The Golden Horse Award "August", a black-and-white movie, is it really that good?

Poetry and books in literature/dreams

"August" is like an old photo that has been sealed for a long time, and what director Zhang Dalei did was to blow away the dust in the photo and let us look back on the simple memories of a specific era. Unfortunately, the film did not really unfold from the perspective of a child, and the symbolic pile-up was mediocre and empty, which made the black-and-white image feel only a simple feeling.

The film is set in the western town in the early 1990s, and the ordinary life of a family is gradually broken by the wave of reform. What is rare, however, is that although "August" is constantly creating tension, everything is coming slowly in a subtle way. This kind of life focuses on life, constantly ferments feelings through the condensation of life, and is full of emotions in the relief, which makes people feel similar to the effect of An Erlang's film "Without Passing".

Black and white tones run through the film, and the color shooting technique is the finishing touch. Although it did achieve the expected effect of the film, from my personal point of view, the use of black and white tones did not actually infect me for a "Summer Past" that presented the times and took children as the perspective. This is not a work that really makes people feel that black and white tones can create an atmosphere at a deeper level like Schindler's List or Butter, and it is only based on the flow of life.

Looking back at the plot of the film, August is based on the perspective of Xiao Lei, a child facing junior high school. However, Xiao Lei, as the protagonist, doesn't really play a decisive role in this film. It is no exaggeration to say that even if the story is not viewed from Xiao Lei's perspective, it can be established. The movie doesn't really look at everything from a child's point of view, but the plot structure is too chaotic. The duration of the film is more than half, which makes it more difficult to grasp the center of gravity. Although it is undeniable that it is really in place in several emotional scenes, this kind of auspicious words still can't really resonate with people.

Using old photos to describe movies is not an absolute compliment. Although August can make people look back at the imprint of an era, it does not really bring people into that era. It just evokes people's feelings like an old photo, but when you run out of time watching movies, all you see is a photo. Feelings are gone, why don't you feel lacking?