This movie is awesome.
That long shot smothered me at first—still long shots are easy to get impatient with, but this one doesn't. Although the plane flew slowly in the sky behind, and the roar came from a distance a little too many times, but the first one, that amazing, had two words in my heart: I fuck...
After watching the film, I was very excited, and I didn't plan to organize it. I wanted to say where I wanted to. Black and white photography must be mentioned. For this kind of film that is both poetic and realistic, full of line drawings and metaphorical contrasts, black and white is the best choice. At first, I wanted to say that it is so cliché, do I have to use black and white? After reading it for a while, it really has to be black and white. There is another reason, I think that although there are scenes of rain and hail in this film, the sun is really impressive... For the scenes of the bright sunny day, black and white are a perfect match.
Long takes - too many long takes, they're awesome, and even better, they're almost always still. Of course, the first one is the most powerful, it's the same as the appearance of a famous person on stage, that full house. Then it's Cleo looking for the child's father, getting off the coach, as if the field of vision is there, Cleo gets off the car, walks through the ditch, walks through the mud, and walks slowly away from the left side of the screen...
A still long shot must be related to silence, and silence is related to poetry. Let’s talk about poetry first. After watching this film, it reminds me of “Sunny Days”, and Mexico City in this lens reminds me of Beijing - because the background sound behind the silence is too poetic: hawkers hawk on the streets The last echo, this is the same thing; then the barking of the dogs corresponds to the whistles of the pigeons, the trumpets of the guard of honor correspond to the noise of gongs and drums; the crowds running around in the streets correspond to the sound of gunfire... ahem. The important thing is that these make me feel the sun dazzling, and the line I always remember, "The air is full of the smell of burning weeds...", this is my first impression of Beijing: a certain autumn in 1988. After four in the morning, I took the 24-hour express train and walked out of Beijing Railway Station. It was the first time in my life that I came to this city. I smelled this kind of smell, so that I still feel the smell of burning weeds. My son belongs to Beijing, even if there is no trace of that kind of atmosphere in Beijing now.
When it comes to silence, then I have to talk about the role of the heroine Cleo. She is taciturn, but she can't perform it if she wants to act. After watching the film, I feel that her lines are too nagging. Anything less would be too pretentious. The acting was so natural, neither the frightened timidness that was pretended to be nor the maverick that was pretended to be. The whole film is actually very silent. Everything is not driven by the plot, but presented in the details of the bystanders. This also involves the shooting method of Alfonso's film: line drawing.
This is the first time I have seen such an expression that is both true and poetic, full of metaphor and completely sketched. Say it true because of the all-time, all-in-all details, including the doctor driving in the door, his wife's conversation in the hospital, and, of course, that violent, futile, desperate hug from behind when the doctor lied to go to Canada...you'd think that It's a mediocre documentary without even a turbulent twist; but when Fermin storms the furniture store with a pistol, Cleo's eyes widen at this unfamiliar daddy, and she has contractions ...then she worked hard to save the child, while the street was full of gunshots, the dead and wounded, a schoolgirl hugged her dead lover and shouted in despair, at this time, the metaphors and contrasts of life and death are completely a pure art film The fan ah.
As for the doctor with a box full of cigarette butts and stepping on shit; Fermin, full of masculinity under the nondescript kendo fur, running away like a coward at the cinema and then scaring Cleo's pathetic outrage at the training ground, something like that Too many comparisons. In the end, Cleo bravely rescued Pato and his sister from the sea. When everyone was crying, she said, "I didn't intend to give birth to her." Her daughter's death, her own life, then This kind of complicated feeling, at that moment, there are literally thousands of words, and it is impossible to express.
Yaliza should definitely win the Best Actress, this is not only the perfect fit of her appearance and temperament in the film (as if performing in a natural and effortless manner), but also because of the natural and profound performance shown in countless details in the film Force, the star-eyed stare when she first faced Fermin, then the repressed Zhang Huang that she sat on the noisy steps of the hawker without saying goodbye to the cinema, and then when she went to great lengths to find Fermin That weak but quiet tone, and the long shot of hugging and crying silently after giving birth to the dead baby, refusing to let the doctor take it away.
Speaking of which, I have to ask Alfonso to take my knees. This shot is completely still and very long. Not to mention this, all you see is Cleo's profile, not her tearful look at all, only Only a few tear marks on her face can show that she is crying silently, and at the same time, in the blurred vision, the doctor is bandaging the dead baby. This step is presented completely, without any switching. Looking at it, I breathed a sigh of relief. The director's realistic sketches are by no means random. By the way, this seems to be one of the few scenes where Cleo is crying. In many cases, no matter how much suffering she endures, her facial expressions are very few, let alone cry. This shows Yaliza's acting skills even more. She is not a wooden face, but there is no trace of exaggeration. At this level, an old actor may not be able to do it.
What else, let me think about it... oh yes, this film was not made into a warm family film. The mistress of the high-level intellectual is very good to Cleo, but when she loses control of her emotions, she will take out her anger on Cleo, This is not concealed in the film at all. In contrast, Cleo's forbearance and perseverance, and at the same time her true love and protection for the children, are fully expressed. The two classes are clearly distinguished and blended together.
A good film, specifically, a good academic art film. I can't help but think that in those days, Beijing city also had pigeon whistles similar to the chirping of dogs and birds, the resounding cries of hawkers all over the street, gongs and drums, and even bloody historical turmoil. , Mexico can shoot "Roma", and we can also shoot a country under a big historical background. Our material will definitely not be less than Mexico, right?
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