What kind of movie is "Alien Space" starring Leslie Cheung?

People and everything are all about fate, and the same is true for movies. In the summer of 2002, I got the DVD of "Alien Space" and only watched the beginning. Before Leslie Cheung appeared, I turned off the phone and stopped watching. Why? I was frightened by the scary atmosphere at the beginning! Ever since "The Ring" seriously hurt my fragile heart, I have sworn to refuse horror movies. Who would have expected that my favorite Leslie Cheung would also make a horror movie? What is he trying to do? There are endless themes to choose from, so why waste your acting skills on the plethora of horror movies? With so many major directors looking for him to film, why did he keep cooperating with the unknown Mr. Luo Zhiliang? ...With these many question marks, I put away "Alien Space" and concentrated on waiting for Leslie Cheung's new film. At that time, there was already news that he was preparing a love movie directed by himself.

In the summer of 2003, I had the courage to dig out "Alien Space" and watch it. There were more question marks, hoping to find explanations in this movie.

At first glance, I was speechless.

This movie was completely different from what I imagined. This is not a horror film, but a quite sincere psychological suspense film. Although there are some supernatural plots and scenes, it only tells you an anti-supernatural conclusion through these supernatural fragments. The whole film does not even appear suddenly. The grimaces and ferocious flesh and blood will stimulate your eyeballs, and only the tense atmosphere runs through the whole story under the calm performance. Yes, calmly, you are watching the metropolis being prosperous as usual, with people coming and going, and the wheels of time moving forward step by step. The hidden loneliness and despair are silently biting every sensitive heart, even if the sun is shining brightly indoors and outdoors. , the male and female protagonists laugh and talk happily, but the shadow is still looming, allowing you to relax for no moment.

For me personally, this kind of tension does not bring a sense of terror, but a kind of breathless depression. The space is not vast, but the distance between people is so far, so far, and even further is the distance between oneself and oneself. Everyone does not know their true inner self. Zhang Xin's sister and brother-in-law don't understand Zhang Xin, and their parents don't understand Zhang Xin. Zhang Xin doesn't understand Zhang Xin either. Only Luo Zhengliang understands Zhang Xin, and everyone doesn't understand Luo Zhengliang, not even Luo Zhengliang himself. Without understanding Luo Zhengliang, only Zhang Xin finally understood Luo Zhengliang... In the vast modern city, only these two people were struggling to save each other and struggling to fight against their own inner demons.

If I could have watched this movie carefully before Leslie Cheung left, I would have had purer thoughts; however, missing it means missing it. Nowadays, there are too many irrelevant factors interfering with the understanding of the movie. This is also me, self-inflicted, irresistible, inner demon.

This time I saw Leslie Cheung appear. He didn't jump out of that big, empty room as I originally imagined. He had nothing to do with that big room at all. He was Luo Zhengliang, a psychiatrist with both virtue and skill. He was dressed in a sober gray suit and black tie. Under the gaze of many scholars, he talked freely about the "no ghost theory": There were no ghosts in the world, but when more people thought about it, ghosts appeared. This speech is an "eye" of the entire film, and it is also one of the most commendable performances in the entire film in my opinion. In Hong Kong, three types of professionals, doctors, lawyers, and architects, have a very high status and often appear in movies. However, it is difficult for ordinary actors to perform that kind of noble temperament. Big stars are often more chic than generous, with a sense of dignity. Strong "star flavor". However, Leslie Cheung, who is recognized as the most "star-like" person, has successfully suppressed his personal charm and positioned Dr. Luo as a professional so accurately, which is really surprising. During his speech, he walked around the stage and off the stage, answering audience questions alternately in fluent Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. His posture was calm and generous, his speech was clean and neat, and his expression was confident but humble, which fully reflected the beauty of a professional's work. This kind of work beauty is also reflected in the film when Zhang Xin seeks medical treatment for the first time, but sitting in the office he has another kind of down-to-earth temperament, which is different and unique from the demeanor displayed during the speech. The reason why Leslie Cheung did not accept commercial blockbusters from famous directors but accepted Luo Zhiliang's low-cost movies again and again was, he said, not only because of Luo Zhiliang's talent, but also because the roles assigned to him by Luo Zhiliang never changed. It's never been repeated, and every character has plenty of room for interpretation.

Lin Jiaxin’s acting skills are so good, that is another surprise. In the showbiz world where there are so many beauties, this girl is not outstanding in appearance, and her figure is even more plump. When it comes to beauty, her sweet smile may be the only one that can be called extremely beautiful, but there is something special about her that does not belong to her. Her gentle and calm temperament at this age is unforgettable. The first half of "Alien Space" does not show her beautiful smile, let alone gentleness and calmness. What we see is an introverted and almost gloomy girl with problems, her shoulders are always tense, and her hair is always covered Half of her face, her nails are always edged with black, her eyes are always evasive... The whole person feels wet, like a corner where the sun never shines, covered with greasy moss, and the dark green color of her residence is even more... deepened this impression. Lin Jiaxin expresses these characteristics very naturally, and the shrinkage emanates from the inside out. Even if she doesn't have many lines, you can still see her inner tension and depression.

This movie as a whole does not have many lines, and many psychological changes are performed by subtle facial expressions, so there are very frequent close-ups. This is certainly a treat for the viewer, but it is also a testament to the actor's skill. test. Halfway through the film, Luo Zhengliang came to Zhang Xin's house: "I have no friends, can you be my friend?" Zhang Xinhui smiled slyly: "Do you want to ask me out on the street?" There was a look on Luo Zhengliang's face. The shyness and embarrassment exposed... This plot is a bit abrupt just from the lines, but the audience will feel it is very natural, because the two actors have already made sufficient preparations in the previous performances, although it is only fleeting. Eyes or movements, but whether it is the exchange of eyes when walking side by side, or the gaze on each other's backs, each of the detailed close-ups fully demonstrates the growth of mutual emotions. Especially in the swimming pool, Zhang Xin swam up to Luo Zhengliang and smiled. Luo Zhengliang grabbed her hands and stared at her. Zhang Xin's eyes flashed, he lowered his head with a smile, and broke away... To science and The discussion of metaphysics should be the theme of this film, but these subtle emotional elements make this discussion more humane, real and logical.

