What aspects of "Last Night on Earth" deserve attention?

Lew 2022-04-24 07:01:24

A lot of people say they don't understand. Let me explain it in a simple way, to see if it is easier to understand.

Xiao Wu, who has been away from home for many years, receives the news of his father's death and returns to his hometown for the funeral. Take care of your father's funeral. The inheritance is distributed with the stepmother who is not close. The Xiaofeng restaurant named after Xiaowu's biological mother belongs to the stepmother (it can be seen that the father has never let go of his ex-wife), Xiaowu has his father's small truck and a wall clock that has been parked for a long time and returned to his childhood. The former residence is now a dilapidated house with leaks everywhere. I wanted to repair the stopped alarm clock, opened the battery compartment of the alarm clock, and found a photo with a long dust cover and a punctured face (love and hate, it can be seen that the people in the photo have always been treasured and hated at the same time. write). So the memories of many years ago poured out like a flood. The flashbacks are going on at the same time, while looking for someone (maybe he is looking for his mother, or he may be looking for the woman in the memory, in any case, it is the part that Xiaowu is missing)

Continuing to recall, 12 years ago, Xiao Wu's friend Bai Mao was killed by a local black boss because of a gun. In the process of tracing the murderer, Xiaowu encountered the murderer's girlfriend Wan Qiwen. Xiao Wu felt that Wan Qiwen looked very much like Xiao Wu's mother who abandoned her husband and children and left home. It may be because of the Oedipus complex, Xiao Wu and Wan Qiwen began to have an affair. Later, Wan Qiwen bewitched Xiao Wu to kill her rival and the murderer of her friend at the cinema. Then this woman named Wan Qiwen disappeared. Xiao Wu started his many years in prison (according to the setting of the previous roadside picnic, the male protagonist should have been in prison for many years) and then went abroad. All memories of my hometown are getting blurry.

12 years later, when he returned to his hometown because of his father's funeral, and seeing the photos recalled everything in the past, Xiao Wu wanted to find the woman who might be named Wan Qiwen. Finally, I found the karaoke hall where this woman may be singing. At this time, the karaoke hall is about to be demolished, and that night will be the last performance. There was still more than an hour before the performance. Xiaowu went to a movie theater next to the karaoke hall to watch a movie to pass the time and wait for the karaoke hall to open. In the movie theater, after Xiaowu put on 3D glasses, he fell into a drowsy sleep, leading the audience to have a big blurred dream. .

The above is a summary of the story, but there are foreshadowings everywhere. After putting on the 3D glasses and starting the second half of the movie, the director began to close the loop of his own story. That is, the long shot in Xiaowu's dream, is the beginning of the show. It is an extremely interesting puzzle-solving process for the viewer to string together these details and foreshadowing. You will find that Bi Gan's storytelling ability is far beyond the level of ordinary directors. It seems that the whole article is nonsense, but in fact every line is ambush with details that echo before and after, which can be said to be breathtaking. The following analysis involves serious spoilers, but I personally don’t think it will affect the viewing experience. The judges consider eating.

We put on 3D glasses with Xiaowu, and the dream began:

Xiaowu lost his way to a mine, was confused and frightened, and suddenly met a naughty boy with a horror mask who liked to lie and play table tennis (note that the white cat in the real world in front of him was killed and dumped his body in a mine). inside the cave, and ridiculed himself as a ghost)

The boy asked Xiao Wu to play table tennis with him, saying that if he won, he would take him out. Xiao Wu showed a little disdain. (Before the movie, Wan Qiwen lied to Xiao Wu that she was pregnant and felt like a boy. Xiao Wu said that he could teach him to play table tennis in the future, which also implied that Xiao Wu played table tennis very well.)

At this time, the atmosphere of the dream changed from thrilling to relaxed and happy. Xiaowu defeated and educated the naughty boy three or two times. The boy was convinced, and sent Xiaowu out of the mine on a motorcycle. Xiao Wu named the boy Little White Cat. The little white cat sent Xiao Wu to sit on the zip line, and used motorcycle lights to illuminate the way for Xiao Wu. (At this time, in the details, the teenager hung the terrifying cow-face mask on the front of the car, which was a bit of a Halloween fantasy. The zipline that Xiaowu took when he left was also very similar to the boy's childhood fun and adventurous game. An uncle who repairs cars.)

In the first half of the movie, the details of the dialogue between Xiao Wu and Zhang Aijia as the hairdresser (the mother of the white cat) are very important. Xiao Wu talked about a lot of things when he was a child, such as the departure of his mother, and also said that he often played truant with the white cat when he was young It was to see the white cat's father who was in prison. This shows that the white cat was born in a criminal family, so he was exposed to many bad things when he grew up, such as the gun that killed him, which made this process very reasonable. From this, we can also imagine that when we were young, a child of a criminal, a child abandoned by his mother, two teenagers with dismal backgrounds supported each other and spent a happy time, and this precious flash of friendship.

