It's a good "Nameless", I haven't seen such a Spring Festival spy blockbuster.
There are no shortage of commercial elements, but the director is free to play a poetic expression.
The duel between Liang Chaowei and Wang Yibo in the film is the most extreme.
A six-minute fight scene.
In the apartment, two former superiors and subordinates of the Wang pseudo-intelligence department who are clearly identified are engaged in a life-and-death struggle.
First, Wang Yibo led people to round up Liang Chaowei, and was shot by Liang Chaowei's assistant.
The encirclement turned into a single-handed, huge apartment and a battlefield for two.
Fire first, then fight with your bare hands.
Living rooms, bedrooms, hallways, are all fighting arenas.
Furniture, accessories, curtains, all became weapons.
Hit until you run out of physical strength, lie directly on the ground and fight.
What is the situation? Who lives and who dies, who is right and who is evil?
Suspense and action are combined, and characters and fate are gaining momentum in static, and bursting in dynamics.
Fist to flesh, kill each other, is a point that makes people feel pain across the screen.
Is it just that simple as a showdown? Looking closely, when the two fought incomprehensibly, the camera swayed slightly in the distance.
Is there anyone else spying on this big drama?
Don't worry, if you look closely enough, you will also find that there are flaws in the fight. It looks like they are going to kill each other, making people see that their palms are sweaty.
But why did this life-taking poke just accurately poke at Tony Leung's throat?
And why, the tie worn by Wang Yibo was just tough enough to be caught by the other party and throw him downstairs safely?
One brush didn't see it, and the second brush thought about it carefully.
Good fellow, it looks like a fight, but in fact there is a hidden mystery.
The last shot of less than a second is clean and neat, showing both the mystery and the mystery.
Who dares to make spy blockbusters like this? Only Cheng Er.
Some people say that these more than ten years are the best era of Chinese movies.
But in my opinion, there is a regret hidden in it: spy war films.
In the past ten years, spy war dramas have been surging, in addition to Liu Yunlong's self-directed and self-acted "Dark Calculation" and "Kite" double stars shine, "Lurking", "Cliff" and "Before Dawn" are also classics.
But in terms of movies, the only ones that can surprise the four in the major schedule are about "The Wind" and "Above the Cliff" directed by Zhang Yimou 13 years ago.
Until this year's Spring Festival file, directed by Cheng Er, Liang Chaowei, Wang Yibo, Zhou Xun and others teamed up, a "Nameless", finally stirred up the storm again.
But it is not an ordinary spy war film, but also a unique Spring Festival movie.
It is not the lively red fire expected by the public, but more like the old hot soup boiled out of the slow fire, whether it is the exquisite vision, the depth of history, or the suspense setting, it needs to be tasted, recalled, and the accumulation of the sun.
Afraid that it will not match the heat of the Spring Festival stall? But the film's box office exceeded 200 million in two days, and the Mao Tao score was above 9 points, it seems that there are really many audiences, who prefer this feast full of feasts, this mouthful of unique taste with a long aftertaste, relieved, and topped.
Such a Spring Festival spy blockbuster is exquisite, romantic, and ruthless enough.
Too much stamina.
1. The image is nameless
Many spy works in the past focused on intellectual combat, but it is inevitable to fall into the routine set by the classic predecessor, and after a long time, the audience not only loves this bite, but always feels that it is a pity to abandon it tastelessly.
What is rare is that the spy war of "Nameless" does not follow the routine at all.
It's like the English name of the movie "Hidden Blade" - Hidden Blade. It represents assassination and assassination, loyalty and sacrifice, but always graceful and calm.
The thrilling pleasure of spy warfare and the aesthetic romance of director Cheng Er are each other's face and inside.
As an "outlier" in contemporary Chinese directors, Cheng Er's works are few but refined, starting from his so-called "the best graduation work in Nortel history", only four films have been released, 2012's "Border Storm" and 2016's "The History of the Demise of Romance" are all masterpieces in the fan group.
But this time, Cheng Er typed in the trailer at the beginning, "super commercial".
"Nameless" has all the commercial elements common to spy war genre films.
Spy warfare, lurking, hoeing, duels.
But unlike traditional spy warfare, the movie is not in a hurry to bring out the cool elements with a white face, but dances with the audience with an elegant spy war tango.
The story of the movie takes place in Shanghai's "island period", although it was occupied by Japan, but because of the relationship between the concessions, it has become a forward position for all forces, and it is also an important intelligence exchange center.
