Hong Kong tycoon Johnnie To said: "If Wong Kar-Wai only made one movie, it should be "Dong Evil and West Poison."
It was at the Venice Film Festival in 1994, "East Evil and West Poison" premiered, and eight superstars Stunning on the spot, accompanied by the soul-stirring on the screen, it caused Shuicheng to go crazy. Even though he won no awards that year, Wong Kar-wai still gained word of mouth. After returning to Hong Kong, "Dong Evil and West Poison" was called "epoch-making work" and was repeatedly studied: decadent aesthetics, sad narrative, distressed spirit, Emotional scars, as well as the vague illusion and intoxication, have given people countless ways to interpret the film. It is also from here that Wong Kar-wai's films have become a signature and one of the must-talk about arty and must-have for movie fans.
Time flies. Fifteen years have passed in a flash, and the world of Hong Kong people seems to be clear of the clouds. The film market is reshuffled, and the consultation in the era of blockbusters has gradually become fierce. It is the kind of indulging in the spiritual world. The slow beat is gradually a little out of step with the rhythm. In this year, Wang Jiawei released "Dong Xie Xi Po Definitive Edition", and everyone knows his desire to revive his soul. However, in 2009, the rivers and lakes are no longer Wang Jiawei's rivers and lakes. Born, the pulse of the movie and the rhythm of our heartbeat have been completely decoupled.
I think some people will continue to support this playful work of old wine in a new bottle, but most people should be tired of it. The final version of "Dong Xie Xi Du" appeared in this era that does not belong to it, and it will not be given to Wong Kar Wai. The admiration of the front and back will be the destruction of verbal criticism. Fifteen years later, "Dong Xie Xi Po" made a comeback in a comical repair. The halo has long been lost. It seems that Wong Kar-wai's personal era should also come to an end, right?
The ultimate version is just a failed fix.
Those who mumble that the new is better than the old are blind optimists. It is their wishful thinking that "Evil and West Poison Definitive Edition" can turn corruption into magic. It's a far-fetched fantasy. Let me ask, can the mainland box office of this film exceed 30 million? Although Wong Kar-wai spent huge sums of money to restore the film, the film did not have a new look, especially after the CD-ROM was first released, "Dong Xie Xi Po Definitive Edition" has been the same as Jia Zhangke's "Twenty-Four Cities", almost lost its original possessions. box office expectations.
Among the viewers who have watched the DVD before, perhaps most of them have given up their determination to support the box office, and "Definitive Edition" has failed in three aspects.
The first is the picture. The restoration effect enhances the saturation of the film’s tones, swept away the original gray blur and replaced it with heavy ink colors. The visual effect seems to be open, but the picture is almost distorted and out of shape. The purpose of Wong Kar-wai's partnership with the famous French special effects production company BUF and Thailand's Oriental Post company is very simple. The picture of "Evil Dead in the West" turns yellow and brighter, the tone tends to be warmer, and the cold heart of emotional alienation forms a distance and a gap. For such a movie with the theme, its picture is seriously exaggerated, desert , The water wave loses its dim and hazy cover and becomes false in the lens.
The picture is out of shape, and the time line has also changed. From Jingzhe to Jingzhe, it has become a linear story within a year. Wong Kar-Wai is famous for his scissor hands, and this hard work really dares to cut it. With the elements of flashbacks removed, a story that happens in sequence is a bit simple or even childish for our accustomed sunglasses-style play. Audiences who don't understand the original work may have a high probability to be ashamed this time, because it is much smoother, and the blunt plot caused by small-scale cuts is not a problem. However, for those sunglasses fans, can such an arrangement satisfy them?
The biggest highlight is the soundtrack, and the biggest flaw is also here. Chen Xunqi's soundtrack has always been considered a soul-stirring peerless classic, but Wong Kar-wai still wants to "change the flavor". Wu Tong + Yo-Yo Ma, although powerful, must be an excellent combination? The re-arranged music sounds very strange, with more elements of deep and spreading, but less the roar of the sky and the earth, and the song "Lonely Shadow of Heaven and Earth" is removed, and the film lacks that kind of soul and spirit. Regardless of this, Wong Kar-Wai brought in Yo-Yo Ma, the world's number one cellist, and the music changed completely from the original.
Old things are actually a box of expired cans
In 2008, many directors made a lot of money, most notably Feng Xiaogang's "If You Are the One", which earned 320 million box office through the draft of Chen Guofu's "Marriage Notice". However, Feng Xiaogang is an expert in fried rice. Every time he adds Feng's jokes, he will make a different dish. The audience's appetite is also good, which proves that vulgar realism still has its value. However, for Wong Kar-wai, who is addicted to spiritual lust, the tricks of frying cold rice will naturally not fail. However, are their movies at this time really suitable?
