This is a movie released in 1987. De Niro played a supporting role in it. It should be a suspense movie. A private detective, Andrew Harry, was commissioned by a mysterious figure, Louis Sefer, to find a man named Johnny Pfeiffer. For the sake of five thousand dollars, Harry tried his best to find, and those who knew the clue, found one to die, and finally made Harry fascinated.
The impression of writing a suspense film is difficult, let's say it is less, others are at a loss, if it is too much, it is spoiler. I had no choice but to talk about him and write for myself.
The usual suspense film is that the editor guides the audience to show one clue, guide the protagonist step by step into the plot, and finally get a logical result. Such as the movie of Agatha Christie. This movie is not. In this film, the story is not so much what may happen in the real world, it is more of the editor's mind. The choreographer took the protagonist as he pleased, jumping one pit, another pit, and then stuck in the pit and couldn't get out. The so-called logic is not the kind of reasonable story development in ordinary people's thinking, but a mysterious religion and a mysterious devil are made up. They have their logic. If the audience finds it absurd, the director can say that mysterious things are originally. It's absurd. This is called "God Logic". With this kind of mystery, they can toss as they like. If you think about it, this is a good way to get close.
The protagonist of the film is Harry, but in fact, it is Luis Sever played by De Niro who directs and controls all of this. At the end of the film, Saifu threatened Harry in this way: "What is the value of life? It is because of love and hate. The flesh and blood body is short, only the soul is eternal. And your soul belongs to me." In other words, his motives are twofold, one is to vent his anger by repaying Harry for not paying his debts; the other is to show his power. At first, Johnny made a deal with Saifu in order to be famous and sold his soul to Saifu. With the help of Saifo, Johnny became famous in one fell swoop, and his "golden voice" became red. It also caused a lot of trouble, so he tried to avoid and escape. But after all, Monkey King couldn't escape the palm of the Tathagata Buddha. You can't be a soldier, or you can change your name, or if you have amnesia. The rules of the arena, you have to pay it back sooner or later when you come out. Saifu's method of revenge against Harry can be described as sinister and vicious. He asked Harry to investigate himself, so as to find his past and present step by step, and let him watch the death of the people he used to know and loved, and let his soul Suffering and suffering forever. Because his soul already belongs to Satan. Similar films include Pacino's "Devil's Advocate".
In fact, in real life, we can also see such a scenario. Those who are willing to sell their souls for selfish desires may not be sanctioned by law or morally judged. People do not expect their conscience to be awakened, but they live in fear throughout their lives. Those who were betrayed by him were staring at him. It seems to others that perhaps he is enjoying the glory and wealth, but he has not gotten even a day of happiness from it. The devil in his heart haunts him all the time. This kind of bitterness can only be experienced by those who are there.
The film shows a black religious ceremony, the scene is a bit scary. Dancing wildly, condemning an innocent chicken, and playing disco music on the guitar. It's crazy and weird. This scenario is very different from the East. For example, we have always believed in the three schools of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. In fact, in these three schools, people's understanding of Buddhism and Taoism is usually very superficial, and the philosophical and ethical thoughts of Confucianism are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. As for other religions, Nestorianism came to China as early as the Tang Dynasty, and disappeared within a few days. Later, there were some developments in the laborious preaching of the Jesuit priests, and it would not become a climate after all. As for Islam, it is only a continuation of masturbation in the face of strong survival pressure. So here, the simplification of religion is compatible with the traditional culture of the Chinese people for thousands of years. The West is very different. It is said that there are 250 religious denominations in the United States. The voodoo mentioned above is a very primitive religion. Said Buddha in the film said: "There are already enough religions to make people learn hatred instead of love." These religious beliefs originate from people's strong desire for the soul, and Western countries also allow these religious sects to exist. Because of this cultural difference, Westerners do not understand some of our practices. Until those religions showed their ugly nature, the government panicked to ban them. There was the Aum Shinrikyo in Japan before, and the Davidic in the United States afterwards. In my opinion, these so-called religions are evil enough.
In the West, most people believe in the eternity of the soul, which is also the basis for the existence of chaotic religious sects. As a philosopher said: "Hope, please don't go too far. You are by my side, enough to deceive me." Therefore, the derived astrology, spiritism, and hypnotism have also been sought after by many people. So there are many people who talk about spiritism in foreign movies. They seem to be interested in it, but we all have the same taste. The palmistry mentioned in this film is one of them. Regrettably, she just took care of showing her palmistry to others, and forgot to look at her own palmistry, and died unexpectedly.
The plot and shooting techniques in the film are a bit similar to the later "Wu Shuang", which is probably copied from Hong Kong. It is better to say that it is better to "learn from". The film also deliberately creates some suspenseful atmosphere, the fan that turns forever, the spiraling stairs, the rain dripping from the ceiling, the heavy drums in the background music, all of which have a taste of Hitchcock.
Saifu played by De Niro is very good. Calm, self-confidence to control everything in the world. Ignoring the contempt that the other party feels, the fierceness at the last moment is fully grasped, and it does not appear sluggish or exaggerated. His role is the most attractive in the film, at least for me. During the egg-eating period, he sprinkled table salt on the eggs, which was in vain. It would be better if you add a little pepper noodles.
The shortcomings may still be what I just said, the cultural differences between the East and the West. The incest plot, when the audience knows the truth, it is very uncomfortable to watch. Furthermore, the long nails on Saifo's hands and the last ghost eyeballs are too fake.
My rating: 6.0.
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