Whenever there is a movie that does not play according to the routine, the criticism of discomfort always comes as expected.
"Nameless", released on the first day of the new year, was considered incomprehensible by some audiences.
Comments such as chaotic editing, unclear story lines, no explanation of the main plot, and too high a viewing threshold were everywhere.
So is the story of "Nameless" told well, and is the threshold for viewing movies very high?
The so-called viewing threshold means that watching a movie requires certain cultural knowledge or historical knowledge.
For example, watching foreign comedies, you must have a certain understanding of foreign culture, otherwise you may not understand where the laughter is;
To watch science fiction films, you must have certain professional knowledge in related disciplines;
To watch a series, you need to have watched the previous episodes first, otherwise you may not understand the plot and so on.
However, sometimes the threshold for viewing movies only requires common sense.
The time background of the film "Nameless" is also a few time points explained by the subtitles in the film:
In 1938, Guangzhou fell;
In 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor;
In 1944, Wang Jingwei died in Japan;
In 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender.
Among the four events corresponding to these four years, there is no need to say that Japan surrendered, but even if you don't know when Guangzhou fell and when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, you should have heard the four words of the Wang puppet government, right?
What kind of threshold is this?
At each time node, the most popular bold rhubarb characters on the video website are also given to prompt, which is interesting enough.
"Nameless" is not like the theater of the fog, which will throw a clue to the audience at a certain time period or a certain year, of course, sometimes this clue is just a smoke bomb.
From the perspective of the entire film, whether it is 1938, 1941, 1944, or 1945, it does not affect the telling of the story, and the identity and behavior of Wang Yibo, Tony Leung and others is the focus of the film.
The "Tojo" and "Ishihara" in the mouths of Japanese agents are Hideki Tojo and Ishihara Wan'er, respectively, and it doesn't matter if these two names are unfamiliar.
Their appearance is just what the dialogue of the characters in the film needs.
Let's talk about the problem of editing, the reason why some people feel messy is completely because they don't sink into it.
The song "The Onion" in Mayday sings:
"If you are willing to peel my heart layer by layer, you will find that you are my most repressed and deepest secret."
"Nameless" is like an onion, but the ear has no intention of letting the audience peel it himself.
He first cut a few times vertically, placing the thick and hard outer layer on the outside, and the tender and juicy inner layer on the inside, placing it on a plate, and then taking it down layer by layer for the audience.
Wang Yibo's last sentence "Me too" was cut horizontally against the yard of onions, and the strong juice burst out.
In the process, he also intimately used several repeated shots, for fear that people would not be able to stitch together.
At the beginning of the film, someone ordered a cup of coffee for Zhou Xun, and the end of the film explained that this person was Wang Yibo.
After Director He interrogated Mr. Zhang, Cheng Er brought the audience's eyes to the blood stains on Tony Leung's white sleeves, and by the time Huang Lei appeared again, the answer had been given.
The camera focused on the list left by Miss Jiang to Director He several times, explaining the reason why the Japanese duke was successfully hunted down.
One echo after another, as long as you watch the film carefully throughout the process, the possibility of forgetting these before and after plots is very small.
Obviously, this time Cheng Er did not reduce the great responsibility of "raising the threshold for watching movies" to himself.
Even the identities of Director He and Secretary Ye, the director has given tips many times.
Tony Leung delivered a message to Zhou Xun through a snack box;
Wang Yibo's eyes were fixed on the map of pseudo-Manchuria;
When the two fought, Zhou Xun, who was hiding in the house, had a chance to come out and solve Wang Yibo, but he didn't.
The shots of "Nameless" have a great sense of oppression, whether it is filming Japanese soldiers walking in formation, or when filming several leading actors, most of them are shot flat, sometimes even back.
Cheng Er has his own unique lens language, and his personal interest is also seriously reflected in "Nameless".
For example, the dog that appeared in the film, the lame dog in the ruins of Guangzhou and Roosevelt in the Japanese plane.
With such a clear subtext, there is no need to type in the subtitles that the first dog is a dog that has lost his family, and the second dog is a dog that has been raised.
The drunken shrimp that Wang Yibo eats near the end of the film, the calm eater and the live shrimp must also be explained in detail with narration:
Do they symbolize the ruthlessness of the cruel enemy and the despair and anger of the slaughter of living lives?
It doesn't need to.
In addition, I don't know when the use of dialects in movies turned out to be a disadvantage.
This story that takes place in Shanghai, the characters say that Shanghainese is natural, but it has also become a spit attack point, which seems more incomprehensible than the movie itself.
Spring Festival stall is not suitable for Cheng Er?
Six years ago, "The History of the Demise of Romance" did not exceed the cost of box office results, and also experienced the bombardment of "should not appear in the New Year file".
Looking further, in 2012, "Border Vice", which had a box office of less than 30 million, almost became a spectator of the Qixi stall.
And then what?
Perhaps this is the fate of Cheng Er's works, but fortunately, the classical Cheng Er is still pursuing his ultimate aesthetics and high-end lens language.
And he didn't mean to complain about the audience at all, and even said "don't underestimate the audience".
The characterization of "Nameless" as a "super commercial film" in the trailer is nothing more than a small stubbornness of his stubbornness.
What is nameless?
Nameless is not the Jet Li who wanted to assassinate King Qin more than twenty years ago, nor is it the nameless, crippled comic book character of Heavenly Sword.
Under the torrent of revolution, the dead are nameless, and the living are nameless.
"Nameless" is more suitable to be called a "classical commercial film", and don't forget, it is ultimately a red theme, a main theme shot with personal characteristics, and a main theme that is not named "Unsung Hero".
If you want to say that the threshold for viewing "Nameless" may require some patience.
Cheng Er's side showed enough patience in exchange for the presentation of personal color.
The Spring Festival file that has been held for three years is not lacking in reversals, no lack of fantasy, no lack of family fun, no lack of stars, squeezed into such a thoughtful and thoughtful movie, should be rejoicing.
What's more, the situation over there is not optimistic, and the Chase Shop films have also been struggling with "how not to be rated as a simple popcorn movie".