tearjerker director

The screenings of "[-] Angry Men" are in full swing, and there are more and more comments, discussions, etc. about this movie.

In fact, what are you most afraid of in this kind of movie?
It's a mess!

Twelve people!Although there is a protagonist, Juror No. 8 played by Chen Weijie.

But all twelve of them had their share of dramas, and there were plenty of them.

But the key point is that after watching the movie, many people will find that although these twelve people in the movie have no names, or do not need names, everyone can easily tell the characteristics of each character.

Such as number eight, such as number four, such as number 1, etc., etc.

"F*ck, that's awesome. Obviously none of the twelve people have names, but why do I feel that none of the twelve people are strange at all? As long as I think of the number, I can think of who he is, what he did, and what his attitude is. .”

"That being said, it's true. No. 5 is a fan, No. 4 has been in the club, and No. [-] is a securities analyst. None of them are so memorable. Damn it, how did Director Dog do it?"

"It's really true! There are twelve people, but all of them have distinct characteristics, and the logic is very smooth, and there is no feeling of chaos at all. It's really awesome!"

"Whoever dares to come out and analyze it!"

Soon, film critics came out to take advantage of this wave of traffic.

The famous online film critic Ah Shu went out of his way to watch "Twelve Angry Men" several times before writing a review.

"I saw many people on the Internet praising this movie, praising that "8 Angry Men" has twelve characters, and each character has a big role, even the protagonist's Juror No. [-], who is Chen Weijie The role played can only be said to have slightly more scenes, but throughout the film, people can easily remember these people. So how did Director Dog do it?
For this reason, I went to see "[-] Angry Men".The whole movie lasted an hour and a half. I was so excited after watching it that I watched it again and twice the next day. All I can say is that good movies make people happy and great movies change people. The more you watch "[-] Angry Men", the more you have to admire it. This movie is really awesome!This also made me truly understand that movies have so many ways to attract audiences!Now after thinking calmly, I have written the following brief opinions.

First of all, the background setting of the movie "5 Angry Men". We all know that the jury system in Hong Kong Island is actually a 9-[-] person system. Some people say that the jury system in Hong Kong Island is actually a system between British and American law. We don’t care whether this is a castrated version of the jury system. After all, the history of Hong Kong Island is quite special, so the jury composed of twelve jurors in "Twelve Angry Men" should be based on those in North America. From the jury system.

But in fact, this is not important, because what is important is that the two have something in common, that is, in a first-degree murder case, the jury's decision must be completely unanimous to form an effective verdict.In this case, it does not matter whether the number of people is the base number or an even number. In fact, more people means that it is more difficult to reach a completely unanimous resolution.

Closer to home, the entire "Twelve Angry Men" is one scene. The court scenes at the beginning and end are negligible. They are completely decorative. Deleting them will not have a big impact. This can be said to be a single scene with twelve people. , a movie that relies on dialogue to drive the plot of the entire movie.

Twelve jurors sit in a lounge to decide whether a murder case should be established.

The defendant in the murder case was an 18-year-old child and the deceased was his father. The 12 jurors must reach a consensus on whether the child is guilty of murder.If established, the child will be sentenced to the maximum penalty, which is life imprisonment, and he will spend the rest of his life in prison.If not, the reason for failure must be based on "reasonable doubt" arising from the reasoning, questioning, evidence, testimony or proceedings of the trial as a whole.

Due to the complete set of witnesses and physical evidence, 8 out of the [-] people at first firmly believed that the child was guilty. Only Juror No. [-], played by Chen Weijie, felt that there was something fishy about the case.At the end of the movie, all twelve people found the child innocent.

There is a huge contrast between the beginning and the end. This seemingly "impossible task" often tests the script's ability the most.

Of course, this is also the reason why this movie can attract so many viewers, because this itself is a very conventional model commonly used in commercial movies.

However, this is not to say that "Twelve Angry Men" is not good. On the contrary, it is like a propositional composition. If it is done smoothly, it is called skill, and if it is swayed, it is called Wuji.Unlike many domestic blockbusters, "[-] Angry Men" can be called a model of this kind of movie full of dramatic conflicts.

