Let's talk about Mike first. As soon as he appeared on the stage, he showed his intelligence and brotherhood. With the help of his own moving carriage, he easily obtained the pocket watch of the drunk who originally belonged to the noodles, and when the police intervened, he tactfully helped the noodles tow. These also made him quickly integrate into the small gang that Noodles already had, and became a soul figure. And his ingenuity is comparable to his ambition. During Noodle's ten years in prison, he not only developed bootleg smuggling and set up speakeasy bars, but was also involved in large-scale robberies and other criminal activities. Noodles clearly shows his confusion and surprise as he prepares to rob a batch of diamonds, but he actively participates in the operation. For Machee, that seemed to be the norm. Noodles belong to the type of Xiaofu Ji'an, but Maxie has a higher heart than the sky, so he is more unscrupulous than noodles. The same situation also occurred when McHee was about to intervene in the carriage market after Prohibition, and also had a fierce conflict with noodles. The climax of this conflict was that McHee proposed to rob the federal bank cash truck, and the derivative of this proposal. Various conspiracies came out. Noodles wanted to send them to jail by exposing their accomplices for smuggling bootleg alcohol so that they could cancel the bank robbery operation. McHee used some methods to get rid of his accomplices under the guise of the police, and took the gang's business income for many years. After a few years, he became famous. political figures.
Therefore, from the perspective of Maxie's life journey, he is basically constantly making progress and unscrupulous. Personal fame and fortune are placed in a very important place, but he is not happy when he is successful. The condemnation of conscience may have kept him insomnia for a long time. The concealment of history also made him worry about being discovered in countless days of panic.
And judging from his love life, the scolding he treated Carol left a deep impression on me. Maxie said to Ka's face that he didn't care about her, he could let her "go away" at any time, and despite Ka's signal to stop it, Maxie was just as strict as ever. So indeed, as he himself would like to show, he is not troubled by feelings, and he has little respect for women.
McHee's keen interest in listening to the figures behind the trade union mention how to walk the "right way" after the lifting of Prohibition, as well as Noodle's resistance at that time, can't help but remind people of some episodes in "Water Margin". Mike Xi and Song Jiang, trying to create more fame and fortune for the entire group, of course, this may not be the overall will of other members of the group. Some people's requirements for life are much higher than others, and their inner motives may be varied. Some people just want immediate happiness, or easy satisfaction. Throughout the ages, regardless of black and white society, the former type of people is more likely to become a leader.
And a lot of people, like Noodles, might say Maxie is "crazy." Of course, Maxie didn't have the romantic mood of putting on a show like noodles just for the smile of the blogger, and naturally he didn't have the decision to quit when he had one million. If the screenwriter's assumption is to be overturned, and we think Maxie is happy, then he should be the kind of person who sees the process of struggle and hard work as happiness. But in the eyes of Noodles and people like the author now, he is at least very lonely, and with the heavy psychological pressure brought by the betrayal back then, it is impossible for him to have an attitude of enjoying life.
In the end, Maxey prayed that he would die under his brother's gun, or that he might feel a little bit of relief at the moment of his death. After being rejected, he chose to commit suicide in a garbage mixer. This shows that the screenwriter has an inexcusable attitude towards this character.
I also sometimes want to overturn the script's assumptions, thinking that Maxie didn't kill the character background that his accomplices had acquired over the years. Although he has conflicts with Noodles and others, this does not constitute a sufficient reason to get rid of his long-term companion. Could it be that, in order to facilitate future politics, they also play the tricks that the Chinese rebels often play, "the cunning rabbit will die, and the lackey will cook" and "you can only share hardships, but you can't share happiness"?
Next, let's talk about noodles. It can be said that from the beginning of the film, we know that he is the first protagonist of the film. Chronologically speaking, the "earliest" time was when Noodles hid in the toilet and watched Deborah dance. And the love story of this pair of men and women runs through the beginning and end of the movie, and actually runs through the beginning and end of their mutual lives. No matter when, Noodle's favor with Deborah has not changed, and what has not changed is the distance between the two that Dai deliberately maintains. So, noodles are a big love. This is evidenced by the fact that he contracted out an entire luxury French restaurant just for dinner with Dai. Even though he was imprisoned for ten years, his true feelings remained unchanged. Noodles treat brotherly loyalty the same way they treat feelings. For example, although he did not agree to participate in the diamond heist, he actively participated. To stop the brothers from robbing banks, for example, he tipped off the police that they were smuggling bootleg alcohol, hoping to relieve them of their guilt.
It can be said that in noodles, emotion always wins over reason. This also makes him often entangled in things and not as decisive as McGee. In turn, his obsession with brotherhood has made him feel guilty for a long time because of the "snoticing" incident for decades. The film doesn't specifically say how Noodle lived in the more than 30 years after that incident and when he met McHee again, but what is certain is that he wasn't happy either. The brothers he grew up with all died, leaving him alone.
From this point of view, I very much agree with what the Time magazine critic said, everyone in this film is a failure and can't be said to be truly happy, including Deborah, the one who never looks old in noodles goddess.
From a very young age, she made up her mind to be a big star and get out of the cluttered downtown New York. So even though she still had some good feelings about noodles at first, after witnessing the conflict between noodles and "Bro," she drew a clear line between herself and noodles: her life should not be related to the street. Bullshit in any relationship. That line, after that romantic dinner over noodles, gets a little blurry. Although, she still resolutely said "I'm going to Hollywood". Then on the car back home, whether it was out of pity or really repressed love, she kissed him. This led to the rape, the most unforgettable incident between the two of them. (Maybe out of preference, the author does not feel unforgivable for this behavior of Noodles. From romantic longing to having to accept Dai's heartless departure, Noodles did not have a lot of time to digest this sudden change, and for this emotional entanglement, The noodle processing ability is also very average)
but no matter what, Deborah achieved her childhood dream of becoming a superstar after a few years. But what about your love life outside of your career? She chose Maxie. Does she love Maxie? Does Maxie love her? I have a negative attitude towards both questions. But it is undeniable that she and Maxie have similar personalities. They are both very rational people, with relatively great determination, strong willpower, and a restrained and self-controlled emotional attitude.
After talking about the characters, I finally talk about my miscellaneous thoughts about watching the movie.
Before watching this film, I saw her plot introduction on CCTV. Still, I don't feel that knowing the ending of the film will reduce her watchability. She's a character film, and the way she tells it is more memorable than the story itself. The director constantly interspersed a lot of memories in the real life of the noodles in 1968, and the way of transition is very clever.
Also, shame on it, this is the first video I've ever bought with commented subtitles, which made me watch it the first time at just over 3pm on the first day, and then play it again the next afternoon. Enjoyed the comments and subtitles. After my friends found out, they said I was "crazy". This is also a phrase repeated several times in the film. I remembered that a guy in Lu Xun's "Medicine" also said such a cool thing. Getting too obsessed with something makes it look like "crazy" to others.
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