01
"Billy Lynn" is not a good story, the original is more literary than readable. The pattern is very small, and in a word, it is what Billy Lynn, a nineteen-year-old soldier, sees and thinks in a day.
This movie is not Ang Lee's first choice, because another boxing movie has been on hold, so he took it.
The absence of old friend James, without him to check and control the script, makes this already rambling story even more unfinished.
Aside from the story itself, 120-frame 4k has become the most eye-catching new game, and experimenting with new technologies seems to be the biggest motivation for Ang Lee to take on the film.
Foreign film critics have mixed praise and criticism, and the voices of denial are incessant.
The reporter asked Ang Lee, why do you want to challenge the new "limits" of film technology?
Ang Lee said, think about myself as an old man, so Fuck it. And film technology hasn't been innovated for a long time, so let's take this film as a new beginning.
When making "Youth Pi", Ang Lee found that the moving shots and action scenes in the 3D version often had blurry, stuttered, and flickering images, which were related to the 24 frames per second shooting and projection of traditional movies. To solve this problem, the only way is to increase the frame rate, so he has always wanted to try to make a top-notch movie that breaks through the technical bottleneck.
The cost of shooting 120-frame 4K movies is too high, and it is unlikely to shoot many large scenes. So "Billy Lynn", a small format that doesn't require a lot of fighting, became Ang Lee's first choice.
02
120fps 4k brings an unprecedented viewing experience.
The whole film was shot with a 4K camera CineAlta F65, with a screen resolution of 4096×2160, which is four times that of a 2K movie (2048×1080).
Watching "Billy Lynn" at Bona Cinemas in Beijing, the overall tone is very bright and the clarity is greatly improved. The improvement of picture quality has brought richer details to the film. Every subtle expression of the actor can be seen clearly, and even the capillaries and muscles on the actor's face can be seen slightly shaking.
The depth-of-field lens contains more information, and the front and back scenes are also clearly visible. The full lens makes people feel dazzled and unconnected, and there is a feeling that the eyes are not enough and cannot be seen.
Some people criticize that the too clear picture makes the film feel less, in my opinion, this is pure nonsense.
It has always been the goal of the development and pursuit of film technology to let the viewers immerse themselves in the film more closely. Just like "Arrival of the Train" scared the first group of film viewers to flee, the new technology brings Unprecedented movie viewing experience. Ang Lee has added a lot of subjective shots in the film, in order to immerse the audience in an all-round immersion in the virtual environment that is infinitely close to the real created by the high frame rate. The football thrown to the audience, the bullets shot at the audience, the fireworks suddenly rising around, and the subjective perspective of the assault with guns greatly enhanced the audience's sense of participation, and they experienced an unprecedented shocking scene.
The only regret is that the war scene is too short, mostly because of limited budget.
03
In fact, looking at all of Ang Lee's films, the pattern is not big.
"Billy Lynn" is the boy's point of view, a parallel editing of the two lines of reality and memory, which has become the main content of the story.
19-year-old Billy became a hero overnight when he was accidentally filmed rescuing his comrades on the battlefield in Iraq. Back home, promoting heroics, and finishing with Beyonce, performing at halftime of a football game.
A group of soldiers stood in the middle of the field filled with American flags, and fireworks rose in the air. Pop songs, softcore dancing and military parade performances combine to create an American patriotic atmosphere, but for the stadium staff and audience, it's all just a show, full of surreal absurdity.
At the end of the performance, the soldiers stood at a loss. There was no staff to guide them to the stage, but they thought the soldiers were in the way, delayed their clearing, and even fought with the soldiers.
One second is the hero of the people, the next second it becomes an eyesore.
Although he is a director under the Hollywood system, Ang Lee is a special case. His films are not Hollywood at all. In his own words, he shoots literary and artistic films that burn money, but his works have always been Very high return on investment ratio, so the film "Billy Lynn" is the most suitable for him to direct.
Like previous works, "Billy Lynn" is not Hollywood at all, neither celebrating personal heroism and patriotism, nor reflecting on the cruelty of war, embedded in the core of anti-warism, neither left nor right. Through the perspective of a young man, the film allows the audience to directly participate in the war, experience the psychological trauma of the war to an ordinary young man, and the impetuous atmosphere of the entire country, thus satirizing the onlookers' indifference to the war.