Okay, let's start from the beginning, face this proposition first, see what answer we can get, and then see how "Twelve Angry Men" answers it.The question has several major difficulties:

First, the movie only takes place in a conference room, which means that there are almost no major changes that are visually pleasing, and it means that all the plots are limited to this square table;
Second, the movie is about twelve people. Twelve people can be said to be more or less. The reason for not being more is because there is no change. The reason for being less is because we must introduce each character in place, including occupation, personality, IQ, background, political orientation, and mental journey, all of these must be reflected through dialogue and action, and made unforgettable. Think about it, it is an extremely huge narrative project;
Third, this is about a murder trial. The murder case has many witnesses, evidence, testimonies, including time, place, people, and psychological analysis. This information is massive. How to make the massive information reasonable? , arranged in a planned and step-by-step manner in each person's dialogue, and fully taking into account the acceptance level of the general audience. There is no need to take notes or look up information, which is even more difficult;
Fourth, this story can be summed up in one sentence as "a miraculous reversal", that is, one person gradually convinces the remaining 11 people. This is the biggest difficulty of the film, because such a dramatic plot can be solved as long as the arrangement is a little exaggerated. Deliberately suspicious, and the arrangement is subtle and makes the audience feel unreliable. Moreover, the rhythm at which the twelve people are persuaded one by one is a profound knowledge - if you are not careful, the audience will think it is an arrangement. Once you are labeled as a fake person, don’t think about turning around again. This is the hardest part.

To use a more understandable word to describe it, "Twelve Angry Men" is actually very similar to how we usually play games. We upgrade all the way to fight monsters, push down light cards one by one, and defeat bosses one by one!

In this movie, there are eleven BOSSs waiting for player No. 8 to defeat them one by one!

First, let's take a look, how to remember twelve people at once?

Twelve jury members, twelve protagonists.What do you fear most about crowds of people?chaos.Because there is only one big star, Chen Weijie. Although the other eleven people are familiar to everyone, it is absolutely difficult to call them by name. The audience must remember everyone within half an hour and then look forward to them. It takes a lot of effort to take turns singing on stage in the next hour!I still can't imagine how much talent it takes to build such a magnificent narrative edifice.

First of all, let me ask you, if you were asked to make a film and there were twelve very different characters to introduce, what method would you use to make the audience remember who they are "well and quickly"?

In fact, there are. There are many ensemble movies in Hollywood, but the most common way they use it is to distinguish them by race. Of course, the so-called race here does not mean white, black, and yellow, but such as dwarves, elves, etc., and usually only This type of fantasy movie will use this method to distinguish. After all, dwarves have short characteristics, and elves, werewolves, etc. each have their own extremely distinctive characteristics, so that people can easily distinguish them by their appearance and race. To distinguish, to remember these feelings.

What is more commonly used, or what is easiest for the audience to remember at present, is actually the distinction between many stars, and the characters are introduced over a long period of time.What if time is tight and only half an hour?What if none of the characters are celebrities?what to do?
The method used in "Twelve Angry Men" is unique, and this method is probably only used in this film.

Why do you say that?

The way this movie guides the audience to remember the characters is not by names, because these jurors have no names at all. Of course, names are not important here. It is not by numbers. First of all, numbers have no personality difference and will hinder people's memory, let alone Occupation and personality, as we all know, this takes time to strengthen the impression. It is not a simple and effective method. It is not the appearance of tall, short, fat and thin. Of course, this is not a good method, because it still needs repeated reinforcement to make people remember it. It is not clothing. , after all, everyone is wearing similar formal clothes... So the question is, what is it?
Spy memory method!Yes, the movie actually uses this incredible memory method.

What is spy memory?A spy can memorize a long paper in a short time not by memorizing it by force, but by clever memorization, that is, by replacing certain textual codes with another non-textual code, such as a certain part of our body Or the locations of provinces on the map of my country, then the brain area he uses is not the area we usually use to memorize text, but other brain areas responsible for processing concrete things, so the memory efficiency will be greatly improved.

Of course, it is rather abstract to say this, but let me explain it in detail.

