Jiang Wen has an innate talent for making movies. His films are vivid and atmospheric, with tight and tortuous plots, concise and sharp dialogue, and a good use of metaphors. His "Let the Bullets Fly" is very vivid and fully reflects the characteristics of his films.
In 2000, his screenwriting and filming "The Devil Is Coming" was released. The film received little special reception at home, but won the Cannes Jury Prize internationally.
The film tells such a story in a black humorous way: farmer Ma Dasan (Jiang Wen) is a villager in Hangjia Village. One night, he received two bags of things from an uninvited guest, and was warned to ensure safety, but five days later, he took them and opened them to see two large living people: the Japanese army Cobia Hanaya Kosaburo and the translator Dong Hanchen. In order not to be discovered by the ghosts nearby, Ma Dasan and his good friend Yu'er and the whole village tried everything they could. But the uninvited guest did not come to pick up the person as promised. Ma Dasan and the villagers finally reached an agreement with Hanaya Kosaburo, and the villagers released him back to the army in exchange for two truckloads of grain, and the two sides signed a pledge. Unexpectedly, the Japanese army felt a great shame and humiliation because of the capture of the flower house, and the blood-washed hanging armor village, except for Ma Dasan and Yu'er, was spared. After Japan surrendered, Ma Infiltrated the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp to avenge himself, and was finally sentenced to death by the Nationalist army for breaking the agreement, and executed by the Japanese Army's Hanaya Kosaburo under his protection.
After watching the whole movie, there are the following strange points:
First, the film adopts the method of black and white films, revealing a strong old historical atmosphere, only the moment Ma Dasan was beheaded and his head fell to the ground, it instantly changed back to the original color.
Second, after Ma Dasan was beheaded, the perspective of the movie screen switched to Ma Dasan himself, and after several flips, he was fixed on Ma Dasan's head, and even showed a smile. What was he laughing at? Is it the relief of the Japanese army that he has hand-bladed to repay the villagers, or the remorse that he has brought about the disaster of annihilation for the whole village? Is it the absurdity of the judgment of the Nationalist army or the essence of the Japanese army's external strength?
Third, the translator Dong Hanchen also smiled before he was finally executed by the Nationalist army, what did he laugh at?
Fourth, in the Chinese of the whole movie, the seventh master with the strongest will to resist is a madman, why?
Jiang Wen's films are always after watching them, which makes people laugh and leave some thought-provoking questions for everyone. This is probably the place where he is the "ghost" of the ghost talent.