Ou Rong's story structure seems to be simple, and when he turns back, it is a gorgeous turn. The bland story at the beginning will make you mistake it for an ordinary and unremarkable story, and it will give you a sudden realization after reading it. Watching Ou Rong's movies is like riding a roller coaster, with ups and downs, and you will never know where the real climax is until the end.
The relaxed, layered story arrangement makes us fascinated by the most exquisite parts of the story itself. For Ou Rong, any form is illusory, only content is real. As Shakespeare said, "The fullness of thought is not in the richness of words, but in content, not in pretentiousness." This is in stark contrast to today's increasingly flamboyant and flamboyant films, which have failed. While we admire them immensely, I don't know if I will make those so-called "famous directors" and the box office they talk about to shame. I don't want to name some famous directors, what I really want to say is that the movie is more about the story itself than the dazzling stunts, grand scenes, and gorgeous special effects. How to tell a story is not only about skills and knowledge for a director, but also about the basic qualities of a director. That is, what he cares about is the audience's heart or the audience's money bag.
Ou Rong's interpretation of the story reminded me of a Chinese idiom "paoding ji ox". "Paoding Jie Niu" comes from "Zhuangzi", which tells the story of a cook who slaughtered a cow in the time of King Wenhui. He conquered King Hui with his skillful technique. This idiom says that you have mastered the essentials and laws of things, so that you can do things with ease and ease. I often think that a good script is like a whole cow. There are only chefs who make the wrong knife, and there are no cows who can't solve it well. So does the director. There are bound to be countless versions of the same story for different directors, but the best writers must be rare. And Ou Rong is a rare person, and also a "paoding".
The whole film is developed in a typical paragraph structure. Every major turning point begins with a striking event or person. Like the beginning of a paragraph. According to my understanding, Bameitu can be roughly divided into four important parts. It's also like Ou Rong's four knives from "Chef Blister" accurately in important parts.
In "Eight Beauties", the place where Ou Rong stabbed the knife must be the key point.
At the beginning of the film, the return of the eldest daughter explains the seven beauty of the story to the audience. Ou Rong used a precise song and dance to describe the personality characteristics of each character, and the literary atmosphere of the French middle class came to his face. The arrangement of songs and dances is not only admirable, but also makes the characters more vivid. While we are trying to get acquainted with the characters and tease out their relationships. Ou Rong made his first chilling blow.
As soon as the first knife came out, the master was dead. Lying upright on the bed, with a sharp knife stuck behind his back.
This knife came simply and neatly. It directly brings the film into the aura of a suspense film. The phone line was cut short and the car couldn't start. This finishing touch was like pushing a Conan-like murder in a secret room to the audience and tightening the audience's hearts. I believe that the first thought in everyone's mind at that time must be "Who is the murderer?" We naturally fell into the trap set by Ou Rong. The first debate and accusations began between Qimei, and the intrigue and accusations were gripping, but they even pointed the finger at the "eighth beauty" who did not appear on the stage. The "eight beauty" that has been showing up late is the key to Ou Rong's accurate next knife, and it is also the piece that stuns people's appetite.
The coldness of the first knife is still there. It's too late to say that, and Ou Rong's second knife comes while you are puzzled. The master's sister appeared.
The appearance of this woman completes the appearance of all the characters in "Eight Beauties". This woman who is suspected of being the murderer brings us new doubts and suspense. Like all reasoning movies, before the ending, the murderer is definitely not her. The suspense has only just begun. After some debate, the previous arguments began to become ambiguous, and the seemingly truthful testimony began to be difficult to justify. Therefore, we are happy to overthrow the previous truths, continue to turn our brains quickly, and start a new round of reasoning competition. New arguments and hidden subplots gradually surfaced. The performance in this section is more like a stage play than a movie. Because the progress of the entire plot in the following is more dependent on the performances and dialogues of the characters, the director's expression of the lens language here is also more neutral, there is not too much switching of depth of field, and various techniques of film montage are once again ignored. . As Bami fights again, the relationship between the characters becomes clearer. This is the part with the most scenes in the whole film, and it is also the part that the director put his heart into. Through the mutual attacks and accusations between Bamei, a complex emotional story emerges quietly in a middle-class family originally hidden under the iceberg. Various complex emotional disputes and the clear presentation of the relationship between the characters have become the highlight of the film. It satirizes the so-called middle-class life essence and the evil hidden behind it from the side. Of course, it also lays a solid foundation for the next gorgeous turn. . The account of the background of the characters seems to revolve around finding the real murderer, but in fact, the director has made an invisible set for the reversal of the plot.
