About "The Grandmaster" Wong Kar-wai wants to tell about a dead martial arts of the Republic of China, the survival state of the North and South Boxing Schools in the historical environment, but in fact what we see in the movie is the confrontation between the North and South martial arts in Jinlou, and then to the end Personal love and deep love, "see yourself, see the world, see all beings" in the film sequence is actually "see all beings, see the world, and finally see yourself". This reverse polyphonic theme is very interesting. Wong Kar-wai said that his director's cut version is four hours long, and it is a chapter-and-turn structure, similar to the novels of the Republic of China, that is to say, Ip Man will be covered in this chapter, but at a certain point, he will skip to the next chapter and start a new chapter. figure. But now, under the pressure of the producers, 120 minutes is a chronicle structure. From this time in 1935, Ip Man slowly changed from a person who had never seen a mountain to finding that the most difficult thing was life, and the greatest master was Life. A person is like a tree, this tree falls, this tree rises, where does this tree go, and finally we see a big tree erected in the entire martial arts forest. To a certain extent, the structure of "The Grand Master" is anti-traditional. Each character is a puzzle piece of the martial arts of the Republic of China. They are all supporting roles of martial arts. There is never a main story in the film. Let's put it this way, the movie has a leading role, but no leading role, and there is only relative abundance between the characters, and there is no absolute soy sauce. In fact, it is very simple for us to analyze this lost martial arts. There are three elements: people, kung fu, and Wong Kar Wai.
This person is the master of various martial arts and is the key to the film. To understand this person, we must first look at the environment during the Republic of China. At that time, kung fu was very basic among the masses, so there would be playboys like Ye Wen who took martial arts as a pleasure. The second type is the traditional martial arts family represented by the Gong family, which has its own strict rules. The last type is the martial arts class like Yixiantian played by Zhang Zhen, but struggling in the political background. In fact, Yixiantian is a similar agent. His appearance should be when the Japanese army captured Foshan in 1938, which also explains the scene where he was chased on the train and had a relationship with Gong Er. There must be a master who is at the peak, there must be a mysterious master like Zhao Benshan, and there will definitely be a small gangster like Shenyang who doesn't know the sky is high. Doesn't anyone think that Wong Kar Wai's selection of them is simply letting them perform in their true colors? This is the martial arts group portrait that Wong Kar-wai wanted to show.
However, every master has the same fate in the movie, that is, there is only the road in front of him and no one behind him. Ye Wen was originally a rich second-generation, and reaching the peak of martial arts after the age of forty was also a low point in life. He divorced his wife and daughter, his family wealth was scattered, and Gong Er was completely passive in front of life. Gong Er's full name was Gong Ruomei. , The meaning of the name Ruomei is obvious, but she has been lonely all her life. She was so competitive, but she regained the face of the Gong family, and Lizi was bound forever. Zhang Ziyi had a scene that was cut. In the late second stage of the palace, when she knew that she was dying, there was a scene where she sang Peking Opera, singing excerpts from Peking Opera, and invited a teacher to teach it. I remember a phrase that said " I am like a bird in a cage, with wings that cannot be spread." As for the first-line day, we can see his brutality in very few scenes, because his identity always lives in the moment of life and death, and finally opening a barber shop is not a compromise to life. At the end of the film, empty shots of Buddha statues keep appearing, and a once magnificent temple has become a ruin over time. What about martial arts? In the end, the camera stopped at the half-length silhouette of Ip Man, which blurred not only the martial arts of the Republic of China, but also our culture.
Kungfu, two words, one horizontal and one vertical, Wong Kar-wai's interpretation is straightforward. Indeed, there were a lot of kung fu in the Republic of China at that time. If you win, you will be awesome. But this fight is also very particular, we can see two styles of fighting from "The Grand Master". One is the confrontation between the masters, and the other is the scene where one enemy has many. In the golden building, seniors from all walks of life gave advice to Ye Wen, and we could feel a clear sense of ritual. Every move was not about killing but teaching, and the comparison was not about winning or losing. Fighting with one enemy and many enemies should be popular with ordinary audiences, it is hearty, exciting and refreshing. In order not to repeat the previous fighting style, the movie is often a fist, and then the next shot will fly out, and it looks quite beautiful with high-speed shots. The best-looking ones were Zhang Ziyi's two gossip scenes, gossip for Wing Chun and gossip for Xingyi. Because Zhang Ziyi has learned to dance and gossip, she is very good at fighting. In the movie, she first takes over the camera with her whole body, and then follows the footwork of gossip and mud steps, which is both tangible and stylish. There is a saying in the movie called gossip hand black, this hand black refers to the angle of gossip hitting people's body is tricky, this trick is mainly because the footwork of gossip changes a lot, so the performance of gossip in the movie is quite perfect.
But some people will pick on and say that Wong Kar-wai is afraid that some non-action actors will not be able to play the trick of avoiding the real and the false, but this is not the case. Most of the action movies we often watch are tricks and routines. Some people must have thought like me. If they fight in real life, they will not have time to play tricks! This sentence is true, but it is true for ordinary people. Fighting by kung fu masters like the Republic of China is often done with one move. Punch directly to the ground. Therefore, Wong Kar Wai wanted to express this hard-line kung fu style, so when martial arts were removed from the cloak of performance, kung fu is very simple and only has one word, that is power. At this point, Bajiquan's performance is the most sharp, and the fierce battle in the rain in the first line of the sky is very impressive.
