Rousseau said in the Social Contract: Man is born free, but he is always in chains. Those who think they are masters of everything else are more slaves than everything else.
One is trapped in life and lust, one is trapped in hatred, and when these two equally troubled people meet each other, whether to complete each other or to destroy, everything is only in personal choice.
In 2007, Diao Yinan launched a "Night Train", which may be relatively unfamiliar to many people, and did not seem to have been released in China, but the film's fame is not small, and in the "One Kind of Attention" section of the 60th Cannes Film Festival, there were two films by emerging Chinese directors, one is "Blind Mountain", directed by director Li Yang; one is "Night Train". At the same time, the film won the New Director and New Film Award at the 23rd Warsaw International Film Festival in 2007.
The film unfolds between two people, Wu Hongyan (Liu Dan), an ordinary bailiff. Ten years of celibacy, her life was bleak, she did routine work every day, and for her, taking the train every week to the marriage agency gave life a glimmer of hope.
A female prisoner was sentenced to death for intentional homicide, and Wu Hongyan was her sender. The husband of the female prisoner, Li Jun (Qi Dao), therefore hates this silent policewoman, and often follows her and waits for the opportunity to assassinate. As a result, two lonely hearts came together.
There is a kind of film called a director's film
There are many ways to shoot movies, take the road of commercialization or personalization, whether to choose carefully or shoot with the waves, each director has their own choice, this choice in my opinion is not good or bad, film as the seventh art always needs different themes and sounds, if all movies are a look, then the world of movies will not be so wonderful.
Of course, the film is to make money, director Wang Jing has always said that he is making commercial films, so he does not mind that others call him the king of bad films, many of the commercial films he has made are full of copper smell and vice in the eyes of some Wenqing or professionals, but this way of shooting belongs to Wang Jing's pursuit, as he said: "Do you have the ability to shoot so much?" Since it sucks, how can it be filmed so much? No loss, there is money to earn, what is the problem? ”
There is also a kind of film called director film, the film is full of the director's personal charm, the market is not the first, more is how to express the director's own feelings, such directors such as Wong Kar-wai and Du Qifeng, etc., of course, they will also make commercial films, but will not give up on the self-expression of the genre of films, especially Wong Kar-wai, in many of Wong Kar-wai's films, the director's style is dripping, the narrative is fragmented, the role is lonely and lonely, and the line expression method is literary and artistic: do you know? I used to look for that woman because someone said your favorite woman was her and I wanted to kill her, but then I didn't do it because I didn't want to prove that she was East Evil West Poison.
"Night Train" director Diao Yinan also belongs to the ranks of director films, whether it is "Uniform", "Daytime Fireworks" or this movie are full of the director's stylized characteristics, the role of the director's lens is not a tall and noble small era, but a man and woman living in the corner of the big era, they want to live an ordinary life, but find that life is so gray, they want to have a brilliant life, but they can only be screened in the daytime like fireworks, even if the brilliant moment has no color.
Therefore, Diao Yinan is known as the representative of China's avant-garde drama, and his films seem to have been limited to the bottom of society, showing the suffering of society, and behind it is the complexity of the humanity of the soul.
A man trapped in chains
Wu Hongyan's work, like her life, belongs to the standardized operation process, such as at the beginning of the film, the case is still in the process of being pronounced, the plaintiff cries in court, and she yawns, because these have nothing to do with her, she only does her job And the rest is boring waiting, not that she is cold-blooded, but after watching the habit of coming and going, watching the darkness and complexity of human nature, she is almost immune.
When a prisoner wants to execute, some of her colleagues can't help but cry, and may have sympathy for some prisoners, after all, there may be a story that has to be told behind each case, and Wu Hongyan is unusually calm and said: What is crying? Now it's time to perform the task.
Life is also like the gray sky in the movie, dim and lightless, through the long aisles, back to the cold walls and lonely one, she is trapped in this small bucket room with nowhere to hide.
The woman who lives next door, known as dancing in the dance hall, is actually dancing striptease, so her private life is flooded, it can be said that night and night and different men sing songs, although some neighbors think that Wu Hongyan should manage a tube, and then for her, instead of managing it, it is better to listen to the wall root, her self-sexual desire has nowhere to vent but it is possible to have a small outlet for catharsis in this way, but it is not enough.
