Speaking of the image in the minds of Taiwanese movies, the image in the brain of Taiwanese movies is always particularly complicated, and the idol dramas of stubble and stubble seem to be mainstream, but every three to five can always come up with movies such as "Sidekbare" and "Cape Seven" to make everyone nervous. "Paradise in the Army" is also a film with such weight.
I am not familiar with director Niu Chengze, I have heard of a very popular "Mengjia", but when the end of "Paradise in the Army" played the work of director Niu Chengze, my heart was still full of emotions. I often hear the saying that in this new generation of film audiences, there may not be enough understanding to understand such films, or there is no interest in this type of subject matter at all, for such a statement, as a post-90s "new generation" film audience, I do not agree.
A good movie, no matter what the subject matter, tells the story well, and those who should be moved will also be moved, no matter how much stubble the so-called "new generation" film audience will have to change in the future. In addition, the feelings of young people and those who have experienced history cannot be compared, but this is actually the best reason to come up with more similar movies to tell young people about history.
This is indeed a good storytelling movie, the story is not complicated, Huaxing and Sasha this line of the pen and ink is the least, but the touch brought to me is not discounted at all, Huaxing is a weak recruit, suffered from the humiliation of the veteran "senior", in the Eighty-Three-One Tea Room to strengthen Sasha, in fact, Sasha is also unwilling to live the humiliation, through Huaxing's advice, Huaxing became a deserter with Sasha escape plan to swim to the other side. The story is very simple, but in the part where Huaxing and Ah Bao are drinking soda and chatting at the door of the tea room, I think the director also used Huaxing's lines to say the heart he wanted to express throughout the movie, and Huaxing said: "Why don't we have a choice" after telling him that he was bullied by the "senior".
Hua Xing had no choice, neither did the waiters in the Eighty-Three-One Tea Room, nor did the soldiers who guarded the Golden Gate. In the big era, can small people influence their own lives? We often say that "fate is in your own hands", whether it is from the movie, or from life to see yourself, I know the so-called "involuntariness" of helplessness and loneliness.
The scene between Lao Zhang and Ah Jiao is a heavy line in the movie, Chen Jianbin plays Lao Zhang at the beginning of the movie as a grumpy chief, the excessiveness of the movie makes him tell his own story, thinking of his mother on the mainland, he speaks a strong rural Mandarin, in Kinmen he can't even understand the Hokkien language of "natives", which is the most typical role of "provincial people".
Lao Zhang shouted out on the hillside: "Mother, I miss you!" This scene, this should be the voice of a whole generation of people in other provinces in Taiwan, the other side of the shore is their own relatives, if it is not chosen by the times, there are several people who do not expect to eat the dumplings made by their mothers again. Lao Zhang and Ah Bao also had a scene on the top of the mountain, in which Lao Zhang scolded the anger of the mother with his throat, as if he was speaking to the unit that arrested him as a strong man at that time, and may also be said to the helpless life.
As for the story of Lao Zhang and Ah Jiao, Lao Zhang is sincerely in love with Ah Jiao, but if Ah Jiao did not give her enough slaps at the beginning of life, her idea was actually to live a life of peace of mind. We always talk about dreams and struggles, we always encourage struggle and struggle, in fact, for many people, living like ordinary people is the biggest dream.
Ah Bao is the main line in the movie, he should be in love with Nini, in the whole movie, I think Ah Bao's actor Ruan Jingtian actually made a great interpretation, probably out of prejudice against idol dramas, even after watching the movie, I don't believe that Ruan Jingtian is so smoothly completed, I don't know if it is a good director's skill, or Ruan Jingtian himself has such strength, in the end he said that he gave me a great surprise.
The film ends with three photos, which actually gives the film a possible hypothesis for three stories, and looking back at the three perfect imaginations is really just the most ordinary life. The film is recalling the history of August 31, the story is actually very thrilling, the director's choice does not put too many shots in the tea room how unbearable it is, the daily reception of the waiter is actually a lot of misfortune, many history books actually tell us that each waiter has a lot of terrible in the process of receiving customers in a day. But the movie actually did a more appropriate treatment, the story interspersed in this, in fact, looking back, in this movie while I look at history, I see more is the helplessness of choice.
I saw that what the director wanted to say in this movie was actually not so thrilling, the film is different from the documentary, in fact, it can also show the history more directly and realistically, but in this movie, through three stories, the background of the story is placed in the Golden Gate, placed in the Eighty-Three-One Tea Room, through the shell of the story, in fact, it is to say the helplessness and loneliness of the whole generation, everyone is chosen by the times.
Niu Chengze is a director who is very good at storytelling, of course, I admit that the story has touched me, but, back to the theme of the film, I think this can be a very large film, although three stories have been made, but in fact, there is no very deep bearing of this history, I think after the story is moved, it is not clear whether it is the director's choice of the tendency or the negligence that has not been done, in fact, I think the film is not profound enough, so it is actually nitpicking, but if the film has to respond to history, If you give the audience historical thinking, it seems that it has not been done deeply enough within the framework of these stories. As for what I said earlier, Ruan Jingtian's interpretation of Ah Bao's role is very smooth, but in fact, it is only smooth.
Anyway, I think this is a very serious storytelling film, in fact, from any point of view, we always expect to be able to have more films of this type, maybe just show us a small perspective to see the past history, but we should always be optimistic that there are still people doing this.
Now the film industry is so hot, everyone is in entertainment and business, everyone is eager for a higher box office, so whether it is an "author movie" or an "audience movie", this should be a question to think about under the market, I always hope that behind many "audience movies" can be more such "author movies", so that we do not have a choice.