? -A Brief Comment on Hero
Hero is a martial arts film directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Chen Daoming, Zhang Ziyi and Donnie Yen, which was released on December 14th, 22.
? At the end of the Warring States period, the film mainly tells the story of seven heroes rising together, but Qin was the most powerful, eager to annex six countries and unify the whole country. In order to resist the annexation of Qin, chivalrous men from all over the six countries tried to assassinate the king of Qin.
? In the late Warring States period, wars were raging and heroes rose together. Among the seven heroes who have enjoyed great success, only the state of Qin dominates. In order to unify the whole country, the King of Qin (Chen Daoming) launched a crusade against Zhao and other six vassals. The ambition of that k of Qin aroused the strong dissatisfaction of chivalrous men in various vassal state, and they waited for an opportunity to assassinate the king of Qin. Zhao Guo's assassin Chang Kong (Donnie Yen), couple assassin Canjian (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Fei Xue (Maggie Cheung) are the three most feared by the king of Qin. The king of Qin ordered: anyone who can catch the assassin in the sky can approach the king of Qin twenty paces; Those who kill broken swords and flying snow can get ten steps closer to the king of Qin, seal the official position and add silks.
Three years ago, the couple assassins Canjian and Feixue both broke into Qin Gong to assassinate the King of Qin, but at the last moment, Canjian gave up the chance to kill the King of Qin himself. Fei Xue was puzzled by Canjian's move. Since then, the two have been complaining. Three years later, the knight-errant of the State of Qin (Jet Li) was unknown, but he was actually a native of Zhao, and he joined the ranks of stabbing Qin in order to repay "hatred between the country and the enemy". He sneaked into the state of Qin, and spent 1 years practicing the best kung fu "Ten Steps and One Kill", that is, he can kill any target within ten steps.
? Unknown came to discuss with Sky, Canjian and Feixue about stabbing Qin. In order to let the unknown get close to the king of Qin, my fellow brother Chang Kong pretended to be defeated by the sword of the unknown in the leaky chess hall. Unknown asked for help from Canjian and Feixue, but was rebuffed by Canjian. Canjian's attitude attracted Feixue's dissatisfaction. Canjian urged Unknown to give up stabbing Qin, which puzzled Unknown greatly. On the way to Qin, the remnant sword presented the unknown with two words: the world. And explained that this is the truth he realized for many years, and the king of Qin cannot be killed. Feixue, who has accumulated deep resentment, can no longer understand the dissuasion behavior of Canjian. In order to prove his feelings for flying snow and his expectation for the country, Canjian died under the sword of flying snow with bitterness. Fei Xue was deeply guilty, and finally both died in the Gobi desert, leaving the infatuated maid Ruyue (Zhang Ziyi) to cry alone.
the king of Qin summoned Wu Ming. Unknown tells the story of the assassination of three assassins, and achieved the highest standard of ten steps in the Qin Dynasty. Unknown seized the opportunity and flew to stab the king of Qin. At this critical moment, Unknown finally gave up. On the grounds of being a poor country, Wuming demanded that the king of Qin unify China and end the years of war and historical grievances. The king of Qin was in shock, and he died nameless in the rain of arrows from the Qin army.
? Seeing this movie for the third time, I only have one word to evaluate it-subtlety, which is manifested in the following aspects:
1. Telling stories with colors
? Color, as an important means of film modeling, is fully displayed in Zhang Yimou's films, and Hero is no exception. Color appears as argot, not only reappearing but also expressing, and participates in portraying the characters' hearts, expressing emotions, and promoting the plot development as a drama element, which greatly expands the mirror language space of the film.
? Hero applies the story structure of Kurosawa's Rashomon, except that director Zhang Yimou tells the story in color instead of structure, and expresses and hints the truth of the fictional story with the argot function of color. At the beginning, Qin king Palace's solemn, oppressive and dominating spirit is shown in heavy black, and the second mirror is a red pavilion of Zhao characters. Everything is red, and even the nameless "sword" must be written in red cinnabar. It is also the foreshadowing of the blood-stained Zhao State, and it is also a portrayal of suspicion and confused love. Blue is the generalization of the rationality and meticulous thinking of the king of Qin, and it is also a symbol of the chivalrous spirit of the remnant sword flying snow. Green is the language of nature, the "Tao" and peace, yellow is mature and falling, the leaves are yellow and withered, white is simple and pure, and it is a kind of mourning for the past and the old country, and black is used at the end.
