Du Qifeng's "Gunfire" created in 1999 tells five love stories from acquaintance to acquaintance and brotherhood, in which there are women who have been replaced by a single stroke, and it is a pure men's movie. After eight years, Du Qifeng's "Banishment" has placed two women, one is the killer's wife, the other is a prostitute, under Du's violent feelings, there is a rare hint of rose color, but there is a kind of tenacity under the brotherhood and tragedy.
Because of the similar story structure and character relationship, this film was called the sequel of "Gunfire" by many people at the beginning of filming, although Du Qifeng denied that "Banishment" was a sequel to "Gunfire", but all viewers can see the traces of the latter, the same windy position, or almost the same class of people starring, only this time the brotherhood is stronger, how should the brothers who have known each other since childhood do when they encounter difficulties, this film was filmed before the return of Macau, and the title "Banishment" has another layer of charm.
Banished is a Hong Kong action film created and directed by director Du Qifeng on October 19, 2006, starring Wu Zhenyu, Huang Qiusheng, Ren Xianqi, Lin Jiadong and Ren Dahua. The killer Ah He (Zhang Jiahui) and his wife Ah Jing (He Chaoyi) return to their hometown with their one-month-old children, and Ah Huo (Huang Qiusheng) and Ah Bo (Lin Xue) are ordered by the underworld boss Da Fei (Ren Dahua) to hunt down Ah He, but another pair of good brothers, Ah Tai (Wu Zhenyu) and Ah Cat (Zhang Yaoyang), hear the news and come to stop them for the sake of love.
When the film was just finished, Du Qifeng gave to the Venice Organizing Committee as a rough cut version of "Banishment", which was about 1 hour long, and out of love for the film, the Venice Organizing Committee immediately made a decision to include "Banishment" in the competition unit. The film received many nominations, which is also a recognition for this film.
The entanglement of love and affection
Love makes people blind and flustered, but it is worth breaking through, and the happiness of love is worth pursuing like a song, but the longing for the hometown makes the killer Ah He and his wife Ah Jing return with a full moon child, and a butterfly instigates wings but causes a storm to unfold.
Why did Ah He shoot Dafei? There is no explanation in the film, but it can be guessed that it is because of wanting to live a normal life with Ah Jing, Da Fei may not let go, which eventually led to conflict, so Da Fei knows that after Ah He returns, he directly arranges for Ah Huo to come to the door to solve, but the brotherhood is deep, how to solve it is a difficult problem, not to mention that Ah Tai wants to protect Ah He.
In the film can see a very interesting thing, A Huo, A He, Ah Tai stand in a triangle, each gun only left six bullets, this is to see the brother's love face, killed is unlucky, can not die, the three people in the narrow space fire and rise, in the end do not know whether it is luck or everyone will put water, the three people do not have any damage, since the fight can not die, then sit down to eat.
This is also a particularly comedic effect in the movie but full of brotherly feelings, just the conflict seems that no one remembers, move the furniture, the five people work together to make a meal, eat first and then say, as for how to do it later and then think of a way.
If Ah He is dead, what should Ah Jing do in the future life, first solve the problem of Ah Jing's living expenses, the five people think of making money first, and then say, to make quick money, they found Xie Fu (Zhang Zhaohui), and what was placed in front of them was two choices: assassinate Egg Roll Qiang (Lin Jiadong) or rob a ton of gold, they chose the former, but unexpectedly wanted to get involved in the trap that Da Fei did not target them at the beginning, and Da Fei Huo and a final break.
In the film, the sense of exile is very strong, Ah He chose self-exile for love, and the final return is to be able to return to the roots, after all, Macao has returned to the motherland, of course, he also has to come back to live a small life, but the tree wants to be quiet and the wind is not stopping, and finally he has to face the showdown of brotherhood.
They are all good brothers, in the face of this situation, Da Fei is the boss's order can not be disobeyed, but on the other side is how should the brothers who have been for many years do it? This kind of entanglement and confusion is often seen in Du Qifeng's films, and it is also in "Gunfire" that although the feelings established by brothers are not long but deep, the first consideration in the face of difficulties is brotherhood, and then how to solve the problem.
Not only Du's films, including Wu Yusen's series of gangster films, brotherhood is the eternal theme, it is this kind of brotherhood that spares no effort in these films to portray, let people have emotional resonance, after all, there are too few people in a person's life who can be called friends, this kind of brotherhood is very precious.
Wu Yusen's "Hero Nature" Xiao Ma Ge waited for Hao Ge for three years, that is, the brotherhood is full of heart, he wants to wait for a comeback, and finally Hao Ge is not willing to re-enter the gang, then do it himself: you don't owe me anything, I will never force my friends to do things I don't want to do, I have my own principles, I don't want to be trampled on for a lifetime, you think I stink to eat, I waited for three years, is to wait for an opportunity, I want to fight for a breath, not want to prove that I am great; I want to tell people, What I lost must be taken back!