She would take the train every week, in the dim light and darkness, across the city to the marriage agency, hoping to find the other half, or find someone who could have a one-night relationship? Perhaps she herself did not distinguish clearly, in the same gray ballroom, the men and women who came to the blind date danced on the dance floor, and she sat alone in the corner, silent.
And what she didn't know was that her husband Li Jun, who executed the execution of the female prisoner, had already targeted her, Li Jun could be said to be a complete loser, his wife was killed, he could only be silent and still working, when his wife was shot, his children were taken away by his wife's side, he was driven out of the residence, his job was also transferred away to see an idle post in the reservoir, living with a meager salary, life was bleak, and the only thing that was a little bright was the hatred in his heart.
So he took a knife and followed Wu Hongyan to take revenge, and his revenge seemed very justified, ironically all the people who watched the movie understood that this was just Wu Hongyan's job, Wu Hongyan was not a murderer, as she said, she was just on a mission. If she didn't do it, there would be another person to carry out the shooting, and Li Jun's hatred looked so absurd and ridiculous.
The more cowardly people's hatred only dares to target people weaker than him, which is why in many previous social cases, some bad incidents in kindergartens will occur, and the so-called revenge of these people is similar psychology, and they dare not face those who are stronger than themselves, then target the weak to set off their bravery.
Under the lens of director Diao Yinan, he did not make too much explanation, but through the gray sky, the dark aisle, the shuttle of the train at night, in most of the nearly silent scenes to show people trapped in the prison of the self, which is also the characteristic of the film, the tension of the plot silently tightened in the dark, waiting for the moment to be broken.
How to break free of the cage
Life is full of comedy and absurdity, Wu Hongyan thought that Li Jun also participated in the marriage agency, for her long-term sexual repression, being followed by a man was secretly happy inside, under the lens of the director, when Wu Hongyan asked Li Jun why he followed her, the steps were light when he turned around and walked away, and then the camera turned, the two had already opened a room in a small hotel, and the dry firewood was lit at that moment.
Talking about love and no love, this feeling is complicated, Wu Hongyan feels that it can develop for a long time, she was not a person who talked a lot, and then met a sullen-looking Li Jun, as if she had found Zhiyin, so she reached the reservoir with him, and what she didn't know was that Li Jun's hatred had not really been put down.
When Li Jun went out to have an affair, Wu Hongyan was bored to open the book, and saw the verdict and the photos of their husband and wife sent back after the execution of the female prisoner, on the one hand, there was both a sense of guilt, on the other hand, there was also a sense of female sympathy, so she would say, your feelings are good, but unfortunately I can't replace her.
Li Jun said that he wanted to take Wu Hongyan on the boat in fact, he wanted to take the opportunity to kill her, maybe he saw her kindness, maybe he had a little warmth because of sex, after all, the husband and wife were still a hundred days old, and the pain and crying when he was preparing to launch the boat was the embodiment of his contradictions, and on the other side, Wu Hongyan saw the axe in Li Jun's tool kit, and he could also understand what Li Jun wanted to do, even the bag and scarf were not taken, and she left in a hurry.
Until she saw a horse pulling chai, firmly wrapped in the reins, no matter how the two horse herders hit it, it would not go, this scene is full of the meaning of life, Wu Hongyan saw that she was the horse, the first time she crouched on the side of the road and cried, it turned out that she had been trapped in the cage.
In the slow shot, Li Jun smelled the scarf she left behind, and thought she was gone, but did not know that she was still back, at this time the plot is slow, the lines are still not much, but rich in deep meaning, when Li Jun wants to take her to the boat, Wu Hongyan specially reminds Li Jun to bring a tool kit, she wants to test with her life whether she and Li Jun can really escape from the cage.
Finally, Li Jun stood on the boat and said: Come on. The movie ends here.
This boat is the end or the beginning of life, director Diao Yinan gave an open ending, as far as I am concerned, this is the beginning of life, from Li Jun holding her towel smell has been doomed, and that sentence up, not like Li Jun has been talking in a sullen tone, but relaxed and bright, life is like a boat, even in difficult situations will walk together.
In the "Augmentation of the Sages", it is said: One day husband and wife, a hundred generations of marriage. Hundreds of monks came to cross the same boat, and thousands of generations came to sleep together.