"The Grandmaster" is first a Wong Kar Wai movie and then a kung fu movie. Many people feel bored not because they played poorly but because they couldn't adapt to Wong Kar Wai's rhythm. This is really nothing to talk about, and you will naturally like it. I am sure that if you are willing to go to the theater and watch it a second time, you will like this film very much. By the way, speaking back to the movie, Wong Kar-wai used a lot of super-large close-up shots in the movie, and they were often the face shots when the characters were talking. The intention is to let the audience pay attention to the characters in the movie. Therefore, this will greatly increase the difficulty of the actor's performance. In the second half of the film, Wong Kar-wai returns the film to the familiar postmodern style, which is also unaccustomed to ordinary audiences. For example, Ma San's play at Gong'er Railway Station, etc., can't you just play it directly? It took so long. no. Watches and clocks appear repeatedly in the shot, and the people who leave, this anxious waiting is not only for Gong Er, the movie is to infect the audience. Wong Kar Wai just wants you to feel the pain of waiting. If you don't take it seriously and get bored, it just shows that Wong Kar Wai has achieved his goal. Ask yourself, in real life, when is it comfortable to wait? This is postmodernism, which pays attention to the rendering of emotions. The same is true for Gong Er in the temple. Gong Er paces among the Buddha statues and keeps close-ups of the Buddha statues. The flow of shadows makes us seem to be among the Buddha statues. In order to highlight Gong Er's difficult life choices in the temple. This kind of experience can be felt as long as you think about it when you watch it.
Some people say that every frame of the film is an oil painting, which is beyond doubt. Wong Kar Wai's unique visual aesthetics, let's talk about the use of color first. In the south, it is mostly rainy weather. Several fights are night and rainy battles. Black is the main tone of the outdoor, with a strong sense of mystery and crisis. And when the golden house is reached, it reflects the splendid color. Who said that was the place where Ye Wen reached the pinnacle of martial arts. Moreover, this time Wong Kar-wai likes to add cover to the camera, which is not difficult to understand. Most of the films are indoor scenes. The appearance of cover can enhance the richness of the interior, and the composition also has a sense of beauty. Photography can reflect unique colors. For example, when Gong Er was disputing revenge with his elders, the camera moved a blue light to the camera, and it slowly disappeared. It was too beautiful.
We must not mention the lines in the film, many people have difficulty understanding why everyone is speaking in a philosophical tone of life. In fact, for those who studied martial arts at that time, practicing martial arts was about enlightenment, and learning martial arts was more about learning life. Moreover, the so-called martial arts masters, the most important thing for them to speak is to have a kind of bearing, neither vernacular nor too deep, Zou Jingzhi, one of the screenwriters, said, "Jiawei often called me at that time, and I still remember him now. For the sentence "Jingzhi, give me a word", he and I, and Mr. Xu Haofeng, have to double-check the drafts of each line, and it has to be pondered over and over again." This is exactly what many literati like movies. The reason is that it truly and accurately restores the spirit of the Republic of China. I know that many of you like to read novels, and I sincerely recommend "The City-State Violence Group" written by Zhang Dachun, the screenwriter consultant of "The Grandmaster". The film and the novel have a natural mixed texture. It is quoted that "people who practice martial arts are equivalent to the gray between black and white. They protect the civil order from the bottom and communicate with celebrities from the top. The way of a martial artist is to not be humiliated externally, not to deceive internally, to have self-respect, and to have a good reputation. Self-cultivation, emphasizing the sense of honor, emphasizing righteousness over wealth, paying special attention to etiquette when interacting with people, and even paying more attention to etiquette than scholars, because it is necessary to convince the public. "
Finally, I mentioned that many people said that they did not understand Mr. Gong and asked Ye Wen to try his hand. Here In fact, a lot of cuts have been made, but it can be said that this section was actually changed according to the facts, and there are traces to be found. At that time, Mr. Gong wanted to spread the martial arts from the south to the north to promote the exchange and integration of the north and south martial arts, but the master in the south was suspicious, thinking that Mr. Gong was deliberately looking for trouble and wanted to provoke himself. In addition, Ma San defeated many masters in a row in the golden building. In the trailer, we can see the picture of Ma San and Ye Wen fighting, which is actually very important. Ma San's performance in the Golden Tower was too strong, which is why Mr. Gong asked him to return to the Northeast. At that time, he also saw Ye Wen's extraordinary skill and bearing, so he decided to let him help, remember the trailer Is that line "Good skill, what's your name?" Ye Wen!
Quoting a passage from Xiahe Film Review, "Sometimes you have to learn to appreciate things you don't understand, even if you don't know how to pretend to understand, the rivers and lakes are huge, and the martial arts are very deep, so pretending to be forceful may be a way to become arrogant. You may not have it, but if you have it, you must not throw it away. This sense of integrity is enough to instantly kill those donkey dung who use the past to ridicule the present and laugh at the world.
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