While we were still scrutinizing who the murderer was, the most gorgeous knife came quietly.
The dead man came alive. This absurd tragedy was nothing but a farce written and directed by the master and his little daughter, and the tragedy suddenly became a comedy. The farce is over, the murder case is solved, and the murderer does not need to be found. But the ugliness that surfaced behind the murder could no longer be concealed. No wonder Christianity says that there are seven evils in human nature: "Pride, jealousy, greed, miserliness, sloth, cruelty, and sexual desire."
Of course, Ou Rong looked at us with a sneer while you secretly rejoiced that the eight beautiful pictures should come to a successful conclusion. If you think this is Ou Rong, then you are wrong. Such an ending is at most a Hitchcock-like suspense story, not a straight-to-the-heart Ou Rong.
The last blow is the fatal blow. After watching this farce, the old man "lived", but he ended his life without hesitation. Such an ending slaps you hard, and we have to redefine the genre of film. The end of the case is not the end, and the trial of humanity has just begun. It seems that under the skin of the suspense type film is originally a trial about human nature. The European-style climax ended perfectly.
Eroticism always occupies an important position in Ou Rong's films. The love in his films is often only about love itself and lust. Beyond any specific culture, values and ethics, there is no obvious moral standard and cultural value label is Ou Rong's erotic confession.
Apart from the lack of plausible values, the love in his films doesn't even have specific gender boundaries. It can be the love of a man and a woman, or it can be the love of a man and a woman, or the love of a woman. He can always move you when he tells about each love. Even same-sex love can be performed beautifully and even emotionally. The love in his films will inspire the most primitive erotic qualities of human nature and the darkness in the depths of the soul.
The big dye vat-style concept of love in "Eight Beauties" will not make you feel ugly, even if it met us in the form of murder from the beginning, although it has deceit and betrayal, it will still make you yearn for it. For the first time, I would be lost in such a love story, and even full of confusion about myself. I started to understand same-sex love and even that hot eroticism that I couldn't understand before.
The scene where Deneuve and his sister-in-law kiss in "Eight Beautiful Pictures" even gave me the urge to lust for a while.
Ou Rong has such an ability, so that a woman can be moved by another woman, and even become lustful.
In "Eight Beauties", the black maid lied because she admired the male master's sister, and the male master's sister was attracted by the mistress, and the new maid hired by the male master seemed to be passionate with the master every night, but in fact she admired the beauty the hostess. The eldest daughter secretly adores her adoptive father and conceives his child, while the mistress and the male host's sister simultaneously adore the male host's partner. Such a chaotic love relationship is no longer a love triangle relationship. From an ethical point of view, there are cheating, incest, betrayal, same-sex love...etc. tolerable.
But Ou Rong is a special case. He never plays cards according to the rules, and he seems to talk about love of any interest without any scruples. As long as he is willing, lust will happen naturally. The seemingly ugly human nature and all kinds of crazy behaviors are undoubtedly revolving around love. And this love condenses Ou Rong's eloquence on various types of love.
The new maid is living with the master because she fell in love with the hostess. This kind of love that crosses the upper and lower classes transcends the class level. It is also because of love that black maids protect the master and sister. This kind of love does not care about skin color and race. , In order to get the love of the brother's partner, the love does not care about skin color and race. In order to get the love of the brother's partner, the male host and sister will defraud his brother's money and return to the theme of materiality and love. The relationship between the male host and his adopted daughter Love challenges our ethical bottom line again. The seemingly erotic scene between the hostess and her sister-in-law makes love transcend gender boundaries. And the most innocent little daughter, because of her love for her father, designed such a crazy murder case, and attracted us to push humanity to the family proposition of trust. In this closed room, there are so many kinds of ugliness and madness, so much love and hate, it is a vivid love Ukiyo-e. Although the sparrow is small and complete, Bamei's murder story is dressed in suspense and lust, but it is wrapped in an extremely realistic and absurd black humor, where human questioning and torture coexist.
So in a sense, Ou Rong is the embodiment of angels and demons. On the one hand, he generously opened the Pandora's box of love, and let us enjoy the most beautiful sex in it, so that we fermented, scalded, and rubbed our ears in our lust, lamenting that "what is born is called sex", but on the other hand, he decided not to. It will send us to the judgment seat of human nature, let us understand the evil in it, play with the ugliness of human nature, and let us sigh again "Compared with the sinister human heart, the devil also needs to stay away."
"Man is neither an angel nor a beast. .Unfortunately, people want to appear like angels, but in reality they are like beasts."
Human nature, in the name of love, has fallen into the hell of lust.
This is "Eight Beauties", which is also Ou Rong.
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