Time Writer | Minamino
Cult movie gluttony.
Netflix, which has always used bloody large-scale pictures to attract the attention of the audience, has found a new formula this time.
uses the Japanese comic IP "Parasitic Beast", with the Korean production team, and then adapted it by live-action, this is the recent hit drama "Parasite: Gray Troops".
Although the IMDb score of this drama is not eye-catching, only 7.3, this does not hinder the audience's mood of chasing the drama overnight. After all, in addition to being backed by the famous "parasitic beast" IP, the director of Yeon Sang-ho, the first brother of the Korean zombie film, is also a golden signboard.
Next, I will share with you what are the highlights of this hot drama?
Parasitic beasts "invaded" South Korea
"If the population were halved, how many forests would survive?" After an opening sentence full of black speculative meaning, countless parasitic beast larvae, like pouring rain, descended on the earth.
Normally, the brain of the parasite is quickly devoured, and the host of the parasitic beast is completely reduced, and the former soul is completely lost. These parasitic beasts live with one goal: to feed on humans.
So soon after the series starts, there is a scene of parasitic beasts slaughtering wildly at the festival to show their indifference and ferocity.
But the heroine, Jung so-in, escaped, and when the larvae invaded her brain, she was seriously injured and bleeding. In order to survive, the larva must first stop the bleeding and heal the wound for Hidehito, so it only devours part of Hidehito's brain spinax.
To put it simply, Hidehito's body has a dual personality, one is Hidehito himself, and the other is the parasitic beast "Heidi".
And the family of the actor Xue Qiangyou is not so lucky, his sister has been completely reduced to a host, and his sister has become a storage dry food for parasitic beasts.
The vengeful Xue Qiangyou and the dual personality of Xiuren became a fleeing duo by coincidence, on the one hand, they had to avoid the pursuit of the gangsters, and on the other hand, they had to beware of the police search, of course, the most tricky thing was that the two became the number one enemy of the parasitic beast organization.
In addition to the runaway heroes and heroines, the series also focuses on portraying two other organizations. One is the "Grey Force" in the title of the play, which was formed immediately after the cataclysm to investigate the whereabouts of parasitic beasts and hunt them down.
The team leader Cui Junjing is like Motoko Kusanagi in "Ghost in the Shell", with the style of a royal sister in black, who always likes to rush to the front line and be tough with parasitic beasts. The reason why she hates the parasitic beast is that her husband has become a host, and she has to use the people closest to her as "hunting dogs" to search for traces of other parasitic beasts.
Another powerful organization is the Church founded by the head of the parasitic beasts, who brings the loose parasitic beasts together and looks out for each other to give meaning to their existence.
The main story of the series tells the story of Xiuren and Xue Qiangyou struggling to survive under the siege and interception of gray troops and parasitic beasts, but interspersed with it is not only the confrontation between humans and parasitic beasts, but also the cunning of human traitors and the awakening of parasitic beasts.
Dominate humanity with humans
It can be said that the highlight of "Gray Troops" is first reflected in the lineup in front of and behind the scenes.
Jeon So-ni, who plays so-in, although her face is relatively new, her acting skills are quite delicate, and she also starred in the Korean version of "July and Ansheng" - "Goodbye, My Soul Mate", which has won the love of many fans.
The actor Xue Qiangyou plays Gu Jiaohuan, and his performance is also harmonious, especially in "D.P: Deserter Pursuit Order", and the momentum is not lost to the leading actor Ding Hae-in. As for Kwon Hae-chi, who plays the old policeman, he is an old face in Korean movies, and audiences who are familiar with Hong Changxiu's movies should remember the series of middle-aged and elderly literary and artistic images he played.
Of course, the most noteworthy is still director Yeon Sang-ho.
In addition to the 2016 hit "Train to Busan", Yeon Sang-ho's early animated films "The King of Pigs" and "Plausible" are also wonderful, proving that he has both talent for special effects action movies and serious and profound topic films. In "Gray Troops", Yeon Sang-ho's comprehensive ability was once again presented.
