I've been waiting for almost three years for the movie, it's a bit of a pity

"More Than Endless" is a work that many people have been looking forward to for almost three years. The film was completed in 2020 and premiered at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, and after two years of silence, it was only announced to be released in the mainland this year. The road to the release of the movie was bumpy, but it was just in time for one of the leading actors, Zhang Songwen, who became popular because of "Crazy", which is also a mistake.

Starring Bai Ke, Zhang Songwen and Miao Miao, this film is adapted from the experiences of real people and tells the past of the print media era. Before the theatrical release, many critics hailed it as the best candidate of the year, and the starring Baike was re-recognized by the audience, he was no longer the comedian of the "Never Expected" series, but an actor who can control multiple roles.

I believe that most audiences can recognize that "More than Endless" is not easy to shoot, but as a journalism story, it wants to say too much to lead to a blurred narrative focus, and the thinness of female characters is even more sighing. Today's article will talk about the merits and deeds of this movie.

This article involves spoilers, please read it as appropriate, or bookmark it first and watch it later

1.

Journalistic idealism and the survival of the North Drift

What happened to our journalists from the age of print media to the present day is hard to say. While being insulted by the public, criticizing you as an unscrupulous journalist and eating human blood steamed buns, and at the same time, after the emergency came out, I hoped that a reporter would stand up and hurry to the disaster scene.

If it wasn't reported in time, some would surely bemoan why there are so few investigative journalists today. But if you ask about the reasons for the situation, everyone will only be silent.

For well-known reasons, it's hard to see a movie about a journalist in theaters. The creator of "More Than Ending" is very courageous and sets the timeline at the beginning of the century, 2003. At a time when social change was raging and print was in its golden age, journalists believed that something could change.

The movie is about Han Dong (played by Bai Ke), a young man with no background (no assets, no education, no background) how to survive in Beijing, and then how to join the newspaper, intervene in the Shanxi mining disaster, Beijing blood selling case, hepatitis B proxy prosecution case, and finally issue "100 million people's anti-discrimination claims" to promote the destigmatization of hepatitis B carriers.

It seems that the clues are very mixed, but the director and screenwriter want to talk about two things the most: one is the idealism of news people in the print media era, and the other is the survival record of Beipiao youth. At the beginning of the millennium, journalism was still developing, and groups of ambitious young people entered the newspaper, eager to expose injustice, participate in social reform, and even advance the course of history through their own pens.

The opening of the movie said a sentence to the effect that the pen can save people or kill people, the words you write down are the weapons in your hands, and the reports you send are related to the specific fate of other people, so journalists should be restrained, prudent, pursue truth, and not be emotional. This is also the professional philosophy of veteran journalist Huang Jiang (played by Zhang Songwen). He believes that the responsibility of journalists is not to change, but to record.

Han Dong represents another idea, in which good thoughts precede duty. He agrees with Huang Jiang's definition of a journalist as a recorder, but he believes that journalists should have their own conscience judgment about whether and how to report something. Will I hurt the person concerned by doing so? This is the focus of Han Dong's consideration.

One of the highlights of the film is that Huang Jiang wants to help Han Dong issue a report on hepatitis B surrogate examination, but Han Dong is worried that the report will implicate his friend Zhang Bo, who was rejected for both postgraduate examinations because of his status as a hepatitis B carrier, and risked finding someone to do hepatitis B for the third time, and is about to obtain a graduate degree. To protect him, Han Dong decided to take down the report. Huang Jiang was disappointed with Han Dong as a result, and the confrontation exposed subtle differences in the two men's philosophies.

Han Dong's decision may be harshly criticized by audiences with a "God perspective", but for a reporter who is new to the newspaper, the subjective desire to protect his friends is actually reasonable. Han Dong does not want to do the report on the hepatitis B proxy prosecution case, he just does not want to put the report simply on the level of "exposing the hepatitis B proxy inspection gang", but hopes to let the public see the unfair situation suffered by hepatitis B carriers, they are not sinners, but because of the stigma of hepatitis B carriers in society, and the de facto discrimination of employers such as enterprises and schools, they can only take risks and do illegal things.

