Wu Hongyan is a common bailiff at the Pingchuan Municipal People's Court.
Her day job consists of presenting evidence during a court case and executing a convict after he or she is convicted.
One day, she sent away a death row prisoner named Zhang Lingling, and then, as usual, immediately burned the white gloves she had worn.
When the staff took the ashes to the steel factory where the deceased's husband worked, the factory director was indignant because of the obscurity brought by the ashes.
Li Jun, the husband of the criminal who hid outside the door to eavesdrop, remembered the face of the policeman who sent his wife away, and since then, a seed of revenge has been buried deep in his heart.
We can't help but ask, why is Wu Hongyan obviously just a routine, but she wants to be retaliated against? Will she really die?
The movie recommended by Mrs. Today for everyone is called "Night Train", which is the second work of director Diao Yinan.
The film won the Dragon and Tiger Award at the 2003 Vancouver International Film Festival.
The protagonist of the story is named Wu Hongyan (played by Liu Dan), who lived alone for ten years after the death of her husband.
In 10 years, Wu Hongyan's life trajectory has only stayed in three places, which can be described as monotonous to the extreme.
Like thousands of middle-aged women, Wu Hongyan also has to work to support herself.
The court is a place to uphold justice and fairness, and the serious and stereotyped working environment makes her often smile.
Working day after day, Wu Hongyan operates mechanically like a machine, just following the arrangement and executing orders.
Such a loss of enthusiasm, no expectations of the day made her more dull, she always looked depressed.
For example, when the plaintiff wept bitterly in court, Wu Hongyan just sat there with no expression on her face and yawned, as if everything in front of her had nothing to do with her.
Despite this, she is not obliterated by humanity, and under the seemingly indifferent appearance, there is still a warm heart trying to break through the cage.
It's just that a single middle-aged woman who has lost her husband and has no children can do when she is alone in a quiet and cold empty room?
With the ticking clock, it was a long night mixed with loneliness and sadness!
When Wu Hongyan returned home, her body and soul were not laid out, and the empty room seemed to magnify her loneliness a hundredfold, a thousand times.
Especially next door lived a dancer who worked at the Baofu Club, she often brought back different men, and Wu Hongyan was often disturbed and could not sleep.
But she did not use her identity to "bring the dancer to justice", but instead gave her the most basic respect.
She would eavesdrop on the wall with her ear and go to her house to admire the enchanting dance of the female neighbor.
Then a man learned to dance in front of a mirror, and with the writhing of her stiff limbs, it was as if the nearly suffocating and desperate soul had also received some comfort.
Through the presentation of the dancer's life texture full of fireworks, the loneliness and helplessness of the heroine are further set off.
Wu Hongyan, who took off her police uniform, seemed to have become another person.
Every weekend, she would take a train to the neighboring city of Xingcheng and spend time at the Liangyuan Marriage Agency.
This ritualistic travel, just like a condiment thrown into her stagnant life, can bring her a little comfort and warmth.
In the vast auditorium, colorful lights create a dream that is both real and illusory, and many men and women dance together to ignite the unstable heart.
Wu Hongyan was far away from the crowd, sitting like a sculpture, the bustle was theirs, and she could drive away the cold around her as long as she used the cheerful noise of others.
For ten years, she has never found a suitable other half, but the "liar" has caught a lot.
Once, he went to his house with a countryman, and he used the magic in his hand to make her laugh.
At that moment, Wu Hongyan was happy.
However, it didn't take long for him to reveal his tendency to try to invade the other side, and she had to flee into the wilderness.
Another time, the other party clearly told her that he was only a marriage trust sent by the marriage agency.
Wu Hongyan still gave him cash, and the two walked arm in arm in the cold night.
At that moment, she pretended to have a lover, and she was happy.
The days passed silently, there was no exit, no hope could be seen, and the light and heat of life were destroyed little by little by time.
Until the death of the female prisoner Zhang Lingling, Wu Hongyan's fate was unexpectedly reversed, but no one knew whether it was a turnaround to the other shore or a conspiracy to fall into a trap?
Zhang Lingling's husband, Li Jun (Qi Dao), is an ordinary worker in the steel factory, extremely taciturn, and is regarded as a "neurotic" by colleagues and leaders.
After his wife's death, his situation became even more humble, the child was taken away by his brother-in-law, and even the right to be a father was deprived, because he was living too long.
Because his wife's ashes were taken to the factory by the police (looking for Li Jun), the factory director transferred him as a skilled worker to the water tower to watch the gate.
