Before the release of the film, the number of people who wanted to watch "Nameless" on various ticket-buying platforms often topped the list, and the pre-sale of the movie was the first to quickly exceed 100 million, laying the foundation for the "three-legged" situation of the Spring Festival file.
But after its release, "Nameless" seems to have surprised everyone, it is not a "super commercial film" as it was advertised, or it exceeds the public's cognition of commercial films, beyond the public's cognition of Spring Festival movies.
What happened to Nameless? Is it really hard to understand? Today you sort out the three major highlights and take you to understand "Nameless".
First, non-linear narrative, redefining "super commercial film"
The trailer for "Nameless" has five big characters for "super commercial". Seeing this scene, many Cheng Er's fans laughed, knowing that Cheng Er's movie could not be a simple "commercial film", but more like seeing it as a commercial gimmick or some kind of bad taste of the ear guide.
In fact, these words in the trailer are sincere, Cheng Er is indeed making commercial films, or he has been making commercial films.
Let's go back to the 2016 "History of the Demise of Romance" that made Cheng Er famous, the same big stars, big productions, suspense, and action are not lacking, but they make fans love to death, and ordinary audiences can't understand it.
Now it seems that "The History of the Demise of Romance" is a rare species in the Chinese film industry, using the structure of gangster epic films to tell the demise of the old Shanghai generation, gangster bosses, movie queens, prostitutes, hooligans, leading the way, three religions and nine streams converged into a dream of Shanghai Beach Huangliang, with the tone of "Shanghai past" to mourn its misfortune, and mixed with Cheng Er's personal bad taste, adding cult elements to the style of the epic.
The most important thing is the way of telling, "Romance" has no protagonist and is the protagonist, using a non-linear narrative method, N lines are comprehensive and intertwined, positive narrative, interpolation, and pre-narrative are intertwined, and the audience needs to reassemble the pieces in the film one by one to see the big time.
"Nameless" also adopts a multi-line narrative, the film takes place in Shanghai during the "island" period, in the era of turbulent clouds, is an intricate intelligence system behind enemy lines, the CCP Special Branch led by the Communist Party of China is in Shanghai between Chongqing, Wang Pseudo, and Japanese spy agencies, plotting against the enemy, obtaining intelligence, and killing traitors.
Some people say that the story of "Nameless" is not good, I don't think so, the story of "Nameless" is not bad at all, it can even be said to be wonderful!
The beginning of everything was that Director He (played by Tony Leung) interrogated Miss Jiang (played by Jiang Shuying), a female secret agent of the Kuomintang, and obtained a "list of Japanese people in China", which led to the killing of Japan's "son of a duke", and then the negotiations between Minister Tang (played by Dapeng) and Japan broke down, the undercover organization was found to be against the water, and finally Secretary Ye (played by Wang Yibo) obtained a map of Manchuria, blocking the last road of the Japanese and achieving a decisive victory.
In this way, the whole story progresses layer by layer, interlocked, and the movie has also had many reversals, Director He is the eagle dog of the Wang puppet government is actually a latent "unsung hero"; Mr. Zhang went from being a staunch communist party to losing his ideals and defecting to the enemy and treason; There is also Secretary Ye, the most mysterious character in the entire film, and when he changed is the question that the film throws to the audience.
But Nameless isn't just about telling a good story. The meticulous narrative arrangement in the film was disrupted and dispersed, and the entire historical process from the Battle of Songhu in 1937 to the collapse of the Wang puppet regime in 1944 was reassembled, as "The History of the Demise of Romance" did, with positive narrative, interlude, and pre-narrative.
Cheng Er takes the audience into the labyrinth of time, pulling the suspense to the maximum in the fragmented story, you may be confused at first, but don't worry, calm down, there will be light at the end of the tunnel. The film side specially provided a positive version of the poster for fans to reorganize and think.
Second, the sense of advanced program aesthetics, the undercurrent surging on the screen
I believe that every audience who has seen "Nameless" has to admit that "Nameless" is the most "cinematic" movie in the Spring Festival file, and Cheng Er's lens language is really eye-catching.
In "The History of the Demise of Romance", Cheng Er shows his paranoid picture pursuit, there are a large number of symmetrical compositions in the film, and the camera lens is almost motionless, allowing the audience to have a feeling of "staring". The executive director, who has been working with Cheng Er, once revealed in an interview: "He loves symmetrical shots, is paranoid about details, can't tolerate white spots on the wall, the sheets are not flat, and even wants to control the direction of the raindrops if he can." ”
In "Nameless", from the vast ocean to the bleak wilderness, the dark and solemn interrogation room, the dim song and dance hall, the light and dark light and shadow surge through the emotional undercurrent throughout the film. For each picture carefully carved to present a "sense of atmosphere", just like that interrogation room, the ground is dripping with blood, the vicious dogs around barking wildly, the camera is in it, the audience all feel the piercing coldness, but to the city life, the streets and alleys, listening to Wu Nong's soft words in the small restaurant, immediately there are fireworks market gas.
"Nameless" is a film that really tells a story with pictures, and soon after the film begins, the camera is used to explain the fall of Shanghai, the Japanese planes hovering in the sky, the shadows reflected in the vast ocean, and they are bombing Guangzhou.
