[Movie] "Damn Asura": those inevitable coincidences

Producer: Gao Junting, Xu Guolun, Wang Xinghong Director: Lou Yian Screenwriter: Lou Yian, Chen Xinyi Cinematography: Yang Fengming Actors: Huang Shengqiu, Wang Yuxuan, Mo Ziyi, Pan Gangda, Huang Yujia, Lai Haozhe

In the Taiwan film market in 2021, two films focusing on random homicides will appear invariably, namely "Youth Killing Love" and "Damn Asura". The former uses a relatively alienated and indifferent character branch to depict the influence of youth subculture on personality development. Cause and effect, the latter progresses through chapters in-depth character backgrounds, exploring the venting space for teenagers to liberate their emotions through the subculture. The choice of narrative point of view between the two is obviously a different position on the interpretation of random homicide.

"Damn Asura" tells the story of Zhan Wen (played by Huang Shengqiu) and A Xing (played by Pan Gangda), who graduated from high school. The two usually anonymously co-create web comics, which have attracted a lot of attention, but Zhan Wen was coerced by his father at the same time. About to study abroad. In order to resist his father, Zhan Wen secretly modified a steel ball pistol, planning to use the gun to change his destiny. So on his eighteenth birthday, Zhan Wen came to the night market and started shooting at innocent passers-by one after another.

(There are thunders below, please read carefully)

Through a random murder case in a night market, the film tells the collision and impact at the crossroads of life from the perspectives of a reporter, a pair of good brothers, a pair of male and female friends, and a pair of mother and daughter. Although the movie starts from the mobile phone perspective of Xiaosheng, the deceased of a random murder case, it leads the audience to quickly cut into the theme, but then it takes about 40 minutes to slowly explain the background of each character in the story and simmer slowly.

Zhan Wen and A Xing are obviously good friends for many years, but the dull Zhan Wen does not know that the cheerful A Xing actually likes him, and insists on making bold changes in his life regardless of the consequences. As a result, Zhan Wen accidentally kills the innocent civil servant Xiao Sheng (played by Lai Yuzhe) and faces a critical moment when he may be sentenced to death, but reporter Moutai (played by Mo Ziyi), because he had contact with Zhan Wen and Xiao Sheng, became curious and random. The truth about the murder, trying to write a report.

Since Zhan Wen knew the murder and was unwilling to actively change his fate, Axing decided to take advantage of Xiaosheng's mobile phone to threaten Xiaosheng's fiancee Vita (played by Huang Qijia) to broadcast live for him, and pretended to publicly execute Zhan Wen's Parents, forcing Zhan Wen to publicly apologize in exchange for a reduced sentence. However, Axing's plan was immediately seen by Zhan Wen and was immediately arrested by the police. Zhan Wen then began to think: "If, if there is..."

The film immediately ushered in a "what if" turning point that is rarely seen in Taiwanese movies, allowing Zhan Wen to meet Lin Lin (played by Wang Yuxuan), a former crush, and give up the execution of a random murder case. However, Zhan Wen's relationship with Linlin also made Ah Xing jealous, and with Zhan Wen's modified pistol, he shot female model dummies in the bridal shop everywhere, implicated Zhan Wen and forced to separate from Linlin. At the same time, Xiaosheng accidentally kills Linlin.

From the deliberate reversal of the position of the victim and the perpetrator by the director, we seem to be able to better understand the film's attempt to challenge the values of good and evil, good and bad, and find that everyone has feelings of anger and loneliness, but the timing of the outbreak is different. It leads us to think that we can easily stand on the moral high ground and criticize those strangers we are not familiar with. However, this film also presents another charm because of the solid character setting.

No matter which story line it is, we can find that the characters' love, hatred, hatred and madness have not changed. Only the coincidence of events changed the ending of the story. But do those coincidences really change the fate of the characters?

The poster for the film reads: "Goodness and sin, maybe just by chance..."

Because the life and death of Xiaosheng , the key character in this film, completely affects the fate of all characters, so when we started to analyze his usually suppressed dream of an anime cafe and his lost and powerless manhood, we discovered the whole story. The tragedy actually lies in the social atmosphere in which it is impossible to "be yourself".

Because they want a better education, because they want a more stable income, because they want a more stable life... Those trapped souls confined to intimate relationships will undoubtedly become invisible unexploded bombs for the entire society. Therefore, this film highlights the inevitability of tragedy through the accident of events. Some people may think that the ending of another timeline is relatively bright, allowing the characters to regain the ability to love people, but no matter which ending, there will be a life gone, It is not so-called bright.

"Damn Asura" is a little dull in terms of scheduling and soundtrack, but the excellent performance of the actors and the script, as well as the ability of photography and editing to accurately capture the appearance of all beings, can still make people feel the power of the film and see the director's criticism of social values. If "Youth Killing Love" is just borrowing from the topic and repeating the old tune, "Damn Asura" challenges our thinking about good and evil, and injects the vision of the new generation into Taiwanese films.