A Brief Introduction to the Story of "Knight in the City with Double Revelation"

A Brief Introduction to the Story of "Knight in the City with Double Revelation" | Appreciation | Reflection

1990 color film for 90 minutes

Produced by China Xi 'an Film Studio.

Director: He Ping Screenplay: Yang Heping Photography: The main actors: Gao Wei (as a little brother), mana Zhao (as a good girl), Sun (as a knife fairy), Changjiang (as a cripple) and Sha Fei.

This film won the 1990 Japan Xizhang International Adventure Fantasy Film Festival Best Film Award; 1992 hong kong film awards, one of the top ten best Chinese films; 1993 Berlin International Film Festival Young Directors' Works Award

abstract

Vast desert, thousands of miles of crazy sand. A child in a sheepskin coat with a knife on his leg is riding on horseback and galloping between boundless heaven and earth.

"This is a story that happened in the west of China" (voiceover) ...

As the lens moves horizontally from right to left, the two peaks are like a curtain that slowly opens, and a channel gradually emerges. There is a swordsman drinking horses by the well in the distance. He is Sha Li Fei, claiming that "Fiona Fang knows Fiona Fang for five hundred miles".

I don't know when, two masked swordsmen appeared on the top of the sand dune, watching sand and stones flying. As soon as Sha Li Fei noticed something, he quickly rode to get his weapon. At this time, a coin flew over and hit the sand's hand. The masked swordsman asked in the distance, "Do you know a man named Yi Daoxian?" The sand was silent, the two sides hesitated for a moment, and the two musketeers led the horse away. Sand Li Fei cursed in the wilderness.

Suddenly, he seemed to smell something, suddenly pulled out his knife and looked around. In a blink of an eye, the mountain pass is full of wind and sand. At this time, the child's brother appeared in front of Sha Li Fei on a good horse. Sha Li Fei asked the boy where his brother was going. Knowing that he was going to Shuangqi Town to pick up his daughter-in-law, he "borrowed money" from his brother and children, who gave Sha Li Fei half of his wedding money. Sha Li Fei claimed that Fiona Fang was within 500 miles, as long as he had something to do, he called him, and then he shouted, "Kill the rich and help the poor, eliminate violence and be virtuous." .

Shuangqi Town looks desolate and cold in the cold wind of the desert. Two flagpoles stand in the town. The children's brothers rode through the town, and there were bursts of barking from the roadside. People looked at the child with a knife beside his calf and whispered from time to time ... At this time, two masked swordsmen also came to Shuangqi Town. They walked up to Brother Tong, and one of them suddenly put a knife rest on Brother Tong's neck and asked, "Have you seen Dao Xian?" The younger brother shook his head.

Brother Tong inquired about his daughter-in-law's whereabouts and told others: "Before he died, my father said that she had a mole on her * *, and her father-in-law was lame."

Early in the morning, my good sister came out to pour water and stepped on my brother lying in front of the door. There is still a long way to go before people fall out with the pot! My good sister began to cry. My good sister's father, the cripple, couldn't help talking when he saw it. When he came up, he hit his brother, and the brother quickly said, "kowtow to my father-in-law, kowtow to my father-in-law!" " The lame man is still playing.

At this time, a group of knights rode to the town. Everyone is murderous, and some people exclaim, "The Knife Fairy is coming!" The people in the town are in chaos. Only two masked swordsmen came forward. The two sides confronted each other for a moment, turned over and dismounted, and came over with great pride. A masked swordsman said bitterly, "I've been looking for you for seven years!" " Give me a knife! "Then he shouted and rushed at the knife fairy. A sword fairy was expressionless. When he drew his sword, he only heard a swish, and the masked swordsman fell to the ground. Another masked swordsman saw this situation and immediately fell to his knees and handed the knife. A knife fairy's partner came forward and hacked him to death! A line of people immediately and roared off.

In the evening, the lame man said to Brother Tong, "My leg was lost in a knife battle, so I can't follow your father in the future. Opening such a store is just to make a living. " Brother Hai once again stressed that his father asked him to find a wife. The lame man asked him to stay first.

In the middle of the night, the lame man saw the child's brother practicing "static body exercises as a child", which was quite disapproving.

