November has always been the quiet time of the movie, and this time, the first film "Fame and Fame" produced by Han Han and directed by Liu Xunzimo gave us countless surprises.
As early as before the film was released, we were extremely looking forward to this so-called "real script killing" movie, and finally Liu Xunzimo also handed us a satisfactory answer.
01 A Republic of China script kill
The film is set in the Republic of China era, which is a dark and windy night in a month, a group of filmmakers who aspire to become famous, a film investor, a cold and closed ocean house, and a murder case of the three elders who shocked Shanghai.
This talk, which aims to make a name for itself, is definitely not as simple as it seems, the real murderer is lurking among these people.
The film uses the traditional "Blizzard Villa mode" to set a closed environment, limiting the occurrence of the story to a confined space, increasing the excitement of the plot and increasing the conflict between the characters.
However, unlike the traditional murderer and the victim who coexist in a space to explore who is the murderer, "Fame and Fame" is more inclined to inform the identity of Qi Leshan, the murderer played by Zhang Benyu, and the whole content is to find out why the murderer committed such a big crime and the reason behind his cruel killing.
The whole plot of the movie is like a process of revealing the secret, and the repeated reversals make the original question get an answer. For example, in the earliest days, Lu Ye only introduced Qi Leshan as an adviser to the script adaptation, and when the plot reversed later, Qi Leshan was the murderer, which can be described as putting a huge bomb among the people, causing terrifying waves.
In fact, this kind of secret room script killing form of the film has always been difficult to shoot, if the logical line and suspense color are not in place, it will only make the plot mediocre. But Liu Xunzimo and his production team are very good at playing what they are good at.
In terms of plot presentation effect, in addition to the layers of suspense factors, the director cleverly interspersed the comedy factors in it, and the integration of suspense and comedy is just right. In terms of form, taking the Republic of China period as the background, it is a good integration of the popular script killing elements with it, which has a taste of borrowing from the past and the present.
02Socite reasoning
At the beginning of the film, the audience is told all the elements, the Western-style pavilion, the murder, the eight people who seem to want to make a name for themselves, they are the director, the screenwriter, the producer, the past actress, the past king, the star, the police and the murderer.
A silent camera records everything that happens, the entire reasoning line of the film is very tight, each character is portrayed distinctly, each has its own meaning, and strong emotions and tension burst out among the characters.
After the movie, when you think back to the plot of the film, you will find that each character is clearly and visible in your brain. Whether it is Yin Zheng, Zhang Benyu, Kodak, Qin Xiaoxian, who starred in the lead role, or Yu Haolei, who appeared very briefly at the last moment, they all have their own brilliance.
Yin Zheng plays the screenwriter Li, who is the core character of the film, and it is he who leads everyone step by step to uncover the truth behind Qi Leshan's becoming a murderer. His innate sense of justice and sensitivity to hidden clues allowed him to discover the truth behind it.
But in the end, he chose to cover up all the truth, silent, and some things should not be mentioned to anyone. And Qi Leshan, played by Zhang Benyu, this role has changed extremely much, from the cruel outlaw who caused the murder at the beginning to the innocent person who exists for protection and love, how much truth in this world is far from what is imagined.
Director Zheng, portrayed by Yu Entai, fell to the point of shooting bad films after he was recorded from the field to the director. Teacher Guan, played by Yang Haoyu, has also been beautiful for a while but withdrew from people's vision with the birth of sound movies.
In the end, Yu Haolei, who appeared in the movie, showed the image of the villain vividly with a scene of only about 10 minutes, but with a cruel, indifferent look of life and death. The film's excavatability of character shaping allows the audience to pay more attention to the progress of the main plot, and will be more curious about the story behind the characters, which enriches the plot of the movie.
The film is not a traditional intrinsic reasoning, but more inclined to social reasoning, that is to say, the theme of the film is not to explore who is the murderer, but to explore the emotional expression behind it and the social causes through this abnormal shocking case.
With the "Three Old Cases" itself, to show the different characters in the face of this case, the kindness, ugliness, bravery, meanness and selfishness of human nature are well interpreted. When the film finally reverses what Lee saw, there seems to be countless speculations, but this may be the reason why the film's intention is more sublimated.
Compared with the three elders in Shanghai, who covered the sky with their hands and used their own power to persecute unscrupulously, and even caused the destruction of countless people's homes, this ironic metaphor is extremely strong. Qi Leshan, who takes care of everything by himself with a most perfect story for the sake of his loved ones, is actually what the film wants to convey to us.
Just like in the beginning, these unscrupulous filmmakers wanted to make a film that made a name for themselves in order to be famous, but later they would resist countless pressures, not afraid of what they might face, and also shoot the truth. Drama within a play, case within a case, in the middle of the game, people and outsiders, interlocking, but none of the links will form such a funny and thought-provoking movie as it is now.
03 Multiple metaphors and homages
Many of the memes in "Fame and Fame" are quite interesting, except for the phenomenon that appears in the discussion, such as "although the films are all bad films, they have earned money", "Chinese kung fu is not ok", "when the popular big names have been silent", these seemingly ironic phenomena actually have traces in reality.
The film also pays tribute to classic works, such as the short film shot by Director Zheng in his heart, which is practically used in the scene of "The Shining", Chen Xiaoda's "control your emotions and be your own master" is actually from Bruce Lee's mouth, and the sea's "sorry, I am a policeman" pays tribute to the rooftop scene in "Infernal Affairs".
In addition to these relatively obvious fans, the most profound metaphor is the painting that appears in the film, "The Death of Saldanapal", the masterpiece of the French romantic master Eugène de la Croix, which interprets the absurd and debauched life of a king, which also reveals the final ending of the Three Gangs.
"Fame and Fame" is definitely worth a visit to the cinema, it is not what you think.