The rich and those in power don't care what happens on the battlefield, they just focus on the value that the label can generate. Once a young person is labeled as a "hero", the maximization of interests becomes their goal. Going to the cave, filming, exhibiting, until the value is drained, they will immediately shift their targets and continue to send these so-called heroes back to the battlefield to die.
Even more ironic is that even ordinary people are assimilated by this impetuous atmosphere. The supposed pure emotion between Billy and the cheerleader girl was inevitably polluted by the halo of the so-called hero.
The most heart-wrenching scene in the film is Billy kissing goodbye to the cheerleaders. He said emotionally that he really wanted to run away with you, but the girl questioned in a very suspicious tone, "You are a hero with honors, you can't think like that." Lynn suddenly realizes that she loves the hero Billy, not the private Billy who is shivering in the war.
Ang Lee did not implant any opinions in the film, but continued to lay out the mental trauma caused by the war through details, such as the mother's hard knock on the table, which reminded Lynn of the sudden gunshot; the stage suddenly exploded The fireworks caused the soldiers to instinctively dodge because they thought the enemy was firing.
The soldiers' nerves are always tense, even if they are surrounded by unarmed civilians, they still have no sense of security, and even choke passers-by's necks just because of a joke.
They can't fire on civilians, and they even feel that jihadist mobs are easier to get along with than ordinary people, so returning to the battlefield is the safest option. What a huge irony.
04
When filming "Sense and Sensibility", Ang Lee learned a sentence from Emma, a big star and producer, that people should respect and learn from suffering in the face of pain. This sentence seems to sum up all of Ang Lee's films.
The protagonists in his films are all such people, the pain of fighting against the patriarchy, the pain of the collision between Eastern and Western culture and etiquette, the pain of opposing the system and taboos. Only by learning to contend and get along with pain can people grow.
For Ang Lee, the biggest pain comes from insecurity. Whether it is family or being a director, insecurity has always been the driving force behind his desire to do something. He said that once he has a sense of security and becomes habitual, he will be afraid of being stereotyped, afraid that Jiang Lang's talents will be exhausted, and that he will be eliminated by someone figuring out the routine. So all along, he has been trying to break through himself, with success and failure.
"The Wedding Banquet" was an instant hit, and "Food and Man" was unsatisfactory in word-of-mouth and box office; "Sense and Sensibility" was recognized by major studios, "Ice Storm" and "Ride with the Devil" were not very popular. ; "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won the Oscar for best foreign language film, but the next "Hulk" was exhausted physically and mentally, so he had the idea of retirement; "Brokeback Mountain" was made for recuperation, but won Oscar for Best Director.
For so many years, Ang Lee has been seeking new ideas and changes. The audience will form an established impression because of the success of some of his films, but when he wants to make some jumping attempts, the audience will feel a little uncomfortable. However, no matter how the audience reacts, when Ang Lee takes risks in creation, he must bear the double burden, whether the creation can be successful or not, and whether the audience can accept it.
So it's not so surprising that "Billy Lynn" has faced all kinds of criticism.
05
If someone tells you how touching the plot of "Billy Lynn" is, you can boldly swear and fuck it.
This movie is very inhumane, the story is just to make you feel uncomfortable, the truth is a bit cruel. It's like 120 frames of 4k exposing the actors to the camera without makeup, nakedly revealing all kinds of cruel realities. The soldiers were passionate and fraternal, but the compatriots around them judged them like animals.
The narrative rhythm of the film is always tepid, lacking in dramatic conflict, with more emotion than narrative, focusing on the ups and downs of Billy's inner thoughts rather than the splendid external scenes. It needs a little concentration, otherwise it will be easy to be distracted and unable to find the emotions that the director wants to convey.
In Ang Lee's films, the emotional expressions of the characters are very delicate, and the character of Billy is especially Ang Lee. The slightly shy expression is especially like Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.
06
Billy Lynn kissed the cheerleader girl goodbye, said goodbye to her worried sister, stepped into the extended Hummer, said goodbye to her dead comrade in her mind, and all the good things that were supposed to be good were shattered one by one. He turned his head with tears in his eyes and saw his comrades, everyone said "I love you" to him. This is their tradition, maybe they will die in battle tomorrow.
Sadly not knowing exactly who is fighting and dying for.
When he finally realized that all this was meaningless, the 19-year-old boy named Billy Lynn finally grew up in pain.
Author of this article: Mamaye
Young writer, screenwriter, film critic
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