The second film on the Spring Festival schedule: "The Silence of the Insect" directed by Zhang Yimou. The 70+ man is very prolific, averaging one movie every one to two years. He can be called a high-energy model worker.
Generally speaking, when you see the words "China's first", you will shudder subconsciously, but "the first contemporary national security movie" is not lying. National security is called the "Ministry of State Security" and is directly under the control of the Central Committee and the State Council. It is indeed a major subject.
I didn't dare to have too high expectations before the release, because with this "big sign with a central character" tied to it, the creators would inevitably tie their hands and no one would come. Several friends in the industry also had similar worries.
After watching it, I was quite satisfied with it. It has a high-efficiency pace and is fast and not draggy. It is full of tension and excitement. Lao Mouzi is still stable. The script is well written, bypassing the grand narrative and focusing on specific cases. To be specific, it can be said in three words: catching the mole.
Don’t think that catching spies is a far-off topic. The film crew made a special feature that was all about real cases. For example, near a naval base, a fellow villager discovered a strange green light in a rental house. After the report was verified, it turned out that the tenant was secretly filming the ship. “Spies are always around” is not an exaggeration to a certain extent.
I’ll give you a rough outline of the story first. There may be some spoilers, so those who don’t mind should read it first (it’s impossible to talk about it without spoilers at all).
Yan Di (played by Yi Yangqianxi) and Huang Kai (played by Zhu Yilong) are both deputy captains. They have a close relationship with each other in the police academy. They are close to each other both publicly and privately, and their characters have a vague sense of competition for employment.
In the opening scene, the two work together to track down foreign spies on the streets, with the task of recovering the latest stolen coating materials for fighter jets. An accident occurred during the mission, and a team member was shot through the neck with an arrow.
After losing his teammates, another piece of bad news came. National security officials received intelligence that someone in the organization was being "incited to rebel" by foreign forces. Captain Zhao Hong (played by Song Jia) airborne. Her goal is to cooperate with Wang Ju (played by Zhang Yi) to find out the "nail" in the team who was instigated to rebel. After an internal investigation, the suspects were narrowed down to Yan Di and Huang Kai. The story unfolds from here –
Therefore, catching leaking spies and catching national security insiders go hand in hand (as you read on, you will know that they are actually the same thing from the plot logic).
Compared with the "Mission: Impossible"-style superhero spy film, "The Silence of the Insect" is more realistic and closer to the actual national security operation. Not only the plot, but also the expressions, actions, and lines of everyone in "The Silence of the Insect" are all very good.
For example, the overhead shot of the circular viaduct appears many times, which is a symbol of Yan Di and Huang Kai's inner search for change in the process of catching the mole.
For another example, Wang Bureau first raised a fatal question: Who do you think of the other two is more likely to be incited to rebel? They took turns putting pressure on the three people, and set up a psychological trap to lure the snake out of the hole: asking the suspects to escort the "false evidence" together.
Yan Di and Huang Kai contributed famous scenes of fighting:
Anyone who has ever worked must be familiar with this kind of social addiction. It seems casual but there is something in the words. When you encounter a question that you cannot answer, you will ask back. In a poker game, it does not matter what cards you have in your hand. The key is to make the other party think you have what cards you have.
Both are masters.
Huang Kai's actions at night are never impulsive but calmly planned. He only takes a taxi when going out and pays with banknotes, leaving no traceable data.
Foreigners are trying to attack Yan Di, and every sentence in the phone call is a part of the attack. The so-called "important assets" are actually a kind of appeasement, and the purpose is just to get the hat with fighter jet coating. Yan Di knows this very well.
The last 20 minutes reversed, Zhang Yimou was playing a heartbeat game: You thought you knew Huang Kai was the nail, but it turned out that Yan Di was two nails alone.
The enemy thought that Yan Di was their "important asset", but he reported it to the organization as early as when he came into contact with the enemy. In this way, he became a double identity, trusted by the enemy, and could send wrong information to the enemy at critical moments.
