"Death Is Near" is a domestic thriller released in the late 1980s, produced by Emei Film Studios. The male protagonist, Sun Chun, graduated from the acting department of Shanghai Theater Academy and later served as an actor in Emei Film Studio.
The eight big characters in the opening of the film, which are very characteristic of the times, point out that this is an "exploitation movie". The movie-going experience afterwards proved that this was indeed the case. At that time, the creative environment was very free, and in order to attract attention, the film creators stuffed various elements into the movie, nudity, murder, reflection, rock and roll... It goes on and on.
What is an exploitation film? Simply put, in order to attract attention, deliberately exaggerate certain elements, some of which are even irrelevant to the film itself.
The background image of the title hints at the style of the film. This is the surrealist painter Dalí's famous work "Omens of civil war". The painting symbolizes the horror and bloodshed of war, like a nightmare.
Sun Chun plays a psychopath and serial killer who commits a murder on a fixed day for four consecutive years. On weekdays he is a polite and gentle advertising agency manager, with a decent life and a beautiful and virtuous wife. This is his normal appearance.
At the 25th minute of the film, Sun Chun walks into a hardware store and tenses up in the face of a variety of hammers and bicycle chain locks. These two tools are exactly the weapons he is used to.
Out of control, he picked up a hammer and smashed the counter. Here he is unusual, and his facial expression has changed a lot, which makes people shudder.
At 42 minutes, Sun Chun fell into memories. In this close-up, his expression is almost instantaneous and amazing.
Here is the biggest highlight of this film. After waking up Lin Fangbing, the two had a intimate scene, which was quite large. This is also one of the shots that many post-80s generations will never forget.
At the end of the film, Sun Chun once again fell into a state of madness, and at the same time, it was also an explosion of explosive acting skills. He questioned Lin Fangbing, his expression vicious, angry, manic, accompanied by hysterical laughter.
Under the sincere pleading of his wife, he gradually lowered his guard, and with tears in his eyes, he seemed to have temporarily freed himself from his inner demons.
Finding his wife calling the police, he was once again enraged.
Pick up the murder weapon and feel comfortable.
During the fight between the two, he bit Lin Fangbing's leg like a beast.
Is this lens familiar?
Presumably a tribute to Jack Nicholson's The Shining.
Sun Chun cut off his own hand in a frenzy, without any pain.
The film ends with the police arriving and Sun Chun committing suicide.
Frankly, the quality of this film is mediocre, but the atmosphere is well rendered, and the soundtrack is indispensable. And the performance of the male protagonist Sun Chun made me even more breathtaking. All along, he is the image of a humble gentleman in my eyes, I did not expect to have such an explosive performance, let me can't help but think of those "method" male stars in Europe and the United States, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, etc., which is rare among domestic male stars.
What exactly is the "Method School"? The following is from Baidu Encyclopedia:
Method acting (method acting), also known as "method acting" or "method acting", is a kind of film and television drama performance technique, born from the former Soviet dramatist Konstytin Stanislavsky founded the realist performance system of acting training, mainly through the actor's external limbs and expressions to dig deep into the complexity of human nature and human heart.
This film has been published for thirty years, and Sun Chun has grown from a small fresh meat of that year to an old drama bone. Although he did not become popular, he has always had works and is still worthy of being an excellent actor.