The Sadness (2021)

After a year of combating a pandemic with relatively benign symptoms, a frustrated nation finally lets its guard down. This is when the virus spontaneously mutates, giving rise to a mind-altering plague. The streets erupt into violence and depravity, as those infected are driven to enact the most cruel and ghastly things they can think of. Murder, torture, rape and mutilation are only the beginning. A young couple is pushed to the limits of sanity as they try to reunite amid the chaos. The age of civility and order is no more. There is only “The Sadness”.Online viewing of Locarno Film Festival. This film has really wanted to see for a long time. Together with “Curse” and “psychic medium”, it has become the most anticipated Asian horror film of the three major years for fans. Actually, the impression after reading is general, and there may have been enough psychological expectations, so the presentation of plasma and violence is still acceptable. But the plot is really much weaker than expected. In the end, I didn’t fully understand the way the virus spread. Moreover, it is not a zombie film. The infected people in the film still retain human consciousness and thinking, and even can speak normally. Only the most violent and dirty side of the body is stimulated, just like people have to blink, they can’t control it at all. This is probably why the director said that this film wants to highlight the “evil” side of human nature. With the epidemic situation as a big environment worth pondering, we can probably understand what the director wants to express. However, compared with Busan, it also presents the evil of human nature in an extreme environment, and the characterization is much worse. There is even no character emotion at all, which naturally becomes a simple class B film. However, we can still see the director trying to add some caution to some scenes, such as the audience who still don’t forget to take out their mobile phones to shoot even though there is a river of blood on the subway, such as the president who talks and gives history lessons to panicked people but can’t take effective action, such as the doctor who thinks he is just and dignified but experiments with babies… Of course, these people have no good end, The director may also want to use this way to make some of his own voice. There should be more extensive discussion when resources are available.