On the plane, the Japanese army is wearing a new military uniform, with high toes, and the dog "Roosevelt" next to him wears an aviation cap and goggles, and when the camera turns, the devastated ruins on the ground, a lame pastoral dog struggling to survive in the heavy rain, in the distance are compatriots disturbed by war, bending down in a bomb shelter to survive, one in the sky and one underground, turbulent times, people have different lives, dogs are different, a contrast puts the cruelty of war in front of the audience.
And the war in the hollow also has Tony Leung as Director He, Cheng Er outlined Director He's face with natural light, the "electric eye male god" Tony Leung, looking at the ruins in the distance, his eyes are resolute and wavering, from his eyes to reveal the information after the film, in the face of the broken home country, still into the underground front, with "nameless" to return a clean world, without a word to explain the character's ambition clearly.
Not to mention the ability of "Nameless" to tell a story with pictures, the opening credits of the film will bring out the important plots and arrangements, Secretary Ye and Captain Wang (played by Wang Chuanjun) come to the beach to clean up the body, Director He secretly meets Mr. Zhang, the Japanese receive a call, these key plots need to be in the middle of the film to discover their respective logic. Just like a drop of blood on Director He's sleeve at the beginning of the film, it is only in the middle of the film that you can know who he killed and why he killed him.
"Nameless" also has action scenes that all commercial films have, and there are hidden secrets in the fist-to-flesh fight scenes. In the second half of the film, the fight in the mansion, Tony Leung and Wang Yibo fought against each other, from the gunfight all the way to the hand-to-hand combat with bare hands, the two strangled and scuffled together, locked the throat with steel bars, and suffocated with curtains, bringing the audience a strong sense of impact. In a pool of blood, the two hide from each other, is it a real fight or a fake fight, what is the position of the two? These questions haunt the audience, martial arts but not lacking in the connotation of literary drama, using actions instead of interrogation, and using fighting to explore the truth.
More "advanced" are the details in the movie, a Napoleon cake in a high-end bakery in a suit and leather shoes, but hidden in the key information of the film, two dogs, sheep to be slaughtered, steamed ribs, drunken shrimp fluttering in the blood-red soup, and the color of different ties, implying metaphors, there are multiple explanations, unguessable, and constantly arouse people's imagination.
Third, the new and old actor acting award, a rare "double hero" movie
"Nameless" is a "double hero" movie, one is Director He played by Tony Leung, and the other is Secretary Ye played by Wang Yibo.
Liang Chaowei needless to say, the king-level actor, the acting skills are even more barbaric, but in recent years it has been a little silent, his performance does not need any film proof, more is to choose a good role, a good script, without these would rather not act, and Cheng Er's "Nameless" moved him. From the film, we can see that Director He is an extremely complex character, I believe that Cheng Er is also a fan of Mr. Liang, and each play gives Tony Leung different emotional directions, including the shadow of Tony Leung's classic role.
At the beginning of the film, Director He interrogates Mr. Zhang, at this time, he is a traitor eagle dog, a smiling tiger approaching step by step, packaging Wang Jingwei's traitorous business into peace, constantly forcing people to submit. The other scene faced Miss Jiang, showing a pulse of warmth, unable to hide his pity for his comrades.
Tony Leung will still act with his eyes, when Miss Jiang was shot, he looked at the wildness in the distance through the car glass, his eyes were countless resentment, regret, and finally said goodbye to Miss Chen played by Zhou Xun, and he was as tender as water and full of reluctance. Director He of "Nameless" has the shadow of Mr. Yi, Chen Yongren, Lin Wenqing and other classic characters of Tony Leung, and it can be said that Cheng Er is paying tribute to Tony Leung with the role of Director He.
Besides, Wang Yibo, Wang Yibo in "Nameless" is too bright, Secretary Ye in the film is not a decent character most of the film, he is a fake killer, singing, killing, throwing corpses, this is the daily life of killers, a scene in the film pierces a person's throat with a knife, blood splatters, murderous.
In the face of his lover, he is full of confusion, Miss Fang played by Zhang Jingyi is a hot-blooded young man of the underground party, and the inspiration for justice makes Secretary Ye's heart move, but he still endures and carefully hibernates, until he learns that Miss Fang was thrown into the street, and finally broke the last in his heart, and the roar and pain in prison let us see Wang Yibo's tension as an actor.
There is a puzzle in "Nameless", that is, whether Secretary Ye is a consistent underground party member or a rebellion, both explanations are found in the film, and that presentation method has a certain compromise on Cheng Er, but the reason why these discussions can be caused is because Wang Yibo's performance gives Secretary Ye's position ambiguous, often wandering between good and evil, unable to determine his position, which is the charm of Secretary Ye's role.
"Nameless" is not a perfect movie, just like many people criticize "The History of the Demise of Romance", it will definitely be controversial, but it has a unique charm, which makes people marvel that there are still people making movies like this in today's Chinese film industry, marveling at Cheng Er's picture and aesthetics, but when I walked out of the theater, I still love the characters inside, I love Director He, I love Secretary Ye, and I love the unsung heroes of the hidden front.
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