In the first decade of the twenty-first, South Korea produced a large number of romantic movies and TV series. In the field of TV dramas, representatives include a series of works starring Bae Yong Joon and Kwon Sang Woo. In the field of movies, such as "Eraser in My Mind", "If Love Had Providence" and so on. In these Korean film and television works, the development of love, the character changes of both parties in love, and even the movement style and overall atmosphere of the film, even formed a template-style shooting method similar to the convention. Even the Korean film "Daisy", which was directed by Hong Kong director Liu Weiqiang, has entered such a routine mode.
Among these love movies that mix and match various themes, of course, there are also high quality. The most important point is: how to create a character with solid inner logic and deep motivation to promote the templated development of the story to move forward in a reasonable state.
For example, Liu Weiqiang's "Daisy" has done a good job in this regard: the life of the killer played by Zheng Yusheng is generally lonely and monotonous, and he has become accustomed to this kind of life, which makes his heart completely cold. , became a person who is very suitable for the killer profession; however, he inadvertently became interested in observing the painter played by Jun Ji-hyun from a distance, and through this long-distance observation made himself close to Jun Ji-hyun's life. The enthusiastic and optimistic life has warmed up again; at this time, Jun Zhixian's love affair appeared, which prompted Zheng Yusheng's "killer-like behavior": he wanted to get rid of his rival with the cold mentality of a killer, but in the end he couldn't. Instead, he rescued his rival from the hands of other killers---Liu Weiqiang achieved two things through this scene: 1. In terms of the plot, he provided Zheng Yusheng and the boss of the killer group with the opportunity to "receive the conflict". The entrusted boss threatened Jun Zhixian's life", paving the way for the confrontation between Zheng Yusheng and the killer group. Being able to "perish with the group without the character of a killer" rationalized his behavioral motives; and then, Zheng Yusheng was caught between the identity of the killer and the warmth of his heart---his past prevented him from entering the life of Jun Jixian. Unable to pursue love, but his heart warmed by Jun Zhixian also made him unable to continue his career as a killer. Therefore, he chose to die with the killer group to free himself and do the only thing he could do for Jun Zhixian- -- Zheng Yusheng's cracked state constitutes another deep behavioral motivation.
And this "Beautiful Life" is actually similar to "Daisy" in some places - it is a mixture of love and gang crime; the protagonists are all cold and "natural born criminals" at first, and they are all caught by one The famous sunshine woman warms up, and the ending is the same as the one who turned against the boss. However, compared to the above-mentioned "Daisy", the character motives and internal logic of this film can be described as very confusing and cannot stand scrutiny.
In the opening part, the director quoted Wang Shouren's "The Heart of the Benevolent", and explained with his heart that "a person's world changes according to his subjective heart, not absolute objectivity", which leads to all the behaviors of Li Bingxian. The basis—when his heart is cold, the rules of the world in his eyes are gangsterized, and as a member, he can perfectly fit into this world (in the opening scene, through a follow-up to Lee Byung-hun) The shot shows him being a boss in a nightclub managed by the group); but when his heart is warmed, the rules of the world in his eyes become non-gangster, and as a member he It is no longer tolerated in gang life (for example, because of thinking about girls, and lost vigilance, was attacked successfully). The director tried to use this kind of psychology to explain all of Li Bingxian's behavioral motives: at the beginning of the meal with the leader, his rules reflected his suitability as a gang member; after falling in love with a girl, the rules of the world in his eyes became unreasonable. He was gangsterized, so he did not deal with the girls and boyfriends, but gave them a way out (a proof of the change in world view); and in the end, because of the execution of the leader, he no longer accepted the world view of the non-gangsterized world. This kind of "execution for breaking the leader" gang rules, so he rebelled in anger. As a result of this behavioral logic, he, like "Daisy", used death to free himself from his contradictions, and in the climax scene, the director did not forget the echo at the end: after Lee Byung-hun executed the leader, he looked at the world outside the window , this scene echoes the first shot of him looking neatly at the world outside the window - the world, the rules in your eyes, are changed according to your heart.
Looking at these statements alone, it seems that the film does not have much problem with the motivation and logic of the characters. But when it comes to the finished film, the director's construction is very inappropriate and full of loopholes. First of all, the biggest logical flaw is that Lee Byung Hun's "revenge" against the leader and put him to death is not sufficiently motivated. Li Bingxian was indeed executed by the leader, and because he no longer obeyed the gang rules logically after his inner change, he was dissatisfied with the leader who "handled the disobedient subordinates" because of the failure of his favor, which in itself makes sense. However, even if Li Bingxian no longer obeys the rules of the gangster world, it does not mean that he has forgotten these rules. He should clearly know why he was executed by the leader, but under such circumstances, he still has no doubt that he has cultivated himself for several years. The leader's revenge without hesitation is difficult to explain emotionally. He can be sad and angry, but it is unreasonable to rise to the level of "revenge" against the leader.
