Note: This article contains serious spoilers
The first thing that makes "Broken Bridge" feel special is its photography. Zeng Jian, the film's director of photography, is Lou Ye's royal photographer, and has also collaborated with director Li Yu on "Guanyin Mountain". Zeng Jian's film works can accurately reflect the atmosphere and character of a city. The story of "Broken Bridge" takes place in the land of Bashu. The low-saturation picture, the dark tones, together with the continuous rainy days and the hazy fog, make the audience quickly integrate into this dilapidated town, feeling a certain confusion and impermanence with repression. "Broken Bridge" retains the consistent characteristics of Zeng Jian's photography, such as preferring natural light, hand-held photography, paying attention to the sense of presence and capturing; some relatively novel lens use, such as distorted fisheye lens, close-up of deliberately distorted face shape, all impressive. So, regardless of how the story is told, the photography itself provides a powerful enough sense of immersion.
His name is Wen Liang (this name may remind people of something), and he is the father of Wen Xiaoyu (played by Ma Sichun). Eight years ago, he was an engineer of a local sea-crossing bridge. He wrote a report letter because he found that the project was cutting corners. As a result, he was killed by his old classmate, Zhu Fangzheng (Fan Wei), an official in charge of urban construction. Wen Liang was buried alive in the pier of the bridge. After that, Zhu Fangzheng claimed everywhere that Wen Liang eloped with another woman, which led to Wen Liang's wife (played by Liu Lin) remarried, and Wen Xiaoyu became Zhu Fangzheng's goddaughter. Wen Xiaoyu not only missed her father, but also hated her father's abandoned wife and daughter.
Zhu Fangzheng is terrifying. On the one hand, he is selfish, greedy, and cruel. If anyone gets in his way, he will do anything to get rid of him; on the other hand, he is too hypocritical and too good at disguising. The real villain can be seen by everyone, but everyone is more cautious, but the real villain with the face of a gentleman will make the surrounding people unguarded against him, and he will fall into the trap he set up unexpectedly, and then he Devouring people with a hideous face. When Zhu Fangzheng first appeared on the stage, he was so gentle and meticulous to Wen Xiaoyu, which made people mistakenly think that he was a gentle and kind elder; when things were exposed, such as when Wen Xiaoyu and Meng Chao discovered the truth of his murder, he The deadly expression of the murderous light and the astonishment was terrifying.
This is of course not to defend Zhu Fangzheng - he is unforgivable. After all, many little people have suffered setbacks and have not become demons like him. People should not abandon their upward subjective initiative. However, "Broken Bridge" still shows an extremely strong color of critical realism: it does not sympathize with Zhu Fangzheng, but it also tries to think about what kind of operating mechanism gives birth to the devil.
Meng Chao's experience also proves the shortcomings of the mechanism. The sister who only lives in Meng Chao's story is also an idealist, right? She loves to read poetry and is supposed to be pretty, but she was raped by the village bullies and died. Meng Chao stabbed the village tyrant to death. He escaped outside for 8 years. He remained anonymous and had no identity. He worked odd jobs and lived in an unfinished building like an ant. Judging from Meng Chao's final decision, he is also an idealist. Even if he is in a quagmire, he still has to shoulder the gate of darkness and send Wen Xiaoyu to a bright place.
Sadly, none of the idealists in the movie ended well.
When the idealists disappear, there are more people in this world, either Zhu Fangzheng or Wen Xiaoyu. Although Wen Xiaoyu is the first protagonist, it does not mean that she is perfect. She has always been in a state of "absence", a little walking dead and drifting with the flow; she has no clear values, and she is not ideal, but she is not a bad person. But once she was captured by desire, it was hard to say that she would not be another Zhu Fangzheng, and she did almost become Zhu Fangzheng under the urge of revenge.
I can understand the screenwriter's intention, and I want to warn everyone with Wen Xiaoyu: Even if you can't be an idealist, don't be in the company of demons, don't be a slave of desire, and don't be the next Zhu Fangzheng; at the same time, the screenwriter wants to die with Meng Chao's decision. , Wen Xiaoyu's reining in the precipice, providing a bright and warm ending for the movie, and enriching the commercial elements of the movie with the redemptive emotions of the "sister and brother".
