The novel "Looking for a Gun" is based on the film "Looking for a Gun" film review

Find yourself

- Comment on the audiovisual language of the movie "Looking for a Gun"

The film is based on Fan Yiping's novel "Looking for a Gun", which tells the story of Ma Shan, who woke up and accidentally lost a gun containing three bullets, and under the heavy fog, Ma Shan also embarked on an unusual path to find a gun. Director Lu Chuan uses a large number of color descriptions, musical renderings and superb lens language to reflect Ma Shan's inner world of losing himself, anxiety and trepidation after losing his gun, at the same time, the gun represents Ma Shan's identity status, and Ma Shan finds himself lost in the process of finding a gun. The director also interprets the survival dilemma and psychological world of ordinary people from another new perspective.

The film's use of color is commendable. The whole film is biased towards bluish gray as the main color, and when the cool tones further tend to be impure, its sense of lowness is more significant, making people feel depressed and gray. Through the use of cool tones, the director highlights the suppressed emotions in the process of Ma Shan's gun search, showing Ma Shan's heavy inner world. At the beginning of the film, Ma Shan's memory of driving to find a gun in the safe with the gun repeatedly appears a touch of yellow, especially in the overall dull tone, yellow gives people hope, although it is very short and thin, metaphor ma Shan's hope on the road to find a gun is slim, reflecting Ma Shan's embarrassment of losing his gun. The police station where Ma Shan is located is praised by his superiors for his outstanding work achievements, and the trophy wrapped in red silk fills the whole picture, showing everyone's sense of joy and excitement, and also shows that Ma Shan is an excellent policeman who has made many military achievements, which provides a reason for Ma Shan's persistence in finding a gun, and also paves the way for Ma Shan to find a gun regardless of his own life safety. Hearing that Ma Shan lost his gun, the bonus in his hand was silently placed on the table, and the protagonist trophy in the picture was placed in a small corner. The whole picture becomes a cold and low dull tone, highlighting the seriousness of the Mashan gun loss incident, which is not a gun lost, but a responsibility. At the end, Ma Shan caught the thief, and the director pointed the camera at the endless green field, this youthful color is the meaning of the life given by the director to Ma Shan, symbolizing hope and redemption, Ma Shan lost his gun to himself, and also found himself step by step in the loss.

Just the right sound rendering. At the beginning of the film, there is a mixture of voice recorders, tweeters, radios and other sounds, which indicate that Ma Shan is about to face a panicked and anxious real life. The music changes with The psychological changes of Ma Shan, when the gun is first lost, Ma Shan's psychology as a policeman is unbalanced, and he begins to look for nonsense, and the repetitive, polysynyllabic and messy background music and discordant melody are backlogged, invisibly giving Ma Shan a huge pressure, with the panic and nervous emotions after Ma Shan lost his gun, but also let the audience worry about it. After the Mashan gun incident was exposed, the music also began to become gentle and delicate, but still had a sense of tension. Ma Shan's search for the gun entered the stage of calm and sanity, and in the process of Finding the Gun, Ma Shan also found himself little by little. At the end of the film, Ma Shan caught the thief without sound, achieving the effect of "silence is better than sound", the silent portrait is more expressive, and Ma Shan finally found the value of self.

Unique lens language. The director uses a large number of subjective shots, at night Ma Shan drives a motorcycle to find the traces and clues of the gun, the trees, cattle, and wall houses in Ma Shan's line of sight are drifting, hazy, the camera is shaky, indicating his confusion and unknown about life, conveying Ma Shan's plausible psychological state after losing his gun, beginning to doubt everything around him, and portraying the characters vividly. The director uses a panoramic lens to frame Ma Shan walking in the alley, seeing the happy and brisk backs of a group of female students, while he is shrouded in a depressed and heavy atmosphere, forming a sharp contrast, amplifying Ma Shan's repressed emotions and highlighting Ma Shan's difficult situation after losing his gun. Using the medium shot, Ma Shan came out of one alley and walked into the next darker alley, the whole person hid in it, the alley was not like the alley, like a labyrinth, lost in self, heavy fog, unable to find the exit. The lines on the left and right also hint at Ma Shan's deteriorating situation.

The plot of "Finding the Gun" is twisty and evocative. Ma Shan lost not only a gun, but also himself, and in the process of finding a gun, he also found family, friendship and responsibility. The director uses unpredictable music, low and dull colors and varied lens language to show ma Shan's life dilemma and inner world from losing the gun to finding the gun.