01 I became a connector
Historical background: After the fall of Shanghai in 1937, the public concession and the French concession, which were not controlled by the Japanese invaders, became the forefront of intelligence in the Far East. The two concessions are named because they are located in the encirclement of the Japanese-occupied area and resemble islands.
Isolated island, on the eve of victory in the War of Resistance.
Mr. He (played by Tony Leung) of Wang's pseudo-intelligence agency is questioning an underground party official Mr. Zhang (played by Huang Lei) who "abandons the secret and turns to the light".
Mr. Ho was dressed appropriately and looked at ease, waiting for the opponent's hole card to be set while planning how he would use it. Embodies a shrewd and old-school decency.
Mr. Zhang, who was questioned, was overwhelmed and nervous and did not smile. And is it really what it seems?
When the long night is about to dawn, before dawn falls, the spies who can persist in fighting on the hidden front of the isolated island until this moment are ruthless characters. Of course, including the enemy.
During the Japanese occupation, Shanghai was ostensibly open and dark by the enemy, but the enemy also lurked in the shadows, and our spies were also fully identified by the enemy. Therefore, in the movie "Nameless", it is difficult for you to clearly distinguish the good and bad identities of the characters, because in order to win victory on the hidden front, they must disguise themselves as good and bad, good and evil, infiltrating me with you, you with me.
Until the last minute, it is impossible to show the hole card at all.
Note that when I say "last minute," I mean only stating objective facts, not rhetoric.
In addition to the common attraction of identity puzzles, which is a common attraction in spy war works, I think the biggest attraction of this film is the maze-like "sense of participation" brought to the audience by the interlaced story line.
From the first moment, it makes the audience feel like they are in a maze, and you don't know if you can get out; I also don't know if the person who bumps head-on is an enemy or a comrade; I don't even know if it's a hand that gently pats your shoulder or a bullet that shoots through your chest from behind you...
Coming out of the theater, my back was a little cold, it can be said that watching "Nameless" was not simply watching a spy war movie, but being a contact, personally experiencing the thrill of losing and dying, and the sinister that no one can trust.
So, for this movie, please temporarily dispel your empiricism and judge the identity of this time through the actor's past drama; And don't have a preconceived impression of the actors, the performance of every actor in this play can be called explosive; Finally, be prepared to deal with Director Cheng Er's unconventional way of telling: you will be suddenly thrown into a "pinching the head and tail" plot and start looking for the ins and outs of this matter. The iconic flashback narrative and jumping timeline make a hidden battle seem treacherous.
The moment the lights go out in the auditorium, you become a spy, you don't know the identity of everyone around you, but you have to connect, if you find the wrong person, what awaits you is bullets.
02 Help you figure out the narrative timeline
There are four relatively clear points in time in the movie, 1938, 1941, 1944, and 1945.
Historical Background: From the first air raid on Guangzhou on August 31, 1937 to the fall of Guangzhou on October 21, 1938, the Japanese invaders carried out indiscriminate bombing of Guangzhou for a total of 14 months.
On a Japanese bomber flying to Guangzhou in 1938, a Shiba Inu wore windproof glasses.
Japanese bombers flew over the blue sea, sparkling on the crystal clear sea, and the shadows of bombers skimmed the sea. And such a beautiful scene is a harbinger of a disaster.
On the ground in Guangzhou, the bomb shelter was full of evading civilians, and a stray dog with a lame front leg also came in to escape, but was ruthlessly driven outside the bomb shelter by the soldiers.
Bang~ a loud bang.
Only two different states of dogs are used to map the situation, and the audience can understand a single line.
There is a pair of familiar eyes in the bomb shelter, he witnesses everything.
In 1941, the owner of these eyes worked for Mr. Wang and the Japanese in the fallen Shanghai, and was the director of the Shanghai intelligence department of the Wang puppet government. At this time, he is interrogating a female assassin (played by Jiang Shuying).
He recalled the bombing to the female assassin, in order to explain to the female assassin that the enemy is strong and I am weak... He, who calls himself He, speaks and behaves in a manner that reflects the decency of an old-school person.
Mr. He has two subordinates, one is Mr. Ye (played by Wang Yibo), the other is not mentioned by name (played by Wang Chuanjun), maybe I don't remember it, in short, most of the characters in the movie do not mention their names, and even their surnames are rarely mentioned.
The mystery of identity is one step deeper, characters who do not know their identities come one after another, and huge suspense also follows, to be honest, I haven't felt that watching a movie is so enjoyable for a long time!
Here it is necessary to briefly understand the relationship between the Wang puppet government and the Chongqing government. As mentioned earlier, the "island" is the frontier position of Far East intelligence, and Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, the Wang puppet Chongqing, and even Yan'an all regard Shanghai as the most important intelligence battlefield, and the main stage for spies is the intelligence department of the Wang puppet regime in Shanghai.
Behind the Wang puppet intelligence department is a special agency set up in Shanghai by the Japanese aggressors, which is specially responsible for handling all affairs related to the Wang puppet government.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Aggression, against the Wang puppet government, the hidden front of Chongqing and our party was mainly engaged in infiltrating the Wang puppet inside, assassinating important Wang puppet personnel, and plotting against Wang puppet valuable personnel. Therefore, there must be people from Chongqing in the fake intelligence department in the movie, and of course, there are also our people.
It should be noted that the Chongqing side focuses on using each other to oppose Wang and the puppets, and this collusion is true and false, and it comes and goes, making Jiang Wang's bilateral relations more and more complicated. Knowing this background, it is not surprising to see the Wang pseudo-high-level Wang who was assassinated in an attempted assassination played by Dapeng in the back changed and negotiated with the Japanese aggressors on behalf of Chongqing and engaged in "Japan-Jiang-Chiang peace".
This timeline, with the leader of the Japanese spy agency, tells Mr. Ho that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is not over. The secret of this kind of secret was only communicated to Mr. He after the action, which also shows that there is no trust between the Japanese aggressors and Wang Qiao.
Mr. Ye let Wang Yibo play a kind of nobility in his bones, and it can be seen from the elegant suit that he is completely different from his partner's class, from the point of view of mastering Japanese, it requires a fairly high degree of education, and even a study abroad background, which could not be done without a certain family foundation in that era, so it is implied everywhere that Mr. Ye's family lineage is very good.
Finally, I have to praise Wang Yibo. In the movie, 25-year-old Wang Yibo and 60-year-old Tony Leung contributed wonderful hand-to-hand combat scenes rarely seen in Chinese movies in recent years.
The two men shot at each other with guns.
Sharp weapon stabs.
Fist to flesh, all kinds of strangulation.
Headshots, back falls.
Hugs, broken windows...
Every hair is playing a desperate fight, ruthless, fierce, and pain penetrates the screen.
I can only say that this scene alone is worth the ticket price, and you must not miss this "life and death" between the two in the play, and it is also a big drama outside the play that is better than acting, and the stamina is quite great. The movie is not at the last moment, and it is impossible to show the hole card at all.
Hole cards – go to the theater and open them!
Admittedly, this is a very new viewing experience, and it needs to be emphasized that "Nameless" does not have the problem of not being able to read and understand. It has a wonderful narrative, vivid characters. I'd like to call it a "classical commercial film" that embodies old-school decency at every turn. Such a masterpiece, it is recommended that everyone go to the theater to see it.