This time in the film, Du Qifeng chose the ink of brotherhood, but also chose love and affection, after Ah He died, the remaining four still wanted to protect their sister-in-law, but they were driven away by their sister-in-law with a gun, the killer's wife is different, Ah Jing took the child to seek revenge on Ah Huo, and as a result, he mistakenly entered Shef's hotel and was betrayed by the latter to Dafei, so that the four brothers had to return to save people.
The four brothers have already got the gold and can run away, and they know that they will never go back, but this bond of A and family affection is an invisible bondage, which is an extension of brotherhood, then it must be saved, and when there are many coin coins in the film to decide how to do it, the final coin is thrown into the sea by A Huo, and there is no need for other options at this time.
banishment. Where to
Where is life going? In the film, this confusion is shown many times, and the break with Da Fei opens another kind of exile, his real banishment for the gang to break away, but where to go has become a problem, reflecting a topic that is often in Hong Kong gangster movies: after joining the gang, can you get out of the gang, where can you go after you get out?
After another merger with the Great Fire in the Doctor's house, Ah He was bound to die, and Apo asked: Where to go. This sentence appears many times in the follow-up, several brothers have completed the final state of exile, turned into duckweed, after escaping, they do not know where to go, only Ah He, who returned to the light, said the warmest sentence: Go home.
Does going home solve the problem of where to go? Can't solve it. In the film, Du Qifeng uses the overhead shot to reflect the powerlessness and confusion of the characters, and also lays the groundwork for so many subsequent questions about where to go, all the characters are full of powerlessness in it, and the audience's experience is to feel the fragility and uncertainty of the future.
Where to? In the face of the intersection of life, everyone began to wonder where to go, so the coin came in handy at this time, driving all the way to the point where it was impossible to drive, but it entered Guanyin Mountain, fate made a joke to the remaining four brothers, the business that had been abandoned was in front of them, doing or not doing was a problem, of course, the solution to the problem was still to toss the coin, the result was not to do, at this time the humor is that everyone believes in the results of coin-casting, so they are very happy to continue the journey of exile, although they still do not know where to go.
A ton of gold four brothers do not want, but there are other people want, so the robbery of the gun to lead the four brothers back to the place of grabbing gold, anyway do not know where to go, to satisfy the curiosity is also OK, the result is to encounter the police (Ren Xianqi) led by the gold guards and robbers of the fire, Ren Xianqi here not many lines, the performance is very brilliant, rather than die to save the gold, as the saying goes, heroes cherish heroes, Ren Xianqi's superb marksmanship makes the four people convinced, shot to level others, but wants to let Xianqi a way to live.
It seems that here pays tribute to Wu Yusen's "Blood Double Male", even the gangsters and the police, under the pity of each other, can also show a strange similar brotherly feelings.
The four brothers and the newly acquainted Ren Xianqi took the gold to prepare for their own little life, but unexpectedly, a phone call from Dafei put the four people in trouble, whether to take the money or go back to save their sister-in-law, at this time, where to go is needless to say, even if Pingshui meets, they can still become brothers, so Ren Xianqi promises to wait until dawn, and in the harmonica, fate once again brings the four brothers back to the original point.
In the process of fighting with Da Fei, the first two fierce gun battles were terminated by the retreat of the five brothers, and several people's mentality had a sense of exile, since they had been exiled, don't cause trouble, a little farther away from Da Fei is that after Ah He died, the remaining four brothers are still like this, and they do not think about revenge, but think about where else to go, which is a helpless compromise for fate, a kind of self-exile.
In the end, fate let them understand that if they do not solve the problem of Dafei, they will not be able to go anywhere in the end.
In this movie, Du Qifeng abandons the hardcore coldness of only brotherhood and joins the family love, or the struggle of women (including prostitutes in hotels) to survive in it, but with a kind of fate and confusion.
In the end, the four brothers laughed at Dafei, the scene of the head and foot kicking the can is reminiscent of the scene of several kicking paper balls in "Gunfire", it seems that Du Qifeng still has not forgotten the classic work of "Gunfire", when the can fell from the air, when the funny photos of the four brothers fell, an ultimate gunfight ended, everything returned to dust, the soil returned to the soil.
Du Qifeng's final ending is intriguing, the sister-in-law took the child to the dock and the police drove gold to a happy future, leaving the prostitute in the room to finally drag the gold brought back by the four brothers. Women are a symbol of the continuation of life in this, and the weakest women are struggling to live to the end, and they will all know where to go.
The old policeman who passed by the scene of their clash three times, only fate made him pass by occasionally, coldly watching everything but not getting involved in it, and when the time came at twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, he went back to hand over his guns and documents, and he was going to retire and enjoy his happiness.