On the first day of the movie's release, "Broken Bridge Plot Downgrading Wisdom" once ranked first in the hot search. The term "reduction of intelligence" is indeed too harsh, but these questions from the audience are not unreasonable. Of course, we can give a reasonable explanation: for example, the background of the story is 2011. At that time, the anti-criminal and evil efforts were not as strong as now. Deputy Mayor Tang covered the sky with one hand, and the police may also belong to Mayor Tang, so they could not call the police; for example, Meng Chao escaped. For 8 years, the police couldn't catch anyone, but Zhu Fangzheng, who only looked at him once, was able to check Meng Chao's detailed information in a few days (very exaggerated), indicating that he used a certain power, and so on.
It is a pity that "Broken Bridge" did not lay the groundwork for all this in clear and effective details, and can only rely on the audience to make up their own minds and imagination. Fans can say that Zhu Fangzheng has a lot of supernatural powers, so the investigation has obtained Meng Chao's information; audiences can also say that this is a plot bug, and Zhu Fangzheng remembers someone who couldn't be caught in 8 years? Both explanations make sense, because the plot gives no other auxiliary information.
Therefore, many non-fan audiences are puzzled by the direction of the plot. It is difficult for them to empathize with Wen Xiaoyu's revenge actions. Once they can't empathize, a series of plots after the revenge episode will fall into a state of collapse. You can't put all the blame on the audience, blame the audience for not understanding it, right? As a commercial film, when a large number of people do not understand the plot, it somewhat shows that the screenwriter's handling is not in place.
"Broken Bridge" is more like half a good show. Fan Wei, Ma Sichun, Wang Junkai and others supported the first half of the journey together, but they did not choose to call the police in the second half of the series of entanglements. After the "brain supplement", the motives of several main characters can be justified, and fans can understand it; but ordinary audiences pay attention to the immediate viewing experience in the theater, rather than going to Weibo to read a movie. The explanation of the creator and fans, so the audience's criticism is also reasonable.
In any case, "Broken Bridge" is still a rather vigorous work in the current Chinese film industry, and such critical realism works are relatively rare. "Broken Bridge" has a very large scale in terms of core expression, whether it is the demise of idealists or the wonderful discussion about "fish" (you think the fish in the sea are free, but they end up at the dinner table), it is enough to watch In a cruel real world, small people are like ants, and the difficulty of survival is like a mustard.
In short, "Broken Bridge" can still be seen. It is like half a pair of scissors that has lost its center point. Although it is only half, the light on the blade is still chilling.
The first thing that makes "Broken Bridge" feel special is its photography. Zeng Jian, the film's director of photography, is Lou Ye's royal photographer, and has also collaborated with director Li Yu on "Guanyin Mountain". Zeng Jian's film works can accurately reflect the atmosphere and character of a city. The story of "Broken Bridge" takes place in the land of Bashu. The low-saturation picture, the dark tones, together with the continuous rainy days and the hazy fog, make the audience quickly integrate into this dilapidated town, feeling a certain confusion and impermanence with repression. "Broken Bridge" retains the consistent characteristics of Zeng Jian's photography, such as preferring natural light, hand-held photography, paying attention to the sense of presence and capturing; some relatively novel lens use, such as distorted fisheye lens, close-up of deliberately distorted face shape, all impressive. So, regardless of how the story is told, the photography itself provides a powerful enough sense of immersion.
"Broken Bridge" poster
The film begins with the death of an idealist. Rather, it was his death that was discovered as the beginning 8 years after his death.His name is Wen Liang (this name may remind people of something), and he is the father of Wen Xiaoyu (played by Ma Sichun). Eight years ago, he was an engineer of a local sea-crossing bridge. He wrote a report letter because he found that the project was cutting corners. As a result, he was killed by his old classmate, Zhu Fangzheng (Fan Wei), an official in charge of urban construction. Wen Liang was buried alive in the pier of the bridge. After that, Zhu Fangzheng claimed everywhere that Wen Liang eloped with another woman, which led to Wen Liang's wife (played by Liu Lin) remarried, and Wen Xiaoyu became Zhu Fangzheng's goddaughter. Wen Xiaoyu not only missed her father, but also hated her father's abandoned wife and daughter.
