Compared with the familiar film industry in the United States, "Tangshan Earthquake" is at least not as slick as "Titanic", and it is not as heartless as "2012", which treats disaster films as adventure films. There is still a minimum reverence for nature and human life, which keeps the bottom line. Of course, this is also a manifestation of the underdevelopment of Chinese genre films. The 3-minute stunt shot is enough to label myself a "disaster film", and the taste is pure and tight.
In fact, poor special effects, rough technology, and old jokes are not necessarily proportional to the popularity of the movie. There is a type of movie that wins the world by its cultural value. Japan's "Loyalty" and Australia's "Gallipoli" are "national films" that can resonate with the whole country, but when they are placed abroad, they receive very little applause - they don't need it, the domestic box office is enough. The theme of the Tangshan Earthquake is absolutely qualified to be made into such a film. Unfortunately, this film can only sublimate family affection at best, and there is no room for expressing any other collective memory at all. Inserting scenes such as Mao Zedong's death obviously has this intention, but can that little sincerity stop the iron hoofs of "Jian Nanchun" and "China Life"? Let petty profits cut off the film's veins, what else can a "national film" do except become a "disaster film"?
I admit that I cried when I watched Xu Fan kneel, but that was purely the result of the film's heavy taste. Because there is no other way to shoot, so I have to put all the weight on the relationship - see the old lady kneeling down for her daughter, is she still a human if she doesn't cry? Now that you are crying, are you embarrassed to say that you are not moved? Feng Dao is so righteous. But he didn't understand, being choked on by mustard doesn't mean that a good cook is the one who has developed a pair of mustard duck feet. The softness in the audience's heart does not prove that the wooden chopsticks that stabbed the sore spot are golden fingers. I can only remind quietly: "Don't you stop yelling? There's too much salt in this dish."
The lines of "Tangshan Earthquake" are actually very exciting, and the performances of several leading actors are in place. But only this. Akira Kurosawa's "Redbeard" uses earthquakes to express human fragility, and Fukasaku Shinji's "Hua Rebellion" uses earthquakes to criticize the government for killing socialists. These "man-made disasters" cannot be photographed in our country. What is even more frightening is that Feng Dao's "smart" brain has no place for these problems at all. This is not just the sadness of Chinese movies, it should be regarded as the sadness of the whole of China. That being said, this movie is really a "disaster movie".
Ps. When I was a child, I watched a movie "After the Blu-ray Flashed", which was also about the Tangshan Earthquake, but no one remembers it now.
View more about Aftershock reviews
