After reading "Swiss Army Knife Man", I suddenly thought of an essay written by Lu Xun in 1923, called "How After Nora Goes". This article is aimed at the heroine of Ibsen's play "Doll's House" In this article, Lu Xun finally came to the conclusion that Nora was either depraved or returned.
This film seems to be an American comedy of feces, but the depth of its core touches on the consciousness of "existence" in modern society, which is also the sign of contemporary films that distinguish classical films. Many retro people question the value of contemporary movies. After all, in the face of Hollywood classical narratives and European art films, it seems that current film production has become lackluster, except for the accumulation of capital to copy a large number of "super-man" blockbusters. There are films that are superior to those classic masterpieces in terms of technique and conception, but we have neglected the attention of contemporary films to the current "people", especially when existentialism and postmodernism prevail, many masterpieces are "small but beautiful." The breakthrough is not a "big and complete" delusion.
The story of "Swiss Army Knife Man" can be said to be a re-examination of the "loneliness" theme film in recent years, and because of the novel format and excellent production of this film, the concept of "loneliness" has been changed into the audience. Inwardly, this is where it succeeds.
Whether it is the suspicion of "materiality" and the yearning for spiritual freedom in "Wilderness Survival"; or "She" and "Mechanical Ji" for the deterioration of traditional people's love under intelligent machinery; or borrowed from "The End of Travel" The emptiness of contemporary writers to delay the "individual loneliness" as a person is to give people a sense of "sorrow" in the general direction. The uniqueness of "Swiss Army Knife Man" is that this time it starts to heal itself from the individual and psychological level of "loneliness" and "failure".
Hank in the film, as the dominant player, has the identity of the "superego" in Freud's spiritual analysis, while the "Swiss Army Knife Man"-Manning is synonymous with the "intrinsic self". The development context of the whole movie is the guidance of the superego to the id and the enlightenment of the id to the superego.
In the film, Manning, played by Redcliffe, has always expressed original desire, whether it is talking to Hank about the actual situation of masturbation, or the erection of genitals when seeing a magazine photo of sexy girls, or pretending to be Hank. When “Sarah” communicates, she also directly hopes to satisfy her desires through sexual intercourse. And Hank, played by Paul Dano, has always acted as Manning’s "ethics teacher", controlling Manning’s behavior and speech. This dominant and passive behavioral relationship is undoubtedly another of Freudian psychology. endorsement.
What we can see is that in this journey of soul salvation, Hank has solved three problems respectively, one is the guilt of his mother, the other is the indifference to his father, and the last is the goddess "Sarah" Relieved, and these three points are all done with the help of Manning.
As the "superego", that is, a rational human in modern society, Hank cannot release himself to the three people he cares about the most. Due to the rules of society, just like Hank, each of us lives in the shackles of "rules". In the prison, I enjoy the contemporary security of "prison disaster". Although I don’t want to, I can "safeguard myself" and don’t want to do "extraordinary" things. In order to show this trap of thinking, the film uses "open fart" as the whole trap. Bait, Manning tried to break through this point, so when discussing "open fart" with Hank at the end of the film, he has extended to the level of "hiding" and "breaking through concealment".
I tend to consider the evaluation of a film on two levels, one is the content and the other is the form. The depth of the content requires more "mindfulness" and insight from the viewers. After all, I can only see from this film " There are not a few people who fall in love with dead bodies and are gay companions as well.” Radcliffe, the "Harry Potter" who plays dead bodies, should be the biggest attraction of this movie as a pre-publicity.
But the "beauty" in form is often seen by people at a glance. There is no need to argue about this. Just as you can say that you can’t understand "Yangtze River Map", but if you say "Yangtze River Map" is ugly, that can only prove Your aesthetics is not only worse than others.
This is the case in "Swiss Army Knife Man". The freshness and beauty of the picture lies in the use of a large number of upgraded shots in the film, which makes certain comedic appearances of the film a lot more colorful due to the romantic slow motion, and it also makes the picture of the film full of magical colors. ; On the soundtrack, the film invited two creators of the Manchester Orchestra to perform a complete vocal performance. The unaccompanied vocal chorus made the film fit the two male protagonists through a polyphonic soundtrack—— Hank's and Manning's personalities are one.
Let's think about the conclusion about Nora at the beginning of this article: "Either fall, or go back." I believe many people should understand what I mean at this time. When Hank returns to the society that made him feel lonely and suffering again In the movie, he faced many questions and ridicules, not only his father, but also the goddess Sarah, but he finally chose relief and chose to fart publicly. It is precisely because of Hank's choice that Manning once again Resurrection, in the eyes of the world, the driver of his "little boat". Has Hank's contradiction been resolved in the film? Maybe not, but the last scene may make many real "autistic patients" find a glimmer of gospel.
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