This psychological film tells the story of Mr. Brooks (played by Kevin Costner), a handsome gentleman with a successful career, who hides a dark and dark secret in his heart - a quirk that is addicted to murder and can't quit. A terrifying story.
Mr. Brooks is a polyhedron with a dual personality. In the eyes of outsiders, he is a successful entrepreneur, mixed in the upper class, well-dressed in various social places, and quite famous in the local; for the family, Brooks is also a responsible father and a caring husband, the standard Good family man.
Everything looks so perfect. However, beneath all the flamboyant halo is Brooks's uneasy desire that is constantly surging in his heart - murder. Brooks is aware of this evil tendency in his own psychology, and he strongly resists this dangerous desire in an attempt to redeem his soul surrounded by darkness.
But at the same time, this feeling of unease and panic has greatly satisfied Brooks' alter ego, Marshall (played by William Hurt).
Marshall lives in Brooks' subconscious, dominates Brooks' behavior and thoughts, and enjoys his own existence and unknown "work". Whenever Marshall takes over Brooks' mind, the sanctimonious entrepreneur turns into a cold-blooded killer who tramples on innocent lives. Every killing is as capable as a task, concise, and never sloppy, and this modern bloodthirsty makes B Brooks nerves full of pleasure all the time.
This psychological film focuses on showing the complex and contradictory psychology of the characters in every detail to arouse the audience's thinking. Everyone may have a feeling of deja vu for such a split personality image of Mr. Brooks: whether Edward Norton in "First Degree Fear" or Johnny Depp in "Secret Window", they are all in the process of playing schizophrenia. Easy to kill.
Also a psychological film based on split personality, Martin Sussex's "Shutter Island" places the split personality of Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio)'s double life at the end of the film to reveal , and does not shake out the answers to the suspense and doubts that have been exaggerating until the last moment; "Mr. Brooks" uses the opposite narrative and expression techniques to express the spirit of Brooks (Kevin Costner) at the beginning of the film. Schizophrenia confesses to the world: he is a successful and charismatic person with a perfect dual personality, and there is still a monster named Marshall (William Hurt) hidden in him.
Maybe everyone has an evil self in their bodies, and they talk to each other from time to time. This scene is no less than in many cartoon animations. The character has an angel with a halo on his left shoulder, and a devil with a steel fork on his right shoulder. Having a heated conversation is as incredible as a battle of ideas. According to some professional medical explanations consulted, multiple personality is a personality disorder caused by psychological factors, and is "the existence of two or more unique personalities within an individual, each of which is dominant at a particular time. These personalities They are independent, autonomous, and exist as a complete self.
When Mr. Brooks talks to the other "me" Marshall in his body, the film suddenly becomes full of black comedy. The image of the former can be used with perfection To describe: a handsome and warm husband, a good father who takes care of his daughter, a philanthropist, an elite CEO in the business world, his shadow Marshall will come to bear all the evil nouns: bloodthirsty, calm and cruel, and the police are helpless for it The "thumbprint killer".
Mr. Brooks' dual character can give the audience a profound impact on the idea. In fact, there is not much conflict between the two personal characteristics, unlike many people who reflect schizophrenia, such as "Fight Club", " The diametrically opposed dual life trajectories and polarized thinking styles of the protagonists presented in classic films such as "The Genius Ripley" and "American Killer", Brooks and Marshall can get along well and have complementary personalities. Marshall gives Brooks some opinions and ideas from time to time. Opinion, Brooks is in control.
The two have an interesting contrast in the image: the director either uses beautiful and skilled front and back shots, or allows the two to show the primary and secondary distinctions in the composition of the picture, and the tandem auxiliary relationship has a subtle form of interaction. Let the audience experience how the art of murder is formed in the mind of an elegant gentleman, and then how he has a good chance of implementing the plan. And let the two play a corner to show the two worlds in Mr. Brooks' heart. Kevin Costner really turned the image of a righteous cowboy and romantic bodyguard upside down to play such a challenging pervert role, and it turned out that he was the right choice.
The ending of this psychological movie is very interesting. Mr. Brooks' dream can be briefly analyzed by Freud's "Dream Analysis": a dream is the embodiment of a wish. There are several scenes in the film where he prays devoutly to God, all of them have a strong desire to atone for sin, but he cannot get rid of the two contradictory feelings that murder is an "addiction".
He longed for someone to end his sinful life, but to be decent, not to be criticized by outsiders, and to maintain his perfect image in the outside world, so it would be more appropriate to use his daughter as the incarnation of the murderer in a dream. But in the end, the daughter still seemed to want to "inherit her father's business", but her daughter was obviously not as old-fashioned and calm as her father, and was described as stupid and vulgar. The father has to clean up his daughter's mess, which invisibly adds to Brooks's more hopeless confusion about the future.
The prophetic ending of this psychological film, which is both true and illusory, immediately elevates the slightly sluggish plot content to a height that makes the audience think deeply. Implying the reincarnation of reality.
In fact, each of us is constantly wandering between heaven and hell, and one step away will be irreversible.
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