Beauty film evaluation

There is hope in despair, passion in sadness, simplicity without dullness, twists and turns without complexity. Among the films officially released at the 30th Montreal International Film Festival, the Chinese-American co-produced film "Shanghai Beauty" won unanimous praise from experts and audiences for its true emotional reproduction and profound realistic theme. The tears in the eyes of the audience when they walked out of the cinema said it all-it was a touching film. It is like a gorgeous robe written by Zhang Ailing, which brings a beautiful sadness.

"In my concept, there are only two kinds of movies, one is touching and the other is not touching." Hollywood director Oscar Costeaux said. He succeeded, and his Shanghai Beauty moved the audience. The film has no grandstanding gimmicks and thrilling scenes, but it can firmly grasp the hearts of the audience. Director Oscar wants to convey to the audience that modern people have too many interests-driven desires, so sometimes they will do whatever it takes to lead to various tragedies. He reminded people to cherish what they have in front of them, which is the most precious thing.

What makes a director who has been a Hollywood commercial film for 30 years pay attention to simple human feelings again and choose such a specific environment as China and Shanghai? In the words of the film actress Vivian Wu, Oscar is a passionate and responsible director who likes to innovate and challenge constantly. The return to nature in film creation also reveals his nature: a frank and caring person.

The inspiration for writing the script comes from Oscar's chat with friends in China. Keen, he found that 10 years ago, China's friends talked to him about trivial things like food and clothing, but since the end of 1990s, people have started to talk to him about business and development. He grasped this subtle change and thought it was a psychological shock brought by capitalization and modernization. Modernization has brought about economic prosperity and development, and at the same time it has bred money worship and mercenary ideas. When wealth becomes the standard to measure a person's value, when money becomes the supreme pursuit of people, intrigue and harming others will become the necessities of this society. Oscar thinks this is two sides of things. So, it took him nine weeks to write and revise the script, and dedicated it as a love letter to his wife, China Vivian Wu. This is probably his answer sheet as China's son-in-law. He successfully analyzed modern China and China people from the perspective of westerners.

"I don't want to hurt anyone, but sometimes people have to use means he doesn't want to use to fulfill their wishes." This line appeared at the beginning of the film in the form of the heroine's monologue, from which the clever audience probably guessed the tone of the film, which contained a helpless sadness, which was the product of the struggle between human nature and reality.

Flashbacks and interludes alternate in the film, and the story takes Zhu Meili's experience as the main line, which leads to various disharmonies in modern life. In fact, it is far more than Zhu Meili who is entangled and struggling. Every character has a series of contradictions. Translation agency's female colleague was indulgent and single-minded, but since she was abandoned by her relatives, she lived a life of self-abandonment and took revenge on men emotionally. Mike, an American tramp, came to China to escape the pain of marriage, and Zhu Meili's lawyer was unable to break his own housework.

In the whole movie, Zhu Meili has three roles: she is a wife who loves her husband, but it is she who sent her husband to the point of no return; She is a mother who loves her children, but she can't accompany her son because of crime; She is still an avenger, but she didn't recognize the real murderer. Therefore, her inner world has undergone three changes, from purity before revenge to guilt after revenge, and then to soul purification after imprisonment. We didn't see her tears when we lost our husband, and we didn't see her anger when we shot the murderer. Everything conveys a volcanic shock to the audience under her seemingly calm appearance.

The attraction of the film comes from the fact that all the people and things in the film are not absolutely perfect. It's so philosophical that the audience needs to understand this film carefully created by the director and actors.

The story of the characters in the film is intertwined with contradictions, but the film is quite complete and unified from beginning to end, including the echo and foreshadowing of many details. For example, the mantissa of Zhu Meili's mobile phone number is "4444", which is a very unlucky number in the consciousness of Chinese people and also indicates the ominous fate of the protagonist. Sunglasses are one of Zhu Meili's crime tools. She wears sunglasses every time she takes revenge. This is a clever contrast, because Zhu Meili in life is simple, natural and faces life. She doesn't need any carving, and she won't be herself when she takes revenge. She needs to hide her identity so that others can't see her true face. Cheongsam is also one of the props for revenge. Every time she wears a red cheongsam for an action, she feels that her husband is around, and she hopes to comfort her husband's death with revenge. Even the heroine's surname-"Zhu" is actually synonymous with red. The jade pendant and bracelet worn by Zhu Meili in the film are ornaments with China and national characteristics. Also, the photographer consciously placed a red color block, a red chair or a red skirt in each shot, which also played a deductive role.

Looking back, let's look at the background of the story-Shanghai. It is no accident that China, a modern metropolis, is chosen as the background. For a long time, most of the China shown by western directors are ignorant and backward, while Oscar, who has a deep understanding of China, wants to present his developed and modern China to movie audiences all over the world. In this sense, Oscar used his Shanghai beauty to create a beautiful business card for modern China. In the film, you can see the rich modern Shanghai style: resplendent Bund, concession buildings with different styles, towering Oriental Pearl TV Tower, busy streets, vibrant dance halls, exquisite and attractive Shanghai snacks ... We want to thank Hollywood, a responsible and fair director, for making such a real and realistic film.