It's a pity, I'm a very late person watching anime, the first time I watched anime seriously was probably in junior high school. Because anime was never part of my childhood, I never had any feelings about it. But this "absence" also has an unexpected benefit, that is, my choice and judgment of anime will not be affected by personal experience and childhood memories, but rather based on rational and aesthetic orientation with very high purity. In fact, many people don't realize that maybe you like Conan, Doraemon, and Sailor Moon. You didn't choose them, but they "savagely" occupied you back then. My love for Jin Min started in high school, and I am already at a stage where my world view and aesthetic level are relatively stable, so I can look at and even examine these works very rationally. Love in this situation is probably the love that will stand the test of time. In 2020, the tenth anniversary of Jin Min's death, I really want to write any of his works. I picked out this 2004 "Delusional Agent" not only because it is Jin Min's best work, but also because the world is getting closer and closer to the description of this work.
Above: Exhaustive animation expressions
I remember when I wrote the movie review of "Inception" before, I mentioned that the advantages of animation have been seriously underestimated by everyone. At that time, he summed up the two major advantages of animation over live-action movies: one is to get rid of the restrictions of real people and real scenes, and the other is to use exaggeration and absurd techniques more freely. It can be said very responsibly that among the animation masters around the world, Jin Min is the one who can maximize the advantages of animation to the limit. Today is about Jin Min's best work again, so we might as well disassemble the advantages of all animations. Take this "Delusional Agent" as an example, and sort it out carefully.
Let the second become cute and dark humor
The main story line of "Delusional Agent" is the pursuit of the murderer: first, a famous designer was attacked by a teenager with a baseball bat on his way home in the middle of the night, and then it evolved into an indiscriminate terrorist attack in the city. More and more people claim that It was a baseball teen victim, so two police officers launched an investigation. When there is an investigation, there will naturally be suspects. One of the suspects is a middle-school 2-year-old. He feels that by hitting others with a bat, he is driving away the monsters on them, and he is clearly a savior with a mission. So for the interrogation process of this young man, Jin Min adopted a processing method similar to a web game. Both the screen and the progress of the plot are like game clearance, and there are even all kinds of cosplay that are very interesting, which is very interesting.
This is the advantage of animation, especially 2D animation: two-dimensional things are naturally distant from the real world, so the audience has very low requirements for its authenticity, so when presenting a very exaggerated and very middle-level plot, everyone I won't think it's bloody, if handled properly, everyone will find it cute or humorous.
In fact, another plot in "Delusional Agent" can take this advantage to the extreme. A very interesting little story is interspersed in the big chasing story. Three netizens who met in the post bar made an appointment to commit suicide together. An old man , a young man, a little girl, the three of them don't look like they are going to commit suicide, but they seem to be traveling together. As for the choice of suicide method, the three first found an abandoned brick house, blocked the doors and windows and burned coal, intending to die from carbon monoxide poisoning, but before they were poisoned, the brick house was demolished by the demolition team, so The three of them wanted to commit suicide by jumping off the rails again. Seeing the subway speeding up, the three of them were eager to try, but the passerby next to him unexpectedly jumped off first, disrupting the three's plans, and then the three of them wanted to find an old man in the mountains to hang himself. ...As a result, there is always an accident and no death every time.
What a horrific thing mass suicide is, but Delusional Agents treats it with very high-level dark humor and even a touch of warmth. For example, when the three of them inhaled carbon monoxide in a brick house, Jin Min painted the gas like gray marshmallows, and the three of them seemed to be enjoying a delicious meal, and even happily said to each other, "I'll have dinner first", so that People can't help but laugh, completely diluting the fear of death. This is by no means an effect that can be achieved by live-action film and television works, but with animation, everything is so natural and sincere.
Just the right amount of distortion and absurdity
There are always people who compare Jin Min's "Red Pepper" with Nolan's "Inception", after all, they both represent layers of dreams. Let me tell you my own opinion: In fact, "Inception" is not very appropriate for the display of dreams, because it is too neat and logical. Even if there are wonders such as folded buildings, the construction of the entire dream is very rigorous. . But in fact, dreaming is illogical, and the dream is chaotic, illogical, and chaotic, just like the description in "Red Pepper". The difference between Jin Min and Nolan's depiction of dreams, in addition to the director's own style tendency, is the difference between animation and live-action movies - animation itself is a distortion of reality, or a flat expression of reality, So distortion and absurdity are more manageable.