The younger brother and children began to work in the shop. The lame man said that Shuangqi Town should have "three straights": straight eyes, straight hands and straight feet. You can't pry, you can't talk nonsense with outsiders, the world is chaotic, and there are more people seeking revenge. If you make a mistake, you will die.

The lame man said, "Your father's swordsmanship is unique in the Jianghu. He defeated countless swordsmen and greatly expanded the northwest. This kind of knife method absorbs the essence of fist palm. In the layman's view, it is very simple, there is no glimpse of the knife, no sound of breaking the wind. But in the opinion of experts, this kind of knife method is to push the knife with gas and bring gas with the knife. You can't practice without excellent internal skills. Its essence lies in the knife and the final blow. "

The next morning, brother and sister went out for a walk. The braid behind my brother's head caused the children in the town to laugh. My good sister ran home in a rage. Yelling at dad, "Get rid of him! Get rid of him! " The lame man said, "Brother Baby came to visit his relatives, but Dad disdained you and refused to betroth you to him."

Brother Tong galloped on horseback in the vast desert, vigorous and elegant as an eagle in the sky and Youlong in the water. The brother of the child continued to help the lame during the day. The lame man told the boy to cut a piece of meat with an axe. "Look diligently, ask diligently, and work diligently." Brother Tong saw the lame man chopping for a long time without moving. He said, "Let me try." Brother Tong's eyes closed slightly, and the knife suddenly flew out of its sheath, and the meat broke in two like tissue paper. My good sister saw it in her eyes and left silently. In the evening, my brother greeted my sister: Is there a mole on * * *? If you have a mole, you are my wife. Good sister is silent. Brother Tong had no choice but to peek at his sister's bath, only to be found by the lame and beaten up again.

Three fine horses walked into Shuangqi Town with a puff of smoke. Jumped down at once, and the three swordsmen swaggered into the lame man's pub. After a burst of overeating, the gang insulted their good sisters in front of everyone! The lame man couldn't stand to stop and was forced back by a bright sharp knife. * * * Dafa's knife bandits tore my sister's coat, and my sister kept shouting! People leave it alone. At this moment, Brother Tong suddenly shouted, "Don't touch her! She is my wife. " The knife bandit let go of his good sister and went to the child's brother to scold and beat ... Just as the knife bandit was preparing to commit a crime, a knife light flashed. Suddenly, he was bleeding profusely, and the knife bandit died! Seeing this, the two knife bandits who got together made a dash for the road. The town became a mess. Someone exclaimed: "Is Dao Xian easy to provoke? Kill his brother, this beast has not bloodbath our Shuangqi town! "

That night, in front of the red candle and the red tent, the lame man betrothed his good sister to his brother. And warned the good sister: "From now on, he gave birth to you, and he died and you died." Good sisters and good children can't afford to kneel.

Early in the morning, when the child's brother left Shuangqi Town, many people gathered around. Someone said, "knife elder brother, you can't leave. You left and the fairy came. How can we explain it? " Others said, "If you don't promise us, you will die here on your knees!" Others said, "If you get rid of a knife fairy, you will be the benefactor of the whole town!" Finally, they promised to use the lives of the lame and good sisters as a guarantee to let Haige go to the sand to rescue Shuangqi Town.

Hai Ge found Sha, asked him out and took out all his wedding money. Sha Lifei promised: "Two days later, I will see you at the flagpole in Shuangqi Town in the morning." Hai Ge returned to Shuangqi Town hopefully.

A knife fairy led all the swordsmen to Shuangqi Town day and night. A red sun emerged from the vast desert, and two flagpoles trembled slightly in the high wind. Disciples sat alone under the flagpole, waiting for the sand and the knife fairy. When the bell struck the third time in the morning, the child's brother realized that Sha Li Fei would not come. His hands began to shake! Just then, a knife fairy and his party appeared in the town! A knife fairy came to the flagpole with a murderous face, and the lame man came forward with a knife and was killed by the knife fairy; The blacksmith stepped forward and died tragically under the fairy knife; The old man who nailed the horseshoe teased a knife fairy with the power of wine and became a ghost under the knife of the knife fairy! A knife fairy finally came to the flagpole with a mixed blood and fought a life-and-death battle with Brother Tong. I don't know when and where a piece of wild sand was rolled up, and the sound of a sword came from the center of this wild sand! Subsequently, a stream of blood flowed from the forehead of the child's younger brother; A knife fairy turned away with a smile on her face, but she fell to the ground after a few steps and never got up again.

