Some Movies I've Watched Recently
Ever since watching Jiang Wen’s mockery of film critics in “Hidden Man”, I have stopped writing “film reviews”, but I have been watching movies all along. In the past half-year, although cinemas were closed, I still watched quite a few movies.
“The Eight Hundred” — “The Eight Hundred” was the most anticipated film after cinemas reopened. The war scenes were realistic and satisfying, and the film also buried quite a few tear-jerker moments. Wang Qianyuan and Zhang Yi’s acting was on point. Jiang Wu didn’t leave much of an impression, I don’t know if it was due to the character or his acting. I got to know Ou Hao well from this film; he might be a good actor in the future. Overall, I felt there were too many character lines in the whole play, and the thought Guan Hu wanted to express was not clear. A few main characters could be cut, and the character settings could be more multi-faceted. However, when visiting Shanghai again, checking in at the Sihang Warehouse is a must.
“Tenet” — I watched spoilers and explanations in advance, and then went to see the original film. I felt it was a popular science film made by Nolan, explaining time reversal to the audience through the story. Fearing the audience wouldn’t understand, he had to explain it to the audience through a lot of dialogue from time to time. So, a simple cliché story of a hero stopping a villain from destroying the earth lasted for a full 2.5 hours. I’m curious, if I hadn’t watched the explanation in advance, would I have understood it? But in reality, one cannot step into the same river twice. Perhaps in the world of “Tenet”, one can.
“The Troubleshooters” — Mi Jiashan’s “The Troubleshooters” was released in 1989. The most impressive point was the fashion show at the TTT Literature Prize award ceremony. On a small runway, the conflicts of different eras in vertical time, and the conflicts of different classes and ideologies in the same era, vividly expressed the anxiety of the era of great change. What does the word “Wan Zhu” (Troubleshooters) mean? Is it a master of stubborn thinking? Every client of TTT in the play can be called a “Wan Zhu”, because in a “normal” society, needs are not met, so they meet their needs through this company that pays special industry taxes. The partners of TTT company can also be called “Wan Zhu”. Yu Guan can break up in order not to go to night school. Yang Zhong only talks about life with female customers and does not hook up with them. Ma Qing curses whoever he catches.
“The Man Standing Next” — A group of rogue soldiers playing politics. Kim Jae-gyu and Cha Ji-chul vying for the favor of Park Geun-hye’s father. Park Chung-hee has these brothers who rebelled with him back in the day completely under his thumb. A single sentence, “Am I not right by your side? Do what you want to do,” is enough to make his subordinates go through fire and water and kill each other. Ideology is nothing but a fig leaf for power struggles.
Published at: Jan 18, 2020 · Modified at: Dec 4, 2025