? Color is also an important means to portray the image in mind. Hero has a special black and white color, which is also a kind of color. Black and white is used in the decisive battle between the unknown and the sky. Black and white symbolizes false fabrication, and it is half black and half white fuzziness. It is precisely when the unknown tells the king of Qin about his duel with the sky that he and the king of Qin have the same mental portrayal. The narrator is difficult to distinguish between true and false, and so is the listener. The mental portrayal of the king of Qin's suspicion is in place. In addition, the contrast of colors makes sense, expresses emotions and becomes an element of the play. In Hero, black, red, blue, green and yellow are mainly used, and the contrast of colors tells the whole story.
As for the color of Hero, Spielberg once said, "I don't know Chinese, but through the color, I understand Hero."
Second, the second language-music
? The mighty Qin Jun rode his horse galloping in the chorus of Yao drums, the hero's duel held his breath beside the white-haired old guqin, the red hatred was accompanied by the evil spirits of the ghost drum, and the sad thoughts of the violin came from the vast desert. The most delicate feelings and emotions expressed in all these movie images will be conveyed by music and sublimated and beautified-this is the great power of movie music! But there is only one premise. You have to know the film deeply before you can understand the inner emotion and rich meaning of its music.
In the mid-term, what I like best is the Overture of Cang.
The first scene of the opening of the movie Hero falls on that ancient and familiar yellow land, and Paalmann's plaintive violin plays the first deep and beautiful melody-Overture of Cang, which is an infinite attachment to the earth and a passionate emotion, and also a strong yellow land complex hidden in Zhang Yimou's heart. Then, the solemn ancient Yao sounded in unison with the sound of thunder and drums, arousing a piece of loess flying, and the mellow bass painted a magnificent picture of beautiful rivers and mountains under the foreshadowing of strings-the mighty Qin army rode on its way back to the Qin Palace in this passionate movement. This is where the story begins ... The opening song "Cang. Overture" is simple and beautiful, but it is equally vigorous. In this opening song, Tan Dun didn't exaggerate the grandeur when the army marched forward too much, but realized the desolation left by the flying loess with a lonely violin, as if to make people more clearly feel the vast land that once gave birth to many generations of heroes.
Paalmann said that the music of "Hero" contains an ancient tenor of China, which sounds like a desolate feeling of ancient desert. In order to express the ancient musical melody of China with the violin and Ma Touqin, he also re-tuned the four strings of the violin to make it sound "China-like".
The soundtrack that best conforms to the culture of China's films in China must be represented by music with China flavor. It is not only an auditory effect, but also a visual effect. The opening song reminds people of the glory of Qin, who rode an iron horse to unify the six countries.
Another example is the scene of a hero dueling in a chess hall. The nameless sword in the sky is facing each other, and a white-haired old man is sitting in it. The guqin in his hand flicks with the rain, and the melody is elegant and antique. Suddenly, the violin pulls out a little murderous, and the picture moves with the camera. Then the guqin becomes more and more manic, the drums become louder and louder, and the atmosphere becomes more tense. Suddenly, the strings are broken and the nameless sword in the sky is stabbed. This is movie music, and this is Tan Dun's movie music. Its excellence lies in that it always captures all the most subtle details in the film and gives the most appropriate rendering.
? Qin Jun's theme song "Wind", directed by Zhang Yimou, was born in the Qin Dynasty, which is now Shaanxi. Wind is an ancient lyric poem and a manifestation of ancient folk music. The ancient books of songs in China include three categories: wind, elegance and ode. The appearance of the song "Wind" in the film highlights the imposing manner and oppressive feeling of the Qin army, and achieves a * * * sound with Qin Gong's black tone in hearing and vision.
? The three soundtracks, whether produced or matched with the plot, can be said to be refined.
