Yangtze River Map film review

Plot analysis of "Picture of the Yangtze River"

Written by Li Ying in 201703

I have never had a good impression of literary films. It wasn't until I unknowingly came across my first literary film not long ago that I realized that it didn't seem to be literary at all, but was still very "funny". While I was interested, I also watched "Yangtze River Pictures", a literary film released in 2016. Just like the literary film "Roadside Picnic" I watched before, when I read the reviews, analyses, and plot introductions of the film afterwards, none of them really understood the story of the film. On a whim, I wrote this plot analysis of "Yangtze River Map".

The heroine Anlu is a wise elf. She can swim in cold water for a long time, faster than ordinary transport ships. She can also invade the minds of mortals and control their actions. There is a narration in the movie that says that in ancient times, a wealthy businessman stayed with a strange woman for one night in an inn, and the woman stole his body the next day. This is an explanation of Anlu's ability. Anlu mostly interacts with the male protagonist Gao Chun by controlling the body of a mortal.

Why does Gao Chun always meet Anlu in different places while the ship is moving forward? Is it possible that Anlu, as an elf, can modify the appearance of mortals after controlling their bodies? no! Did Anlu take control of a mortal's body and use his ability to swim quickly to transport the mortal from one place to another far away? Neither! There are so many people living along the Yangtze River. Anlu looks for similar-looking people in different places, controls these people and associates with Gao Chun, making Gao Chun mistakenly think that these people are the same Anlu. The reason for saying this is as follows: There is a scene where "Anlu" and a female companion went to a temple to ask for a fortune. As soon as the two left, Gao Chun arrived at the same place. Gao Chun slowly turned around and looked up and saw another Anlu. Working on the wall while sitting in a hanging basket wearing overalls. This shows that, at least in the world of movies, it is easy to find two people who look alike. Then Gao Chun chatted with Anlu, who was wearing work clothes, and said, "The Yangtze River has changed, and so have you." In fact, how much can the Yangtze River change in just a few days, and how can Anlu change significantly? The only explanation is that this Anlu and the previous Anlu are actually different people. As mortals, their names are not Anlu, but these mortals are all controlled by Anlu as an elf.

Mortals controlled by Anlu are sometimes very painful. There is a scene in the movie where Anlu and Gao Chun had an affair and were discovered by their husband when they were saying goodbye to Gao Chun at the small dock. The husband couldn't figure it out and attempted suicide. , the woman herself was also very scared, thinking that she was possessed by some "dirty thing" (actually it was), so she went to the temple to practice spiritual practice.

Why did Gao Chun cry when crossing the Three Gorges Dam? In the scene of the affair with the married Anlu, Anlu once said in the conversation with Gao Chun, "You can't live when the river recedes." This shows that Anlu had already partially informed Gao Chun of his elf identity. Anlu himself said that the reason why he met Anlu in different places was because Anlu was practicing. The current practice was to swim upstream and go ashore to do other spiritual work. After reaching the Three Gorges Dam, can Anlu continue to swim across it? Gao Chun shed tears thinking about this. Later, Gao Chun and Anlu met again. Gao Chun said: "The Yangtze River has changed. I'm worried that I will never see you again."

Why does Anlu always have to meet with Gao Chun? Those who answer "because of love" should be careful, are they a little bit crazy? It can't be because of love. Nuo is as big as the Yangtze River, and how many young men Anlu has been hanging out in for more than a day or two. Gao Chun is a newbie here, and Anlu, a man of integrity, can take a liking to him at a glance? The answer is obviously that poetry collection. The places where Anlu appears are always the places where poems are left in the poetry collection. This shows that Anlu has a close relationship with the poetry collection. It is because of this poetry collection that Anlu and Gao Chun met frequently.

Who wrote the poem? It's Anlu. In one scene, Anlu climbed ashore from the water, walked into the room, spread out an empty notebook to dry, and wrote something in it. This empty notebook was the same size and shape as a collection of poems. In fact, after reading this article, we will know that it does not matter at all who wrote this collection of poems, and it does not affect the development of the entire story at all.

The collection of poems was found in the boat. Where did the collection of poems come from? Those who answered that the collection of poems came from Gao Chun’s father would find it disgusting. Anlu and Gao Chun had an affair because of the collection of poems. If the collection of poems was already owned by Gao Chun's father, then Anlu and Gao Chun's father were not only having an affair. Gao Chun and his son are not rich people. Is this kind of love possible? The other two boatmen on the ship also had nothing to do with Anlu, which means that before Gao Chun, no one on the ship had anything to do with Anlu, which indirectly means that before Gao Chun, the collection of poems was not on the ship. It was Gao Chun's first time on board the ship, and he was surprised to find this collection of poems under the engine by accident. It was also his first time to read this collection of poems. Obviously, Gao Chun did not bring the collection of poems on board.

Who brought the poetry collection on board? It's Anlu! How did Anlu bring the collection of poems on board? This is very simple. As an elf who is not afraid of the cold and can stay in the water for a long time, it is easy to hide a book of poetry under the engine in the dead of night. Why did Anlu put his poetry collection on the ship where Gao Chun was? Still the same question, why did Anlu fall in love with Gao Chun? It was because of that rare and large fish that was stolen.