Wen Xiaoyu (Ma Sichun)
Eight years later, the tofu bridge collapsed, and workers accidentally dug up Wen Liang's body. As a whistleblower, an upright and righteous idealist, his end was tragic. His body was already glued to the cement and could not be disassembled at all. When he died, he remained in a kneeling posture, still holding the report letter tightly in his hand. He is like a sculpture of a contemplative.Smell's remains
Under all kinds of tricks, Wen Liang was considered to be killed by the person in charge of the construction company, and the person in charge had committed suicide in fear of crime, and the matter seemed to be over. But at this time, Meng Chao (Wang Junkai), a poor and dirty boy, told Wen Xiaoyu: Wen Liang was with Zhu Fangzheng the night he disappeared, and they had an argument. Wen Xiaoyu and Meng Chao joined forces to investigate and finally found out the truth.Meng Chao (Wang Junkai)
Although before the release of "Broken Bridge", the focus was more on Ma Sichun and Wang Junkai, but after watching the movie, I realized that the support of this movie was all on Fan Wei. Fan Wei once again contributed godlike acting skills, which made Ma Sichun, who has slowly recovered to his best state, far behind him, let alone others.Zhu Fangzheng (played by Fan Wei)
If Wen Liang's death and the rupture of the bridge are metaphors for the death of idealism, then Zhu Fangzheng is the executioner who killed the idealists. It is precisely because of the existence of such people that idealists eventually die, and the world falls into a state of moral disintegration, mutual bullying, the law of the jungle, drunkenness and death.Zhu Fangzheng is terrifying. On the one hand, he is selfish, greedy, and cruel. If anyone gets in his way, he will do anything to get rid of him; on the other hand, he is too hypocritical and too good at disguising. The real villain can be seen by everyone, but everyone is more cautious, but the real villain with the face of a gentleman will make the surrounding people unguarded against him, and he will fall into the trap he set up unexpectedly, and then he Devouring people with a hideous face. When Zhu Fangzheng first appeared on the stage, he was so gentle and meticulous to Wen Xiaoyu, which made people mistakenly think that he was a gentle and kind elder; when things were exposed, such as when Wen Xiaoyu and Meng Chao discovered the truth of his murder, he The deadly expression of the murderous light and the astonishment was terrifying.
Zhu Fangzheng is too good at disguising
But it's hard to say, Zhu Fangzheng was born like this, maybe he used to be like Wen Liang. Before his demise, he shouted to Meng Chao that "we are all poor boys". There is an inhumane mental process behind this, and he is not the master of his own destiny. Before attacking Gan Xiaoyang (played by Zeng Meihuizi) who was blackmailing him, he consulted the vice mayor Tang (played by Fang Li), he wanted to promise Gan Xiaoyang a 3 million hush money, but vice mayor Tang did not Agreed, Deputy Mayor Tang did not say it clearly, but his attitude was very firm: Zhu Fangzheng must kill her.This is of course not to defend Zhu Fangzheng - he is unforgivable. After all, many little people have suffered setbacks and have not become demons like him. People should not abandon their upward subjective initiative. However, "Broken Bridge" still shows an extremely strong color of critical realism: it does not sympathize with Zhu Fangzheng, but it also tries to think about what kind of operating mechanism gives birth to the devil.
Meng Chao's experience also proves the shortcomings of the mechanism. The sister who only lives in Meng Chao's story is also an idealist, right? She loves to read poetry and is supposed to be pretty, but she was raped by the village bullies and died. Meng Chao stabbed the village tyrant to death. He escaped outside for 8 years. He remained anonymous and had no identity. He worked odd jobs and lived in an unfinished building like an ant. Judging from Meng Chao's final decision, he is also an idealist. Even if he is in a quagmire, he still has to shoulder the gate of darkness and send Wen Xiaoyu to a bright place.
Sadly, none of the idealists in the movie ended well.
When the idealists disappear, there are more people in this world, either Zhu Fangzheng or Wen Xiaoyu. Although Wen Xiaoyu is the first protagonist, it does not mean that she is perfect. She has always been in a state of "absence", a little walking dead and drifting with the flow; she has no clear values, and she is not ideal, but she is not a bad person. But once she was captured by desire, it was hard to say that she would not be another Zhu Fangzheng, and she did almost become Zhu Fangzheng under the urge of revenge.