The protagonists of "Nameless" are from the intelligence department of the Wang puppet regime in Shanghai.
Cheng Er used fine white drawings to outline a map of historical changes in spy wars.
Wenxi martial singing, martial opera singing.
The film has the thrill of spy warfare and also carries the thickness of history.
Cheng Er's signature lens language, symmetrical composition, long empty mirror, neat editing and slow long shots, are just as many, and the creation of a sense of atmosphere is particularly exquisite.
Starting from Zhou Xun's elegant drinking of a cup of coffee at the beginning of the film, Cheng Er's unique sense of hiding and undercurrent atmosphere are created, just like high-grade alcohol, with a sweet mouth and a long aftertaste.
For example, light and dark.
In the light and shadow, it vaguely conveys the hearts and situations of the characters. Foreshadowing everywhere.
For example, movement and static.
Action scenes are a major attraction of spy war films, and "Nameless" also has a large number of action scenes, whether it is the hand-to-hand combat between Tony Leung and Wang Yibo, or Wang Yibo single-handedly picking out the Japanese army, all of them are thrilling and violent, but in the impact that overflows the screen, you can feel the silence of the mountain rain.
In static, a large number of symmetrical photographic compositions, tension-filled eye contact, and hidden explosive power.
For example, black and white.
In the intersection of the black-and-white heavy footage of the intelligence department and the bright lights of the concession, drunken and golden, ordinary people were ruthlessly destroyed by Japanese imperialism.
The situation is turbulent, and there is an undercurrent.
Another example is cold and warm.
Between the switching of cold and warm tones, Cheng Er's image records the difficult era when ordinary people had no name and no surname under the invasion of the Japanese army.
In 1938, the Japanese army occupied Guangzhou, and the background of the screen was the gray appearance of the city after the bombing of the aerial footage.
But the next second, it was the blue sea and blue sky that Japanese fighters flew by. With a broadcast on Japanese radio: tomorrow the weather is sunny, suitable for attack.
Under the elegant, dignified and deep lens aesthetics, this "gaze"-like immersive viewing experience allows the audience to feel strong emotions in the cold and warm changes of the surface tones.
Cheng Er's lens is also really beautiful.
Human beauty. Zhou Xun, Jiang Shuying, Zhang Jingyi, cheongsam, Republic of China hairstyle, the charm of Republic of China women contained in the lens, makes people linger.
Food beauty. Close-up, French Napoleon cakes in a dim sum shop, a plate of struggling drunken shrimp in a restaurant, cold sashimi and sushi on a Japanese table. Even the dining table is exquisite and perfect.
Napoleon was freshly made by the master, and the Japanese utensils were flown in from Japan.
Cheng Er's film must be the degree to which every frame can be framed, but the beauty of the lens contains deep meaning.
For example, the gaze of beauty hints at the fate of the characters, and the food is also a metaphor for the connection between people and the current situation.
"Cinema is a gaze on time."
Cheng Er's images seem to give life to the lenses, and each shot seems to be breathing, even with the rhythm of the flow of time.
In the dark history, the image lights up a light for the viewer.
This lamp will penetrate the long night of history sooner or later.
2. The story is like a mystery
Jigsaw puzzle is the literary eye of the story of "Nameless".
The story mainly takes place in Shanghai from 1937 to 1945, where the underground workers of the CCP maneuvered between Chongqing, Wang Pseudo, and Japanese spy agencies, obtaining intelligence and killing traitors through the intricate intelligence system behind enemy lines...
Most of the film's plot focuses on several agents of Wang's puppet government, including Mr. Ho, a senior intelligence department official played by Tony Leung, and Mr. Ye, a newly promoted agent played by Wang Yibo.
There is obviously the first puzzle of spy movies hidden here: who are our people?
The protagonists of spy films often have double or even multiple identities, lurking means dancing on the tip of the knife, camouflage means being in danger at any time, and suspense and dramatic tension come from this.
But Cheng Er's cleverness lies in the use of the main line of spy warfare and the skeleton of suspense, but he uses a time mystery to lead the audience into the game.
If the general spy war film is the main creator to take the audience to see a story.
Then Cheng Er used the scrambled story line and maze-like details to take the audience to play a jigsaw puzzle.
When the audience is put into this suspense maze, in the search for the gray line of the plot, they gradually piece together their own understanding of the story.