The amazing thing about this reversal is: you think you are from God's perspective, but the director tells you – no, you have only seen the tip of the iceberg, and the real harvest has just begun.
The narrative is nested layer by layer, making people's hearts tense all the time. Lao Mouzi usually shoots big scenes and historical themes, but not many purely urban dramas. Before watching the trailer, I was worried that the audio and video would have a "dramatic taste", but there is no need to worry about the result of the film.
The film narrative and audio-visual processing are organically combined. The capture uses handheld and following cameras, making you feel as if you are chasing the scene; the psychological game uses close-ups and jump cuts to allow you to see every subtle change in the character.
The script is cleverly written and does not ask the audience to guess the mole. You will know that something is wrong with Huang Kai in just 20 minutes. The most worth pondering is that "the mole is being instigated to rebel". The ing action of "being" really becomes more and more interesting the more you think about it.
The most intriguing ones are Yan Di and Huang Kai. Both of them have some complexity and a certain tragedy, and the actors also gave top-notch performances.
The four-character brother is really hardworking. He shaved his head and lost a lot of weight. His face has sharp edges and corners, and he has a strong sense of being a national security police officer.
The director said in an interview that he had "lost a sense of cold scrutiny". This is not an exaggeration at all. Yan Di's character has a double identity. The difficulty is that he has to remain calm and show his true feelings in milliseconds. He has to control even a raised eyebrow. It is very difficult to act as someone who is cold on the outside and hot on the inside.
Huang Kai thought from the beginning that he just had an affair and it was nothing serious. By the time he knew Bai Fan was a spy and wanted to get out, it was already too late. Surrender yourself and your career will be ruined; take a gamble, maybe you can still survive.
One wrong step and another wrong step, this pulling and suffocating feeling is played perfectly by Zhu Yilong! The scene that impressed me the most was the scene where he was in a taxi and opened the window to get some air. That sense of depression came over him immediately.
Huang Kai has family information, and the relationship between the characters is clear. In contrast, Yan Di doesn't have much personal background information. He only knows that he has an ex-girlfriend who went abroad. This role is difficult to play. He has a lot of stories but can't tell anyone. It's a bit similar to An Xin in "Hurious". Watching his comrades jumping into the fire pit, he wants to help, but he is afraid of involving himself and affecting the more important mission.
In addition, it must be mentioned that the role of the power is very complete. In the first half, he is a spy customer service who responds to every request. But when it comes time to take action, he is a crisp and neat person who says the softest words but does the cruelest things.
You may think she is just a flower vase, but she is not. From some of her expressions, it can be seen that Bai Fan seems to be enjoying this exciting spy career, with a hint of clown-like madness (that’s a complimentary movie). This trait makes the character both dangerous and charming.
I won’t go into details about the big twist at the end. To be honest, I thought of something, but I didn’t guess it completely. There is a line in Wang Ju’s line: “For the sake of the overall strategic situation, you must become the most loyal warrior.” In that second, I was transported back to the spy war drama of the Republic of China.
The eras are different, but the tragic nature of the intelligence battlefield is the same – the end of psychological games and secret wars is the human heart, while national security personnel have no names and silently solve risks in the dark. Those who are good at fighting have no outstanding achievements. You are not aware of their existence precisely because they are well protected.
I wonder if the leaders of foreign espionage organizations see it after "The Silence of the Insect" is released, will they wonder in their hearts: Can we keep the confidential information that we went through so much trouble to obtain?
You guess, you guess, you guess again, hahahahahaha, it has quite a comedic effect if you think about it.
"The Silence of the Insect" is one of the films with the strongest storyline during the Spring Festival. The whole process was so high-energy that there was basically no time to look at mobile phones. The first reaction of many viewers was "the heartbeat was 120 in the last 20 minutes". It is no exaggeration, so feel free to go and watch it.
Call it a day and continue tomorrow.
