"The fire will be extinguished, but the king's shadow will not be seen."
Straight to the point, the favorite movie in this year's Spring Festival file is "Assassination of a Novelist".
I don't know what other audiences think of this movie, but if you like to play games, like to chase novels online or watch anime, I can be sure that Assassination of a Novelist is your dish.
If you like fantasy, have a little desire to escape from reality, and like to write something. So congratulations, this movie is in the middle.
Jiang Wen said that people who can't live will create a life and hide themselves in it.
In "Assassination of a Novelist", Lu Kongwen uses words, the "lowest-cost dream-making machine", to hide himself in the world he created; and this film uses "very high-cost dream-making art" to present this magnificent and imaginative world. Later, the belief from reality was used to connect the two worlds, and at the last moment, the sense of truth and reality was used to pull everyone back to reality from the boundless fantasy and establish empathy with the public.
This is the most affirmative point of "Assassination of a Novelist", presenting this very evil story in a popular and easy-to-understand way.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the art of dreaming</h1>
Writing is the lowest-cost dream-making machine, only a computer, or a mobile phone, a pen and a paper, nothing more, only you have a brain that can imagine, a world as you wish.
The novelist is a fortunate and unfortunate unity, why is it said, this is vividly embodied in the role of Lu Kongwen.
In reality, there have been setbacks, the family has fallen apart, and nearly 30 years old is useless, and this person's life is unfortunate. But fortunately, he will hide his misfortune in the world he created, although he is a failed novelist, which can be seen from the bullet screen of his live broadcast in the movie, there are few commenters, and even many spit voices, he is still unknown, but it does not prevent him from wandering freely in this world built out of thin air, and it does not prevent him from wholeheartedly entering the pleasure of becoming the protagonist. At the moment of entering this world, it no longer matters whether the novelist is poor, humble, lonely, or wandering.
The losers in the real world, in the novel, will also become the brave people who "dare to kill the gods".
Movies, in a broad sense, the most expensive dream-making machine, need to present the 2D side of the novelist's (screenwriter's) black and white dotted and 2D side, and trigger countless colorful thoughts in a visual way. This is why the film needs to create a world full of curiosity, which can be convincing and convincing to the audience.
What kind of world can make a loser addicted all day long? The film's portrayal of the other world is clear at the beginning - a sense of ruin.
The visual art of the film is very mellow, but the deepest impact should be the ruins and dirt that can be seen everywhere in this other world, from the first time you enter the game, no, it is when you enter the story, the audience can gradually feel the visual charm brought to us by the art of ruins: what kind of "rotten" world is this?!
Dark earth, barren and broken, damp and muddy streets. The inhabitants of the frenzied beating each other, this ruined city, once glorious but now dilapidated and dead. Imagine how people would feel when they first saw the magnificent ruins. It must have been shocking and full of awe.
The glory of the past gradually ages under the oppression of time, and the ruins after the retreat are only a corner of the world's existence. It's hard to imagine the prosperity of the past, but we can see the decay of the world today.
At this time, the audience will mostly indulge in the magnificent visual art of the film, but ignore the hidden fact that the losers of the real world, why create such a broken world, and even indulge in it. To be fair, the fantasy world is not as good as reality!
Don't forget that the author will project his emotions and appeals onto the protagonist of the story. Here, following the story of the movie, it is only step by step that lu Kongwen's motivation for creating a novel is revealed.
Some people will feel that reality is not dramatic enough, not exciting enough, will create (fantasy) a more attractive world, in which you can enjoy the glory and wealth, and even experience vigorous love. And some people will go through some tribulations in order to create a world of their own with hatred, where they have the opportunity to reverse and complete tasks that are impossible for them in reality.
Lu Kongwen definitely belongs to the latter, even if the film has not yet revealed his creative motivation, you will understand, because the loser's life has been very "exciting and tortuous", personal experience.
At this point, it is not difficult to understand the sense of ruin in the other world.
The chaotic wild grass, the many tombstones in the horizontal and vertical, the layers of winding vine branches, think about it so desolate that the audience unconsciously produces a sense of loneliness, which is the embodiment of the novelist's real state of mind: the descendants of the fallen nobles, the brothers and sisters who are hunted down, the cruel and romantic "killing god" (revenge) mission, the small and great protagonist aura, which is the novelist's projection of real life, as the story advances, the roles of the real and fictional worlds complete the one-to-one correspondence, and the sense of echo between the two worlds becomes stronger.
Therefore, the two worlds are unified: after the twists and turns of life, lonely and depressed, with great ideals and ambitions, but lack of firm faith.
The character of this character has written the contradictions and self-reflection of the creator, living in the present or escaping into nothingness, everyone who has written a novel can understand the feeling that Lu Kongwen feels when he stands on the roof, otherwise Hemingway would not have committed suicide.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the power of belief</h1>
"Drama is a reproduction of life, and it is a more intense reproduction than life. Focusing on a small stage, any theatrical work can make us,those of us who are only on the sidelines—more clearly aware of the reality of life. --Natsume Soseki, "Treatise on Literature"
The magnificent other world of cinema represents the top level of the Chinese film industry, which is not exaggerated at all. But only the outstanding visual effects are not enough to impress the audience, and the artistic effect of the film is equally impressive.