Such a blow made him extremely depressed, as if curled up in a long dark passage, unable to see a trace of light and warmth, and he urgently needed to grasp whatever he wanted as a "life-saving" straw.
He went to the inn where his wife had made a living before she died, hoping to vent the primitive desires of people, who wanted to be beaten up fiercely by people.
Li Jun's human dignity has fallen to the ground, what should he do? Where to vent your depression?
He decided to take revenge on Wu Hongyan, the bailiff who had sent his wife away.
Li Jun began to follow her, and they crossed the street, passing the vegetable market, and in the hurried pedestrians of the underground passage, he nervously revealed his dagger.
Li Jun even followed her to Xingcheng, and Wu Hongyan secretly rejoiced that she was following her intentional blind date after the dance had dispersed.
After the two of them went one after the other, the undercurrent of their hearts was turbulent.
Wu Hongyan no longer dodged, she was afraid that he would make a "hint" with The Loss.
After all, with her neighbors as dancers and in contact with her blind dates, Wu Hongyan's sleeping desire was reawakened, and she began to face up to her natural attributes as a human being, with a new desire for life.
After some cat-and-mouse game of stalking, their footsteps stopped at a dilapidated inn.
Although men clearly have a violent posture, women seem to be mentally prepared. They allowed themselves to complete each other's redemption by instinct.
In this way, the two people who seemed the most unlikely gradually approached, and the closed door of the heart slowly began to open.
They don't need to confess or commit, as long as they stay together silently, it's already the best time.
Li Jun's battered heart finally touched a hint of warmth, which became a little softer, and Wu Hongyan's suffocating life journey seemed to have opened a window, and she was ready to fight for a long time.
From now on weekends, she can get off here by train, and she can also be regarded as having a "home".
However, Wu Hongyan thought wishfully that love had quietly come, but Li Jun did not forget the mission of revenge.
She accidentally pulled a knife and hammer out of his bag, just as he asked her to go out in a boat.
Out of the instinct to survive, Wu Hongyan hurriedly ran away, the sound of her feet stepping on the snow was very harsh, and the sound of her breathing and hard breathing could also feel the helplessness and despair across the screen.
Wu Hongyan met a horse pulling goods on the side of the road, struggling hard in the mud, but the owner had been whipping with a leather whip.
She froze, wondering what was the difference between her fate and the horse in front of her. Where can she escape?
Dodging Li Jun means that she has to live in a pool of stagnant water day after day, which is an invisible black hole, although she is still alive and dead.
At this time, Li Jun's face was lost, and he sniffed the scarf she left behind, as if the residual body temperature could alleviate the trauma of his soul.
Li Jun dragged a small wooden boat into the river, tears flowing as he walked, and the bitterness and suffocation of life could only slip away through the tear glands.
Wu Hongyan returned, specifically reminding him to bring the bag containing the murder weapon.
Li Jun packed up the ship, he looked at Wu Hongyan calmly, and said softly, "Come on!"
This is an open ending, Wu Hongyan rushed to, may be love or death.
However, from the foregoing details, I think they are involved in a river of love.
Whether it is Wu Hongyan's suffering or Li Jun's revenge, their essential demands are the same, that is, to let their bodies and minds settle down.
There are only two things in life, one is to solve the problem of survival instinct, that is, food and sex; the other is to answer the question of the value of life, that is, emotional and spiritual self-identification.
Wu Hongyan and Li Jun are both frustrated people who have no soul and have experienced emotional trauma, and they feel love for each other in each other, and love is belonging is healing.
Director Diao Yinan's "Night Train", the atmosphere is black and depressed but not dull, there are not many lines, and a strong emotion flows from beginning to end, both introverted and desperate. No wonder some say he is the "Chinese version of Kim Ki-deok".
Through the encounter of bailiff Wu Hongyan, the film tells the story of women's difficulties in getting out of their emotional and career difficulties and achieving redemption.
It enlightens us that one should let go of attachments, not be bound by the past, and seek liberation in the present.
I think the biggest highlight of this movie is the creation of a three-dimensional female policewoman image.
In the past, such roles often focused on showing their social side, as if deliberately stripping them of their natural attributes.
Wu Hongyan is different, what we see from her is a living humanity, her loneliness and helplessness, her loss and despair, her awakening, her desire for a better life.
And such humanistic care, Diao Yinan further excavated in the third work "Daytime Fireworks", Liao Fan played by the policeman Zhang Zili is more full, fully showing the complexity of human nature.
It's just that "Night Train" is a typical literary film, relatively niche or "stuffy", and "Daytime Fireworks" has a good balance between literature and commerce, and has achieved success in word-of-mouth and box office.