This layer of narrative is easily reminiscent of another realistic film "I Am Not the God of Medicine" (hereinafter referred to as "Medicine God"), but "Medicine God" belongs to the people's self-help, and "Non-stop" is from the perspective of a journalist.

"Medicine God" depicts the helplessness and mutual assistance of small folk people, and "More than Endless" spends a long time writing about the work of investigative journalists and the living conditions of young people in Beipiao. Some people reflect that the latter narrative is out of focus, which is also related to this. Because "More Than Endless" adds too many narrative tasks to itself, and "Medicine God" only wants to explain one thing: why do these people do this when they know that selling drugs is illegal? Make the incision smaller first, and then expand the viewing angle.

In contrast, "More Than Endless" does not abandon what it wants to say, and adopts a relay narrative: Beipiao → to find a job→ perform the first task (Shanxi mining disaster)→ the second task (blood selling case) → main task (leading to the hepatitis B proxy case).

In terms of protagonist setting, "Medicine God" is Cheng Yong (played by Xu Zheng), and "More than Endless" actually has a bright and dark protagonist, the bright line is Han Dong, and the dark line is Huangjiang. The protagonist of Huang Jiang is worth pondering, he is not a philistine character, he has his own idealism, from his willingness to do investigative journalist work and help Han Dong, the "three-nil youth", you can see the enthusiasm of this character.

In the film, he is a symbol of journalistic professionalism. Although the length of this character is not as good as that of the protagonist, it is more glorious and convincing than the protagonist. It's a pity that the shaping of the character of Huang Jiang is broken about two-thirds of the way through the movie, and the last third of the film becomes Han Dong's single perspective. If the character of Huangjiang can be deepened, "More Than Endless" may be more chewy.

In the plot introduction of "More Than Endless", there is such a sentence: "Han Dong began a life in the north drift with his girlfriend Xiaozhu with journalistic ideals. "This movie is actually leaving a movie profile for the youth of Beipiao.

If you only look at it from the perspective of news events, Han Dong's basement rental life and the bumps encountered in order to find a job, because they have little to do with the hepatitis B prosecution case, should have been omitted, but if you look at it from the perspective of "portraying the characters of Beipiao", you can understand the director's intention.

There is a critical voice that the film densely presents the suffering encountered by Beipiao, which is a tendency to seek curiosity and consume suffering. But the film's record of Beipiao is quite realistic, and a young man who lacks background, education and money needs to bear a lot of life pressure to live a life in Beipiao.

Living in a basement, sharing a house, looking for a job and hitting a wall, encountering old circuits and other safety hazards are not amplifying suffering, but reality, if presenting reality is equivalent to consuming suffering, then this kind of discourse is precisely the biggest cover for reality.

Therefore, the core narrative of "More than Endless" is to depict the youth of Beipiao and present the golden age of print media. All of the above are reasons why this movie is worth recommending.

It is very difficult to make a film with news content, and the fact that "More than Endless" can be released is a rare thing in itself.

From the filming to the release, the film experienced many twists and turns in the middle three years. However, courage is courage, quality is quality, because of respect for the actions of the main creator, you can't brush aside all the regrets of the movie, in a "it is already very difficult to release" mentality, to avoid the problem of the film narrative itself.

2.

Narrative redundancy and lack of perspective of female journalists

The biggest problem with "More Than Ending" is that it has so much to say. North drift, paper media, mining disasters, renting, educational discrimination, blood selling, hepatitis B testing, everything is worth seriously unfolding, but to accommodate so many issues in a two-hour movie, the depth and density of the main line are bound to be affected.

In the case involved in the movie, the Shanxi mining disaster case did not dig deep, and the function was similar to the hors d'oeuvres before the main meal. In the movie, Huang Jiang and the editor-in-chief applied to write about the Shanxi mining disaster, Starry Night and Han Dong rushed to the scene, Han Dong met the families of the mining disaster victims, and the report was completed urgently, and the line of the Shanxi mining disaster ended in the movie.

"The Shanxi Mining Disaster" occupies about 20 minutes of the film, crowding out the narrative time of the blood-selling case and the hepatitis B prosecution case implicated, but it is like a flashing movie version of the news bulletin, and it is debatable whether the director needs to stuff this case into a two-hour movie.

