Nolan is familiar to everyone, so he won't say much about it himself. But let me briefly introduce the background of the film.
This is Nolan's first feature film, so many people commented that "it's good to be able to make a debut like this", but this obviously underestimated the strength of this film. But if you say "this movie is really a masterpiece", it is too overestimated, so where will Nolan's later movies go. I personally think that 8~8.5 is a relatively normal score. I give five stars entirely out of love for Nolan.
Black and white films in 1998 are rare. The reason why Nolan was filmed in black and white was really because the budget was extremely limited, only $6,000, and the actors were all non-professionals, so most of the shots could only be shot once, no wonder The processing of many pictures is too unfamiliar. But this still can't hide the light of this movie. Nolan himself said: "This is a pinnacle work completed under limited conditions." So how does this movie shine?
At the beginning, the protagonist narrates himself. As we follow his remarks, we will understand roughly what happened. After a few minutes, we find out that the hero is not talking to himself, but to whom. This further deepens the audience's curiosity and echoes his dialogue with the police at the end of the film. The background of the whole movie, as well as the causes and consequences, are explained clearly in these short minutes of self-report. The male protagonist is an unhappy writer, so he starts stalking others for his own writing material. Following along became his main business, and he even set a few rules for himself.
This kind of professionalism and self-restraint makes me think of Jason in Very Human Traffickers. And in the same way, both of them broke the rules, which led to the occurrence of the follow-up story. In this movie, the male protagonist breaks the rules - stalking the same person - which triggers the follow-up story. And Nolan's handling is also very subtle. When the male protagonist said the last two lines, the camera turned to the second male, who was the one who caused the rules to be broken. Then the scene turned to Kaifeng, the male protagonist followed Lu Xian, and the male second confronted him. Through the dialogue between the two, the male lead's guilty conscience and the male second's strength led to the following. The previous story is called the " building part " in classic Hollywood, that is, explaining the background (the emptiness of the unwilling writer), establishing the goal (stalking addiction), and showing the turning point (discovered by the second male). Then the male protagonist followed the male second to start the theft journey.
There is a very interesting point at the beginning of this part. The second male is rummaging for the key of the room under the street stall. The inner play of the male protagonist is: "That's okay." Then when the second male slipped the door to pick the lock, the male protagonist was in The key was found on the eaves. This bridge section happened one after another in the subsequent theft process, and it also laid a foreshadowing for the final big BOSS that was hard to notice. After entering the door, a series of words from the second male gave the audience a very "professional" feeling, and he even created his own professional philosophy. He doesn't just steal, he "breaks into" other people's lives and tells them what to cherish. His analysis of the owners of the house and the relationship between them through the items of the dwelling is amazing.
In addition, the second man on the rooftop later explained his philosophy of life, which made the man follow him with all his heart. What is this called, it is called establishing a great image for the male protagonist to pursue and develop according to this. Since then, unlike Hunhun, the male protagonist has a goal in life, and he has motivation. Then the man came to the bar in high spirits (emphasis added) and met a woman. Note that usually, the woman you meet at the bar will change the direction of the plot, and this time was no exception. During the conversation between the two, we knew that this was the boss's woman, but she didn't love him, which made the male protagonist feel pity and cherish jade. The key word in front is necessary. If the male protagonist is still so confused, how can he dare to continue to pursue after hearing that the female protagonist is the eldest woman. This logic is meticulous, wonderful.
As the conversation deepened, we learned that the heroine's home was also stolen. In addition, the male protagonist is a thief, and this interlocking plot makes us want to continue watching.
It should be said that this is the beginning of the " complex plot " part of classic Hollywood . Let the male protagonist keep moving towards the set goal and create obstacles. It also created conflict for the male protagonist (meeting a woman who is heartbroken). The next step is to see how the male protagonist treats this woman.
The shot below uses a lot of cross-cutting, and the constant flashbacks are even foggy (Nolan worthy of it). A lot of the shots in this part don't make sense until the end. The first solo of the male protagonist ended in failure, which showed the immaturity of the male protagonist's technology, and also showed that he was very depressed and wanted to vent, so he came to find the female protagonist, interspersed with the shots of the male protagonist breaking through the window. , like another theft. Later, in another apartment, the male lead and the second male drank and chatted. The second male told the male lead that he could see who would go on a business trip, so he would go to their room to rest for a few days. Then the female protagonist described the scene where he witnessed the murder of the elder brother, which also made the male protagonist's lame joke embarrassing. Then there are interspersed scenes of theft, the male protagonist was found, and then the male protagonist knocked over the man with a hammer (the second male reminded him to bring it). Then the screen turns to the male protagonist and the second male to eat, and the second male asks the male protagonist to sign a credit card to settle the bill, in order to live the addiction of being a rich man.
