"Above the Cliff" directed by Zhang Yimou takes place in Harbin in the 1930s. Zhang Xianchen, Wang Yu, Chu Liang and Xiaolan were trained in the Soviet Union, and they were airborne to the forest and snow field after receiving the task. The operation code name was "Utra", and the goal was to send the witnesses of the Japanese army's bacteria experiment abroad. Among the 4 people, Lao Zhang and Wang Yu are husband and wife, and Chu Liang and Xiaolan (probably) are lovers. It's just that as soon as they landed, they were already in a dangerous situation.
Let's talk about the advantages first.
The snow on Harbin's Central Street has never stopped, the snow has never stopped, and the battle on the cliff has never stopped. What spy movies watch is the rhythm, the atmosphere, and the battle of wits and courage when the two sides face each other. These are the elements that make the audience enter the situation and make the protagonist sweat. "Above the Cliff" has a very good viewing experience in this regard, and I think it is even better than "The Wind" back then.
The main hook of "The Sound of the Wind" is "Who is the old ghost", accompanied by a series of spectacles of forced confessions, which are excluded one by one. The revealing of the characters' identities finally relies on a Conan-style disclosure, which is a truth disclosure at the end. This is in the play. It is relatively simple to do. and "Above the Cliff" gives the audience the perspective of God, not to say that this perspective is more advanced, but because the characters' identities and the relationship between them are complex, this perspective makes it easier for the audience to enter the plot. But at the same time, this also means that the movie needs to rely more on dramatic tension to attract the audience, which is a difficulty and a point to watch.
Once the identity of the characters is revealed to the audience, this kind of intrigue is very beautiful. You don't believe me, I don't believe you, you don't believe I already believe you, and I don't believe you believe me so easily.
Agents, undercover agents, traitors, espionage warfare is a battle of thinking levels. You think of the first layer, I think of the second layer, but there are always people who drill the screw deeper. From the third layer to the fourth layer, look at the whole situation, the hidden front On, if you want to lose one layer, if you say the wrong word, it is between life and death. At this point, the design of "On the Cliff" can be said to be brilliant. said that the old Zhou played by Yu Hewei, on the surface, is an enemy spy, but he has to pretend to be our coordinator. Doubt, and finally need to try to rescue comrades in arms, multiple identities, multiple tasks, very difficult and dangerous.
So look at Lao Zhou, he is walking a tightrope every step of the way, and every conversation with colleagues Lu Ming and Lao Jin is like taking a quiz, every sentence is a test. The section chief is an old fox, and twice showed his tendency to suspect that Lao Jin was an undercover agent, so as to check Lao Zhou's reaction. It's not enough to pretend that you don't know your comrades, you have to hunt them down and pick the pills when your comrades swallow suicide poison. He has personally seen Lao Zhang being tortured inhumanly, so he may still "help" Chu Liang to swallow the poison, so as to save him from being tortured to extract a confession. In the end, there was the big test given by the section elder, Fox, who served directly in handcuffs and pressed him directly. This kind of wave after wave of mental destruction was interpreted by Yu Hewei in a way of forbearance and restraint. The emotional power contained in it can drive the audience.
The paragraph after Zhang Xianchen, played by Zhang Yi, was arrested and fled is the most exciting part of the whole film. At this point, Lao Zhang faced a choice, whether to save himself or sacrifice. He not only sacrificed to save Lao Zhou, but also killed two birds with one stone and framed Lao Jin. You can see that the section chief took the bait step by step, Lao Jin died little by little, Lao Zhou became more and more depressed, and Lao Zhang died more and more thoroughly.
Lao Zhou's line is closed, and he is basically reacting passively. Lao Zhang's line is to put and act all the time. He reminded his comrades on the train, rescued Xiaolan, walked around the Asia Cinema, went to the bookstore to buy a codebook, every action was like dancing on a cliff, and every moment there was a risk of falling. Even after being arrested and tortured, he dragged his broken and nearly disintegrated body, drove into Lao Jin's car, and accelerated towards the enemy.
Having said that, I have to regret that the director has assigned too many tasks to the role of Lao Zhang. The hearts of the audience have been shattered together with Lao Zhang's crash. The emotions have reached their climax here, and the hero has sacrificed. We have to clean up our mood and see how the other characters solve their difficulties. Unexpectedly, after a transition, Lao Zhang breathed a sigh of relief and was taken to the torture room again, where he was injected with hallucinogens, revealing the clue of Asia Cinema. Such a screenwriter is really too cruel, and it also has a destructive effect on the characters. At this moment, the image that the first half of the movie laboriously created has finally become a tool for the screenwriter to provide clues?