"Dong Xie Xi Po Definitive Edition" cannot be compared with "If You Are the One" because it is too literary. Compared with the latter's 300 million, 30 million is its top line.
In "Chongqing Forest", Wong Kar-wai compares love to a box of canned food that never expires, with a limit of 10,000 years. If he designed it this way, then the most admired "Evil in the West" in his films should be a film that will never expire, so it will not be reworked. But Wang Jiawei couldn't hold it any longer. Ten thousand years was just a grand-sounding motto, and in less than fifteen years, it was gone. I don't know what Wong Kar Wai wants, box office, word of mouth, or lasting influence? Wong Kar-wai did not make a film last year, and re-cuts are always simpler and easier than filming.
The previously released "Happy Family 2009" is said to have a good box office in Hong Kong, but the film is not very good, and many audiences in the mainland are disgusted. For movie fans, the movies you see in the theater can more or less always reflect some of the current reality, even if it is a mockery of the past. In the 1990s, that smell was weird. This is the case with "Evil and West Poison Ultimate Edition", neither the soup nor the dressing is changed, just the color change is difficult to satisfy.
I remember that sentimental middle school age. We watched "Evil and Poison in the West" over and over again in front of the screen. Our notebooks densely wrote down all the lines of the movie. At that time, we were emotional and would follow the trend to watch it. In Haruki Murakami's novels, we desperately searched for rock CDs, and frantically searched for Wong Kar-wai's discs. We like to tell others that we are "petty bourgeoisie", and slowly we believe it. Years later, as we get older, we begin to see through some things and shatter the myths in our hearts. When we overthrow our once distorted beliefs, will Wong Kar Wai's movies full of murmurs still be in our hearts? ?
Wong Kar-wai, your era is over.
Wen Jun's remarks against Stephen Chow seem to be more applicable to Wong Kar-wai. Wong Kar-wai's films rely too much on intuition. If the intuition is misplaced, the power of the film itself will be dissipated. Wong Kar-wai's first film was 1988's "Carmen Mong Kok", but the real style can be traced back to "The True Story of A Fei" in 1990. In that urbanite, people were lonely and spiritually empty. Really gave Hong Kong movie fans an antidote. Wong Kar-wai of that era set his sights on blurred beings, and his films also appropriately depict the current spirit of Hong Kong people.
At that time, Tsui Hark had fallen, To Qifeng had not yet risen, and Wong Kar-wai stepped out of his place; after many years, Wong Kar-wai had established a school of his own in Hong Kong, but his inspiration was almost lost.
"Dong Xie Xi Du" was an investment deceived by a star lineup in that era of martial arts, and it took other people's roots as a bet in exchange for its own name. Since then, Wong Kar-Wai has never been free from the criticism of "self-plagiarism". His narcissism and self-confidence have achieved him in a certain period of time, but it has also hurt him. Repeating and self-plagiarism has gradually become the most boring thing. The repetition of the subject matter, the repetition of the characters, the repetition of the scene, and the ramble, as always, preaching, seems to have never changed. A person’s creative resources are limited, and one can only dig it infinitely to the end.
Wei Junzi said frankly that Wong Kar Wai was a businessman. He set up Zedong to support movies through advertising, and still completed the capital operation without hindrance. As a businessman's shrewd mind continued, Wong Kar Wai's movies became more and more nutritious. "2046" and "Blueberry Night", including the short film "Eros" during the period, are still the kind of fascinating petty bourgeoisie, and the techniques seem to be somewhat mature, but the film itself has lost that kind of projection of the mental state of urban people. kind of sincerity. After the arrival of the 21st century, the vision of Hong Kong people has spread, and the spirit of the Chinese people has also lifted the taboo, but Wong Kar-wai's films are still the same as me, full of closure and confusion.
Those voice-overs that never stop, those picturesque images, those smoke rings that slowly rise, and the swaying cheongsam, are they near or far from us? Wong Kar Wai is an insurmountable character in life. It sticks to a layer of brown that belongs to petty bourgeoisie, and captures the pulse of that youthful age. We are all people who like to pretend to be petty bourgeoisie, and Wong Kar Wai's movies give us this. An opportunity to pretend, this is a temptation and a deception. If you are unfortunately poisoned by Wong Kar Wai, you will be willing to be deceived by him. And Wong Kar-wai himself, under this kind of self-immersion, went further and further, until his personal works were as pale as Zhang Yimou's films.
Simply "Dong Xie Xi Po Definitive Edition" gives us another chance to pretend to be "petty bourgeoisie". If you don't take the bait, you can do whatever you want. However, after this battle, the era of Wong Kar-wai can also be announced. Text/Grey Wolf
PS: As Brother Vulcan Ji said, 80% of Wong Kar-wai's move is to make "dead money", please wake up the fans of the trouble brother!
View more about Ashes of Time reviews