The male protagonist slides down the hillside and meets a girl named Kaizhen who is watching the billiards hall, that is, Wan Qiwen in reality. This girl is unwilling to be mediocre and yearns for the outside world (speaking Mandarin when she is tensed, and subconsciously speaking dialects when she is relaxed, indicating that she is a little vain town girl who is looking forward to the flowery world outside) There are several characters in the front of the movie who are similar to this mysterious girl. women related.

The first is the female prisoner Xiaowu visited the prison. In the narrative, the female prisoner seems to know Wan Qiwen better than Xiaowu, and she recounts her exciting and romantic criminal experience with a mysterious woman with a longing look. Even after Xiao Wu left, the female prisoner asked the prison guards to drive after Xiao Wu and bring a note to Xiao Wu. The note was written with an address and name. On the note, Xiao Wu was specially instructed to ask her to come and see if she was found. I, can be seen quite affectionate. A bold guess is likely to be a lace story.

Then, according to the clues, Xiao Wu found a man who opened a hotel. The man also mentioned the name of a woman. The woman lived in his hotel at the beginning and had no money behind. She told the man a story every day in exchange for it. Staying until the two get married is also quite romantic.

In addition to Xiao Wu and the black boss killed by Xiao Wu, these four people seem to be related to this mysterious woman. Oh, and maybe Xiaojian, the pool hall owner who only appears by name, should also be added. For this woman, who may be named Wan Qiwen or Chen Huixian, who is the real thing, these people are just temporary springboards. For Xiao Wu, this is unforgettable love.

Continuing the dream, in the dream, Kaizhen and Xiao Wu continued to move forward together to the karaoke hall where they performed on the last night. A mad woman appeared in the karaoke hall. The mad woman lit a torch, walked to an iron gate with a honeycomb structure, and yelled at a man and asked him why he was so late. And asked this man to elope with her. The man said that you burned that house down, what else can scare me, the car broke down on the road, am I still here? At this time, Xiao Wu Naka appeared and helped the crazy woman. Force the man inside the iron gate to hand over the car keys and open the iron gate. And asked the crazy woman, if you left with him, is there no one you miss here? The crazy woman said that the person I miss most is still young and will soon forget me. It also means that the biological mother eloped with someone when Xiao Wu didn't remember much.

(Fuck, there are too many details here, and it’s a bit unclear in words. You may be wondering why this crazy woman and a barber before the movie are both played by Zhang Aijia. Here’s an explanation:

For example, before the movie, Xiao Wu chatted with the barber, and the barber stirred honey in the water in the cup. At this time, Xiao Wu said that his mother used to go to the beekeeper's beehive to steal honey for him to eat when he was a child. Zhang Aijia asked, didn't your mother get stung? Beekeepers have to wear special clothes to get honey. Xiaowu said that his mother told him that the bees would disperse when he smoked it. This is also a lie that Xiaowu's mother told Xiaowu when he was young. In fact, Xiao Wu's mother went to the bee farm to have an affair with the beekeeper, and eventually left her husband and son to elope with the beekeeper. When he left, Xiao Wu was still young, and he couldn't even remember his mother's appearance, so that in his dreams, he could only appear as his mother in the image of the closest female, that is, the hairdresser. There is also a barber playing a dance machine game when he appears, and he looks crazy, so the mother in the dream is also an image of a crazy woman. Another detail is that the barber was dyeing his hair and asked Xiao Wu to guess what color he dyed. Xiao Wu said it was red, so in the dream, the mother who eloped had red hair.

In addition, do you still remember in the dream that the little white cat sent Xiao Wu out and was blocked by a car repairman? The person who repaired the car was the uncle beekeeper who eloped with his dream mother. He was scolded for being late for car repairs. The door of the honeycomb structure, the mother beekeeper who eloped, this line is to write the missing family love in Xiaowu's heart.

In the dream, Xiao Wu cried and helped his mother run away with a gun, which also showed that Xiao Wu had forgiven his mother who abandoned him in his heart. In the dream, he robbed the most valuable thing on his mother's body, that is, the broken watch, and was later given to Kaizhen who was doing makeup in the background. And Wan Qiwen in front of the movie has been carrying it all the time. . . .

The dream continued, sending his mother who had run away, Xiao Wu was very sad and ate an apple. Backstage, give the watch to Kai-Jin. Kaizhen said that he would take Xiao Wu to see the rotating house. Xiao Wu lit fireworks, and the two went to the room that had been burned by the fire, chanted a poem-like incantation, and the room began to rotate. The two kiss. (The house that can rotate has been burned by a fire, a mad woman, or the mother's departure is like a fire, or Wan Qiwen's deception is like a fire, this room should refer to Xiao Wu's beauty and ruins In his heart, he took the initiative to kiss the woman who cheated and hurt him, Xiao Wu has forgiven the woman named Wan Qiwen from the bottom of his heart.)

