is shaken and embarrassed on all sides. Ang Lee celebrated his 65th birthday when
was losing out at the box office of "Gemini Killer". The Chinese market, which was originally high hopes, also failed to help Li Ang in trouble. It was released in China for a week, and the cumulative box office was 210 million yuan. produced + announced "Gemini Killer" with an investment of up to 230 million U.S. dollars, and is facing an estimated loss of up to 75 million U.S. dollars. The new film of
is cold, and public opinion is hot. The audience's high attention to Ang Lee is in sharp and dazzling contrast with the rare crowd in the theater. What did "Gemini Killer" do wrong? One word: old. removes the new technology, and what is left is: old themes, old feelings and old themes.
Ang Lee's "Gemini Killer" seems to be an audio-visual innovation, but its essence is self-repetition. The reunion of with the young self is not only happening in Will Smith, but is also being staged in director Ang's self-drowning emotions. Ang Lee on side A is gentle and submissive. On the B side, Ang Lee was "killing his father" and resisting.
1 Obedience and "Father Killing"
In Lee's world, there are three fathers. His biological father Li Sheng, the soul father Bergman, and his father Lang Xiong in the movie. Lee's growth experience is obedience and endurance, while Lee's growth experience is "father killing" and rebellion. In Slaver Zizek's film theory criticism, film is a way of expressing human ideology, and its essence is the projection of human subjective world. In Li Ang's prestigious "Father Trilogy", it is actually a subjective reflection of Li Ang's early experience. Although the stories of "Pushing Hands", "Wedding Banquet" and "Diet Men and Women" are different, the core of the expression is the same: , a family system dominated by an authoritative father, is gradually disintegrating in the trend of the times. "Pushing Hands" ended with father Lao Zhu leaving home sadly.
"Pushing Hands"
"Wedding Banquet" Father raised his hands when he passed the security check. It implies the surrender and concession of the Confucian culture, which takes the filial piety from generation to generation, to the impact of the new style of marriage and love.
In "Diet Men and Women", the father sold his old house, and the originally lively family went away.
Li Ang once said that these films wanted to express: "In a society that is changing too fast, where should filial piety go. People seem to have to accept and catch up with these changes, but it is actually very helpless and melancholy."
Li Ang The "Father's Trilogy" of "Father's Trilogy" shows the exhaustion, struggle and relief of modern people in the Confucian tradition in great detail. In Li Ang's view, the Confucian rules and regulations such as the elder and the inferior and orderly have gradually become invalid in this new world, especially in the West, which advocates individual freedom.
In 2002, Lang Xiong left. Ang Lee couldn't cry after hearing the news. When Lang Xiong was alive, he participated in the shooting of all four Chinese-language films of Li Ang, but after Lang Xiong's death, Ang Li only shot one Chinese film "Lust Caution". Without Lang Xiong, Li Ang could no longer open up the complex of "father" when faced with the familiar and kind Eastern faces.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
Tainan No. 1 High School is the best high school in Tainan, and Li Ang's father Li Sheng is the principal of Tainan No. 1 High School. Studying in Tainan No. 1 High School, Ang Lee's study and life are more like being "ruled." Both times the university entrance exam failed due to poor math scores. Later, Ang passed the junior college exam and entered the film and television department of the Taiwan Arts College. Li An recalled: "I didn't study well, I loved to do drama, and it was my father's least favorite industry... Although I didn't make a big mistake, some helpless, aggrieved, and sorry moods were still deep in my heart. There is a lot of backlog." In 1993, Ang Lee won the Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear Award for his "Wedding Banquet". He was extremely excited to call his father, and his first sentence to him was: "Now you can come back and do some business. Right?"
