A film that is output in a straightforward way allows you to understand the tired desire to show in the shot without using your brain.
At the same time, it has the sullen smell of academic films, and from the story that is not a legend, it understands the repression of human nature and the darkness of life.
Such a "Night Train" is destined to be a niche movie; it is also destined that the audience after watching the film will secretly chew on the sharpness and loneliness left in the heart of the movie!
The director is Diao Yinan, who won the Golden Bear Award 5 years later with "Daytime Fireworks".
And the film shot in 2007 is too "daring", the large-scale picture is not hidden, coupled with controversial story topics, no accident, the film was banned in China.
But even so, this "Night Train", which confronts the inner plight of women and challenges the harsh reality, still uses its own depth to be shortlisted for the Cannes film unit, and also won many awards such as new director and new film at the Warsaw Film Festival.
Subsequently, it was invited to participate in film festivals such as Athens, Vancouver, Busan, London, etc., and received enough applause and praise from international judges.
Before I saw the film, my impression of the female bailiffs was "fair and rigorous", and I felt that they should not have personal emotions.
But Wu Hongyan, the heroine of "Night Train", told us that after she herself executed countless "death sentences", she felt extremely tired from the numb and depressing life of the bailiff.
This point is deliberately given in the lens, and the white gloves after the execution of the shooting mission can be intuitively perceived. Especially after her husband died of illness, Wu Hongyan lost her vitality.
In that era, there was no Internet to rely on, and the life of a solitary woman was dull and boring, and she put her personal interests in the marriage agency.
What makes her even more relaxed is that in the sorority such as the marriage agency, she can let go of the status of the bailiff, and even perform a showy dance in the fraternity, which is the opposite of her work, so that she finds a different kind of happiness.
In that ambiguous dance hall, Wu Hongyan in the camera seems to only care about her own mood to vent, and everything around her still has nothing to do with her.
Of course, when you come to the marriage agency, you still have to do "serious things", and your boyfriend still has to communicate.
Unfortunately, whether it is the first look at her man's eagerness; or the second man who looks at her lies, they are telling Wu Hongyan that in reality, there is no warmth of wind and snow, only the malice of pain.
Her official male protagonist eventually appeared, but with an embarrassing identity.
The man, Li Jun, was the husband of a death row prisoner. For a long time, he quietly followed Wu Hongyan slowly approaching her.
In fact, because his wife was executed by Wu Hongyan himself, Li Jun had nowhere to vent after losing his relatives, and he wanted to take Wu Hongyan as a target of revenge.
The film devotes a lot of space to describing the state of Li Jun after losing his wife, this man has a morbid paranoia, he ate his wife's ashes, took the young lady to the hotel where he once stayed with his wife, seeking physical comfort, but his heart still could not be stable, and finally shifted his gaze to Wu Hongyan.
Unfortunately, feelings can not be arbitrary, when Li Jun and Wu Hongyan came into contact, whether it was physical desire or spiritual comfort, the two lonely hearts quickly ignited, dangerously intertwined.
When Wu Hongyan came to Li Jun's home and saw their family portraits, she knew that Li Jun was here to take revenge on herself, so she came to approach, but it was too late, and she was finally locked up by Li Jun.
But Li Jun, who already had feelings for her, couldn't do anything at this time, so he was deadlocked, neither completely loving. Also unwilling to let go completely.
In the end, the movie gave an open-ended ending, Wu Hongyan ran out, but after she eased up, she walked in the direction of Li Jun's house, and at this time Li Jun stood on a wooden boat and said to Wu Hongyan, "Come up", she walked up, and the movie ended here.
Movies have naked authenticity, which is rare in Chinese cinema.
The director of this film, Diao Yinan, has always been good at interpreting human nature in a particularly exciting way. His masterpieces "Daytime Fireworks" and "The Party at South Station" all have dark realities and violent and bloody symbols, and are also called "the most beautiful movies I've seen in recent years" by Quentin, the master of "violent aesthetics".
In this film, Diao Yinan does not consider the "scale" problem, the fluttering shots are one after another, at the beginning there is Wu Hongyan in the mirror at home, listening to the sound of the bed next door; then there is the marriage agency, she is not unaware, but still used two hundred yuan to "prostitute" him.
Later shots became more and more exposed, and when the "harmonious" sound came from the prostitute's house next door, Wu Hongyanhong, who was eager to move, danced in the mirror; after meeting Li Jun, the two people were even more physically entangled.
In that era, there were no bold shots beautified by filters, wantonly showing the spark of desire, not to mention that in that year, even now, not many insiders dared to shoot like this, no wonder it was banned.
However, excluding this part of the tangled large-scale shots, the industry praised the work of director Diao Yinan, believing that it was full of the paradoxical sensitivity of realism and was a core film that was not outdated in any era.
"Night Train" was released in 2007, and five years later, Diao Yinan won the Golden Bear Award for Best Film at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival for his self-written and self-directed film "Daytime Fireworks", stepping into the ranks of first-class Chinese directors.
However, friends who have watched "Night Train" have said that Diao Yinan's best work should be this "Night Train".