The creators wanted to talk about too many topics, resulting in the film not making the "hepatitis B proxy case" deep and detailed.

At the end of the movie, a news article was posted to tell the audience that Han Dong and Huang Jiang had won, that the anti-discrimination claims of hepatitis B carriers had been seen, and that the policy had been implemented, but there were differences and disputes within the editorial office throughout the case; help from colleagues within the newspaper system; the influence of superior directives on the newspaper's decision-making; What is the specific difference between hepatitis B carrier and AIDS carrier; the role of civil society (not the newspaper industry); The initiative of hepatitis B carriers themselves (in the movie, they were only willing to stand up under the persuasion of reporter Han Dong), the film either did not present or passed by.

It is a single-perspective newspaper story that does not present the actions of the entire newsroom during the event.

The main body of the hepatitis B prosecution case is hepatitis B carriers, but the entire narrative of "More than Endless" revolves around Han Dong's perspective, a news man persuading you to be brave and challenging the injustice of society to you, and everyone stood up under his inspiration.

It is a simplified narrative of individual heroism that allows the hepatitis B carrier to exist as an object to be watched; This is a story of journalists helping victims of discrimination and challenging the injustice of the entire system, it is brave, kind, and warm, but the voice of the hepatitis B carrier is destined to become an accessory in the story of Han Dong as the protagonist. Even though the movie spends a certain amount of space to portray hepatitis B carrier Zhang Bo and the little girl, the audience is still dragged by Han Dong's perspective.

In contrast, in terms of authenticity and richness, the multiple perspectives of "Rashomon" and the narrative of "I Am Not the God of Medicine" that leave more ink to the patient group are better than a single perspective.

Although, the creators tried to make remedy things, such as: adding Huangjiang's name to the newspaper at the end; The scene where hepatitis B carriers help Han Dong enrich the interview material shows the subjectivity of hepatitis B carriers themselves. However, under the background of the lyrical soundtrack, the main scene is still occupied by the narrative of "young heroes challenge the unfairness of the system", the role of other colleagues in the editorial department, the figure of female journalists, the follow-up impact of the report, the backlash of public opinion it caused and the relay report of more people, which we cannot see in the movie, but are only lightly carried by a few news words.

If the system part is not deep, and it is understandable to be subject to certain factors, then adding a female character to make her a tool person is an unextricable problem.

Throughout the movie, we don't see the part of the heroine He Xiaozhu's life that has nothing to do with her boyfriend, she is only present as the role of "Han Dong's girlfriend". In a film that reflects journalism and the youth of North Drift, it is a pity that such a female character is presented.

It's not that a film has to have a woman present, it's not a dogmatic political correctness, but a return to the quality of the work: the creator either doesn't add it, or he should think clearly, what is the purpose of adding this female character? Can she only exist as a "girlfriend"?

"More Than Endless" has a big limitation, it is essentially a two-male narrative, missing a very critical female journalist perspective, or a character with a deep understanding of gender differences.

If we have spent time in journalism or even pan-culture, we will find that the perspectives of female journalists and male journalists are very different. When male journalists construct the ecology of newspapers and their perception of the world from their experiences, women journalists can provide overlooked things, such as the deromanticized picture of women's existence within the newspaper, and the fact that women face more rigid social stereotypes than men in an investigative work.

Therefore, many viewers will feel that it is a pity if the perspective of a female journalist is added. Even, you can consider removing the role of your girlfriend, why do you have to add love scenes to the newspaper story? If you can't write well, love can also be left unadded. News movies such as "Citizen Kane", "Focus" and "Washington Post" are not mainly about love.

If the movie adds the perspective of a female reporter, cuts the emotional drama of the male protagonist, cuts the mining disaster, concentrates on talking about the hepatitis B prosecution case from the perspective of Han Dong, the female reporter, and Huang Jiang, adds the perspective of a hepatitis B carrier party, and promotes the narrative inside and outside, the narrative integrity of the film may go up to a level.

Similar reference cases are by no means absent, and the American biopic "Focus" is an example of this. It focuses on cases of sexual harassment of children by clergy from the perspective of journalists. The investigation began with a small case in which a long-hidden case of a Catholic priest sexually harassing parish children found to be the tip of the iceberg of systematic atrocities. The film shows not the efforts of a single reporter, but how the entire "focused" newsroom professionally followed up on the incident and brought this huge evil to the surface.