The camera leaves the room. Back in the backstage of the karaoke hall, the fireworks are still flickering, all the good things are fleeting like fireworks, but forever in my heart. . .

It's just after 12 o'clock in the new year as I write this. The analysis is a headache, and I will update it later if I think of it. . . . . Or who has it? If you don't understand, you can ask me. I try to talk.

I wish you all a Happy New Year. . . . . .

There are always people who dream, there are always people who write poems

The first day of The Last Night on Earth was released, and the negative reviews were overwhelming. The means of publicity and distribution are indeed very kitsch. It can be said that before this, domestic literary films should never have such high popularity. If the Earth is a luxury upgrade of the roadside, in contrast, I think there are a few points that I personally feel can be called shortcomings:

One is the repetition of the director himself. In my opinion, the roadside picnic is rough, but the integrity is very good. It is understandable that a creator wants to polish his work carefully, but reshooting the film again, this repetition is hard not to kill the original creative impulse. So much so that I can even feel a little powerless when watching the movie. Obviously, this is not something that can be solved by hundreds of times of movie investment.

Second, the aura of the picture has weakened. As a photographer, the picture of the roadside picnic made me amazed and ashamed. From my personal experience, it can be said that there is a sense of bombardment. I have always been amazed that the picture can be shot like this. Even the turning of a dog inside makes you feel like it was arranged by God. The tones, transition clips are all amazing. There are indeed many good pictures in the earth, but why the feelings are really no longer the same.

The third is that the actor's performance traces are too heavy. The performances of the two leading actors are put into entertainment films, and their acting skills are considered to be very good. Putting it in a literary film is somewhat inaccessible, especially Tang Wei, who is known as the queen of literary films, does not seem to have that emotion. Especially in the second half of the acting dream, the young Kaizhen is not bad enough, not coquettish enough. On the contrary, the pure and natural performance of the little white cat playing table tennis is very amazing.

Fourth, it is too clear. The negative comments after the film's first day of release did not understand all kinds of complaints. Compared with roadside picnics, the earth is already very friendly to ordinary audiences. It was almost impossible to use lines or subtitles to tell the audience that it is now the male protagonist's dream (in fact, the male protagonist has already said it): this one is his mother, that one is his good friend, and then his lover. . . Dreams are fragmented and told too clearly, which dispels the original sense of confusion in dreams, and instead turns into a story that is not like a dream.

Having said that, most of the audience grew up fed by entertainment films and love songs, even if the poetry and distance that have been chanted in the past two years are also fast food attributes. I can't help but wonder, what else can we understand?

In the end, is this movie any good? Honestly, there really isn't a roadside picnic that's amazing. I don't know if it's because the director was coerced by capital intentions, and it seems that he is not as free as a roadside picnic. If it's based on a roadside picnic, I personally don't think there's really a need for a remake. But as a movie it's still of a high standard. For the director's personal development, it is definitely a big step forward from small cost to large production. Although kitsch was announced, it was fortunately successful. In China, when did literary films exceed 100 million at the box office. It can also be regarded as a successful cooperation between capital and literary film directors. There should be more right to speak in the future. But I hope the director can completely break through himself in the next movie.

In the whirling world, there are always people who dream and who write poems. And that's always good.

View more about Long Day's Journey Into Night reviews

Extended Reading
  • Dereck 2022-03-19 09:01:09

    Xuanfa dare to play like this, then there is the consciousness of being sprayed to death. The current situation is that ignorant audiences deceived by false marketing, endure the cold wind, sacrifice their sleep, and go to the market to watch a movie that is inexplicable to them at the node of the New Year. They spent money and energy. They watched it. A bad movie, and was insulted as having low aesthetics

  • Chris 2022-03-19 09:01:09

    Watch "The Last Night on Earth" as a New Year's Eve ceremony, and kiss the person you like in the theater, because I heard that the end of the movie is particularly suitable for kissing. This film is really the effect of successful marketing of online celebrity check-in, cheating couples to buy tickets. [Treasure the sense of ritual that a small number of modern people have] [But in fact, I just want to kiss in the theater New Year's Eve and go to his house to sleep. I don’t care what the movie plays] [I will be with him on the last night of the earth] But On the day when the last night of the earth comes, believe me, you will not watch Bi Gan's movie.

Long Day's Journey Into Night quotes

  • Lu Hongwu: Dreams rise up and I wonder if my body is made of hydrogen. And then my memories would be made of stone.