When the evaluations of others are the same, the faces of others also tend to be the same. No one really understands their own results and loses their accurate assessment of themselves. Bella, the lover of the past, may be special because he was different in her heart. Unfortunately, the passage of time is a big dream, and it is no wonder that the muse in my own eyes will become mediocre with the daily trivialities. Being loved and pursued by everyone has nowhere to escape, making death or conversely the best dream. The difference is that some dreams will wake up, while some will not.
The film "Abnormal" has the characteristics of dreams everywhere. The stop-motion animation makes the actions of the simulated characters appear clumsy and exaggerated. The sound processing touches the psychological thriller. The narrative jumps randomly between fuzzy segments. The film or the life itself, as it says, seems to be A nightmare that can never wake up.
Modeling: The Face of Others and the Faceless Eyes was
nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated "Aberrations". It is the famous filmmaker Charlie Kao for "New York Synonyms", "Adapted Screenplay", and "Warm and Warm Containing Light" Fuman's first stop-motion animation work is also the first R-rated film in the history of the Academy Awards.
It was classified as R-rated, probably mainly due to the unobstructed dew point and sex scenes in the film. However, unlike the erotic meaning of ordinary real people, the texture of clay and the processing of animation have weakened the element of desire. The real person is kneaded into clay, and the action of the clay is just like a real person, and it is like a metaphor of a person being materialized. The nude or erotic passages here are absurd and give people a sense of discomfort like black humor.
This sex scene is too long and complete, although it is not a man in a middle-aged crisis that has good endurance ability, it is not true. It is a different camera angle, so that every action detail can be stated and magnified. Co-director Duke Johnson mentioned that this was done to make the scene as realistic as possible and not to appear ridiculous. In addition to some technical problems, this ten-minute sex scene was filmed for six months. Animation may indeed turn serious behavior into a joke. Just think about whether Lego can do these things reasonably, and you know how difficult it is.
Although the production of "Aberrations" has been extremely smooth and detailed, the clay animation still differs from real people, and it often feels stuck, stagnant, and slow. The characters are like old machinery, or players that are about to run out of power. There may be souls and lives, but they are lifeless. In terms of styling, the film is slightly flattened, and the characters present a five-headed body ratio, and the embarrassing comical replaces the belly, just like the moral judgment of the disabled can not be laughed at. Similar uneasy elements that are extremely sensitive to body and space appear in cult-like Japanese dolls, as well as the absurd question of why driving a golf cart in an underground warehouse.
The most impressive thing is the crack on everyone's face, spreading from the corner of the eye to the back of the head. In production, it can be completely avoided, because the rich character expressions quickly tell the audience that this crack is not for facial movements. From the very beginning, it gave birth to a kind of worry, a sense of mechanics, which made this face seem detachable. Whether people have been concealed by some kind of mask, the film viciously exposes this mystery in the following paragraphs. Because of this, the scars on Lisa's face that are scared of seeing the light have a unique and extraordinary meaning, which further distinguishes her from all others beyond her voice.
Voice: Others are hell
Except for Lisa and the actor Stone, the voices of all the characters in "Aberrations" are the same. This is one of the most praised treatments in the film. This is more disturbing than all other people's faces are the same, because after all they have different hair and outfits. Especially when the wives, children and other characters open their mouths in the voice of an adult man, the strange experience is not strange in the sullen narration of the film, and abnormalities are the norm.
The voice actors of the heroes and heroines are David Huris, the actor of "Werewolf Lupin" in "Harry Potter", and Jennifer Jason Lee, the female prisoner actor of "The Hateful Eight" just released. The dubbing of everyone else is done by Tom Nonan. The three actors were also the actors in the first version of the one-act show with sound. In 2005, Charlie Kaufman wrote this script and staged it in Los Angeles. The movie version almost completely continued the lines in the theater series.
The film title, Anomalysa, is formed by combining the words Anomaly and Lisa Lisa, and is interpreted by the heroine as "Angel of God" in the film. Whether this is true or not remains to be verified. But just as the fusion of two words gives birth to a new meaning, relying on the mixing of different voices to create an atmosphere is the keynote that was laid at the beginning of this film. On airplanes, in the office, at the lecture site, at family gatherings, whether in or out of dreams, "Abnormal" extracts all kinds of public places that urban people are accustomed to, and labels them absurdly. The language of each individual is no longer important, and group acceptance is more like hypnosis. As a preacher, the protagonist Stone is naturally caught in a mob of noise and commotion. "But I don't know these people." He said in a seemingly peaceful atmosphere.
Unfamiliarity is a prelude to abnormality. Modern technology has brought too many people who shouldn't have been in contact with. It seems that a broadened life is like an ocean without margins. The film has repeatedly expressed a sense of strangeness, coming from people from different places with unfamiliar accents, and workers from various occupations. What does going to the zoo and eating chili have to do with me, Stone’s helplessness is the generosity of the taxi driver.
For this reason, "Aberrations" spared no effort to show the audience such inexplicable details. Many supporting roles in soy sauce only appeared once. The waiter who arrived holding the plate. These seemingly unimportant people also have a world in their minds, and they also have countless histories. Witnessing these worlds and histories hidden behind masks every day makes people doubt the value of themselves. Therefore, although the protagonist suffers from substantive delusion, as far as bystanders are concerned, being able to witness the original diversity of these homogenized people is the premise for the establishment of the victim's psychological thrill.
The most frightening part is of course at the coffee table in the morning. Stone stares at Lisa. The camera combines the subjective point of view with the front and back, stitching the audience's eyes together, watching the beauty disappear and the pain spread. In terms of soundtrack, the film mainly uses piano music and string music, combined with some electronic music elements. The sudden scream at the climax is as disharmonious as hearing a fingernail scratching a blackboard or a shovel scraping a casserole. It's tingling, and the purpose of "Aberrations" has been achieved.
Narrative: when true is false, false is also true
Despite the introduction of a layered structure, the narrative of "Aberrations" is quite simplified. The main body of the story takes place from night to early morning, telling an unsurprising story about business trips. But in between, people have seen all the past and future of the protagonist Stone. Through the mouth of Bella in the memory, the audience learns how Stone had become what he is today when he was young. With Lisa's blessings from afar, and Stone's experience back home, of course, such a life will not change in substance.
The concentrated narrative in less than a day has produced a relationship with the two women representing the past and the future. The most bizarre thing is that the past that was previously thought of in mind can be suddenly replaced. The practice of "Aberration" has the charm of Antonioni's "Adventure". Lisa came across by chance when Stone was looking for Bella. In a blink of an eye, the task of finding Bella was forgotten, and the shadow of the memory no longer appeared. Or it can be imagined that if he hadn't come to Cincinnati, how could he miss Bella's old love. The past was just trapped in Cincinnati, and did not travel the world with the hero.
Initially this work was designed as a 40-minute short film, so in the final version, it seemed that it was not enough to be enjoyable. The film ended, and the ending paragraph was also slightly rushed, which was unsatisfactory. But this abrupt cessation came back to the nature of the dream of "Abnormal". The alarm clock rang, and I no longer remember the thrilling story just now, life is still like this, keep smiling and continue living.
Being shortlisted for the best animation is naturally a highlight of this year's Oscar. But it may not be easy for "Aberration" to win an award. Its most competitive opponent, "Brain Agents", is also an animated film that explores the spirit. If you enter the mind of Stone, the protagonist of "Aberrations," probably the five villains who dominate emotions are already dead.
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