Dilapidated, frenzied, and with the visual atmosphere of ancient totem worship, it is very eye-catching. And if you're a console or PC game lover who likes to play action games and believe that many of my friends have similar views to me, the visual art of cinema reminds me of a man and his work:
That's right, Hidetaka Miyazaki, with his Soul series of games. (Top: Assassination of a Novelist, Part II: A Wolf)
This person who single-handedly created works such as "Demon Soul", "Dark Soul", "Blood Source Curse", "Only Wolf: Shadow Death Twice", etc., and is affectionately called "Old Thief" by players, the most famous place is the high difficulty of the game with great malice.
But it is undeniable that mowing the grass like "Three Kingdoms" can bring unparalleled happiness today, but the soul series also has fascinating points. Compared to fighting invincible hands all over the world at the beginning, climbing step by step from weak, carefully thinking about combat strategies, and using everything that can be used, this kind of game can give you a strong sense of participation, and your sense of achievement is unparalleled. You can feel yourself getting stronger, and this feeling will stay with you for a long time, and even quietly change you. (Top: Bloodborne Curse; Part 2: Dark Souls)
This is the power of faith.
In the world of the "Soul Series" created by Lu Kongwen, he is a miscellaneous soldier-level existence, although he has a revenge drive, his belief is shaken, even if he has a pair of "symbiote" armor, he will not use it. At this time, someone appeared to help him - Guan Ning, played by Lei Jiayin.
Guan Ning and Lu Kongwen are completely opposite. This man does not have the artistic cell to write novels, nor does he hide himself in the virtual world, he also has nothing, but the only thing he has is faith.
His daughter was abducted, he looked for six years, in the vast sea of people, how easy is it to talk? But he did not give up, the desire for family affection, so that he can wait for the emergence of human traffickers in a place with the stupid way of waiting for the rabbit, and even from the mouth of the other party to learn the daughter's "bad news", still do not believe, this is the belief.
To put it bluntly, Guan Ning's character is very suitable for being the protagonist of Miyazaki's Soul series, so when he appears as an assassin and stumbles upon clues in the other party's novel, he "lives" in the ruined world created by others. And has been giving Lu Kongwen faith and making him insist.
At this point, the real world and the other world, the two protagonists have also completed the echo in the goal. Lu Kongwen's task of killing gods and Guan Ning's obsession with finding his daughter are all impossible tasks, but they have come to the end by helping each other in different worlds.
Unforgettable boss duels and the atmosphere is amazing. The red-haired behemoth and the protagonist's small body are shook. You have to say that from director Lu Yang, producer Ning Hao, to the original author Shuang Xuetao, I have not played the "Soul Series", I do not believe it.
(At the very least, I've played God of War!) God killer! ）
Therefore, the worldview of the other world of the film is very much in line with the essence of the "Soul Series":
Here, weapons and props are not symbols of strength, these equipment only represent the character (player) here to survive and complete the mission of the straw (such as the black armor in the movie). What really makes a decisive difference is the belief, allowing the character (the player) to persist to the end, letting them face a huge boss that is several times their size, and finally completing the impossible task.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the power of emotion</h1>
"Assassination of a Novelist", just like the accessibility of the game, the audience is initially confronted with an unfamiliar world view, and the sense of substitution is very important. To be fair, the sense of substitution in the early stage of the film cannot be said to be bad, it can only be said that it is general, after all, as an original world view, and there are two very different worlds at the beginning, and the audience is a little confused.
However, the best effort was made in the early stages of the film, and Guan Ning's obsession with pursuing his missing daughter was strengthened to the greatest extent, so that he was enough to make him have an indestructible belief, and even to take on an assassination mission that surpassed his life's creed. This common infection of human truth has also been trying to help the audience enter the story.
After all, any story needs to build an emotional bridge with the public, even if the world is infinitely bizarre, the motivation of the protagonist of the story must be real and credible, in order to resonate with the audience.
The motivation of the story of the film in the real world is that the father misses his daughter, but when the two "reunite", it is not in a time and space dimension, it is Guan Ning who discovers the little girl who is also called Xiao Tangerine in the Lukongwen novel, which connects to the core emotion and world view of "Assassination of the Novelist": the power of words can affect reality, and the power of emotion can cross latitude, as long as you believe, the world will change.
Therefore, this romantic enough and idealistic film "Assassination of a Novelist", whether it is Lu Kongwen or Guan Ning, whether mortal or novelist, presents a certain heroic brilliance. The brilliance of the so-called hero is the brilliance of faith that appears when it is known that it is not feasible. Not giving up is the hardcore outlook on life, both in reality and fiction.
At the end, the real-world novelist "changes people", deliberately creating a pompous painting style, funny, hot and moving. "As long as you believe, you can achieve", representing the beautiful fantasy of the creator of the text, the belief that crosses the dimension and directly reaches the matter itself, I think therefore I am, the carnival of the "idealist".
This sentence is not a pejorative meaning, the most important thing is how can our lives produce such obsessions, enough to cross the dimension and affect reality?
