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A quite enlightening political drama, where the delicate tripartite relationship between Australia, China, and the US is well portrayed in a spy hub. What’s particularly interesting and engaging is Australia’s perception of China from a Western viewpoint. Despite a foreign and distinct sense of distance, the representation is very much equal and pragmatic, rather than perpetuating the usual negative imagery—like portraying it as a colossal, repulsive monster.

I really didn't expect this movie to be so outstanding. Capturing the uniquely confined narrative space of China, it truly represents a captivating glimpse of the 80s artistic flair! The screenplay of the movie is exquisite, the cinematographic language delicate, and the character portrayal of 'Titmouse' is simply stunning. Titmouse is diligent, hardworking, kind, and vibrant. With a bit of luck and just the right amount of stubbornness and individuality, he finds himself lost at the crossroads of a shifting society, and it is this fusion, this friction, that ignites fierce sparks. The ultimate loneliness of the soul: uncomprehended by everyone around; the merciless play of fate: glimpsing the beauty of freedom and liberation, yet entwined and unable to free oneself. For a lasting relationship, if one grows and changes, the other must follow; if one loves the status quo, the other must also wait. To build a perfect love is not as simple as rocket science; in this ever-changing world, someone always has to sacrifice something. The primitive and rough Chinese flavor of life starkly contrasts with the reserved and refined formalism of Japanese aesthetics.

The film clips are too fragmented, with a strong sense of patchwork, and low documentary value. The post-production is cheap and rushed through. Not a single scene from the Asian battlefield is shown, making it hard to call it a 'world' war.

Lengthy, yet surprisingly good, it never feels dull throughout. It vividly portrays the dark and jungle-like society before modern civilization, revealing the calculative human nature, the survival of the fittest among groups, and the ever-relevant theme of pure, unblemished love. People are creatures willing to take risks and maximize self-interest, where so-called morals and other noble virtues come secondary. When the benefits of an action outweigh the risks, there will always be someone willing to attempt it. The uncle represents pure darkness, the nephew sways between dark and light, and Molly is pure innocence. Ms. Molly's harmless nature and broad generosity serve as an embellishment, a beam of light in the film, offering some solace to the audience.

Family trivialities. The Japanese style has a lingering aftertaste, and the wealth of the rich flows like gentle water. Every tile and fabric, every grass and tree of the affluent Japanese family is exquisitely ordered and meticulously cared for, advancing gently with warmth, with dialogue that is reserved and patient.

To make annotations, then read and summarize again

What is Jianghu? What are the ways of the world? Through deep and clear observations, and interesting descriptions of Jianghu tactics, all are presented in colloquial language aimed to admonish the common people not to be greedy for small gains, to avoid deception, to shun evil paths, and to follow righteousness. The work targets ordinary individuals, depicting the societal evolution within a closed, vast geographical and cultural space, pushing the philosophy of jungle survival to an extreme: exploiting differences in information, human weaknesses, and psychological control techniques to deceive, treating humans as prey to extract maximum value, and putting in great effort to hone these deceitful skills, even turning it into a spectacular art form. Using covert terms not only avoids misfortune but also helps in building trade barriers while making people reflect on the deep-rooted and long-standing tradition of using substituted words in Chinese culture. The simple downstream players in the information food chain, though earnest and hard-working, are fatally simple; whereas the cunning upstream figures, though skilled and wealthy, are unable to achieve a perfect or virtuous end. The setting is like that of a musical theatre, where the dust and clamor do not touch the audience's clothes, yet a familiar essence lingers in the air, silently reminding those present that they are from and within these mountains, and cannot hope to remain unaffected.

Came for the truck counter-surveillance segment. The budget was really sufficient, plenty of explosives, a lot was destroyed, and the actors look great. However, the film isn't that good; it's melodramatic and awkward.

The entertainment elements are heavily overdone, with a vast battlefield where a few people can meet anywhere, and the arrangements of life and death are confusing. The movie intentionally leads the audience to believe it portrays real events, which is somewhat off-putting. Even if true, it appears to be a combination of extreme cases selectively pieced together from the entire battlefield into one picture. The film features a star dream female singer who lives in her own world and is tragically killed by her secret lover, a Jewish man who slashes through a train's undercarriage with a knife to escape and successfully infiltrates the Polish partisans, and another who avoids execution by escaping from the battlefield and killing his superior officer to survive, along with a brother who intentionally provokes enemy bombing with his anti-war stance, yet escapes punishment and transforms into a combat elite, fighting hundreds alone before ultimately committing a heroic suicide. Additionally, a Jewish spy transforms into a Soviet female officer, executing a Soviet nurse without blinking yet repeatedly emerges at critical moments to protect a German nurse who reported her, allowing her to survive until the end. Although the plot consumes and entertains with WWII themes with some unclear threads, the story is still above average, leaving me eager to see Chinese-language war films reaching this production level in my lifetime.

e1 The familiar feeling is back, it's rare to maintain consistent quality / e8 Battle of alphanumeric curly braces infinity.. / e10 Tingling scalp. The theme of this episode is: Recognizing and letting go of one's inner fears.