An anecdote that is not fresh.
After Chen Zhengdao's new film was released, a hot post popped up in the Douban discussion forum:
Four words to describe how you feel after watching this movie
Some people say that the reason is mysterious, some people say that they are extremely afraid of thinking carefully, and some people say that it is like sitting on a needle felt.
However, most of them follow the post, expressing a similar meaning:
I didn't understand it.
Word of mouth collapsed, Douban 5.7.
Does it suck? Uncle Meat thinks that the film can be seen.
But alas, the story is only half told.
The half that was not said well was the soul hidden under its mysterious shell.
Talk about it today, come on, get in the car, friends —
Secret visitors
Look at the poster.
Claustrophobic room, five faces each pregnant with a ghost fetus.
Think of the film as an escape room with a mission.
The game starter, who is also the operator of the game, the head of the family, Wang Father (Aaron Kwok).
(The following content involves spoilers, and I have not seen the film before collecting Ha.) ）
01
A year ago, his son died in a school bus accident.
Also dying in the same car were several elementary school students of similar age.
But the driver, Yu Qiao (Duan Yihong), became a survivor.
Before the accident, the parents of the students had jointly asked the school to dismiss the driver.
Problems with ability to work? Accidents could have been avoided? No.
What these parents do not want to see is the origin and class of the driver.
The disparity in wealth is projected onto the everyday, a discrimination of ability, a natural prejudice:
Parents firmly believe that drivers have failed in their duties while driving, leading to accidents.
No one believed it, it was an accident.
The court acquitted the driver, who was punished by the law for not being able to do as the parents wished.
Even intermittent amnesia from injury was "exempted" from the guilt of conscience.
The accident, which resulted in the loss of several lives, was ultimately undefeated.
The seeds of revenge gradually took root among parents.
Buying a murderer? Framed?
Looking down, the most ruthless revenge is not to cut off life, but to make the enemy family live worse than to die.
With Father Wang as the main conspiracy, some parents jointly pressed the "start button" of the game.
They form a fictional family and take revenge on the driver in the name of goodness.
Player #1, the mother of the deceased Lu Lulu (played by Xu Weining), plays the mother.
Player No. 2, Chen Xiaoqi (Rong Zishan), a student disabled by an accident, plays his son.
Player #3, Wang Chuyi (Zhang Zifeng), the daughter of Wang's father's ex-wife, plays the daughter.
The "family" imprisoned the driver in the basement.
While facing the driver's care, he creates the illusion of protecting him from police arrest, while staging a series of dramas to stimulate him to retrieve his lost memories.
The aim was to inflict a torment of conscience in the process until he voluntarily assumed the title of murderer.
Lynching, the city will play.
At the beginning of the game, Father Wang set the "end button":
As soon as the driver says, "I'm going to turn myself in," a showdown is made and the shell-like home is dissolved.
Unexpectedly, unexpectedly, something strange happened.
The game gradually got out of control, and even the trader Wang Father himself was "kidnapped" by this game.
02
The plot is roughly as above, let's say that it is half good.
The level set by Father Wang for the game is one of the reasons why the film has been criticized.
Bluffing, using outdated moves that stimulate the senses, guides the viewer into a suspenseful situation.
One of the most representative is the thriller bridge section that takes place in the basement.
Those who have seen the film must still remember it vividly.
So, the upgraded version of Zi Feng's sister's evil smile in "Detective Chinatown": possessed by a ghost.
I'm afraid that the timid audience can be scared to pull out the movie ticket on the spot and enter the wrong scene? Is this a midnight horror movie?
Hitchcock, the father of suspense films, has a classic theory of filmmaking:
A bomb was placed under the table, and it exploded, which is called surprise; but it did not explode, which is called suspense.
"Secret Visitor" as a suspense film, but in a surprising way to arouse the audience's suspense.
Some people say that it is low-level, but Uncle Meat thinks that it is not yet collapsed, at least it has done a little:
Not only to be frightened, but there is a motive behind the plot that can be explained.
Why does the daughter pretend to be a ghost in the middle of the night? Listen to her lines:
Tie my shoelaces
First, she plays a ghost who is a student Lulu (Wang Shengdi) who died in a school bus accident.
Second, on the day of the accident, Chen Xiaoqi gave the driver 100 yuan to let him stop and tie his shoelaces, which indirectly led to the subsequent accident.
The daughter was ordered by Father Wang to use these two details to arouse the driver's memories and induce him to feel uneasy.
This scene was followed by a conversation between the daughter and the driver the next day:
- Yesterday you sleepwalked into my room, remember?
-You are not having nightmares
- I never have nightmares
- Never have nightmares
What does it mean to savor the word "never"?
The daughter has already understood that the game designed by Father Wang has long been a useless work.
From the beginning of the game, the driver has been secretly aware of the mystery.
The seeds of her daughter's rebellion have long been buried in the details.
The subtlety of this piece lies in the fact that many tricks and hints are installed.
They are like clues in an escape room, seemingly scattered, but interlinked.
It is necessary for the audience to piece them together in the process of watching the movie for hundreds of minutes to successfully break through.
One more thing, tennis.
It appears three times in the film, namely:
First, in the school playground, the daughter secretly stuffed the tennis ball into her pocket during physical education class;
Second, in the apartment, Father Wang poured down a pocket of tennis balls from the stairs;
Three, it is still an apartment, but this time the tennis does not appear in the real body, but the sound.