To put it bluntly, after all, it is the true feelings of the world, and our beliefs are for whom? For their own future, or for their loved ones? It doesn't matter, what matters is that the fulcrum of emotion makes this bizarre and boundless rhapsody story fall back to the ground, and finally Lei Jiayin's madness breaks the dimension of reality and virtuality, and also brings all of our viewers back to reality.
It turns out that even if there is no strange other world, in the real world we live in, we must also have faith.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > easter egg, the charm of the cult</h1>
Finally, I would like to add a few words about the story of the film and the way it progresses. This section contains spoilers, so please read with caution
Before you see this movie, or if you haven't even seen Shuang Xuetao's novel, the story of "Assassination of a Novelist" is unpredictable. The two levels of fiction and reality affect each other, to put it bluntly, the film has a very hardcore, very evil model theme.
For example, Wei Jiahui's "Regeneration", the protagonist in the movie writes a novel, the characters in the novel also write a novel, the interspersed narrative of several dimensions in the middle, the complexity is close to Nolan, this very experimental work, expressing Wei Jiahui's sustenance of words and writing.
The other is the horror master John Carpenter's "Shuddering Black Hole", a work that I personally like very much, the imagination of the peak of madness, the first half of the film is weird, and the second half is the peak of Carpenter's crazy imagination, virtual and real, but also real and illusory, confusing the concept of two worlds.
Of course, there are many more works that deal with such subjects, but the common denominator is that they are more cult and relatively niche, because this kind of work has a unified outlet: if the novelist writes everything into reality, he can manipulate the world at will, then all this will develop in an uncontrollable direction.
To put it bluntly, a similar narrative is not very good. You can already affect reality, almost invincible state, who can control you? So whether it is "Regeneration" or "Shudder Black Hole", the second half of the virtual reality combined with the interlacing of canine teeth is very crazy, and it is also relatively obscure, not a public dish.
This is also where I initially worried about "The Assassination of a Novelist", which is difficult to control, and has a viewing threshold, and the second half is not sure how to end. If you are not careful, you will present the reality and fiction of "Beautiful Girl Strike Force", and the two worlds are separated.
Although the audience needs a certain rhythm in the early stage to enter the story, this problem is finally solved. And the early stage of the film also constructed three suspense:
★ Why assassinate a failed novelist?
★ The rich are so rich, why do they have to find Guan Ning?
★ Guan Ning's bizarre dream is inextricably linked to the other world presented at the beginning of the film.
The subsequent story answers the above three suspense one by one and gradually expands the world view.
The reason for the assassination of the novelist is that one of his novel characters, the "red-haired ghost", will directly affect the physical state of the rich man in the real world, and then present a "real" world set by the story.
Originally, in this world, there are a small number of people with a certain limit of "special functions", but they are not superpowers, can only be said to be different from ordinary people, some aspects of the attributes are stronger than ordinary people, such as the protagonist will only "throw stones" (the setting of the original novel), some people resist electricity, some people resist fighting, some people can fight (Yang Mi can single-handedly knock down Lei Jiayin, maybe she also has some superpowers).
And this LOSER novelist, one of the peculiarities, is that the novels he creates affect the real world. But he didn't know it, and the scope of his influence was limited, so why did he only affect Hewei and not others? The film continues to be withheld here, waiting for further excavation.
As the story develops, the pattern becomes larger and larger, and the connection between the two worlds becomes more and more compact, and finally we learn that the reason why the rich man looked for Guan Ning was to hide the sky and cross the sea, and then borrowed a knife to kill people, because in the novel, there is a small orange with the same name as his daughter, and the rich man wants Guan Ning to have a motive to assassinate the novelist and forge his diary.
The reason why the novelist Lu Kongwen, his character, will affect a particular character in reality is because of the emotional projection, thus revealing his life. And why Guan Ning has those otherworldly dreams, there is also an answer, the original story of the small orange and the reality of his heart to find his daughter resonance, thus affecting him.
All the suspense is solved at the last moment, and finally the two protagonists, in the end, complete the relay in consciousness, "as long as you believe, you can achieve", the fulcrum of emotion, let the faith cross the dimension, different worlds, they work together to defeat the "red-haired ghost" (rich).
I have to say that the world view of "Assassination of a Novelist" is relatively abstract, and even the real world has a surreal place, which is very cult film style. The advantage of the film is that it is very patient to construct the audience's unfamiliar worldview little by little.
Just like the pass, the sense of substitution is the "first pass", as long as you cross this pass, you will find that then a horse Pingchuan, there is a layer of suspense to set up to promote the plot, there are waves of strange world wonder effect to enhance the perception, there is the father's affection for the daughter as the background, to attract the public's attention to this story, just because of the existence of emotional motivation, so that this "evil" story, in the second half of the period is not "one shot and uncontrollable", the wanton flying Pegasus, because of the father-daughter love, because the faith is there, It eventually fell back to the ground.
This is the most admirable place in this film, finding this worldview concept of "seven inches", and using force to express the story of this evil model in a popular way.
Introducing an abstract worldview into the field of mass entertainment, and rising to the level of visual art, and then using abstraction to express the emotions of the characters, it is very advanced.