In a sense, an excellent film can not only change our cognition, but also create a rather intertextual aesthetic experience between stories and life, thus forming a two-way expression path between filmmakers and audiences. If the charm of a movie lies in the preservation and reproduction of historical memory, a movie about a movie is more deeply connected with the imprint of the dusty story and the current life. The movie "Chasing the Light" is such a film full of warmth and emotion, full of glory and vicissitudes, and engraved with romance and sincerity in the bones of the filmmakers.
Accompanied by the statement of the famous filmmaker Lu Yan, the stories of Anna May Huang, Li Minwei, Cai Chusheng, Ruan Lingyu, Mei Lanfang and Bruce Lee are presented on the screen. This is like a restoration of the scene, which makes these characters lying quietly in the film history suddenly come to life. Being immersed in the huge theater, not only does not give people a sense of strangeness, but an experiential observation of the reunion of old friends, which boosts the inner will of subjectivity and the inner impact of the film. Under the lens of director Zhang Tongdao, the story of the times and the memory of the past are told. In my opinion, this is not only a renaming of films of films, but also an attitude towards historical truth and ethical choices of memory. Looking back at history, most people only remember the expressions of grand historical narratives, but selectively forget about the insignificant places of history, as well as those times rich in details of life, where beauty and pain coexist. Therefore, "Chasing the Light" provides the audience with this channel of emotional release and expression, and the storytelling vision spans the east-west dimension and the north-south direction.
The story of the filmmaker in "Chasing Light" is not only an emotional projection of historical reference and realistic concern, but also a concrete presentation of contemporary people's attempts to understand the relationship between themselves and the past. From Los Angeles, Shanghai to Beijing and Guangdong, that generation of filmmakers represented the confirmation of individual identity and the certainty after facing indifference; it was also a deafening cry and record at the time of war-torn and national peril. For contemporary people, perhaps this kind of deductive history can penetrate deeper into the hearts of the audience, not only forging the inner spiritual strength of the individual, but also having a unique external ethical influence. Based on this level of thinking, "Chasing the Light" is indeed a transcendental thinking. This transcendence not only points to the subject level of the filmmaker, but also reflects the utopian construction of the inner world of ordinary people, conveying idealism to the audience. This is a sign that the normality of life is not far away.
, of course, as a documentary film. "Chasing Light" must overcome the problems of incomplete preservation of existing materials, historical restoration, and real selection, and maximize the characteristics of artistry, authenticity and documentary. Director Zhang Tongdao uses five-year-long records and creations to reproduce the scenes in a live-action style, and presents some real scenes based on historical archives in a more "softened" manner. Although there are concerns about the ontological thinking of authenticity on this issue, it is handled just right and complements each other in the whole documentary, which not only enhances the film's viewability and immersion, but also interprets the "chasing light" well. The journey of "Million Miles" is turbulent and the beauty of light and shadow.
French historian Antoine Prost stated in his "Twelve Lectures on History": "Man does not get rid of the past that weighs on him by forgetting, but by rediscovering the past, fully consciously accepting it. it in order to integrate it". From this point of view, the meaning and value of history lies in liberating from the past and filling the gap in our understanding, and this gap has become a kind of daily detailed evidence in "Chasing the Light", which can make contemporary people. Looking back at the years of light and shadow, the daily life of youth, and the questioning of faith. In this sense, "History is like a kind of education, it is a place for us to learn freedom, and it is also a means of our freedom". It is for this reason that the film love letter to contemporary people "Chasing the Light" has crossed the field of history, paved the road of ethical goodness, and written the choice of cultural beliefs, which can be echoed in the past, And be able to get some answers to life when looking to the future. (Author: Han Guidong, Assistant Researcher, Ph.D., Department of Humanities, Dalian University of Technology)
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