At this time, the sand hiding behind the mountain to watch the "play" rode a horse. Although Hai Ge defeated Dao Xian, the treacherous sand deeply hurt his heart. He and his good sister rode away from Shuangqi Town.

Distinguish and appreciate

In the history of China's martial arts movies, The Knight with Two Signs is a unique work. On the basis of maintaining the visual space of traditional martial arts movies (desert, wilderness, town, street, humble room, etc. ), director He Ping "rewrote" the character pedigree and plot structure of traditional martial arts movies, including martial arts programs, and introduced a new narrative style and new spiritual character to contemporary martial arts movies: the causal plot structure in the past martial arts movies, the double ending of good and evil, and the kind of crisis. When the long-awaited rescuer didn't appear as scheduled, the ferocious knife bandits finally came, and the survival of "Shuangqi Town", the life and death of men, women and children, finally fell on a child! But the child's hope falls on the knight's lies! Although a knife fairy was finally killed by Tong Ge's knife, an indescribable sadness lingered in "Shuangqi Town" for a long time. Because: the enemy is still there, the liar is still at large, people are still watching, and my brother and good sister are just traveling far away. ...

The chivalrous world shown in "The Chivalrous Man in Shuangqi Town" is a heroic world without heroes: neither the younger brother of the blood-blade enemy nor the sword fairy who wanders the rivers and lakes, they are not mythical heroes in traditional martial arts films, they are not only full of human flesh and blood and spirituality, but also doomed by the fate that people cannot escape. However, in this film, it is full of heroism. It is in the wild sand of the desert, in the torrent of the long river, in the sword shadow shining with cold light, and in the smile of the knight before he died. Together, they have created a realm of life that values faith, acts willfully, abandons wealth and forgets life and death! This state is the author's mind, and it is also the humanistic spirit and aesthetic value of the film.

In The Knight of Shuangqi Town, the expression level and the expressed level are always stitched together. The "opening ceremony" of the film can be said to be a typical example of this kind of "splicing": as the camera moves horizontally from right to left, two peaks slowly open like a curtain, and a passage gradually emerges, and a swordsman is drinking horses in the distance. Here, the movement of the lens, the change of the image and the unfolding of the story are completely isomorphic. The "negotiation" between Tong Ge and Yi Daoxian was conducted in a space divided into two parts by a black pillar: sincerity and deception, simplicity and treachery, commitment and lies. The space on both sides of the pillar is completely two worlds! He Ping's careful operation of the film language machine is not limited to the design and manufacture of a shot and a scene, but more prominent is the control of the overall visual and psychological rhythm of the film. He Ping divides the whole narrative time into nine 10 minutes, that is, nine narrative paragraphs, according to the specific theme, genre and spatial form of the film. ① Among the nine narrative units, there are 76 large plot space switches. With the development of the plot and the approach of the core conflict, the number of spatial shots in each segment changes step by step (see the figure below), thus realizing the dual control of the narrative rhythm of the film and the psychological rhythm of the audience.

Time period: the number of scene changes is 1. Lu Yu's brother is flying sand and stones. When Er Er Ge entered the city, a knife fairy appeared. 4: 3 A sword fairy killed the Avengers, and Brother Tong entered the lame man's house. Brother and sister know each other and know each other. Brother Bao killed Sir Zhong, and the town was in a panic. When the townspeople failed to stop their younger brother and children, Sha Li Fei promised to help him and killed him.

The townspeople rushed to Shuangqi Town and were surprised that their brother didn't come back. 10 7 Brother is back in town. He comes with a knife all the time. 15 8 a knife fairy entered Shuangqi town and killed people. Kidd and his good sister left Shuangqi Town. three

After reading Knight of Shuangqi Town, you will find that the design and production of image is the director's most painstaking and hard work. He always emphasizes the expressive function of visual image on the basis of literary materials provided by drama. At the same time, he did not "jump" into the "image strange circle" of conceptual metaphor, and the connotation of rational speculation has never been highlighted in the perceptual form of images. He Ping always lets images, music and rhythm affect the audience's feelings. He "wants to turn the process of watching movies into a process of visual enjoyment" and let them experience and feel the charm of the movie itself. Let them feel the fluctuation of mood at that moment, the tremor of soul at that moment! And this perceptual power is the most primitive power of the image.

