| 劇本 Script: | | | 演員 Cast: | | | 製作 Production: | | | 藝術性 Artistic Value: | | | 娛樂性 Entertaiment Value: | |
|
|
The original screenplay from Kwak Jae-yong 郭在容 resembles the theme
of another Korean movie "Lovers' Concerto / 向左愛•向右愛" (Dir:
Lee Han/李翰, 2003) in that both address the swapped identity between
a secret admirer and a stranger, which is kept undisclosed to the
key female character (but revealed to the audience) until the denouement
under unrestricted narrative. It goes further from the ordinary
Korean cinema by (1) mixing an unrestricted narrative with a restricted
narrative to plant hermeneutics (doings of the 2 male characters)
and enhance readability and (2) emphasizing on the crossing paths
among the key characters at the epilogue (a restricted element throughout
the plots but retrospectively revealed).
The narrative is complex in that (1) it exploits expansion in temporal
element (similar to "Hero" (Dir: Zhang Yimou, 2002)) by
repeating the same plot under a different perspective from another
character; (2) the repeated plots are flashbacks of the respective
first plot and (3) it precipitates flashfoward to complicate the
audience's line of decipherment. Yet, the diegesis is not persuasive
as it optimizes the killer's mode of life, unpersuasively strengthens
his intelligence in fine arts and thereby positivizes his character.
Director Andrew Lau creates a number of visual and narrative motifs
for both male characters: the number motifs (4:15pm, 15th April)
for Interpol officer Jeong Woo (Lee Sung-jae) and the soft visual
motifs of the scenic painting and the daisy for assassin Park Yi
(Jung Woo-sung).
Lau deliberately manages cinematography and editing to create virtuosic
visuals: aerial crane shots, extreme long shots, freeze frame, split
screen for synchronizing expressions of characters in a sequence
and the use of a red-out near the epilogue. More characteristically,
Lau's trademark shot of gun-pointing is once shown again. The substitute
of Hye-young (Jun Ji-hyun)'s dialogues by her own voice-overs and
the minimal use of facial make-up for her is a fresh trial of Lau.
Lau is effective in creating a perpetuation of tension and a chain
of sympathies and regrets in the heart of the audience down the
line. The movie, though weak in diegesis in rhetorical terms, is
a successful project that infuses Hong Kong elements of fast pacing,
suspense, prolonged tension and narrative restriction into the ordinary
Korean films typically characterized by slow pacing and simple plot
structure.
|