Cheng Er's suspense maze is stacked by details.
For example, time.
1938, 1941, 1944, 1945, and 1931, which did not appear but was repeatedly mentioned.
Under Cheng Er's consistent non-linear narrative, all time is disrupted, and the mystery is connected to the mystery. Some stories seem to be opening but actually ending, and some stories seem to be ending before they actually unfold, Cheng Er narrative, the magic is in the layout.
Tony Leung's eyes looking at the audience may hide the key to breaking the problem.
He plays Mr. Ho, who interrogates prisoners twice. Twice talked about his previous experience.
The first time, 1941.
The other party was an intelligence chief of the Shanghai National Government, he was smiling, full of confidence, and let the other party live. Wait for the other person to "get the hang of it".
The second time, 1944.
The same dialogue, before finishing speaking, was interrupted by the other party, he was too lazy to talk to the other party, and if he did not surrender, he quickly disposed of it.
Cheng Er set up an advanced puzzle, the upper half throws the puzzle, and the second half solves the puzzle. The characters' repeated lines symbolize that the timeline is disrupted and then forms a closed loop.
The answer is in the closed loop, the plot is tightly knit, no second can be wasted, no shot is superfluous, and the audience must participate in it to enjoy that fun.
In the maze, there are foreshadowings buried by Cheng Er everywhere.
For example, the gun in the hand of Mr. Zhang, an underground party member played by Huang Lei.
Mr. Ho was responsible for "reception" Mr. Zhang, and as soon as he saw the gun, he asked, "Why do you have Miss Chen's gun?" ”
Miss Chen, who is also an underground party member, is the role of Zhou Xun.
One carries Miss Chen's gun, the other recognizes Miss Chen's gun at a glance, what is the relationship between the two and Miss Chen? What's with guns? When Mr. He left, what happened to the blood spots on his body?
Another example is Wang Yibo's tie.
Pay attention to a detail, before the life and death battle in the previous article, Wang Yibo first pulled a tie, and then changed a tie, why pull, why change?
The details make the plot more confusing and more suspenseful. The layout is intertwined, there are no idle pens and no waste pens, and every subtle expression and look in the characters has a deep meaning.
The answer is there, when the audience follows the director all the way, it is like experiencing a dream of spy war.
At the last moment of the dream, I was awakened by a detail of Cheng Er, and suddenly understood the whole story, and I felt that my IQ and aesthetics were greatly respected, and this kind of heartiness after finding the answer and completing the puzzle was the more advanced aesthetic pleasure that Cheng Er brought to the audience.
Cheng Er wants to keep this joy of solving puzzles, and also wants to keep the fate with the audience.
3. The acting skills are traceless
Whether the audience can enter the game, in addition to the story, is also performing.
The story is like peeling an onion, and until the last moment, you don't know if the character is evil. Everyone has no name, not many lines, mood and anger, but the atmosphere created explodes.
The more so, the more testing the acting skills.
I probably can't find a second Chinese film actor, who is more suitable for playing the male lead in Cheng Er's spy war films than Tony Leung.
A straight black suit, a shiny big oil head, Tony Leung's three-piece set and top hat came out, and the elegance of an era has overflowed the screen.
Watching him perform on the screen, it is the feeling that every wrinkle will act, this time Tony Leung is not "Mr. Yi", he is performing another temperament that is completely different from the gloomy and violent, and there are several smiles that make people gasp, still completely different from Mr. Yi's demeanor.
He has the most lines in the film, and uses Mandarin original lines, and also contributes a rare fight scene. Every expression is unfathomable, the audience doesn't know what he is thinking, but they can't help but be attracted by his gaze, superstar charm, can't deceive people.
It can be said that the huge white space and imagination space in Tony Leung's performance has created an endless effect, and when the mystery is revealed, it will give people a feeling of empowerment.
This is the magic of the palace-level Chinese actor.
In the face of such a top actor, Wang Yibo's performance can not show timidity, which is worthy of praise.
In the movie, Wang Yibo does present a different screen image than before, more cold, slaughtering, forbearing, and even ruthless, and the laughter on the truck is particularly impressive. Cheng Er left the last clue for him to unfold, but fortunately he caught it.
As for Zhou Xun, Cheng Er commented that she can act in every pore, which is by no means a scene.
