Some people say: For mainlanders, "City of Sadness" shows us the flexibility and rigidity beyond the impression of Taiwan's loneliness and alienation; for Taiwanese, "City of Sadness" expresses that after years of separation full of resentment and helplessness.
(1) There are
many languages and cultures mixed in the film: Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, and Shanghainese. It is like a complicated Ukiyo-e, and the chaos is like the political environment and turmoil at that time. The interweaving and change of language become a hint of political changes in the film: after the surrender of Japan, the public language of Taiwanese hospitals changed from Japanese to national language. The dialogue between the Lin family's eldest brother Wenxiong and the Shanghai Gang interprets the switching of various languages.
Amid the clamor of voices, family feud and national hatred, warmth and coldness, wandering and destination are complexly intertwined and blended. Language often projects the unique cultural connotation, era background, local customs and customs of a region. In 1945, Japan surrendered and Taiwan recovered. The Nationalist government sent Chief Executive Chen Yi to take over Taiwan. The flag of the sun set and the flag rose. In the melody of the exile trilogy, the wandering Taiwan was sinking in the vast sea, and the turbulent Keelung was staged. Blood and killing. In this commotion, every voice was talking about his tragic experience: Lin boss Wenxiong was involved in the struggle between his third brother and the gang, and was later regarded as a traitor. His angrily shouted local accent told the local people in Taiwan at that time. My inner voice: "Is the law here? Let them go up and down. We are the most pitiful people on this island. All of a sudden the Japanese, all of a sudden the Chinese. Everyone bullies, everyone rides, no one hurts."
(2), silent white black text
If Hou Hsiao-hsien's film is a melodious Chinese ink painting, then the memory of the vast history, the heavy sighs of the years, the ups and downs of the world, and the turbulent fate are the solemn and deep brush and ink on the screen, and the text narration that runs through the film. It is like a timeless inscription.
Hou Hsiao-hsien is good at using words to reflect the inner feelings of the movie characters and explain the process of the story. At the beginning, he used the subtitles to explain the background of the times in the film: "On August 15, 1945, the Emperor of Japan announced its unconditional surrender, and Taiwan was separated from Japanese rule. The woman of Badouzi gave birth to a son, named Lin Guangming." In the film when swords are drawn, some warm pictures are often inserted, such as the handwriting of Wenqing and Kuanmei's pen and paper exchange, projected on the screen, it is clear The black characters on a white background are beautiful and pure: "Sakura of the same luck, let's go flying, I will come later, everyone is the same." The
elegant and restrained words, the poetic sentences of the painting-like artistic conception, turned into silent forms , dissolved in the deep shot. It is said that the use of this silent narrative can be seen in other works of Hou Hsiao-hsien, such as "The Best Time" and "Dream of Life". This approach may be a tribute to the early silent films, or to the eccentricity of the present. Reflections on film entrepreneurship. But no matter what, he condenses everything he wants to talk about in the quiet words between the lines.
(3) The cold-eyed watching of the aphasia
Some people say that when too many words are hidden in the heart, the most gorgeous talk is silence. Lin Wenqing's deafness and speechlessness, like a long blank space in the landscape of splashing ink. The rootless Taiwan has undergone several changes of rulers and implemented the languages under their respective rule. Before the liberation, Chinese was banned, and then Japanese was banned. Intellectuals experienced a "second exile" in terms of language. Changes several times. Wen Qing's aphasia, although set up accidentally, also subtly metaphors the loss of intellectuals' right to speak on the issue of national identity. And Tony Leung's eyes deduction, and in this silent cold-eyed onlookers, is full of the deepest tolerance and forbearance.
This stern and alienated way of speaking reflects the director's identity as a bystander, and also reflects the director's deep concern for the tortuous fate of the characters. The observation of humanities runs through many of Hou Hsiao-hsien's films, and is the most moving core of his films. He has always paid attention to the fate of ordinary individuals in the social, historical and political changes with a gentle, tolerant attitude and humanistic spirit, and looked at historical politics with the artist's unique sympathy rather than the eyes of historians or politicians. The profound insight into the living conditions of ordinary people can be seen everywhere in his films.
Hou Hsiao-hsien is accustomed to downplaying the external story conflict in the film, and his eyes seem to be cast from a very distant place. The violent scenes such as fights in "City of Sadness" are all downplayed in the way of long-range shooting or setting up obstacles in the foreground. The camera is static, and the film pursues a kind of inner tension. This pursuit makes the film seem bland on the surface, but it has the artistic conception of "the hair is thicker than the simple and ancient, and the taste is indifferent".
(4) The narrator's sing-over sings
the voice-over in the film, giving a touch of warmth and peace to the sad scene, which is a broad and beautiful narration. She experienced the environment she was in with the gentleness of a woman, accepted the inner world with her diary, and tapped the audience's heart with her eloquent voice.
"On the eighth day of November in the 20th year of the Showa era, it was a good day with clouds. With the letter of introduction written by my father, I went up the mountain to work at the Miners' Hospital in Jinguashi. My brother was not free to teach, so he asked his good friend to pick me up. The coolness of autumn, the scenery along the road is very good, and the thought of being able to see such a beautiful scenery every day in the future makes me feel happy."
"This afternoon, I heard the first spring thunder in the new year, and the momentum was very loud, and it seemed to be about to The mountains and the sea wake up."
Taiwanese literary films seem to like to intersperse the film with the voice of a letter diary. In "Cape No. 7", seven letters from the other side of the coast also tell a romantic and sad passage. love story. And the wide and beautiful voice sounded in the chaotic and turbulent Taiwan of 1945, and it was even more calm.
This narration eases the rhythm of the film and makes it more relaxed. In the dark, chaotic and infinitely oppressive background, we turn our eyes to the vast and silent distant mountains. In a woman's gentle and calm narration, this kind of low-pitched singing dilutes the sadness of the city, and interprets the suffering of people's rise and fall.
(5) The continuation of life and hope
At the end of the film, a long shot is fixed at the dining table through the living room door, leaving only the elderly, women and children at home. The background music sounded like an elegy again. The Lin family has gone through twists and turns in this historical wave and will eventually go to ruin. If the beginning of the film tells about the pain of birth, then the ending here depicts the bitterness of living. Under the historical ring, there is a generation of poetic youth that has passed away, and a memory of the past that is unbearable to look back on, and Jiufen Mountain is still hazy, turning time into a silent pain...
However, the image of a child is thousands of Chinese civilizations. A symbol of the inheritance of life. Even though life is painful, life goes on.
In such chaotic and dark times, people's desire for meaning in life can still be felt.
Hou Hsiao-hsien once said: "I did not make "Sorrowful City" to reveal old wounds, but I think that if we want to understand where we came from, we must face ourselves and our own history. The film does not only focus on 22 Eight incidents, but I think some things must be faced and resolved. This taboo is too long, and I feel the need to shoot."
"Sad City" is like a mute requiem in the historical porch, quiet and peaceful, full of poetry. It does not focus on the grand narrative of history, but on the fate of ordinary people in the midst of historical prehistoric times. When the wind and clouds dissipated, the prosperous Lin family finally fell into disrepair. It's just that kind of sadness that has been deeply engraved in the mottled years of this city, and it hurts faintly on every cloudless day.
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