For example, in the scene where Xue Qiangyou escaped from the gangsters and rode a motorcycle all the way, the smooth shooting of the drone from one shot to the end, and the gorgeous effect of constantly changing angles were clean and neat, without dragging the mud and water.
Or the scene of two parasitic beasts fighting each other, Yan Shanghao can always make tricks.
When Heidi confronts the parasitic beast with the "wingsuit flight", the former sees through the latter's weakness at a glance and complains indifferently: "If you make complex actions such as flying, your attack power will be almost zero." ”
As a thriller drama series that emphasizes special effects scenes and action design, it can be said that the level of "Gray Troops" is above the passing score.
Another highlight that has to be mentioned is the reflection on the relationship between parasitic beasts and humans in the play, and further, through the external perspective of parasitic beasts, we reflect on the temperament and dark side of human beings.
The head of the parasitic beast in the play is decisive in killing, and the city is extremely deep.
He first set up an organization, rallied a team of parasitic beasts, and used brainwashing techniques to make his subordinates obey him, and when things changed, he was able to viciously sacrifice other parasitic beasts to realize his ambitions. This process is a cautionary tale.
Interestingly, the host of the head of the parasitic beast was first a church pastor, then a police chief, and finally even wanted to become a political mayor and rule over the human race. To some extent, this is also a major feature of Korean films, that is, the people's satire and questioning of those in power.
However, it is a pity that "Gray Troop" is obviously too smooth and rarely new in the portrayal of characters and the emotional connection between characters. For example, the girl who was abandoned since childhood, the righteous and selfless policeman, and the timid and kind gangster, like solidified symbols, connect all the plots in turn.
The Black Fable of the Parasitic Beast
Unlike "Attack on Titan" and "Tokyo Ghoul", which are also black cult manga, "Parasite" was not born after the new century, but as early as 1989, the manga artist Iwaaki-jun began to serialize and ended in 1994.
In the following years, "Parasite" was never anime, and it was not until 2014 that it was adapted into "Parasite: The Code of Life", and was voiced by a number of big-name voice actors such as Aya Hirano, Kana Hanazawa, and Miyuki Sawaki.
Also in this year, "Parasite" was adapted from a live-action film, and the director was Takashi Yamazaki, who recently won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects for "Godzilla-1.0".
The film was divided into two parts, and was released in Japan in 2014 and 2015 respectively. It is worth mentioning that in 2016, these two films were introduced in the mainland and released on the big screen. It's just that because the picture is too bloody, the mainland version compresses the two into one, and cuts a lot of "eating" clips.
In terms of reduction, Yamazaki has done a remarkable job.
For example, at the beginning of the first part, the famous scene where the husband, who has become a parasitic beast, bites off his wife's head, and the movie version has both thriller and black humor.
However, this version is faithful to the original book, and the story revolves around mainland Japan, where the protagonist is a 17-year-old high school boy, Shinichi, who is discovered by Shinichi when a parasitic larvae invades his brain, causing the larvae to live only in his right hand.
The film tells the story of Izumi Shinichi, an incomplete variant who is torn back and forth between the two forces of humans and parasitic beasts, and faces tests.
But at the heart of the film is the question of how parasitic beasts coexist with humans, reflecting the environmentalism of the last century. The landing point of the Korean drama "Gray Troops" is that the parasitic beast understands the evil thoughts of human beings and uses scheming methods to rule over human beings.
From this point of view, the core of "Gray Troops" has a strong Korean local color, that is, a deep suspicion and uncertainty of human nature.
Although at the end of "Gray Troop", each character finds their own home, it doesn't seem to mean that Netflix has made it a limited series. Attentive fans of the drama should find that Izumi Shinichi, played by Sugata Masaki, came to the gray force headquarters, cooperated with the captain Choi Junjing, and stretched out his right hand.
There is no doubt that if "Gray Troops" has a good response, I believe that Netflix will let Japan and South Korea link up and expand the clues of Izumi Shinichi in a new way. When the time comes, the world view of the entire "parasitic beast" will inevitably be richer and more interesting.
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