"Magic Moonlight" did not disappoint me: the film revealed the old man's usual awkwardness, stubbornness, acrimony, cynicism, and repeated laughter. But at the same time, I seem to see this little old man who has been fighting against existentialism for a lifetime finally found a way to compromise with himself: At the end of the film, Old Woody chose a happy ending, even though some people were not willing to laugh at the death. Why did the old man start to soften up, but I can see the old man shrugging behind the camera, curling his lips, and drooping his eyebrows, "How do you know I compromised? You don't understand what I'm talking about!"
Lao Wu Dee is magical. He caused the totally unmatched couple, Colin Firth and Emma Stone, to produce a different chemical reaction. "Mr. Darcy" turned into a British magician Stanley in the 1970s. He was good at performing magic tricks by pretending to be a Chinese, making elephants disappear out of thin air and cutting beautiful women in half. He does not believe in God, never believes, and thinks it is ridiculous to pray silently with his hands folded every day. When he was young, even the kindest priest would blew his beard and said that he was the only boy in this community who would go to hell. The only thing he firmly believes is death. Before this doomed end, everything in life is nothingness. Emma Stone plays Sophie, a psychic girl. Her charming appearance is one of the means of deception in Stanley's eyes. With the goal of demonstrating a female liar, Stanley lets Sophie come into his life. When Sophie proved step by step that she could really see the past and future of others in the illusion, Stanley gradually discovered that when she began to believe that there was another "invisible" world, he could live. How comfortable and happy it is.
Colin Firth, possessed by old Woody, shows a strange charm: he is self-centered, downright pessimist, but arrogant and cute, duplicity. "It is an absolute honor for you to confess to you. In order to live with a genius for the rest of your life, you should carefully consider my marriage proposal." This is Stanley's logic in facing the world. Stanley is a bit like Ivey in "Anne Hall" (the character played by Woody Allen himself), cynical, but a bit sad and cute. But he is Colin Firth, with a mean and vicious tongue and natural grace, just like Mr. Darcy whose arrogance coefficient is multiplied by ten. No girl can resist this charm. Emma Stone is very beautiful, not Scarlett Johansson's innocent sexiness, nor Diane Keaton's sweet intellect, at best it is a bit like Mia Farrow's slenderness, with a simple and ordinary temperament. , But there are some neurotic little moves that make people think she is charming. Female characters like Sophie are rare in old Woody's previous films, but Emma Stone in the background halo is really exquisite, no wonder Stanley, who is always rational, is also tempted by it.
"Magic Moonlight" seems to be discussing the essential issues of life. If Stanley has Woody Allen's own projection, then it should be the side of Nietzsche's existential philosophy that he firmly believes in, "God is dead", and people should be anxious and pessimistic. What is religion? Visions, lies, psychological comfort. Should one live in the false joy of self-comfort? Or do they live soberly in the anxiety of approaching death all day long? Old Woody raised this question again. I think 80% of western critics will not like this work: religious people will blame Old Woody for practicalizing religion and treating God as an aspirin-like existence similar to a psychologist, just to relieve people’s mental stress. , Rather than a religious god who truly possesses holy power. Intellectuals would not be optimistic about this work. Old Woody finally compromised after all. For Stanley, a pessimist who originally insisted on atheism, he finally made sensibility defeat rationality in the face of love, and obtained a "layman". "happiness".
Last year's "Blue Jasmine" was actually a very uncomfortable movie: When I walked out of the theater, I felt cold all over. No one in that film seems to be worthy of redemption. Humanity is submerged in total darkness, and reality is bloody, it is a piece of torn robe that is torn into inexhaustible threads, which can no longer be sewn. And "Magic Moonlight", so soft, so elegant, and the same as the color of the whole film, is warm, like the sun in southern France.
I'm very happy that Old Woody has found a way to reconcile with life. After all, the movie is also an illusion, a little adjustment to the ordinary or tragic life. "Magic Moonlight" is not like "The Purple Rose of Cairo": in the ending, the heroine's dream is broken and the reality is staged. In the past, the old Woody would not give his character any chance to live by chance with the hope of fantasy. But now he is willing. Maybe they really have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of life before absolute death comes, although this beauty may be meaningless and fleeting, like a ray of moon pouring down from the sky of a planetarium, as light as smoke, as if It doesn't exist at all, but it adds a touch of romance to everything. Don't give up the beauty of the process for the sake of ultimate nothingness. Thank you father for this beautiful compromise.
View more about Magic in the Moonlight reviews