Li Sheng and Li An Li Sheng are typical Chinese-style fathers, authoritative, arbitrarily, and hopeful of their sons. In his eyes, it is difficult to become a talent in art, the chance of success is small, and the social status is not high. It is better to be a teacher and be respected. He wants to let Li An return to school as soon as possible. And Lee Ang’s childhood and youth can only seek respite in the crevices. The elements of obedience and performance are mostly, and there are few stories of bravery and rebellion. So the "Father Trilogy" is actually the "Father Killing Trilogy". Ang Lee completed what he had not done thoroughly in these three filmsAdolescence expressed his will and resistance in a subtle and subtle way.
At the age of 18, Ang Lee saw Bergman's "Virgin Spring" for the first time in a movie theater. Ang Lee, who has never seen such a literary film in Taiwan, described himself as "electrically shocked, as if he was robbed of his virginity." Since then, Ingmar Bergman has become Lee's soul father in movies. In 2006, Ang Lee, who was filming "Lust and Caution," went to Faroe Island, 80 nautical miles away on the southeast coast of Sweden, to visit the secluded film master Ingmar Bergman. Bergman’s residence has always been a secret. He once refused Woody Allen and Alexander Sokolov’s requests to visit, but he agreed to meet with Ang Lee. He complimented Li Ang's "Ice Storm", and Li Ang was crying on Bergman's shoulder.
In less than a year, Ingmar Bergman passed away. During the filming of "Brokeback Mountain", Li Ang's biological father Li Sheng also drove west. Ang Lee, who had been entangled with his "father" for half his life, suddenly became a rootless wanderer. "Father Killing". It is not to kill the father in real life, but to make efforts to get rid of the expectations given by the previous generation in the growth and choice of each person. Many Chinese audiences in have empathy for Ang Lee's "Father Trilogy", which actually stems from the "father-killing complex" in everyone's heart. People are eager to get rid of the expectations of their parents, but it is difficult to find the courage to be violent and decisive. Li An's gentle and subtle "Father Trilogy" is a warm medicine to soothe the inner suffering of Chinese wanderers.
2, Wen Ru compared to the fifth generation of mainland directors such as Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou against
, Ang Lee's films are more gentle and do not like to emphasize drama. Without the influence of the turmoil that lasted for ten years, Ang Lee, who grew up under Taiwan's traditional education, appeared to have a more Confucian style. When the fifth generation of directors in the mainland tried their best to express the tragic fate of small people under the torrent of the times, Ang Lee focused his lens on human nature. politics is the national language. Human nature is the language of the world. This is also an important reason why Ang Lee can enjoy a high reputation in the international film scene.
After the new millennium, the themes of Ang Lee's films have gradually diversified, showing his broad humanistic vision, involving themes such as ancient costume martial arts, sex, violence, homosexuality, and faith. Even though the subject matter is diverse, Lee An Wenru's narrative method has not changed. During the filming of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Li Ang had a dispute with Wushu director Yuan Heping. Yuan Heping asked Li Ang: "Are you going to fight or artistic conception?" Li Ang replied: "There is an artistic conception to fight." Yuan Heping gave a blank glance: "The literati speaks big words!"
"Dragon", many viewers gradually understand: fighting and killing, grievances and grievances are just the plot. Human nature is melancholy, and hundreds of thousands of turns are the core. Ang Lee's martial arts are not martial arts, but humanistic martial arts. The narrative structure of
Ang Lee's film roughly follows the classic narrative structure of Hollywood's three-acts, with variations on individual nodes. At many stages of dealing with strong contradictions and conflicts, Ang Lee is good at internalizing them into the capture of character psychology. replaces emotions with emotions, showing a very strong author style. Many people like to comment that Ang Lee's style is a combination of Chinese and Western styles, but few people can tell which is Chinese and which is Western in Ang Lee's movies. To put it simply, it is based on the Chinese and the West. uses the peaceful and elegant temperament of the East to express the theme of thinking about human nature with the style of Western classic narrative.