The director of "Focus" closely grasps the word "professional", does not play the feelings of journalists, he shoots cautiously, restrained, without too much sensationalism, showing the professional practices of journalists to the audience, and the audience can naturally feel their courage and goodness from their adherence to their profession. But the sensational music and golden preaching of "More than Endless" are slightly more, which is more suitable for cutting into short videos, and putting them in the movie is like putting more hot soup with chicken essence. Moved, moved, and then greasy.

Today's regret on the theatrical version must have environmental reasons, but a movie is stuffed with too many elements to be busy, and its problems at the creative level cannot be avoided. The film flows with enthusiasm, and its courage and choice of topics are respected, but it is precisely because of the expectation of the theme itself that it is even more regrettable about the shortcomings of the film.

This regret lies both in the powerlessness of the individual heroic narrative and in the fact that when the golden age of journalism has passed, the former newspaper people are facing system-level despair, while the once liberal narrative has collapsed under the suppression of the system, and the left-wing narrative has been supported as a kind of new left-wing nourishment, under the banner of caring for the bottom, when the tiger is actually plotted, "brave youth lead the righteous to make a voice, and finally the system hears and makes positive feedback", is this reformist heroic narrative still convincing today? Is it still accepted by those who once believed that change could happen?

What is more realistic than "More Than Endless" is precisely the creative environment it faces, and what it is asked to do. The reminiscence and beautification of the golden age of the past reveals a deeper rout at the level of reality.

Han Dong and Huang Jiang did this not only because they believed in the possibility of change, but also because they believed in the survival of a journalist, which is the way to give themselves the confidence to believe in being a human being, not a beast, in difficult times.

But today, is it still possible? Will social phenomena smoothly change as a result of a long story? "More Than Ending" left a huge question mark.

3.

The value of "sacrificing the weak and achieving great deeds",

Easy to lead to another tyranny

Despite these shortcomings, "More Than Endless" is worth watching in theaters. Compared with the popcorn drama, youth romance and main theme produced by the assembly line, "More than Endless" touches a delicate field, and the dilemma it faces is more immediate and direct, this is a movie that may not return, and it takes great courage to create this movie.

There are some former journalists in the creative corps who know better than outsiders about the major turning points and tribulations facing the newspaper industry, and the narrative problems that outsiders see, and which they may not be able to change in the short term.

Secondly, this is a film that really takes contemporary ordinary people as the protagonists and spends a lot of space to record the survival plight of ordinary people. From the survival situation of Beipiao to the situation of discrimination suffered by the families of Shanxi mining victims and hepatitis B carriers, "More Than Endless" is handled very realistically and does not beautify the suffering of the parties. For that alone, it deserves to be seen.

From "The Elephant Sits on the Ground", "I Am Not the God of Medicine" to "More than End", in the trough of Chinese films, there are still a group of creators who are using films to present public issues, presenting the voices of the current and marginalized.

The most touching thing about "More than Endless" is not its retrospection of the era of print media, but in Han Dong's reckless actions, there is a sense of justice that is still sincere and moving, even if it is rough and green; It was when he heard his friend Zhang Bo's account and realized that his behavior might hurt his friend, even though he had many reasons to convince himself to publish the special article, he still applied for retraction.

Whether it is the choice to retract the manuscript, or the later release of the "Anti-Discrimination Statement for 100 Million People", behind Han Dong's simple sense of justice is the cherishing of specific people, no matter how correct the reason, do not sacrifice the specific person in front of you as a price, because this value of "sacrificing the weak and achieving great deeds" can easily lead to another tyranny.

"More than Endless" is this simple view of justice of "seeing others" and "cherishing the concrete", because of this, I maintain respect for it, it is not perfect, but in the theater, such a perspective is precious.

This is a film that still wants to challenge something, not just cater to the audience's pleasure, and in today's Chinese theaters, such movies are indeed becoming less and less.

Written by: Sojo

Edit: AOE

Executive Producer: Master Mao

Pictured: "More than Endless" stills and trailer, "Focus"