A few years ago, after learning that Cui Minzhi and Cecilia Cheung had co-starred in the movie "Bai Lan", I always wanted to see it, and I was curious how the two actors with very different personalities collided with each other.
However, after watching the movie, I found out that my initial worry was superfluous, because the two did not have a rivalry. At the most recent moment, there is still a layer of glass door, or there is only a momentary look back, and there is no meeting of the other party in the eyes.
Unexpectedly, this kind of encounter is more tragic than any kind of life and death parting. That is Bai Lan's last hope, and it is also the source of Jiang Qi's good fortune as soon as possible.
What fascinated me the most about this movie was the structure of the story, which was kind of like Shunji Iwai's Love Letter. At the beginning of the story, Bai Lan came to Incheon to find her relatives. At the customs, Bai Lan's eyes were full of panic, because she had "guilty to be a thief", and she had no plans to go back after entering the country.
Instead, the time went directly to a year later. This Bai Lan has never appeared. More than half an hour before the film, an image of an underworld gangster was drawn, and he was Bai Lan's "husband" Li Jiangqi. From a young man who wanted to earn a big boat to go home, to a useless gangster who was looked down upon by his younger generation. He faked marriage with Bai Lan for the sake of money; he bullied timid young people and managers in the game arcade; he was real in front of the younger generation who respected him; Loyal and servile in front of friends who are the boss of the mixed organization. This kind of resignation, or being at the mercy of the circumstances, can be seen as his kindness and satisfaction, and it can also be seen as his emphasis on friendship. Through Sun Binghao's words, he is timid and kind, and he is not suitable for the life of the organization.
However, he could not perceive his kindness. It can be said that he is still chaotic just to survive, and he has not thought about the meaning of life at all. Although it is for the sake of the younger generation, he warns the younger generation by taking himself as a negative model.
Seeing this, this character touched me deeply. In Incheon 20 years ago, there might have been such a person. With Choi Min-sik's interpretation, he was extremely sad. Wearing colorful flight suits and low-quality LV shirts, sleeping in a demolition room like a pig's nest, throwing morning urine in the sink full of dishes and rushing it. What is the difference between this and the homeless on the street, the gangster who eats and waits to die?
As soon as the camera turned, Bai Lan appeared. In a foreign country where she had no relatives, the relatives who wanted to seek refuge had immigrated, and there was no one in her hometown that made her nostalgic. She just wanted to start a new life in a place no one knew. The only way to stay is to get married, and the intermediary found Jiang Qi. Jiang Qi gave Bai Lan the red scarf because his younger generation said that his scarf was not good-looking.
In order to survive, Bai Lan worked hard, and in a place where she had no relatives, Jiang Qi, who had not yet met, turned out to be her only "relative" and her legitimate husband. This kind of feeling is more like a spiritual sustenance. At night, when Bai Lan is lonely and homesick; when the staff checks her identity and fears, Jiang Qi is the person she misses and relies on the most. So, she learned Korean, wrote letters to Jiang Qi, wrote the first love letter, and the second one, which was the last one that was not sent.
"There are good people around me, and you are the kindest person." If I remember correctly, this sentence appears at least twice in the movie. Once let Jiang Qi think deeply, once let Jiang Qi completely repent.
The last part of the film was spent in Jiang Qi's handling of Bai Lan's funeral as her husband. Bai Lan's desire for life and sustenance for Jiang Qi's thoughts were received and confirmed by Jiang Qi one by one, and it also completely woke Jiang Qi up: although not A wicked man, but his loyalty to his friends made him determined to continue on the path of evil.
Bai Lan's love letter is full of yearning for love and kindness, because she lacks these things in her life. As for the president played by Sun Binghao, and the chains under him, none of them are good.
Good and evil are always opposed to each other. If you use the power of good to let evil show its prototype, I think this is the deepest thing this movie wants to express.
However, the kindness of Li Jiangqi and Bai Lan was finally overwhelmed by the evil they saw and couldn't see. This is the most ironic twist.
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