Take "Brokeback Mountain" as an example, this is a same-sex love story in the western United States. According to the usual methods of western movies, the emotions of Jack and Ennis should be warm and unrestrained, but Ang Lee pursues implicit and tolerant expression . His Eastern aesthetic and narrative style coincides with the sensitive and private examination of same-sex love by the world, and finally achieves an unexpected artistic effect.
Li Ang went to church with his mother since he was a child, praying four times a day, and questioning his religious beliefs throughout his growth. But by the time of "The Fantastic Drifting of the Juvenile School", he used the protagonist's mouth to tell his owe to his father, and he has also completed the reconstruction of religion. Ang Lee's film narratives are layered and contradictory, but in the end, they can always reach the highest artistic conception of tolerance, understanding and peace in the name of love. The success of Ang Lee fully demonstrates that in the era of globalization, tradition and modernity, nation and world,In fact, they are not contradictory, but can complement each other.
Some people say that he is a bridge between Chinese and Western film culture and is very appropriate. He is in the East and looks at the West; he is based in the West and misses the East. Ang Lee has been used to playing the role of a compromiser since he was a child. compromise. Not a futility, but wisdom.
3, suffering and medicine
The first draft script of "Gemini Killer" was born 20 years ago. It was a year after the birth of the cloned sheep Dolly, but the project plan was shelved because of the immature technical conditions. When Ang Lee picked up the concept of a clone agent again, this element had lost its originality at the time. For a film with obvious commercial appeals, Ang Lee did many attempts in "Gemini Killer" that he was not good at, but the effect was still not good.
At the same time, Ang Lee also introduced his classic "father-killing" topic for the film. The film emphasizes the process of the young Smith guiding the young Smith to get rid of patriarchal control and re-choose his own life. So I said at the beginning that "Gemini Killer" is just an old and repeated Ang Lee. Ang Lee’s belief in innovation and the old-fashioned story are out of balance. With the extremely limited support for 120-frame screening in theaters, failure is inevitable overnight. The suffering of
is not the first time Ang Li has encountered it. After six years of family cooking, he directed his first movie at the age of 37. Optimistic people say that this is a late bloomer. But only those who are experiencing setbacks can understand what Li An's mediocre first half of life means. During the six years of unemployed, Ang Lee took the children at home, cooked meals, watched movies, and wrote scripts. Once, Li Ang’s father-in-law came to the United States. Seeing Li Ang’s cooking, the mother-in-law said, "Li Ang, you have such a good craftsmanship. I will pay for you to open a restaurant." Ang Lee felt ashamed after listening, but said nothing. In fact, the director Ang Lee will cook every dish cooked by Master Zhu in "Diet for Men and Women". Such a "humiliating" life experience also resulted in the later master Li Ang. His narrative tone is gentle and delicate, and his film mood is broad and profound. After the defeat of
in "Billy Lynn's Midfield War", Ang Lee said: "I am proud of that movie, but I screwed it up. The bitter fruit is hard to swallow." "Gemini Killer" The high frame rate material requires brand-new technology, from makeup to shooting, almost completely abolishing the previous film methods. I have watched a lot of recent interviews with Ang Lee. When talking about the production process of "Gemini Killer", the most he said is that is "too difficult." The suffering of
is also a good medicine for Li Ang's inspiration. Li Ang said more than once that he is not a genius director like Wong Kar-wai, he is just a diligent and hardworking talent. I faintly feel that the successive failures of Ang Lee's movies are not the death knell ringing, but the accumulation of his strength. He is experienced, sensitive, calm and defiant. The storms in life will continue to fill his wings.
After Ang Lee’s "fathers" left this world, Ang Lee turned his attention to the direction of film technology after searching for themes and asking his heart. Artists are most afraid of losing their perception of life. Ang Lee used unprecedented technical challenges to maintain his enthusiasm for movies and to declare his resistance to tradition.
65-year-old Li Ang is still Li Ang. On the A side, he is still gentle and elegant, and on the B side, he is still keen to resist. I like Ang Lee like
.