I can understand the screenwriter's intention, and I want to warn everyone with Wen Xiaoyu: Even if you can't be an idealist, don't be in the company of demons, don't be a slave of desire, and don't be the next Zhu Fangzheng; at the same time, the screenwriter wants to die with Meng Chao's decision. , Wen Xiaoyu's reining in the precipice, providing a bright and warm ending for the movie, and enriching the commercial elements of the movie with the redemptive emotions of the "sister and brother".
Wen Xiaoyu and Meng Chao redeem each other
The problem is precisely here: the logic of the second half of the plot, in order to avoid the minefield, force warmth, and force redemption (the so-called "night for me, dawn for you"), and lose its convincing. For example, an obvious question is: Wen Xiaoyu has already obtained the surveillance video of Zhu Fangzheng framing his father, why did she not call the police? Why did she go into the police station to call the police, and when Zhu Fangzheng invited her to call him for his birthday, she gave up calling the police? The police almost caught Meng Chao, why didn't Meng Chao directly hand over the surveillance video to the police? When Meng Chao learned that Zhu Fangzheng had kidnapped Wen Xiaoyu, why did he not call the police, but chose to rescue him alone? Zhu Fangzheng is so afraid of death, why did he choose such a dangerous confrontation at the last minute?On the first day of the movie's release, "Broken Bridge Plot Downgrading Wisdom" once ranked first in the hot search. The term "reduction of intelligence" is indeed too harsh, but these questions from the audience are not unreasonable. Of course, we can give a reasonable explanation: for example, the background of the story is 2011. At that time, the anti-criminal and evil efforts were not as strong as now. Deputy Mayor Tang covered the sky with one hand, and the police may also belong to Mayor Tang, so they could not call the police; for example, Meng Chao escaped. For 8 years, the police couldn't catch anyone, but Zhu Fangzheng, who only looked at him once, was able to check Meng Chao's detailed information in a few days (very exaggerated), indicating that he used a certain power, and so on.
It is a pity that "Broken Bridge" did not lay the groundwork for all this in clear and effective details, and can only rely on the audience to make up their own minds and imagination. Fans can say that Zhu Fangzheng has a lot of supernatural powers, so the investigation has obtained Meng Chao's information; audiences can also say that this is a plot bug, and Zhu Fangzheng remembers someone who couldn't be caught in 8 years? Both explanations make sense, because the plot gives no other auxiliary information.
Therefore, many non-fan audiences are puzzled by the direction of the plot. It is difficult for them to empathize with Wen Xiaoyu's revenge actions. Once they can't empathize, a series of plots after the revenge episode will fall into a state of collapse. You can't put all the blame on the audience, blame the audience for not understanding it, right? As a commercial film, when a large number of people do not understand the plot, it somewhat shows that the screenwriter's handling is not in place.
"Broken Bridge" is more like half a good show. Fan Wei, Ma Sichun, Wang Junkai and others supported the first half of the journey together, but they did not choose to call the police in the second half of the series of entanglements. After the "brain supplement", the motives of several main characters can be justified, and fans can understand it; but ordinary audiences pay attention to the immediate viewing experience in the theater, rather than going to Weibo to read a movie. The explanation of the creator and fans, so the audience's criticism is also reasonable.
In any case, "Broken Bridge" is still a rather vigorous work in the current Chinese film industry, and such critical realism works are relatively rare. "Broken Bridge" has a very large scale in terms of core expression, whether it is the demise of idealists or the wonderful discussion about "fish" (you think the fish in the sea are free, but they end up at the dinner table), it is enough to watch In a cruel real world, small people are like ants, and the difficulty of survival is like a mustard.
It means fish, but also people
Li Yu's films have always had strong female characteristics, and "Broken Bridge" also uses a few strokes to construct a group portrait of women, reflecting the general situation of women being insulted, damaged and ignored by a glimpse of the leopard. For example, the former female classmate "Wan Qian" has now become a song and dance girl, while the song and dance girl "Zeng Meihuizi" has never escaped the fate of being bullied. Together, they constitute the epitome of this imperfect world.Wonderful female group portrait
But also because of well-known reasons, the movie presents a series of problems, but when revealing the root cause of the problem, it is inevitable to cover up the truth, and even lead to the derailment of the second half of the plot, lacking a core and powerful foothold. I don't know if the screenwriter's responsibility is greater, or the environment is more responsible.In short, "Broken Bridge" can still be seen. It is like half a pair of scissors that has lost its center point. Although it is only half, the light on the blade is still chilling.
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