Then the screen turns to the second male and the female lead lying on the same bed. So, everything seems to be a trap. Including the female lead's underwear collected by the male lead, an earring given to the male lead's female lead by the second male lead, etc. These have become the last crucial things. The heroine even asked why the window had to be broken, and the second man replied that using the key again would arouse the suspicion of the man. That's why the second male knows every user so well, so the second male does not panic when he sees the owner who has discovered him while eating. This turning point was unexpected.
As the "emotion" between the male protagonist and the female protagonist deepened, the male protagonist confessed to the female protagonist that he was a thief. The female protagonist asked the male protagonist to help steal something along the way, and she knew the password of the safe. It seems like a great opportunity to have sex with the female lead, even if it is to call Cai Xukun, the male lead will do it, not to mention just doing it a favor. So the male protagonist found the male second and explained everything. The second male beat the male protagonist, good guy, so far Nolan has not forgotten to reflect the professionalism of the second male, because as Su Ji said: "personal ain't good business" (personal grievances are not good Business). Subsequent shots told us that the second man ran wild because the heroine slept with the hero, hahaha, love is a green light that makes you panic.
Afterwards, the conversation between the second male lead and the female lead told us why they let the male lead steal things. Because the second male appears at the scene of a dead old woman, they need to find a scapegoat. The whole " climax " ends here. What is shown to us is the step by step of the male second, the calculation of the female protagonist, and the toy of the male protagonist in applause. And through flashbacks, it tells the plot of the male protagonist stealing the female protagonist's house and the male protagonist helping the female protagonist. If it weren't for the cross-editing, the amount of information would not be so large and incomprehensible; but again, if it weren't for the cross-editing If so, it simply cannot achieve Nolan's purpose of making the audience pay attention to the plot and not think for themselves all the time.
Next is the " end ", and it's time for Nolan to expand his moves. Looking at the stolen photos, the male protagonist thought he had been smeared, and angrily asked the female protagonist for an explanation. The hostess confessed everything. The male protagonist thought he was stalking others, but who knew that he was being followed by others. He has long been the prey of the second male. And the modus operandi and hairstyle of those male two are all to make the second male's "there is a thief who is very similar to himself" appear more credible.
Then the screen turns to the male protagonist and has a conversation with a policeman. This is the "confession" of the male protagonist at the beginning, he is explaining to the police. So what exactly happened. The explanation of the male protagonist is very clear on our side, so now the key is the police side. At this time, the picture changed again, the second male and the female lead. It turned out that the boss couldn't stand the female lead's extortion for the last "execution", so he sent the second male lead to execute the female lead, and the murder weapon happened to be the hammer that the male lead used to overturn others.
On the police side, the evidence is solid. The heroine died, and there were two kinds of blood on the hammer. Needless to say, one is the person and the other is the heroine. The female protagonist's fingers were shattered because the male protagonist tortured her to get the safe code. The police also found the female lead's underwear and missing earrings in the male lead's apartment, as well as photos. In addition, the police verified that the address of the second man mentioned by the man belonged to another person (just like what the second man said when he was drinking in the apartment), and this owner was the owner of the credit card that the second man deceived the man to sign and pay. .
The truth came out.
Nolan deserves to be Nolan, flashbacks and foreshadowings, reversals and advancements, the stories are always told in a mesmerizing way. Is it the male protagonist who is making up the story, or is there really something going on. How did the heroine die? When she was catching prey, did she ever think that she was also someone else's prey? Is that eldest brother really the eldest brother, or is he an irrelevant person who exists only to complete the story. And the second male, does it exist or not? Is it fabricated by the second male? Just like "Inception", "Deadly Magic" and "Memento", there are not many doubts that are embarrassed to say that it is a Nolan movie. And, part of the awesomeness is that these questions are mostly unanswered. Just like the knife that Hu Fei slashed at Miao Renfeng, did he cut it or not?
Although still a classic Hollywood narrative structure overall, Nolan has never liked to tell the story. The non-linear narrative has already seen its power in this film-the male protagonist stealing the female protagonist and the male protagonist and the female protagonist are edited together, making people wonder how the "all-knowing" male protagonist can "win" the female protagonist ; There is also a clip in the middle of the male protagonist stealing the safe. The accident of being discovered makes people sweat, and at the same time, I want to see how the male protagonist solves the follow-up matter - breaking the rules of time, so that the audience must go deeper Thinking, and the contrast and conflict before and after, will not lose the audience's attention. Of course, the non-linear narration of this film is still a little green. Many plot developments and character descriptions are expressed "subjectively" through dialogue. I don't know if it is because of insufficient funds (2333~ ).
All in all, this is a very cool movie. The foreshadowing and suspense in the early stage, various conflicts in the middle, and the final big move are all wonderful. Thank you Mr. Nolan!
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