When it comes to Mei Yanfang, we always think of various titles in her life. Whether it is "anita", "Sister Mei" or "Hong Kong Daughter", they all show her personal charm and personal dedication. In her I can see her very modern side, one of the most popular and cool singers of that era, with the name of the changing queen, has always been the representative of "style" in the minds of many Hong Kong people; she also has a fairly traditional side, affectionate and righteous, eager for marriage, always putting family and friendship first. Back to the film itself, it shows the ups and downs of Mei Yanfang's life in front of the world from a cinematic perspective. Just like a line in the movie, "Being a person must have a beginning and an end, and there is an explanation" Whether it is Mei Yanfang or the movie itself, they are doing such a simple and unpretentious thing.
I am very fortunate to be an audience member of the film roadshow scene and have a close exchange and understanding with the creator. The preparation of the film originated from an agreement eighteen years ago, in the last few days of Mei Jie's life. Mr. Jiang Zhiqiang, the film producer, had an exchange with Mei Jie, who expressed that she wanted to make a movie that could be passed down to the world, but unfortunately it did not come to fruition in the end. Today, Mei Yanfang, who spent nearly seven years of the team preparing for the film, can finally be displayed in front of the world. The regret has been made up, but more importantly, those who still remember Mei Yanfang will remember her again, and those who do not know her have a chance to understand and appreciate. Just like the slogan of the movie: can't forget, see each other at the end.
From the overall two-hour viewing of the film, the viewer gradually attracted from a person who did not know Mei Yanfang at all, but also gradually attracted by the charm exuded by Mei Jie's personality. This charming performance is shown from the combination of the audiovisual language of the film and Mei Jie's life experience. The narrative in the film is based on the time node, telling the protagonist's growth experience and life ups and downs. In the film, I wanted to express the spirit of not accepting defeat and daring to compete for the first place when she was not yet debuting, using a contrasting technique, using the way of overhead shooting and side follow-up shooting, showing the picture of her walking against the flow of people, and the technique of overhead shooting showed her embarrassment and trough at that time. In the filming of the Hong Kong Red Pavilion, the pull shot and push shot are used, emphasizing the indissoluble fate between the Hong Kong Red Pavilion and Mei Jie's life. From her peak to the closing performance is done here. When the film tells that Mei Yanfang is in the trough of her life, the tone of the film is dark, and the color is biased towards gray and white, which is used to show her depression and hardship at that time. The continuous insertion of documentaries in the middle of the film enhances the authenticity of the film and gives the audience a sense of documentary. There are many expressions of audiovisual language like this that show the intention and meticulousness of the creative team.
From the overall plot point of view, it is in line with the ups and downs and ups and downs that a story should have, I think this is not the credit of the screenwriter, but Mei Jie as the director of her own life wrote her own heavy comparison, from the childhood forced to make a living and her sister on stage to sell singing to the debut of the youth draft She went very smoothly, and then to the peak of her film industry. The film also shows the frustration she received on the emotional line, and the helplessness of falling in love with her boyfriend. Career and love are in stark contrast. When the film reaches its climax, it is specifically about Mui Yanfang's slapping incident on Hong Kong's KTV, for which she had to leave Hong Kong to travel to Thailand in order to escape the pursuit. The overall pace of this film has slowed down, without the previous flowers and applause, and some are just helplessness and reflection in a foreign country. The film is also more profound here, and since then Mui Yanfang's life has taken a turn, but her Hong Kong spirit dares to fight, dare to struggle, and stubbornness is still there. Reinterpreting this spirit of her in the second half of the film, in the last year of Mui Yanfang's life, the outbreak of SARS caused panic and silence in Hong Kong society. Mui Yanfang chose to hide her illness and actively participated in the fight against the epidemic, launching the "1:99 Concert" to call on all Hong Kong artists to perform, arousing everyone's confidence in fighting the epidemic together. This is also in line with today's background of the times. At the end of the film, the familiar Mei Sister curtain performance is selected, and the performance is also highly restored, from the costumes of the actors on the stage, as well as the post-editing and special effects production, which reflects the film's reverence for the classics. With a sunset song that not only ends the film with a high profile, but also shows the style of the absolute era, there is no mei Yanfang in the world. In her artistic career, her ever-changing shapes and rebellious music opened up the awakening consciousness of women of that era. Mei Yanfang married herself to music in a white wedding dress, and the audience also had her most reluctant stage. She also kept her most beautiful appearance in people's minds forever. Truly achieved "there is a beginning and an end, there is an account".
The casting of the film adopts the combination of new and old actors, and the protagonist Mei Yanfang uses the newcomer Wang Dani. From the exchange with the supervising producer Mr. Jiang Zhiqiang, I learned that the reason why he did this was that the use of new people could better shape the image of Mei Yanfang and avoid the audience from playing. Avoid the influence of the inherent star image of traffic stars. From the current point of view, the choice of the main creative team is correct, and Wang Dani has achieved god-likeness, temperament, eyes, movements, and shape in terms of acting skills. All of them met Mei Yanfang's standards. This is a good way for the film to insert the documentary in the middle without a sense of violation and drama.
I think this film should be positioned as a biography of the characters, and the setting of the plot is too strict with the limitations of the time node, resulting in some flowing narrative. Feelings are greater than everything, from the original purpose of creation is to make people today fall in love with her because of this film, remember her, this film I think I have completed her greatest value, when the sunset song sounds again, Mei Yanfang seems to be there all the time. As the movie poster says, "As long as someone remembers, you never leave."