Looking for a movie shot in both Hong Kong and Japan

It’s "March of Kamata", right?

On the surface, "March of Kamata" is an absurd and funny work. If you don’t know who the director is in advance, it’s really hard to guess. "March of Kamata" is related to "Kana no Rebellion" or "Battle Royale", both directed by Kinji Fukasaku. The style difference is really huge. After watching the film, I felt that Kinji Fukasaku's films at that time might have been deeply influenced by the films of American director Kubrick. For example, in the second half of the film, the negative-thinking Ginshiro sleeps alone in the corner of a dilapidated house. The bed is surrounded by molds and dolls of naked women. This scene is reminiscent of the futuristic character in "A Clockwork Orange". bar; there is a poster of "2001: A Space Odyssey" on the wall of Anji's room... The formal style of the film is obviously more similar to "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), and it also uses exaggerated and absurd symbolism (but both However, the film focuses on different ways of portraying its connotation).

"March of Kamata" tells the story of the outdated movie star Ginshiro, who abandoned his pregnant wife Xiaoxia to pursue the daughter of a big boss in the movie industry in order to make a comeback on the screen. He gave Konatsu a walk-on role, Anji. Anci, who looks like a clown, really likes Xiaoxia, and finally makes Xiaoxia fall in love with his sincerity, and the two get married. On the other hand, Ginshiro not only failed to shine again, but became increasingly negative due to various reasons. Missing his old friendship, Anji decided to accept a life-threatening stunt in order to help Ginshiro cheer up - falling down a ten-meter-high staircase. (This serves as a foil to how heroic Ginshiro is who knocked him down the stairs). Therefore, Anji has bought a huge amount of insurance and left it to Konatsu and Ginshiro. He hesitated and hesitated, but despite the dissuasion of Xiaoxia, who was about to give birth, he went to the set with the determination to die...

The "staircase plot" runs through the entire film from beginning to end and can be used as the theme of the film. Except for Anji, no one dared to fall down the 10-meter-high stairs. At the end of the film, Anji climbed upstairs step by step after falling to the point of dying, while Ginshiro was upstairs. At this time, the film's characterization suddenly changed, and Anji, who had always appeared as a walk-on character, suddenly became the protagonist, and the camera became a close-up of him. The meaning points out the importance of "stairs": if there is no support from a "stairs", you will not be able to reach high places. Ginshiro standing high is like a symbol, and Anji rolling the stairs (perhaps more suitable to be described as the process of rolling the stairs) is the real protagonist.

Although the film is full of exaggerated comedy effects, it also reveals an extremely sad taste.

There is a very touching interlude (I only know it is a song written by Kaysuke Kuwata, the title is unknown, it is a good song) that appears twice in the film, with a soft and nostalgic melody. The male voice is both sunny and melancholy. The sudden appearance of such a song in the middle of a playful scene can't help but make people feel trance-like and suddenly feel sad, sighing that everything is just like a cloud. Looking back on it again, I feel that director Fang's move was truly a masterstroke. The high-pitched and dynamic rhythm on the surface of the film contrasts with the soothing and melancholy atmosphere of the music, giving a layer of laughter a layer of sadness behind it.

This film by Kinji Fukasaku is actually a commemorative film made by the film company he worked for, and of course the ending is happy for everyone. Anci only suffered some trauma in the end, and Xiaoxia also successfully gave birth to a daughter (like Xiaoxia). Everything seemed to be wrapped in happiness. However, something even more dramatic happened. The camera pulled back, and a group of staff in charge of filming stood next to it. It turned out that this was another scene, which also implies that such happy and beautiful moments can only appear in the scene, in the audience. Amid the laughter of the staff, Kinji Fukasaku ended the film with a faint pessimism.

Laughter, tears, noise, sadness. Life is like a play, and play is like a dream.