Ever since 120fps 4K technology has been widely publicized, Ang Lee's "Billy Lynn's Midfield War" is destined to spark a controversy. After being released overseas, word of mouth seems to have aroused the interest of Chinese audiences even more. I don't know how other "low-profile" versions will feel about watching the movie. The standard 120-frame 4k picture gives people a very strange feeling. The film is full of facial close-ups, and the shots that originally only needed to be medium shots were pushed extremely close, and almost every character had red noses and bloodshot cheeks and eyes. This is the original intention or side effect of enabling this technology - Ang Lee attempts to make everything in this work. So, nothing expresses this more than a flush from a ruptured capillary. When the actor Lynn and the cheerleaders finished making out secretly behind the curtains and walked back to their seats in embarrassment, the monitor asked him, why does it seem like he just shot a gun? (The Chinese translation is deliberately evasive and changed to 'like just waking up'), that subtle flush of shyness, concealment, and effort to return to sobriety, can only be presented with such subtle techniques. However, such "reality" may not be the "reality" in the real sense, it is more like the "reality" under the microscope, a kind of "super-reality".
This technique removes a certain texture that is unique to movies, which is why so many people feel it's more like watching HDTV. It may be more suitable for content such as football games or live performances. The colors are bright and the contrast is strong. The pores and wrinkles in the vicinity can be stared at, and the different scenery in the distance is also clearly layered. It's kind of like the "uncanny valley" theory in the image category, anyway, and once the realism exceeds a certain ceiling, it's kind of weird.
I don't know how much Ang Lee, who is good at storytelling, has put his energy into researching technology. At least from the level of the story itself, "Billy Lynn's Midfield Battle" has a better way of narrating it. This way of flashing back and connecting between the lively reality and the cruel battlefield is very old, not to mention that in many cases, its transition is too blunt, such as the sound of fireworks in celebrations and the sound of tapping on the table in trivial life. Trigger the trigger of memory and detonate the fear of battlefield artillery fire. In fact, this story is not about expressing an attitude towards war, but more about showing people that real life is sometimes stronger than artillery fire.
People who are considered heroes in the real war must be included in a performance once they return to the mundane. And all that Lynn and his comrades went through was entertained once it was filmed, explained, sung and reported. Their fears, prides, and sorrows are transformed into symbols and stereotypes, which are then consumed. Lynn and his inferior sister reunite with their tired family members, deal with second-class agents who want to make money with them, confront the team owners who are full of calculations, not to mention a group of melon eaters who treat them as aliens to deal with, self-righteous. The CEO of the energy company, the football team players who endlessly asked them about the functions of their various firearms and their killing feelings, the daily scene has suddenly become a battlefield, people's language, opinions and attitudes are like bullets, Lynn and his comrades are like innocent animals , surrounded by a group of people. Lynn said to the team owner, who was only willing to pay $5,500, "You might as well respect us as those jihadists." At least the jihadists were fighting for their lives, but this well-dressed rich man just gave In order to pay off the beggars, they tried to buy out the narrative rights of these soldiers. In a sense, this group of real people is more dangerous.
A group of soldiers who traveled through life and death, after staying away from the war, found that they had to be included in a movie to realize their life and death and be remembered by the world, but soon no one was willing to make such a movie, they became a disposable type. Decorations are used to be temporarily used by others to decorate their own sentiments. They finally rejected this state of entertainment, preferring to return to the real battlefield where life and death are uncertain. The story is embedded with the filming of the film, full of small self-mockery and humor, the film has become a symbol, about capital, about entertainment, about the need to retain memory. Among them are some of Ang Lee's secret and interesting thoughts and feelings as a film director.
This group of people with post-traumatic stress of war still have to choose to go back to a place they are familiar with - the battlefield. Going back there is more like going home to them. For others, it is only there that this group of people truly maintain the appearance of heroes. This is the most cruel. But every emotional thread, is not presented in greater depth in this film.
In fact, this story, with Ang Lee's delicate grasp of the characters' psychology and the rhythm of storytelling, is enough to show another way, but now more often it loses too much other charm in order to show the advanced technology . At the moment, this technique seems unlikely to represent the direction of future film development, at least not for this type of story. The development direction of film is by no means linear and clear. Compared with technology, its value is still based on emotion.
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