She is reminiscent of Gu Xiaomeng, but she is not Gu Xiaomeng, Miss Chen is older than Gu Xiaomeng, has experienced more storms, is more calm, more experienced, and has more memories.
She doesn't have many scenes, but two scenes are enough to seal the gods.
One is before parting with Mr. He's life and death, her eyelashes are slightly undulating, her face is slightly twitching, no lines are needed, everything is silent.
The other was the speechless hug with Mr. Ho, and when the lover's first reaction was not joy, but disbelief, and then relief, as if a thousand pounds of burden had finally been unloaded.
Across the screen, the audience felt as if she had experienced thousands of mountains and rivers, and only after countless nights of life suffering did she understand how heavy that hug was.
Cheng Er really knows casting, Tony Leung plays the riddle, Zhou Xun reveals the mystery, and I can't find a more perfect match in the Chinese film industry.
The other supporting characters also have their own surprises.
Mr. Zhang, played by Huang Lei, has a righteous face, but his face is full of uncertain hesitation, and he says, "I am a weak person and do not adapt to this era of great change." "It's like the character's verdict.
Dapeng played an extremely serious role, the biggest "official" in the whole film, and the most cunning wall-rider, and no one laughed after the performance, which proved that he succeeded.
Jiang Shuying performed the poignancy of the character, and under the change of fate, the face was white, tragic, and beautiful, like a rose that was about to wither.
Zhang Jingyi is probably the only role in the whole film without any reversal, but it's hard to forget the nervous and green face of her Miss Fang sitting at the table in a hollow cheongsam in the dance hall.
Wang Chuanjun also acted very well, complaining with Mr. Ye in the breakfast restaurant that the dishes were not enough, complaining that Mr. Ye should not share a rib with him, and while waiting at the door of the interrogation room, he competed with each other to see who could spit out smoke rings that were more and round. It was also he who carried out the most tragic betrayal of Mr. Ye, numbness and ruthlessness, all in the role.
There are good people and bad people in the movie, but more often it is good and evil.
It is no exaggeration to say that until the last second of the movie, the characters are still reversed.
Under the mud and sand of the big era, there are those who ride the wall, those who stand in line, those who find a way back, and those who rebel, and only then can the meaning of perseverance be seen.
Under the lens of "Nameless", the actors all present a unique texture, convincing, as if they are the characters who came out of that era.
The little people show the faces of history, the times are like a situation, and when they are in a predicament, they must seek to break the situation.
The actors' acting skills make the personal choices and perseverance in the torrent of the times more charming.
4. Spy warfare leaves a name
The so-called namelessness is the people and things of the past, all hidden in the dust of history.
In the end, the characters are all "anonymous", representatives of thousands of people of that era.
Cheng Er filmed spy wars, but also filmed history. History is not the background of the story in his case, but the foreground.
He puts every character and every scene into a real history, and then uses slow motion, empty mirrors, and large vistas to sculpt historical images.
In the interview, he said that in his mind, "Nameless" is more like an epic of "unsung" heroes, an anthem to the times.
Some of the movies are incognito for the purpose, and some are ordinary people who cannot be written into history books.
But they all drive the torrent of history, or rather, they are the torrent itself.
History is always written by nameless people, but Cheng Er's spy war films have to "see all living beings", which of course requires courage.
Looking back on the past decade, the Chinese film industry has been surging. In the era of traffic, the competition for attention has become intense.
What is the strength of the movie?
It can't be said that it's wrong to go with the flow, but there must always be some people who stir up different waves, otherwise it's all assembly line mass production explosions, somewhat boring.
So the Spring Festival file has such a spy war film, restrained, elegant, and maintains the tone.
At the end of the theme song MV, the director typed a line: "Respect the audience, the audience should not be underestimated." The so-called respect is not flattering, not degrading, maintaining style, and adhering to aesthetics.
As Cheng Er once wrote in "Worthy of this bowl of white rice": "The desire is endless, but we must pay attention to the appearance." ”
Spy warfare is a very popular genre among audiences, but the bottleneck has appeared, and there are no new classics for several years, and it is time for works to complete breakthroughs.
Cheng Er used "Nameless" to take the audience to a big dream of spy war, a high-level game of aesthetics and intelligence, which is full of thrilling combat daily life of unsung heroes, and also full of respect for unsung heroes.
Domestic spy war films need such attentive works, and the audience needs to see such different works in the Spring Festival file.
"Nameless" deserves to remain named.