What shows the most skill is Leslie Cheung’s interpretation of Luo Zhengliang as he gradually becomes a demon. Luo Zhengliang had already had some clues of this inner demon in the process of treating Zhang Xin. Facing Zhang Xin's medical records, the scenes that emerged in his mind turned out to be not from Zhang Xin but from himself; When Xiaoyu's mother smashed a water glass on his head, panic and confusion caused him to completely reveal the long-buried past intentionally or unintentionally... Maybe everyone will encounter some painful experiences in their life, but like a young man, Apart from burying it deeply and trying our best to forget what Luo Zhengliang is facing, is there any good way to deal with it? Is there any other way to live quietly in the rest of my life? Once the inner demons are released, they are immediately unstoppable. This calm and composed senior psychiatrist gradually becomes a mental patient, with trembling hands, a frightened and helpless expression, and eyes full of red threads - who can tell me what the red threads are? How did you perform it? Also, the scene where he electrocuted himself was so lifelike and terrifying. Could it be that Leslie Cheung really electrocuted himself? Since this person can actually draw a tube of his own blood in the movie he directed, it is not impossible for him to give him a real electric shock. To be honest, many of Leslie Cheung's movies seem heartbreaking now, not entirely because of the plot, but because you can see his intentions, which are so careful that you feel that every movie is consuming his life. This state of immersion makes people sigh without restraint.

The plot progresses layer by layer, and the processing is clear and smooth-he begins to sleepwalk. The sleepwalking plot was not in the original script. It was proposed by Leslie Cheung and added with the director's approval, further intensifying Luo Zhengliang's self-struggle predicament. This scene was also the most difficult one Leslie Cheung admitted to shoot: first he sank down completely, sinking so much that there was no sparkle in his eyes, and became a walking corpse; then he was suddenly awakened by the alarm clock and was instantly pulled out of his dream. , turned around and joked as usual. What is even more praised by the industry is the part where he is possessed by a ghost and talks to himself: "Please let me go and stop following me! I will follow you for the rest of my life! You will never be able to escape for the rest of your life!"... Photographer Wong Yuet-tai, a former director, said: "Usually when an artist shoots such a schizophrenic scene, he needs different lighting on his face to fully express it; but Leslie Cheung did not use any lighting tricks and performed this kind of schizophrenia in one straight shot. Profound and truly extraordinary."

Leslie Cheung once said that he does not consider how to "act" a person, but considers the person he "is". Determine every move based entirely on the character, so as to ensure a realistic performance. Many of his films fully embody his spirit-possessed interpretation concept, and later works such as "Alien Space" are more prominent, such as the scene near the end of the film when the truth is revealed: he was sleepwalking first, then in a daze. Staring blankly ahead, eyes full of tears; woke up by the alarm clock, lowered his head blankly, saw the old things in his hands, and completely collapsed... You can't see the actor's presence in the whole scene, his collapse and madness It comes completely from the heart and is reflected in every detail of the body: the facial muscles are shaking uncontrollably, the eyes are out of focus, and they are blood red. Even the hands he holds Zhang Xin, if you look carefully, they are twitching, and the fingers are tightened together. , the joints are stiff and unable to bend. ...Comparing him in the first half of the film with his appearance in the second half is particularly shocking. Leslie Cheung was nominated for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards for this film. He is indeed well-deserved. I remember some comments said : "The ghost film has reached this point, leaving people speechless!"

At the end of the film, Luo Zhengliang is pushed onto the rooftop, which also pushes the entire plot to a climax, and at the same time exposes the flaws in the entire film. of flaws. According to Director Luo's later explanation, his concept was originally just to reflect the loneliness of urban people and the various heart diseases caused by it. As Luo Zhengliang summarized in the opening of the film: "In fact, ghosts do not exist at all. They are all information, some Garbage information is playing tricks on your mind, so I hope you will stop talking about it in the future.

"However, this concept was opposed by other decision-makers on the crew. In the end, Director Luo followed the crowd and revised the script, so that Xiaoyu, who had been existing in the hallucination, really appeared as a female ghost, and could be moved, cry, and kiss... But Leslie Cheung's long monologue in front of the camera is full of true feelings and touching, giving a reasonable explanation to this situation that is both true and false: "You finally brought me back here. I know what I have to do. You want me to jump. You want me to die. But I want to tell you that I have never been happy. You will not be happy even if you die. What right do I have to be happy? But I really want to forget you, really really want to forget you. If I could die to satisfy you and make you happy, I would do it. Do you think that after I go down, you can forget the unpleasant things in the past? Some things are broken and cannot be repaired. We will never forget it, and we will never forget it. ...We have been happy and miserable together before, and I will remember both, and I will not forget everything like before. I will die with you. "I can't describe the changes in Luo Zhengliang's expression here one by one. Please pay careful attention to the long shot and close-up of this paragraph. The expression on his expression in every sentence is remarkable and thought-provoking.

On the surface, It was Zhang Xin who saved Luo Zhengliang; in fact, it was Luo Zhengliang who saved himself. Just as Zhang Xin's inner demons were solved by facing up to the crux and fighting poison with poison, the same was true for Luo Zhengliang, who was forced to face the desperate situation and face it frankly. He and his inner demons were redeemed at the same time and returned to peace. This peace was different from the peace of the past and was not an illusion.