But he was still two centimeters shorter in the role of Rich Kuklinski. Considering that this film is adapted from real people, let's first understand the splendid life of the protagonist "Iceman" Richie Kuklinski.
1. The life of the character prototype
Rich Kuklinski was born in 1935 and died in 2006. He was once employed by six large crime families in New Jersey and New York. During his 38-year career (1948-1986), he has been involved in various fields such as drug trafficking, pornographic filming, reselling weapons, money laundering, robbery, and hired murder. It is an unfamous contract system in the United States that spans half a century. Killer. The reason why he is not famous is that after he killed the body, he carried out a special process-freezing and freezing for 24 hours. The coroner could not judge the time of death, so he has been silent for a long time and missed the rankings of major killers.
Thanks to his "cold" handling methods, the police have always lacked evidence. In the end, under pressure, colleagues in the police sector worked hard to arrest him after an 18-month investigation. However, the only evidence that the prosecutor can produce is There were 5 murders, and Richie himself admitted to killing 100-250 people in a 240-hour interview with writer Philip Carlo. This number jumped a lot, indicating that he had killed too many people, and he himself couldn't even remember the approximate number.
Not only was the judicial department unable to figure out the number of people he killed, but his family didn't even know what he was doing. His wife always thought he was doing business. Of course, this is because Richie protects his family, and it also shows how well he has done confidential work. The name "Iceman" is appropriate, which not only summarizes his method of handling corpses, but also summarizes his calm personality and calmness. A meticulous and thoughtful approach.
The above information comes from Wikipedia. Wikipedia's materials are very comprehensive and relatively cold. What is this strange person like? This depends on the wonderful performance of Michael Shannon.
2. Michael Shannon's performance
This actor is not very famous in Hollywood, but from the first time I saw him (like most people, I also noticed him in "Man of Steel"), I assumed that this big guy could act.
Take this film as an example. In fact, the image of Michael himself is very different from that of Rich. He is too literary. Rich is a sturdy man. He is a deterrent if he doesn't beat others. Michael is like an honest home in the film. man. His performance is also relatively literary, not at all domineering like General Zod. Such an introverted and honest person, handling the dead body so calmly, has become a strong contrast with his warm situation when facing his family. Accurately grasping such a contrast is the key to performing this role, and its fierceness increases by a fraction of it. , Its warmth will increase by a fraction but it will be weaker, and Michael grasps it so wonderfully.
In addition, his good acting is due to his size. Don't underestimate this. In the same scene, Michael can support it, but others may not. The famous Hong Kong film critic Shu Qi said this in a group show in "Gunfire". Europeans and Americans are taller than Asians, so the visual effects on the screen are better, and it is easier to form impact and oppression. Of course, Johnnie To has his approach.
3. The quality of the film and its meaning to me are
relatively average. There is nothing fancy in the narrative, and there is no skill in shooting. It is an honest look at Ricky Kuklinski from knowing his wife to imprisonment. Duan Shengsheng moved onto the screen.
But the film promotes a point that I very much agree with, that is, doing everything for the sake of the family is okay, including all the illegal activities done by Rich. Because the so-called law only protects the interests of most people. In the Qing Dynasty, it focuses on protecting the powerful and bureaucratic. This kind of thing cannot be used to measure a person's right or wrong. Then what is the standard for measuring right and wrong? Woolen cloth? This is totally different from person to person. In this film, for Rich, the standard is his family. All that is good for his wife and daughter is right, and vice versa is wrong. In front of the priest, he did not admit that he had any fault, and since he was in jail, he never mentioned his family again, and he felt as if he had never seen them before. The film did not give an explanation, but I understand it well, because he can no longer protect them. He has lost the only standard he believes in this life, so he chose to self-exile like a believer who has lost his faith. He is not giving up his family. When he is not with his wife and daughter, not contacting them is the best protection for them. The origin of this idea is related to his childhood experience.
This is mentioned in the first half of the film, when he went to the prison to meet his brother. He and his younger brother were abused and beaten by his father since he was a child, but he tolerated it. This is an important cause of his growing up personality. Growing up in such a single-parent family, Rich and his younger brother must be dependent on each other. His younger brother was once the person he cared about most. But when the younger brother talked about Richie’s wife and children, Richie immediately came to the family’s side because he was there. The younger brother saw the shadow of his father, and he himself was the same, he retained his brutal genes, but he could control it (you can see that he was so easy to be comforted by his wife when he went home after being fired), and the younger brother No, so he retreated to protect his family, and in the end he broke off contact with his family, also out of this consideration.
But sadly, his wife and daughter didn’t understand what he did, let alone the reason behind it. Very few viewers could understand. Only a paranoid and extreme audience like me and Rich could understand his difficulties. If one day I do something extraordinary to protect my family, just like Rich, and if my family also doesn’t understand, then I have to take the opportunity of watching this film to be mentally prepared. From this point of view, this film still makes a lot of sense to me.
WeChat: Wild
Critic 2016-04-16
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