Based on the emphasis on film images and perceptual forms, He Ping also formed his own film creation (production) mode. He never shuts himself in a room on paper, but always tries to find the visual environment where the story takes place and conceive his own movies in a specific atmosphere. If the visual environment he needs does not exist in the real world, then he will create the environment of this story. Just like in "Knight in Shuangqi Town", in order to restore the style of the town on the ancient Silk Road more than 1000 years ago, he and his team built Shuangqi Town, the central scenic spot of the film, in the depths of Gansu desert. All the buildings in the town are copied according to the Han and Tang styles, including the posts for tying horses from Xi 'an. Different from some directors, he didn't write the script first and then "see the scenery", but after the story idea of the film was basically formed, he went to the "actual" scenery to complete the idea process of the film. Compared with the learning-oriented film drama, his creative method is obviously closer to the film itself.

No feature film can be without conflict. Conflict is the "headache solution" of movies. In this sense, directing is the art of creating and controlling film conflicts. The reason why He Ping's films are intriguing and sometimes unexpected is that the conflict mode he designed and produced is unique. As far as the narrative form of film language is concerned, He Ping adopts the conflict grammar of "reverse order structure" and the audience induction strategy of "playing hard to get". He Ping's "style" of this language has begun to appear in some paragraphs of Chuan Dao Yoshiko (Japanese spy Chuan Dao). In "The Knife of Shuangqi Town", the death of the Knife Fairy is the superb pen of this "reverse structure"! After a series of swords and swords and a gust of wind, the deceased smiled, towards the distant; The living man's forehead was covered with blood, but he stood still. This is not Hollywood-style mystifying, and the plot that constitutes the "reverse structure" is based on the mood of the character: "The pain of being a knife fairy is that he has no opponent." (He Ping) As a knight, once you find your opponent, you will have your own "joy of death"! Although the child's blood blade is immortal, it is deceived. The blood dripping from his head is more like the blood of the soul, and there is a kind of "sadness of life". In this film, the relationship between the lame and the child's brother, the relationship between the good sister and the child's brother, and the bipolar contradictory character of the shopkeeper Ma are all completed in this "reverse structure" film language. This narrative structure of first restraining and then promoting, first restraining and then promoting, first restraining and then promoting makes the drama conflict of this film more reasonable and powerful. At the same time, his "anti-writing style" embodies the internal unity and harmony through external opposition and division, thus showing the author's dialectical style in film language/thinking mode. Moreover, He Ping turned this reverse conflict into the internal motive force of film narration: from the audience's guess of the ending of the whole story to the instant judgment of the life and death of the characters, it seems that there is always a new panic after a panic, and there seems to be a potential struggle after a duel. Especially in the * * * paragraph of the film, he reversed the classic grammar of martial arts movies: parallel montage (brother and a knife fairy duel/sand stand by), which shows his mastery of the film language.

In China's contemporary films, directors are basically produced in two "systems": one is the academic system; One is the production system. He Ping entered the latter. He took notes first, as an assistant director, then as a co-director, and then as an independent director. 1979- 1980 as a reporter for the feature film bamboo. 1980, deputy director of the stage art film Acrobatic Woman; 198 1 year as the deputy director of the popular science feature film "Meteorological Sentinel"; 1982, as the deputy director of the feature film "The Wind in Early Summer"; 1983, as the deputy director of the feature film "Ou Mei"; 1984 ——1985 served as the deputy director of the first and second episodes of the feature film The Thief of Dongling; 1987 director of the feature film "We Are the World" (joint); 1988 ——1989 independently directed the feature film Kawashima Yoshiko; From 1989 to 1990, he was the director of the feature film Knight of Shuangqi Town. He completed his own film enlightenment and artistic exploration in the actual creative activities of film art, which belongs to Kurosawa, bertolucci and fassbinder, but not to Bergman, Oshima and pasolini. As an award-winning film director at the International Film Festival, He Ping established his position in the film history of China with his work "Knight of the Double Enlightenment".