"There is a bird in the world that has no feet, it can only fly like this, it can only fly like this, and when it is tired of flying, it sleeps in the wind, and this bird can only land once in its life, and that time is when it dies."
The first thing that comes to my mind about "The True Biography of Ah Fei" is Mr. Lu Xun's "A Q Zheng Biography", two literary and artistic works that show a generation under the imprint of the times through the shaping of characters. The fable of this footless bird also seems to be related to Lu Xun, and in the preface to the Huagai Collection, "Although I dreamed of flying in the air when I was a child, I am still on the ground." ”
Check the information to learn that the origin of the name Ah Fei Zheng Biography, not wong Kar Wai's first creation, as early as the 1950s to the 1960s has existed in Hong Kong, when it was a series of roles named after Ah Fei played by Hong Kong actor McKee, these roles are debauched, idle little, so at that time this type of film was also known as ''Ah Fei Film'', which was partly the origin of later Hong Kong gangster movies.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > (1) Asahi - Footless Bird - Ah Fei</h1>
Wong Kar-wai adopted the name "'Ah Fei Zheng Biography'" on the one hand based on the background of the film's era in the 1960s, and on the other hand, the characters in the play have characteristics similar to "Ah Fei"—a kind of aimless drift and anxiety and confusion of their own situation. There is no character in the movie called 'Ah Fei', we all habitually think of the protagonist Asahi as Ah Fei, but in my opinion, every major character in the movie is Ah Fei, which is a group dance group portrait of a footless bird.
Xu Zai, played by Cheung Kwok Wing, is the most obvious character in the whole film, and when Wong Kar-wai portrays this character, he seems to have deliberately downplayed the details of the character's life, we only know that he has a stepmother, a brother, and spends all day looking for fun, and we don't know anything else about the character. Through the dilution of the details of the characters, the spiritual helplessness and wandering of Xu Zai are shown on this side, which is also the most basic "Ah Fei"" feature. At the same time, Wong Kar-wai's fragmented narrative characteristics give the aimlessness of the film a high degree of consistency with the spiritual purposeless drifting of the characters, and "Ah Fei" represents a close-up of the generation under the imprint of the times.
If "Ah Fei" is used to define the group portraits of the characters in the film, then the characteristic of "narcissism" has to be specially singled out.
There are many camera languages in the film to depict Asahi Tsai combing his hair in the mirror, and it is Asahi Tsai's "narcissistic tendencies" that are implied.
Ah Fei brushed his hair in the mirror
Ah Fei's solo dance (more classic with music)
Xu Zai's solo dance on the balcony and Liang Chaowei's final long shot are the two most wonderful shots in the whole movie, Xu Zai is wearing a tank top shorts, the voiceover is the monologue of which legless bird, and then takes a lazy step to the balcony, jumping up wantonly, showing a kind of leisurely and comfortable laziness on his face. This is undoubtedly another proof of the ''narcissistic tendency'', this lonely and lonely narcissistic pastime, combined with the previous footless bird monologue, let us capture the inner world of the character for the first time, and even a slight sense of substitution, can't help but let us imagine how The inner world of Xu Zai, who is helpless and lonely and no one understands, is formed?
The film quickly gives the answer, it turns out that Xu Zai's mother is only his adoptive mother, and he somewhat hates his adoptive mother for telling him this fact, it is he who is in endless pain and suffering, he wants to know who his mother is, and the adoptive mother refuses to tell him. This family trauma also became an excuse for his debauchery, and he seemed to use this way to make himself forget this pain, but the departure of the adoptive mother became a turning point, the Orpheus-style Oedipus complex, so he did not want to lose the last reliance, so he wanted to meet the birth mother, when the birth mother refused to see him, he turned, his head did not return, and when he decided to leave, he completely became a footless bird...
After meeting his birth mother and not being able to do so, Ah Fei's lonely back
(2) Affy group portrait
If Asahi Tsai is the main part of the image of "Ah Fei", then the other characters in the movie are more or less people with the characteristics of "Ah Fei", and they are in some ways "Ah Fei".
"You dream of meeting me tonight"
Lulu's love for Ah Fei
The desire for love is a thread that runs through the film, Su Lizhen and Lulu's desire for XuZai's love, ChaoZai's desire for Su Lizhen's love, Crooked Boy's desire for Lulu's love, Xu zai's desire for maternal love, and even her adoptive mother's desire for love. Yet every character in this thread is loveless.
Chao Tsai, played by Andy Lau, and Su Lizhen, played by Maggie Cheung
The two male partners played by Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung fell in love with Su Lizhen and Lulu respectively. The crooked boy played by Jacky Cheung is madly infatuated with Lulu, and the pain of love and not being able to do so is reflected in the pain and sadness engraved on his face. And Andy Lau's love for Su Lizhen is so unfazed, all emotions are hidden in the heart, until the dialogue with Xu Zai in the train We learned the man's deep regret.
Do you remember what you did last april at three o'clock in the afternoon on April 16th?
Why?
No, my friend she tested my memory, she asked me, what did I do that day? I don't remember, what about you?
She told you, and I thought you couldn't remember.
I will always remember what I have to remember, do you have any contact?
For a while, I didn't contact after I got off the ship, what about you?
I, no, she's still talking to you.
No, in fact, I have known her for a short time, she is your favorite person?
No, friends only.
Later, when you have the opportunity to go up, you will meet her and tell her that I don't remember anything, so that everyone can be better off.
I don't even know if I'll ever have a chance to see her again, or see her again, and I don't remember me at all.
From the 1950s to the 1960s, Hong Kong films created a series of characters similar to the protagonists of the Hollywood film "Rebel without Cause" in the same period, they were the earliest "Ah Fei" (the name of the protagonists of the films in this period was called Ah Fei), they had nothing to do and inferiority, due to the inferiority complex caused by the poverty of the family when he was a child, he seemed very clumsy or even honest in getting along with Su Lizhen, coupled with the death of his mother and the pain and confusion that could not be generated by love, he chose to become a seafarer and ran the boat , lived a "Afrith" life without a fixed place.
The movie "Rebel without Cause" influenced Wong Kar-wai's "The Legend of Ah Fei" to a certain extent.
Regarding the female characters in the play, there are four in total, Su Lizhen, Lulu, the adoptive mother and the birth mother with only one back. These four characters all show the ''Ah Fei sex'' to a certain extent, the weak Su Lizhen and the strong Lulu show the humility and struggle in the face of love with Xu Zai show the "Ah Fei sex" of the women of the times, we cannot deny the charm of Xu Zai in the movie, but pondering the embodiment of this female humility, there is no shortage of women in that era who have no way to do anything about the pursuit of independence and independence, and whether Ah Fei's adoptive mother and birth mother faced the same situation when they were young is worth imagining.
Liang Chaowei's final exit of the long shot, originally for the next "Ah Fei Zheng Biography" prologue (due to serious losses and other reasons died prematurely), but undoubtedly became the finishing touch of the movie, one Ah Fei's story ended, another Ah Fei's story began, or the dance of this group of footless birds ended, the next group of footless birds will soon appear on the scene...
Liang Chaowei's final long shot heralds the appearance of the next Ah Fei.