3. Delicate "Rites"
This is a martial arts film based on historical dynasties, so the China culture it represents must also conform to history. From a macro perspective, this film is still handled very carefully. For example, when the nameless was summoned at the opening, there were layers of soldiers lined up outside the majestic Qin king Palace, and they were on duty according to their grades. After the nameless entered, they had to examine themselves, change their clothes and tie their hair in a bun before they met the king of Qin. After the reward is announced, enter another door, and then enter again, ten paces away from the king of Qin, kneeling to answer ... Another example is that when assassins duel with each other, they will salute each other first, including Ruyue asking for instructions from the young lady outside the bedsheet. These are all in line with the requirements of "courtesy" in Chinese traditional culture, and this film has meticulous treatment.
fourth, the detailed description of the big scene
? It is often easy to grasp a detail, but it is not so easy to make a big scene fine, but "Hero" strives for the big in detail. The glory of Qin's domination of the world is displayed through big scenes, and the artistic effect of this art scene is used to express the effect of the movie scene.
? There are many descriptions of big scenes in Hero, which often render an atmosphere and magnificent momentum, but also reproduce the historical picture, enrich the story, and give people a sense of reality in the monotonous color story.
5. tragic beauty
? Hero well embodies the tragic aesthetics with "death" as its beauty. In China's cultural tradition, death is beauty for a long time. Especially in the chivalrous spirit of sacrificing one's life for righteousness, the state of Qin unified the world, and it was inevitable that there would be killings and rivers of blood. Many descendants of countries that perished had the desire to assassinate the king of Qin. As a result, the wind of assassins' chivalry set off. In fact, Hero is a tragic aesthetics.
? The first is the chivalrous sadness of being nameless, flying in the sky, and the remnant sword. They shoulder the heavy responsibility of assassinating the king of Qin, bearing family feuds and national hatred, but they are also representatives of chivalrous men. They pursue the chivalrous spirit of sacrificing their lives for justice and leveling the world. They hate the king of Qin greatly, but they love the whole world. Their contradictions and sense of honor make them embark on a tragic ending. When they rushed into Qin king Palace, the remnant sword had the opportunity to cut the king of Qin, but. Instead, he realized the "Tao". He knew the trend of the world. Today is the king of Qin, and tomorrow it will be others, and the people who suffer will always be the people. He didn't want more people to travel around the world like them, seeking revenge, and his abandonment became the gap between him and Fei Xue. This abandonment was also the root of the tragic ending of their last suicide. Even so, their deaths were beautiful, and they died for the whole world and for the righteous cause.
Nameless bears the trust of his friends, and bears the national hatred and family enmity. He hates the king of Qin very much. When Nameless stands ten paces away from the king of Qin, he can kill the king of Qin with his sword speed, and fulfill their desire. However, he suddenly realized the "sword" and understood the meaning of the world mentioned by the remnant sword. He only symbolically stabbed the king of Qin with the hilt, and chose to let the king of Qin live by his own death, only because of a sentence from the king of Qin. In particular, there is an indescribable beauty in the back of the unknown who went alone. His righteous sacrifice is also a tragic beauty. He died righteously in Qin Jun's arrow rain like a migratory locust, but he has realized it and has no regrets. It is not so much sadness as the beauty of great wisdom. This is consistent with the aesthetics of death in ancient China culture.
? Secondly, it is the sorrow of bosom friends. Broken sword flying snow is called high mountain and flowing water, people can't leave people, and swords can't leave the sword, but it hurts deeper because they know it. Flying snow can't understand the mercy of broken sword in those days, failed to assassinate the king of Qin, and resented him, so he was bent on helping the unknown stab Qin, while broken sword was bent on stopping the unknown flying snow, saying it was a confidant, but flying snow didn't understand the mind of broken sword's home country and the world until he died. And the king of Qin lives above ten thousand people, but the great Qin king Palace, no one is nearly ten paces away from him, let alone a confidant. Loneliness in a high position is all he has. In the end, the assassin who wants to kill him is the one who knows him best in the world. How sad it is, but loneliness is not that the king of Qin has no one to sue and no one to understand. His three dialogues with the unknown portray his meticulousness and suspicion to the fullest, especially. He reluctantly killed his confidant, but he achieved the hegemony of the six countries, fulfilled his confidant's wish, and accommodated the world with a big heart. His loneliness has become a realm and a kind of beauty.
The film Hero has great achievements and praises in terms of picture, music, action design, color, clothing, modeling, props, language and narrative structure. Personally, I think these achievements are just one word-fine, and it is very rare to make detailed production in the film. In addition, the actor's expression and grasp of details and the fine post-production make it both artistic effect and plot. This attitude of striving for perfection is worth learning and inheriting, especially in today's big business environment, the film is only made for the flow, and no one will make it with details, so the spirit of seeking detail in this film is precious.