movies, and the effect is quite thunderous. "Super Typhoon" made the explosive water column rise from the back of the leader in suits and leather shoes, and the thunder point is close to the thunderbolt level. "Confucius" really had no choice, so it was made into a TV series, and finally copied some foreign conventions. It doesn't matter if you don't get used to it, anyway, audiences are used to watching Hollywood now. It would be great to make "Confucius" into "The Lord of the Rings"!
However, starting from "Confucius" alone, we can't help thinking about this question: how would it be better to photograph the sage of Confucius? How can we reflect the Confucian thoughts of "modern mean", "comity" and even "neutralization and education" in the camera and scene scheduling? Wouldn't it be good to use a bit of slow motion to express Confucius' "immortality"? Is there any other way? These are big questions for the entire Chinese film industry.
Yasujiro Ozu invented a low-camera, slightly raised perspective in his own film, and was regarded by the world as the spokesperson of traditional Eastern etiquette in the film industry. And a film about a Confucian saint shot in a traditional country of etiquette can only copy the stereotypes of other countries' films in bits and pieces. After all, it is a pity. This is probably also a portrayal of today's China - eager to embrace tradition, but far from realizing the core of tradition.
Another major flaw in the film is the music. Zhao Jiping's soundtrack can't be said to have no intentions, but the pure westernized symphony is placed in this film positioned as a "national epic", as if a sonnet was inserted into "National Style". Unspeakably awkward. I don't know when it started, this style of soundtrack has become the main theme movie Jiao Buli Meng, Meng Bulijiao's good partner. "Red River Valley" on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is in this tune, "Jiao Yulu", a good servant of the Henan people, is in this tune, and "Confucius" two thousand years ago is still in this tune, occasionally embellished with some elements of era or local music, even if it is "nationalization". ". The dance music in the palace of the Wei Kingdom was originally a great opportunity to restore the original ecology of the Spring and Autumn culture. Unfortunately, the music was suppressed by the grand symphony as soon as the music started. The soundtrack for the rest of the film is probably the same. The belated "You Orchid Exercise" also failed to save the defeat. Without believable music, half of the film's power to convince audiences that "this is the era" is virtually lost.
But all of this is nothing compared to the oversight of the plot. The compactness of the first half of the film and the looseness of the second half have been criticized by many. I think the bigger problem lies in the grasp of the character and spirit of Confucius. As soon as the Master appeared, he was set as a middle-aged man with noble morals and mature thinking, but everyone knew that no one was born like this. For most audiences who walk into a movie theater, they need to understand the thought of Confucius and its meaning, which cannot be assumed to be well-known background knowledge in today's China. However, the creators of the film did not seem to put their energy on this. Except for the initial opposition to the burial of living people, the film has a social background of Confucianism, its significance at the time, and the debate with other schools of thought. Confucius's mental journey and so on are not involved, as if he was born to be an idealistic martyr, Confucianism is naturally the way to save the country and save the people. Such a script that is taken for granted is fundamentally lacking in strength, and is an ideologically overconfident work (with distinct continental characteristics). So it is not surprising that some viewers questioned "What is Confucius' greatness? Isn't he just a frustrated politician?" after reading it.
It is rude to say that "Confucius" is shooting a cultural sage with the idea of "good cadres", removing all the hesitation and hesitation that belong to thinkers, and removing all the social foundations behind the ideas, leaving only him " A life of ups and downs", as well as war and beauty. Such a movie seems realistic, but in fact it is myth.
In my imagination, today's filming of "Confucius" in China, entering this character's life from the perspective of his disciples, would be more suitable for the current audience. It is better to use the contradiction between the struggle for hegemony and the suffering of the common people to describe "benevolence", and to use the contradiction between the arrogance of princes and the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty to show "li". The former focuses on sensationalism, while the latter has spectacles, both from the perspective of making the film good-looking and ideological. It's better than betting on irrelevant CG war scenes and "sweet secrets".
It's a pity that in this day and age, it is the kingly way to rejoice and save money and materials. Compared with other tofu dregs projects, at least the movie will not cause people's lives, and at least it is supported by Chow Yun-fat's performance. "Confucius", which "expresses the life of a great man in a positive way", was destined to be a cultural event from the moment it opened. As for the film itself, it can only be said that it is better than nothing, that's all.
Electronic version of "Hainan Daily"
http://hnrb.hinews.cn/html/2010-01/25/node_19.htm
graphic versionhttp
://www.mtime.com/my/fjs/blog/3239599/
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