This theme could have been treated as a complete narrative, ending with Qiu Jin's death, but in this way, the climax was too saturated: Xu Xilin uprising, giant fight, death after arrest, followed by Qiu Jin's war of resisting arrest, death, a large number of continuous action scenes will make people feel aesthetic fatigue, and it is difficult to fully develop the wrestling between sympathizers and beheaders in officialdom after Qiu Jin's arrest. Today's practice is to put the World War I in Qiu Jin at the beginning and the World War I in Xu Xilin as the climax. Later, in order to echo the leading role of Qiu Jin, a member of the Guangfu Association was added as a nemesis? Keaton's clever escape is balanced and full in martial arts. It's a wise choice for the whole movie to go hand in hand. Qiu Litao doesn't do rigid memories and flashbacks. He connected the two clues with emotion. Every scene after being arrested corresponds to a kind of retrospective mood. You have me, I have you, and they push each other forward to form a smooth narrative, which reminds people of Memento's ingenuity.
There are no leading roles and supporting roles in the films, and almost all of them have their own merits. Qiu Litao can do this because he didn't waste any role's contribution to the plot. Qiu Jin's husband is a rich man who loves pleasure at first sight. Usually, the audience expects him to set off the healthy green leaves of Qiu Jin, but they don't expect him to have any positive influence. However, it was his crazy behavior that made Qiu Jin study in Japan. This kind of character handling is rare in general action movies (I hope Qiu Dao is not a fan walking on thin ice). Mrs. Langzhong didn't appear many times, but without her, Qiu Jin's long feminist ambition could not be reasonably expressed (she couldn't always argue with men or discuss with Xu Xilin). Even at the memorial service after Chen Tianhua jumped off a cliff, a group of officials and students were unreasonable, which had a subtle influence on Qiu Jin's psychology and would not become worthless passers-by.
The fighting in the film presents a kind of effect of "one-on-one fighting is surging, and the group fights are flat". The indoor fighting between Crystal and Xiong Xinxin is a typical example of action scheduling in a narrow space. With the help of steel wire and quick editing, the wanton destruction of the article has great visual impact. With the help of the action design of force, facing a burning document, the clever struggle of Jackie Chan completely obliterates the identity of Crystal as a non-practitioner, resulting in a thrilling confrontation with Xiong Xinxin. The climax fight between Du Yuhang and Xiong Xinxin was a great success in the open space. They are free to use all kinds of adult weapons, flying around and kicking around. Both of them are practitioners. Compared with the former, they are more imposing in the room, but they are not as serious as the traces of Weiya, especially the people flying around after the shelling. Du Yuhang may be a born martial arts champion, but he still has some traces of routines, which need lens language to make up for.
In contrast, a dozen or so can be considered unsatisfactory. When Qiu Jin was cut down by an enemy in the yard, she was almost a housewife chopping vegetables, and she had no manners at all. It is better to whip the officers and men in the market behind, but it is not very tenable in the plot (even if her husband donated an official, his wife beat the officers and men and beat the foreigners, but she can get away with it? ), is for the sake of the proportion of literature and martial arts drama coordination and joined. The editing of the conflict between Japanese students and military police is the worst, which has little effect on promoting the plot, but it has its own significance: how to make a historical film without exaggerating the national plot and hitting a few Japanese? After Xu Xilin was injured, he fought bloody battles with all the officers and men, which was the most heroic dry cloud. He filmed the tragic ending of the hero, but it was too short, and the successful ending of the villain was always wronged.
When shooting historical films, Qiu Litao's style is very realistic. The previous "IP Man Prequel" is also a historical theme, but there are always exaggerated gimmicks to describe the growth of a generation of masters, such as Master Lu Yu and Japanese "senior" spies, while "Qiu Jin" completely abandons these, except for exaggerated martial arts, and there is almost no surreal brushwork. The scene of Xu Xilin being tied up in the maw of his mouth and abused, the heartbreaking screams of Qiu Jin when he was tortured, and the horrible fingers in the close-up could not have been so shocking, but since history has been restored, there is no taste without them (by the way, it is still not recommended for parents to take too young children to see it), and the scenes of revolutionary martyrs Liu Daoyi and Chen Fen being outnumbered and heroically sacrificed, if they were replaced with "Sharpshooter" and "Wisdom Star",
In addition, it takes courage to make a historical biographical film, especially in today's situation where the audience are all historical experts and angry, it is even more important to tread on thin ice to avoid making jokes accidentally. At this point, Qiu Litao's ability to see the real chapter in the details is not small, even to the point of being too serious. In the film, Japanese students called taking pictures "photos", which caused a chuckle in the cinema. However, considering the age of the story and the origin of this foreign word, the usage here is still very appropriate. There are several such details. Audiences who like real movies will certainly gain a lot of fun, but the truth of history may not be in line with the truth of art. In the audience who are difficult to adjust, this practice can easily lead to polarization of the viewing experience.