This year’s Shanghai International Film Festival is actually more time for me to work than to enjoy movies. When I was about to issue tickets, my instructor told me that he basically didn’t watch a movie at this time in previous years, and later told me that , because I don’t have to be responsible for much writing work, the last day of the festival and the first day of the opening are more or less free.
For me personally, the opening film of this year's International Film Festival is "Merry Christmas on the Battlefield" at Daguang Cinema at 09:00 on the 11th. I watched this movie once five years ago. During my middle school days when I didn't pursue the quality of the movie, I just wanted to watch movies on my mobile phone at night, "Merry Christmas" was one of the few for me, and I was forced to see half of it. I want to see the ending movie. This is the loss caused by not understanding the movie. At this time, I am deeply ashamed of myself at that time. Needless to say, what I missed was Takeshi Kitano's most sincere confession, not to mention that I missed Ryuichi Sakamoto in "Merry Christmas Mr. . The love poured out in Lawrence.
Fortunately, five years later, there is a seemingly better opportunity to fill the gap.
In the past five years, it is not that I have not thought about finding opportunities to make up for it. There is a 3.19G version that exists in all my electronic devices in the past five years, almost in a suitable environment: for example, in the warm sea breeze in the midsummer in Xiamen; Outside the church with snow in winter in Qingdao; on the cold grassland in autumn in Hebei; in the first ray of warm sunshine in Wuhan in spring. I would think, "Why don't you just watch this movie now!" But the final destination of this thought is scattered in the sound of the waves on Gulangyu Island, the flapping of the seagulls on the trestle, the smoke in the temples, the sparkling waves on the East Lake - I Couldn't find a better place for this movie. And the longer the days, the more heavy it feels, like rice and wheat, which need to be harvested by external force.
Until the morning of the 5th, the weather in Magic City was excellent. The train had just entered Shanghai South Railway Station, and the air-conditioning in the carriage was reckless. My eyes were blurred because I had not slept all night, and I stared straight at the ticket grabbing interface. Every time the film festival’s ticket rush is a silent war, it often reminds me of the atmosphere of the college entrance examination. Everyone bowed their heads, silent, and just stared at the few lines in front of them and pondered for a long time. The announcement of the results of this battle was obviously much faster than the latter. Within a few minutes, someone complained of helplessness, and someone was already anxiously waiting for other opportunities. I'm obviously extra lucky not to be among these people, but it's also like something has come to this point in time, and it's time to show up.
The first thing I did when I got a ticket, I opened my online disk, swiped left and deleted the 3.19G version of "Merry Christmas on the Battlefield" that had existed for maybe two or three years.
At that moment, I was relieved, and the feelings were simple but complex beyond words.
On the morning of the 11th, the Daguang Cinema was already busy. I sat in my seat and looked at the ticket in my hand. To be honest, it was not hot, and it was not even ten minutes after I took it out. I stared at it for a long time, as if the ticket contained the story of my five years, and I was proofreading whether it was correct.
As I remembered, the movie started with that song that I had been listening to for almost five years. In the face of such a movie that I already knew happened, I faced the attitude like seeing an old friend, there are always a few topics that must be discussed at any time, and there are always a few questions to be asked again. People are happiest when they are waiting for what they want to happen to happen. I am waiting for Sergeant Ohara with sake and fruit beside him. He is drunk and muttering merry Christmas; I am still Wait, Jack walked up to Yonoi and kissed him on the cheek; the last time "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" played, Kitano's face took over the whole screen, he called Lawrence's name, as loudly as before, Lawrence turned back, lips slightly Trembling, sadness was about to engulf him, but still stubbornly squeezed out a smile, trying to look the same as before, and then he heard:
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence."
Kitano Takeshi's smile is by no means good-looking, just looking at the not-so-aligned teeth in the picture, the large and small eyes, the folds that are squeezed out of the smile are distinct.
This scene always reminds me of Bong Joon-ho's "Memories of Murder". In the last scene, Song Kang-ho's eyes are also looking at the camera. They are so similar at once. I even suspect that Bong Joon-ho may have watched "Merry Christmas on the Battlefield". Figure out that shot.
But at that moment, I think all I can see is the tears in his eyes, like a very aggrieved feline, which is very different from the fierce Sergeant Ohara at the beginning of the movie. I don't think I can analyze what is in his smile, but at that time, what emotion was quietly brewing in my empty chest, waiting for the ending music to occupy the eardrum, the emotion was about to burst out of the lacrimal gland.
I have briefly read the original story of this film in the past few days, from Lawrence Post's "The Seed and the Sower", the content of which is quite different from the final presentation of the film, but it also fills my empty chest. The emotions that Li was supposed to fill up. After watching it for the second time, I walked out of the movie theater with my friend, and she kept repeating to me: "I cried."
I suddenly realized that at this moment, I have nothing to say, and can only keep repeating: "Me too." It seems superfluous to say anything.
After dinner, we sheltered from the rain under the eaves in Happiness. The rain was getting heavier and heavier. She asked me what was my favorite scene in the movie.
I still have that shot of Takeshi Kitano saying, "Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence." Laughing and talking, taking limited freedom as a gift at a time when neither could give each other anything. to Lawrence and wish him a Merry Christmas.
He was drunk, as if there was only Lawrence in his eyes, he wished only one person happiness, and only one person was happy.
It was a very unforgettable Christmas. Like many things in life, in fact, we have only one Christmas, and the rest are compared with it.
In 2016, the year I first learned about Merry Christmas on the Battlefield, David Bowie, who played Jack, passed away, which is also a deep regret looking back on the past five years later.
It suddenly occurred to me that the biggest difference between the original book and the movie is that Yonoi was not executed after the defeat, but returned to his hometown. In the movie, the bundle of hair that Lawrence enshrined in the shrine was actually brought back by himself. He wrote to Lawrence. The letter said of the scene that day:
My hometown is a beautiful place, beautiful in all seasons, and I have a sacrificial ceremony in the fall. I saw that the leaves were golden that day, and some places were brilliantly red. From a distance, they were burning like flames.
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