《I Know Who You Are》Does it look good?Plot and word-of-mouth analysis

The film directed by Feng Xiaogang - I Know Who You Are - takes place in the alleys of Beijing after the founding of the People's Republic of China. On the surface it is about the police tracking down potential spies, but what really touches the audience is the mutual consumption and fulfillment of two men and two families over a long period of time.

《I Know Who You Are》Does it look good?

《I Know Who You Are》 is interesting not only in the words “I Know Who You Are”.It has the shell of a spy film and the background of a period film. The most gripping part is that after the characters are pushed away by time, many judgments can no longer be summarized by simple right and wrong.Xiao Dali focused on Feng Jingbo because he had too many traces of being unlike an ordinary teacher; Feng Jingbo lived a cautious life, and gradually became an ordinary person respected by students and familiar to the neighbors in his long life.The tension of the film comes from this dislocation between identity and reality.

Xiao Dali, played by Lei Jiayin, is a person who can easily make the audience angry and distressed.It was not easy for him to identify Feng Jingbo, so he regarded the pursuit as a lifelong matter.This character has the stubbornness of an old-style grassroots police officer and the clumsiness of an ordinary father and husband.He believed in responsibility and his own judgment, and would not take his eyes off Feng Jingbo even if there was no evidence.In a genre film, such a character might be written as a clever detective; in -I Know Who You Are-, he is more like a person chained by belief. The more he persists, the lonelier he becomes, and the more serious he becomes, the more ridiculous and sad he becomes.

Feng Jingbo, played by Hu Ge, is more complicated.He initially stayed in the alley with a secret mission, revealed his identity as a primary school teacher, and lived a low-key and respectable lifestyle.But if a person stays in real life for a long time, his or her identity will be rewritten little by little on a daily basis.He taught, started a family, participated in work, and was accepted into the new environment.The secret that I carried on my back in the early years has not disappeared, but it is becoming more and more like an old stone weighing on my heart.Feng Jingbo was afraid of being discovered, and also afraid that he would not be able to return to his original camp.He is not a thin villain in the traditional sense. The film does not whitewash him, but allows the audience to see the embarrassment of a person caught in the cracks of the times.

The most interesting part of the movie is that Xiao Dali and Feng Jingbo did not stay in a straight-line relationship.The two have been neighbors for decades. During their days, they were followed, tested, helped each other, and forced to get along.The alley puts them in the same life, and no one can completely escape.The more Xiao Dali stared at him, the more he looked like he was just handling the case. The more Feng Jingbo hid, the more he looked like he was trying to protect his stability for the rest of his life.Later, their relationship was no longer a matter of who caught whom, but that everyone was changed by this long entanglement.

Why is the plot controversial?

《I Know Who You Are》It is not a fast-paced spy film. Audiences who want to see gun battles, reversals and intensive action may find it slow.The film devotes a lot of space to hutong life, family changes, character emotions and the atmosphere of the times. The suspense is often not promoted through big scenes, but is hidden in Xiao Dali's suspicion, Feng Jingbo's dodge, and a neighbor's gossip.This kind of filming method is closer to the group portraits of the era. Audiences who like character dramas will find it engaging, while those who prefer strong plot excitement will easily find it unsatisfactory.

The controversy also stems from the film's expression of the times.Xiao Dali's persistence has a respectable side, but also has limitations shaped by the concepts of the times; Feng Jingbo's identity is problematic, but his later life makes it difficult to only regard him as an enemy.The movie does not depict the two people as black and white opponents, but allows them to be wrapped up in history and life together.This treatment gives the story more aftertaste and makes it easy for the audience to have differences after watching the movie: some people see loyalty and duty, some see absurdity and fate, and some care more about the scars on the two families dragged out by this pursuit.

What does the ending of Xiao Dali and Feng Jingbo mean?

Xiao Dali chased Feng Jingbo for most of his life, and Feng Jingbo also spent most of his life in this pursuit.When the two finally sat down to face each other, the so-called victory or defeat no longer mattered.Xiao Dali did not wait for a vigorous moment to solve the case, and Feng Jingbo did not completely put aside the shadow of his early years.They both paid a price, and both were blocked from another life by the other to some extent.

The most touching part of the film is Feng Jingbo's admission that Xiao Dali's stalking prevented him from actually doing bad things.This moment gave a new explanation to the decades-old entanglement between the two.Xiao Dali's persistence was not entirely in vain, and Feng Jingbo's second half of life was not entirely composed of fear.The two of them were like nails in each other's destiny. They hurt each other, but they also fixed each other on a certain track.The movie does not portray this reconciliation as a light forgiveness, but with a belated bitter taste.

What are the highlights of word-of-mouth?

The highlight of 《I Know Who You Are》 is first of all the actors.Lei Jiayin played Xiao Dali's axis, straightness, stubbornness and fatigue in his later years very realistically. The character is not a single positive image, but has parts that make people laugh and parts that make people feel sad.Hu Ge's Feng Jingbo stopped acting. The more gentle and decent he is, the more you can see that this person has a long-term tension in his heart.The rivalry between the two actors is not won by the density of lines, but by the changes in aura after years of getting along.

Second is the pyrotechnics of the film.Tutangdao Hutong is not a simple background. It turns this pursuit from a political mission into a part of daily life.The neighbors in the yard, the dining table at home, the complaints between husband and wife, and the growth and separation of the children all give the story a real touch.It is precisely because of these details of life that Feng Jingbo's “hidden” becomes even more ironic: the harder he tries to look like an ordinary person, the more he becomes like an ordinary person later on.

If I could sum it up in one sentence, -I Know Who You Are--it is beautiful because it does not just film one case, but a life that has been stretched by the times.It has a sense of comedy, but it is not simply amusing; it has spy elements, but it does not regard the answer as the only point of view; it has a nostalgic temperament, and it does not use a light-hearted filter to process the past.For viewers who like Feng Xiaogang's realistic themes and the performances of Lei Jiayin and Hu Ge, the film's stamina is more important than its title.

《I Know Who You Are》is suitable for viewers who want to see the fate of characters, the atmosphere of the era and the rivalry between actors.If you watch it just for the fast-paced spy game, your impression may be different from what you expected.