Three clues come together to solve a puzzle.
The daughter injured her leg while alone with the driver in the apartment, and the real culprit was not an outsider, nor the driver, but herself.
She first sneaks up on props (tennis balls), then finds the right time (solitude), and then goes on a play-in-play:
Using the sound of a tennis ball hitting the floor, the driver is created to create the illusion of an outsider breaking in.
She also took advantage of father Wang's absence to create the illusion that the driver hurt her to father Wang, thus inducing father Wang to end the game.
On the surface, she is planting a bribe, but she is actually rescuing the driver.
The daughter is the first betrayer of this game.
As the plot unfolds, the mother becomes the second betrayer, and the process uncle meat will no longer elaborate.
Gamers gradually collapsed, but the game operator Wang Father insisted.
Should we praise him for "good beginnings and good ends"? Tease.
He is the operator of the game, but also a pawn of the game, and is controlled by the game.
It can be said that even if the driver is tortured, Father Wang will still insist on maintaining the appearance of happiness of the family of five to the end.
He fell in love with the home, and the game.
At this point, Uncle Meat believes that "The Secret Visitor" is not yet ridiculed.
It uses interlocking clues and style composition, sets, and sound effects to build a ghostly labyrinth.
The labyrinth is very elaborate.
But what do viewers expect to see after a walk?
It doesn't have to be a surprising reversal, but at least it's a character's motives and mysteries that can be reasonably explained.
Sadly.
"The Secret Visitor" has done enough hardware, but its software, the soul of the film, collapses bald.
03
At the beginning of the film, it is the dinner of the "family".
Enough details are depicted to make the characteristics of the five characters stand out.
Strong father, nervous mother, submissive son, indifferent daughter, flattering guest.
At a glance, you know that it is not an ordinary person, but you can't guess what is unusual.
The audience is pulled by the suspense laid out by this scene and enters the plot.
The beginning of the puzzle also takes place at the dinner of the "family".
But the film's treatment of this scene is like a corner of the script that is too late to be carved.
One word: rush.
The way to solve the puzzle is to make a flat narrative statement through the memories of Father Wang.
It seems that after playing the escape room overtime, the staff hurriedly solved (cleared) the mystery (field)...
The key is what, the content of Father Wang's statement, buried in the film many points that should not be described.
The most important of these is the cause of death of Wang's ex-wife.
How important is this detail?
Without it, the character of Father Wang would not be complete.
Wealth is one of the characteristics of the character, but in fact, Father Wang is also a loser in the game of power and money.
To whom? His father.
What did you lose? Ideals and love.
When he was young, Wang's father and his same-sex partner double-legged and double-flying to pursue their photography dreams.
Later, forced by his father's authority, he returned to China to inherit the family business and established a family with his ex-wife.
A tragedy of marriage.
Remember the son Wang Chuqi born to Wang's father and ex-wife? Two children Chinese, but gray eyes.
Remember when they got married and went abroad to get sperm? It is not the father's, but the partner's.
This guy really does.
Borrow the person who loves him the most, for his favorite life baby, what is the ending? The ex-wife was so grief-stricken that she hanged herself.
Photographic works with high appearances hint at the cause of death of the ex-wife
This detail must be fully expressed in order to portray the most critical feature of Father Wang's body:
Hate the father, involuntary.
He longed for what his native family could not give him, and what his partner missed, a happy family.
At the same time, he also longs to control life independently, and even, like a father, control the lives of others and become the center of the family.
In the game of punishing the driver, Father Wang tasted the sweetness.
He controls game levels, game progression, gamers, and becomes the authority of the "family".
When the players lost their way, he could not shout to stop.
This is the root cause of Father Wang's "kidnapping" by the game.
He seems to love this home, he loves this game.
But love the thrill of being in control of everything they bring.
The direction of the fish's head hints at Father Wang's unshakable authority in the "family"
Unfortunately, this part of the content is carried through the film by a few lines and obscure fragments.
It is not memorable, and it is even hidden in a design that is more conspicuous than it.
The audience is more likely to go in the direction of revenge, to imagine the reason why Father Wang cannot withdraw from the game.
It also makes sense.
But in this way, the motivation is insufficient, and the mystery is also crooked.
The reversal at the end of the film was immediately weakened by 70% or 80% of its strength.
Audiences asked about "What exactly is the film trying to say?" The answer to this question, of course, is:
Unintelligible.
So, what does the mystery of "The Secret Visitor" look like?
Not only Does Father Wang have weaknesses, but this "family" has shortcomings in everything.
It is easy to understand that a mother and daughter have just lost their daughter in an accident and a mother who died at an early age lack sustenance.
Put in the son's place, long-term bullying by classmates, lack of attention.
Placed in the driver's place, orphaned and helpless, lacking warmth.
This "family" can get together, and it's not just because of revenge.
The ambition of "The Secret Visitor" is that it has a temptation to human nature under its suspenseful shell.
Father Wang's fabricated home is also true and false.
It envelops sin, but at the same time breeds entanglements.
It besieges people, but it also traps everyone voluntarily.
Its secret is not only revenge, but also related to love.
But love, like human nature, may be good, may be evil, and may be the third uncertain answer.
The three words "uncertain" did not dare to think about it.
It contains countless possibilities, and we never know what it will look like in the next moment.
If the film talks about this half hidden soul.
Is word of mouth like this?
Edit: Egg Girl