This is also a failure in terms of viewing experience. The audience originally followed the director's intention wholeheartedly, the sky was flying snow, the agents' black clothes, black hats and black cars, black and white confrontation, the long darkness before dawn, the frost was cold, the audience was immersed in this atmosphere from the very beginning, very Feel free to turn your attention to the director. And the fact that "Old Zhang is not dead" is like a cow that pops up in front of you when you step on a skateboard without any effort. This cow makes you stop and think about one thing: "Why is it not dead yet? "
So you've got a few other questions in your mind.Lao Zhang's partner, Xiao Lan, was sent to Harbin because of her excellent memory. Why hasn't she played a role yet? After her residence was exposed, why did the enemy simply send two people to wait in the apartment? You can even go back and go back. In the part where the train chased and escaped, Xiao Lan shot and killed a person. Why didn't so many secret agents around him hear the gunshot?
is just to talk about some of the regrets I personally felt during the viewing process.
The first regret is that Xiaolan's role is out of place. At the end of , Lao Zhou kindly concealed Xiaolan, saying that they were not tortured, they were all sacrificed on the spot, Xiaolan actually believed it. It can be seen that inside and outside the play, these are the flowers of the motherland that need to be taken care of, not the warriors who can fight bloody battles. Actors who are not suitable for the role, not only the role is damaged, but many scenes and elements that could have been assigned to Xiao Lan have to be abandoned. For example, I would have expected a certain amount of love in this film.
Great love has made a classic spy war. Although there are Zhang Xianchen and Wang Yu, there is almost no chance for them to meet eyes, there is no tender moment that looks back but can't speak, without you just walking into my place The feeling of anger in the tavern, some of which was half a minute of crying in the bathroom.
The flame burning in the heart at the moment of life and death will not only be aimed at the revolutionary cause. The cold wind and snow in the city of Harbin, the long darkness before dawn on the land of China, a little fire can accumulate the strength to survive the long night in the heart, I believe that idealism will not make the special agent become a robot, only understand the task , not to talk about feelings. It's just that the movie chose not to show this, which may be because the only characters suitable for this type of love are Xiaolan and Chu Liang.And Liu Haocun, the actor of Xiaolan, can't bear this responsibility. The love she can talk about is like "A Little Red Flower for You", not the life-and-death love in Lei Ting Wan Jun.
Throughout the entire cast, they are at least one generation older than Liu Haocun. No one can form a CP with Liu Haocun, but Zhu Yawen cannot. The director should still be merciful on this point. He didn't force Chu Liang and Xiao Lan to make love scenes. Perhaps the difficulty here lies in Liu Haocun's youth and frailty. In front of all the experienced actors, her big beads and small beads fall into jade plate-style tears, which is especially like playing at home. But it's not the actor's fault, it's the director who put inappropriate actors in the roles to help them grow, and at the same time damage the film as a whole.
Another regret is that all choices are taken for granted, and the struggles of the characters are hardly felt. For example, Lao Zhang was tortured to extract a confession. This is the most intuitive passage in the whole film that shows pain, but the audience knew in their hearts that he would not recruit. Zhang Yi, such a good actor, showed the pain of suffering from electric shocks. Belly Ming has dissolved 70% to 80%.
When Lao Zhou was chasing Chu Liang, the audience also understood quite clearly that between exposing his identity and shooting his comrades, he would choose the latter, because it was a revolutionary righteousness, and even if Chu Liang had the opportunity, he would also choose the latter. Will persuade "you killed me". You don't even know how this kind of knowledge happened. Even, when I saw Lao Zhang actually getting off the car to see the children on the way to escape, I thought, "It shouldn't be." Looking at the comments later, many people listed it as a logical loophole, thinking that an experienced agent could not make such a choice at this moment.
We have forgotten that characters should struggle, human nature is not natural to make the right choice, and the soul cannot stand the test.But consequentially, our ability to empathize with our struggles has eroded. Maybe this is the result of a lot of similar movie disciplines.
In any case, this is a new film with the best quality and the most worth watching this year.
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