The second logical irrational point is the girl played by Shin Min Ah. In this movie, she is out of the wall, and after being discovered, she shows the grief and anger of "I am in true love". If she was coerced or coerced by the leader, the sentiment would be reasonable, but clearly it isn't. This makes her behavior very baseless - if you are really in love, why not just break up with the boss for the sake of true love, even if you will be killed? This can only make the character fall into a state of "eating in the bowl and watching the pot"---because the audience can only convince themselves by understanding this.
So, what constitutes the two major loopholes in the film? It is precisely because of the highly procedural progress and design of such films—in the procedural creation, the behaviors and psychological changes of the characters have become "promoted for the sake of propulsion", pure and simple. It has become a tool to promote the direction of the plot towards the preset goal, and no longer has the rationality of intrinsic motivation-Lee Byung-hun's opposition to the gang is so that he can eventually die, to incite the emotional climax of the film. In fact, in a state like him, the leader is sincere to himself, and he is not treated badly, but is separated from the leader because of the change of world view, which is similar to Zhang Cuishan in "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Slayer"-Wudang Shimen is decent, But because of love, he can no longer stand purely on the decent side. And Jin Yong's ending in dealing with Zhang Cuishan is that he chooses to let him commit suicide - the best way out under the entanglement of worldview and identity, rather than the high-sounding "revenge" like Li Bingxian. And Shin Min Ah's "for true love" and scolding Lee Byung Hun who saved her life was to further shake Lee Byung Hun's worldview of the gangster who heard this and trigger the "heart world movement" of the follow-up plot, and why didn't Shin Min Ah break up with the leader? Because if they broke up, then there would be no drama. Obviously, all settings are for the template of the trend, as for whether the characters are reasonable or not, it is almost on the line.
In fact, there are ways to solve these two logical loopholes. As long as the leader is blackened, many things can be made reasonable. The leader is not sincere to Lee Byung Hun, but just treats him as a dog. Then Lee Byung Hun, who has lost his feelings, has a sufficient basis for revenge on the leader; There is a good reason to rebuke the leader for seeking true love. But in this movie, the leader is obviously not a character in that direction, so these two logical loopholes are deepened.
And at the end, the director's logical loophole is even bigger. According to the templates and routines of such movies, the ending often needs to make a most effective upgraded version of sensationalism. So, the director shot this picture: Lee Byung-hun was wearing the costume at the beginning, as if he had returned to the opening scene, and he no longer looked out the window coldly, but made a playful boxing move. There are two possible intentions for this ending: In the first possibility, the director here traces everything back to the beginning and tells us, "Lee Bing-hun was no longer a pure criminal from the very beginning," which highlights Lee Bing-hun The involuntary tragedy of the whole life. This retrospective and expression is a template ending for this type of film. But in this way, the core logic of the film "the heart of the benevolent" does not exist - he is no longer a gangster worldview from the beginning, so why can he so faithfully implement violence in the opening scene? Under this possibility, the director can be said to end with a template, which also breaks the "psychology" of the only motivational logic set in the entire movie.
In the second possibility, this picture is not a retrospective of the beginning, but a hallucination of the dying Lee Byung-hun—a subjective modification of the opening scene in the hallucination. In this way, the director still explained the tragedy of Lee Byung-hun's life: if he can get rid of the worldview of the gangster from the beginning, then he can have a happy life in pursuit of love. This kind of hallucinatory ending is also another major routine for this type of film. However, under the purpose of expressing this possibility, it should not be Li Bingxian who was wearing a suit and looked like a gangster at the beginning, because this does not make sense in his internal logic----he wants to change his life from the beginning, then he Why do you still fantasize about wearing a gangster outfit? In a brand new hallucinatory scene, Lee Byung Hun wearing ordinary clothes, walking and smiling in the sun is a more suitable narrative picture.
To sum up, this movie has too many routines and too many template designs, resulting in two huge and irreparable logical loopholes. The important behaviors of the characters have largely lost their intrinsic motivation and rationality. , and simply become a tool to push the story forward in a predetermined direction and a predetermined expression.
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