The one star that falls off lies in two questionable points, one is the inescapable pretense and the other is the rushed presentation of the plot.Bi Feiyu’s original novel is character-driven, with each chapter focusing on one person and depicting the psychology from his/her point of view. There are many characters in the massage parlor, the blind masseurs are a group and the able-bodied are a group. The latter includes the cooking aunt and the two front desk girls. The struggle in the blind is silent, and they have to observe it very carefully with their ears and speculate in their hearts. The conflicts among the able-bodied, on the other hand, are verbal and open.
It is extremely difficult to handle the group portraits in the movie, just like making a movie of “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” or “Water Margin”, the degree of difficulty is unimaginable. How to balance the drama without losing depth, the film finds a very good confluence: the fall of Xiao Ma’s love for Xiao Kong, the fall of Du Hong’s love for Xiao Ma, and the fall of Sha Fu Ming’s love for Du Hong, from these four people form the backbone of the love line, stretching out to Wang Dafu and the prostitute Xiaoban, as well as the unscared Jin Yan and Zhang Zongqi. This covers the blind characters throughout the play, and one can feel the powerful tension of the connection. Their desire for love is so natural and unrestrained, yet harmless. The “meat sharing argument” is undoubtedly a great irony to the world of the able-bodied. In the film, is there any scene that shows the human evil of the blind?The massage parlor was opened by Sha Fuming and Zhang Zongqi, so the joint name “Sha Zongqi”, the novel also appeared in the latter part of the two on the ownership and leadership of the massage parlor dispute, but this was not presented in the film. The director and screenwriter seized almost all the obvious conflict scenes in the novel, but not this one. This is a tendency to make the image of blindness as good as it can be. This is the approach that clearly points to the moral position, and is also the approach that is most comfortable to the public. Of course, this certainly weakens the complex side of their character as human instincts.
The presentation of Pony’s dark perspective is very interesting. He is the youngest, the character’s state of change is also the best-looking one. Lou Ye was one of the first directors with a positive mindset to experiment with HD cameras, and we get to see a film that is brighter and more detailed than both “A Spring Evening” and “The Mystery of the Floating City,” even if there is still endless falling rain and gloom. The camera captures a rough, out-of-focus, intense, film-like picture texture that mimics not only what Pony’s eyes see, but also the visual externalization of his psychological cravings. These two styles of photography, light and dark, day and night, are not really the same for the blind, but for the viewer, there is a strong sense of immersion, and a striking sign of discrimination.
Fellini once said that he likes to collect all kinds of people’s facial photos and put them on the wall, different people’s looks, expressions, happiness, anger and sadness, can stimulate him to associate with the story. The film is full of detailed close-ups, bringing the audience closer to the characters, and fortunately the actors are excellent, withstanding close-ups and observations. The wandering shots connect points of view and emotions, as fluid as Chinese brush strokes, and are the beginning of Lou Ye’s concept of poetic cinema. At this point, the addition of narration is a better legacy in audiovisual language after “A Drunken Night in Spring”.
There is no doubt that Lou Ye, one of the sixth generation directors, is now one of the most accomplished and stylized. What should be recognized is the choice of themes that reveal vision and character. The director of the school of Lu resigned; Wang Quan’an and Wang Xiaoshuai are still taking lessons from the past and can’t get out of the so-called complex; Zhang Yuan has already made custom micro-films for Furniture; Guan Hu is working hard for commercial transformation. Only Jia Zhangke and Lou Ye are left with the film to be the recorder of the present. But Jia Zhangke has the shrewdness of a businessman, while Lou Ye does not resort to anyone’s political ideas and social consciousness. His film is universal, or the delicate little lover, can not get rid of is the eternal proposition about love, even if the packaging is ever-changing. His love of square dancing, and his fascination with tattoos, as well as diffuse, hazy shadows, would become footnotes to his films, adding interest to the author’s thesis study.
Regarding the mismatch between the appearance of Kong’s character and the handsome Guo Xiaodong’s Dr. Wang, this is all a prejudice born of what we see as “seeing people”. As a blind person, beauty or not, it is not as attractive as the breath of the body. The reason for their love is so different from that of able-bodied people.The scene where the note left by Du Hong is passed around is my favorite. The paper is engraved with Braille, and Sha Fuming and the others carefully touch the raised dots, read it, silence, and pass it to the next person, while the able-bodied are not capable of listening to Du Hong’s heart. Read the letter, without the eyes, without the voice, no movie has ever depicted two worlds in this way. And Sha Zongqi massage parlor, they as individuals have experienced the sprinkling of dog blood, and as a group supported by the companionship of the bombardment, in this unannounced goodbye, silent end.