(This article was first published on Pengpai Youxi, please do not reprint)
On March 10, I watched the movie "Genius Catcher". The English name is "Genius", but the Chinese translation is "Genius Catcher". The meanings of the two names are slightly different. The story takes the legendary editor of the 20th century Maxwell Perkins as the protagonist, and tells the process of his love and killing with the author Thomas Wolfe. "Genius" seems to refer to those writers who had been discovered by Perkins: Thomas Wolfe, and two more famous ones - Hemingway and Fitzrager; it also seemed to refer to the genius-spotting editor himself . The Chinese translation regards Perkins as a "catcher". But if we return to the intention of only using the word "Genius" as the title of the film, perhaps the creators have also tried to incorporate several aspects of genius: unique pain, legendary fate, inescapable worldly ties, and genius. different forms of existence. In this title, there is a slight mockery in the face-pinch style: geniuses are just ordinary people with emotions! But also obviously recognize their greatness and respect. The original is from Scott Berger's biography, The Genius Editor: Max Perkins and a Literary Age. The director is Michael Dagraj, who is not well known in the film industry, but he was the artistic director of the Don Mar Warehouse Theatre in London's West End for ten years from 2002-2012. His predecessor was named Sam Mendes. The cast lineup is very gratifying: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney... all of them are iron-clad actors.
The 1920s and 1930s were known as the golden age of "creative editing". At that time, book production was not yet highly industrialized and streamlined, leaving behind what was described by the famous editor Huang Yuning in Shanghai as "the warmth of a manual workshop". Therefore, editors with superb literary appreciation like Perkins have room to play. When two creative people work together, it can be a tightrope walk. Either it happens to be like-minded, and one side gives in slightly, and they can go hand in hand, or they go their separate ways. An extreme example is Raymond Carver, who is regarded as an exponent of minimalism, whose short stories were in fact more than half cut by editor Gordon Leish. Nabokov also met this editor, but the second-generation official who wrote about the white socks on 200 pages of our 500 pages of "Lolita" immediately roared: "Who is this Gordon Leish? What did he do? This can't be used!" Many of the writers that Perkins approached were people who needed to be cared for in a poor life. For example, Fitzraj, who managed to complete a decent book and only got two dollars in royalties, came out Germany. It is said that Perkins, who is considered to be low-key, pragmatic and humble, prefers autobiographical themes, which also shows his love for the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that the film "Genius Catcher" was filmed quietly. The magnificent story of genius must be as plain as a line drawing, in order to show the original meaning of "you and I are both mortals".
There are also moving parts in the line drawing. In the plot based on Perkins and Wolff's friendship, there are several iconic scenes that explain their relationship well. 1. When Wolfe learned that the manuscript could be published, he went to play with Perkins' house, and gratefully almost recognized Perkins as his father. He turned his back to the camera at this point (not yet accepted by the public), and Perkins turned his face sideways, paused for a while, and patted him on the shoulder. 2. After Wolf agreed with Perkins's comments, he chased Perkins, who was about to get on the train, from behind. At this time, both of them were facing the camera. The lens is gradually clear (gradually moving towards being recognized by the public). Afterwards, Perkins got on the train, leaned halfway out of the window to talk to Wolff, and went away with the starting train. (Perkins has gone further than Wolfe, revealing a part of himself from time to time to guide Wolff, and Wolfe catches up with his original position, but still can't see through all of him) 3. The two overlooked In Manhattan, Wolfe rested his head on Perkins' shoulders. This is the moment when the two are spiritually united. 4. Wolff wanted to challenge Perkins after he became famous and turned his back to the camera again. Perkins, facing the camera, suppressed his anger and expressed his disappointment with Wolff. 5, At the end of the film, Wolfe has passed away. Perkins was alone in front of the desk in the office where he had quarreled with Wolf many times, reading Wolff's dying letter, taking off his hat that he had never taken off before, and two crystal clear, Blowable teardrops. ——This is the final chapter of the relationship between the two. At the level of emotional distance, the two people are gradually approached, intimate, and alienated, and finally closed again. But at the level of emotional inlay, the relationship between the two points to a universal nature of human relationships—not simply helping or hurting, but often both at the same time. For example, Gordon Leish made the financially distressed Carver famous, and even gradually became a master. But whether he "shaped" or "hurt" Carver. We can no longer go back to that time, to "if" Carver insisted not to delete and change at that time, he appeared as the "real" Carver, and the world lost a LOGO Carver, what would happen? In "Genius Catcher", Perkins also lowered his head and said: In fact, I'm also afraid of ruining your work, maybe it's better at the beginning, so the editor always can't sleep... Japanese drama master Yukio Ninagawa Fujiwara Ryuya, a 15-year-old boy, overturned his own drama view in his later years, and asked Fujiwara to follow suit. Ryuya Fujiwara, who was taught by him and made it difficult to accept other directors and writers, once half-jokingly said to Yukio Ninagawa: "You made me and you ruined me."
The grace is as heavy as a mountain, not to mention Anna O, the first "patient" in history to experiment with psychoanalytic therapy. Her hysteria (now denominated) was relieved by Freud's colleague Breuer's "cleansing method", but some other conditions developed, and after stopping treatment, she moved in Nursing home for a long time. The debate over whether she was "cured" continues to this day. If the original intention of an act is to "help," why does it harm the other person? If not, what makes Perkins and Wolfe go in, eat and live together so much that their spouses are jealous? Perhaps what drives people crazy is something that exists together with each other. Someone once asked Perkins: Your writing ability is higher than many authors, why don't you write yourself? He pondered for a long time and replied: Because I am an editor. What Perkins loved was literature. He said, There could be nothing so important as a book can be. Yukio Ninagawa is obsessed with drama, and actors as human performers. Breuer was interested in "what thoughts oppressed her mind." In "Genius Catcher," Perkins and Wolfe had a fight over lifestyle. Wolff, who has just proved his talent, attacked the genius Fitzrajder the day before, who had "can't write five words", claiming that it is worthwhile to live madly for ideals, not Perkins. Accompanying his wife and children while slaughtering others with a knife. And Perkins countered that people have different ways of life, such as raising a family and helping others... "The meaning of life is to look into another person's eyes and feel his heartache." When Thomas Wolfe wrote in a manuscript still called
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