This big fish is no ordinary natural fish.

In the second half of the movie, Gao Chun's boat anchored in the river. Gao Chun could not lift the anchor even with all his strength. Suddenly there was a noise, and when I went to look again, the anchor could already be raised. At this time, the figure of the big fish could be seen in the water next to the boat, and the sound of the fish could also be heard. Obviously, this fish is also spiritual and an elf. . So how deep is the path of this fish? There is a poem in Anlu's collection of poems, "I want to thank the huge fish-shaped creature in the river. If it eats me, don't complain, but understand." This shows that the fish Anlu wants to save is probably Anlu's "superior leader."

How do Anlu and Rare Big Fish plan to deal with the three people on this boat? Wu Sheng, a young boatman, was the only one among the three who knew the truth about the smuggling. He was guilty. Killing this man was very simple and no brainer. In the scene in the movie, Wu Sheng accidentally fell into the river. For a boatman, this was not a big deal, but strangely, at this moment, the engine that had been stopped suddenly started running, and Wu Sheng died like this. To deal with the remaining two uninformed people, she (they) did not want to kill innocent people indiscriminately. The big fish in the boat repeatedly and inexplicably stopped the engine, which made the superstitious old boatman think of supernatural powers. The first thing he thought of was the little black fish caught by Gao Chun. In this case, Anlu secretly The little black fish was released by the ground, and the superstitious old boatman naturally thought of the big fish, so the old boatman’s words about the rare big fish came out, “Let this fish go, and the whole river will come alive.” .

How to deal with Gao Chun? Gao Chun is not superstitious. When he was chatting with Anlu, he once said, "I can't do it in practice, and no one around me has seen it done." Besides, Gao Chun is the captain, and it is important to transport the goods safely to the destination. The "responsibility" of the captain, and there are huge economic interests here, and even his own life is at stake, so Gao Chun will never let the big fish go because of the old boatman's superstitious ideas. The strategy to deal with Gao Chun is to use Anlu to lure Gao Chun ashore and let the old boatman do things alone.

Some people may ask, towards the end of the film, Gao Chun on the previous boat handed the collection of poems to Anlu, and Gao Chun on the latter boat took the collection of poems and tore them up. What happened? In that sparsely populated scene, Anlu couldn't find a mortal to control his mind and body, so he had to use the elf himself to communicate with Gao Chun. At first, Anlu's voice was only heard but not his person. Later, Anlu transformed into a boat and sailed. In front of Gao Chun's boat, there were Anlu and Gao Chun on the boat in front. The "spiritual Gao Chun" who likes poetry and is on the previous boat shows the poetry collection to Anlu, and may also tell Anlu the "secret" of this poetry collection. On the real boat behind him, the real Gao Chun steps forward. Took away the poetry collection and tore it into pieces. Because in Gao Chun's view, Anlu was controlled by this collection of poems, Gao Chun tore up the collection of poems, hoping to liberate Anlu. In fact, we know that this collection of poems has no magic power. The function of the collection of poems is only to tell Gao Chun where to get off the boat to find Anlu, rather than Anlu having to follow the guidance of the collection of poems and go ashore to practice at a fixed place. So it doesn't matter what this collection of poems without magic contains.

Quite a few film reviews said that as the ship moved forward, Anlu became younger and younger. This statement has no basis. Throughout the movie, Anlu's age is between his 20s and 30s. In our daily lives, we tend to look at the people around us who are in their teens. In the movie, Anlu appears so many times, and he looks younger every time. A little, so the person who said this is so sharp that he can accurately tell the age gap of 3 to 5 years by his appearance. This is incredible!

At the end of the film, Gao Chun came to Anlu’s hometown and saw the grave of Anlu’s mother. A man was standing by, probably Anlu's father. In the last section, elements such as the source of the Yangtze River and prayer flags are very suitable for artistic young people's "elevating pursuit" of art. In this kind of artistic sublimation, the film ends. Is this really the end? Why did Gao Chun go to Anlu's hometown? You want to thank Anlu for saving his life. Wouldn't it be nice to ask for a memorial tablet to honor Anlu? If we return to Anlu's hometown, can we find Anlu who is still practicing in the Yangtze River? Is Anlu willing to tell Gao Chun the location of his true hometown? Is it necessary to tell Gao Chun clearly where his mother's grave is? My father always stays by the cemetery and it’s not like no one is visiting the grave. Even if Anlu told Gao Chun the location of his mother's cemetery, how difficult would it be to find this small dirt bag hundreds of kilometers away in a deserted wilderness with sparse people and no surface signs to follow.

My answer is that Anlu did not save Gao Chun, but took over Gao Chun's body. It was Anlu himself who returned to his mother's cemetery. He went home to see his mother and father. Originally, after the big fish escaped, Anlu had no need to contact Gao Chun anymore. Now it seems that the purpose of Anlu's continued contact with Gao Chun is to wait for Gao Chun to be killed and occupy his body. In the scene where Gao Chun tears up his collection of poems, the reason why Gao Chun's ship was stopped again was because Gao Chun was walking too fast and Anlu couldn't catch up by land.

Recalling Gao Chun lying in a pool of blood and Anlu's charming smile under the water, it was so kind and beautiful that it chilled people to the bone.