First of all, the first thing done at the beginning of the movie is to establish a presiding officer; and the first thing the presiding officer is asked to do is to announce that everyone will be seated according to the jury number.Note, this humble announcement is the cornerstone of the entire narrative!
The way "Twelve Angry Men" allows us to remember everyone in a very short period of time is the location of these twelve people!
Let fixed people sit at fixed positions on the long table, one at one end and five on each side. Even if people move around due to the plot, they will definitely come back and sit down again after a while to continuously strengthen the impression.I bet that anyone who has watched "[-] Angry Men" can basically not name the characters, but they can all name everyone's position!
Of course, some people may say that this is also combined with the numerical number of each of them. This is true, but in the author's opinion, the more critical thing is that the position corresponds to the number.

There is also the law of symmetry!The number of people sitting on both sides of the long table is the same, and the people on the opposite side of the long table are more distinctive.

Such as fans!Although he gave people the feeling of being a troublemaker among the 12-person jury. He only cared about the football game and didn't care about the case at all, but you can't deny that he is memorable, and his position is the same as No. 1 The position of the jury foreman is opposite, which gives the whole picture two fixed fulcrums!Let people know at once, oh, that's No. [-], oh, that's No. [-]!
Simple!efficient!That's genius!Other movies simply can't do this because it's impossible not to keep the characters moving from beginning to end.Therefore, others say that the single scene is a disadvantage in terms of narrative, but I say that in the hands of a genius, it is a unique advantage! What "Twelve Angry Men" loses is only the shackles, but what it gains is the whole world!
Then, how to let each of these twelve angry men have a role to play?
Everyone knows that with twelve characters, it is not only difficult to make people remember them, but also the key is how to make their scenes stand out and how to show their respective existences.

Then we must first establish a fixed point. The first is Jury Foreman No. 1. This fulcrum is the starting point and is very important. As soon as he sits down, the scene is actually full, because everyone will remember that this person is organizer.

Then there is the corresponding point of symmetry, which is number seven!
I believe everyone will remember the role of the fan deeply, because he only cares about the football game and does not care about the case itself. He is very prominent, but he does not play such a big role in promoting the entire plot.

But what about in practice?

This role is indispensable. It has nothing to do with oneself. It is just such a person. Such a person is very annoying, but there are many such people.

Next is the protagonist No. 8. Needless to say, Chen Weijie is the most recognizable star in the entire movie.

At the same time, he is also the most critical fulcrum.

Then there are 3 big BOSSs.

No. 3, angry, angry, angry, still angry!
He is the angriest!

But this character is very important. He is proud and arrogant, but slightly illogical.Because he had a falling out with his son, severed the relationship between father and son, and looked at the patricide case with hatred for the younger generation, he was the last and most stubborn person to take the "guilty" position.As an experienced juror, he took quite detailed notes during the jury, so he was also the first to list the case information, mainly the testimony of the two witnesses, the old man and the woman, so we knew how unfavorable the defendant was. : The old man not only heard the quarrel between him and his father, but also witnessed his son fleeing; the woman also witnessed the entire murder process from across the street.

It can be said that thanks to the information of Juror No. 3, he made many of us basically stand on the "guilty" side at the beginning.And this No. 3 doesn't know how to speak very well, especially when he spills the beans several times, and his self-inflicted lines highlight his cute side beneath his hateful appearance.

Juror No. 4.If No. 3 is the most stubborn "BOSS", then No. 4 is really the most powerful "BOSS". No. 4 is my favorite character because the portrayal is so successful.As a securities analyst, he has the most confident stance, the most rigorous expression, the clearest logic, the most objective stance, and the most stable emotion.The last sentence "It's strange that I overlooked this detail" is a genius stroke of the screenwriter. He is just like Sherlock Holmes in the financial world!Such an extremely tough guy is the most troublesome when he is an enemy, but the most reliable when he is a comrade.

As the second person to be convinced, he was actually the final BOSS. If a detail had not been brought up, he would have probably regained the lost ground and even made a comeback - in fact, he created the only one Reversal, and it is reasonable, powerful and measured.When he announced that he had voted "not guilty," saying "because I had a reasonable doubt," I was like, hooray.Listening to this man speak is a pleasure.As for his shortcoming, it may be that he is too rational.

Juror No. 10, this one should be considered a cannon fodder BOSS, because he has no logic, all he wants is, I don’t want you to think, I want me to feel, his discrimination is straightforward and without any cover-up.

So, it’s just a paper tiger”