There are too many distorted sub-shots and too many absurd plot twists in "Delusional Agent": the boy with a bat who disappeared into the wall, the ever-changing brochures on the wall, the shadows of characters that are arbitrarily deformed, and finally the spiritual world of the police detective The paper people jumping and walking in the middle... All the absurdities are just right, and they not only shape the style, but also undertake the task of narrative, which makes people feel Jin Min's amazing control ability.
What impressed me the most was the description of the police detective's spiritual world at the end. The victim girl naturally called the unknown detective's father, and the detective was not surprised, but accepted it inexplicably. This is not only the monologue of the previous detective's wife The details of the regret that the two have no children echoes the details, which are very consistent with the illogicality of the dream. May wish to recall, have you ever had a similar dream? In the dream, you become friends and relatives with people you don't know well in reality, or people who have never existed, and you in the dream are convinced of this? So when I saw this passage, I kept amazed inwardly, Jin Min really understands the secrets of dreams.
The fusion and distinction of delusion and reality
The switch and fusion of the real and the illusory has always been what Jin Min is best at. In fact, film and television works are originally a game of interweaving reality and reality. There is no work that has only reality, and no work is full of fantasy, but the fusion and distinction between reality and reality are the most visible skills of the main creator.
It is very difficult to achieve a natural transition between virtual and real in live-action works. Basically, you can only rely on editing, or add a top setting like "Inception" to help the audience quickly distinguish, but if you use animation Form, the tools for virtual and real conversion will be more diverse: for example, "Ghost Mother" and "Zombie Bride" use color transformation to achieve this transition. Dark and cold tones represent reality, and colorful tones represent another false world. , In "Ghost Mother", the little girl crawls through a narrow tunnel, and immediately completes the transition between reality and reality after a short period of darkness, which is very smooth and natural; Some movements to make the transition, whenever the heroine stares at the huge aquarium in the house, or sits on her knees in the bathtub, you will realize that what happens after that is probably just a fantasy, very concise and efficient, and does not even require any editing. .
Speaking of "Delusional Agent", the transformation of delusion and reality in this work is very complicated: sometimes through the transformation of light and shadow, such as the open and secret fight between the police detective's wife and the non-existent "Boy Boy" , the wife is sitting in the relatively dim light and muttering to herself, while the shadow of the "boy with a baseball bat" on the other side of the table is constantly changing with the ups and downs of the wife's mood; In the interrogation of the suspect, the clothes of the young police detective are always very different from those of the others around them, which always gives the audience a sense of grotesque and delusional; and through the use of key images, there is a very important image in the play, the first The most famous work of the female designer who was attacked by "Baby Boy" - Ma Lumei, a cute cartoon puppy, the role of this image will be discussed in detail in the next part, whenever this image appears frequently in the picture and even overwhelms the world. It means that there are fewer and fewer elements of reality and more and more elements of illusion.
Although the handling of delusion and reality in "Delusional Agent" is complex, it is imprecise, which makes the work have a dense and hazy beauty and provides the audience with a very broad space for interpretation. I watched this work at night. When I was sleepy in the middle of the night, I felt that I was half asleep and half awake inside and outside the painting. It was a very magical experience of watching the drama.
Next: You and my fragile spiritual world
This part wants to talk about the spiritual core of "Delusional Agent".
Jin Min is a multi-faceted person. "Red Pepper" and "The House of Weima" are full of crazy imaginations about people's inner world. "Millennium Actress" is about "love is a false pursuit", and "Tokyo Godfather" is warm. Healing is especially true of Hayao Miyazaki... There are not many works, but each has its own style. After a comparison, "Delusional Agent" may be Jin Min's most "ruthless" work, although it is not necessarily better than "Red Pepper" and "Unexpected". Ma's House" is bloody and twisted, but it's really inspiring in revealing the plight of modern people, like a blow to the head.
In difficult times, have you ever looked forward to "Baby Boy"?
"Delusional Agent" begins with the female designer being attacked by "Baby Boy". After watching the second half of the episode, we will understand that in fact, "Battle Boy" never existed, it was just a delusion generated by the female designer in the face of the pressure of drafting. , but after the female designer, more and more people claimed that they were attacked by "bat boy", which is very meaningful. After being attacked by the "Baby Boy", the female designer got rid of the pressure of urging the draft, the good boy was cleared of suspicion, the debtor got a brief respite, and the urban white-collar workers could justifiably escape from 996... "The Bat Boy" The terrorists who started out have gradually become liberators who repressed their lives. Many people even sighed, and they really hope that the "Boy Boy" will also hit me with a bat.
Yeah, "Baby Boy" is of course the savior, because he's literally the best excuse for social animals to rebel against life: I screwed everything up, but it's not my fault, it's "Baby Boy" that is the most important thing The thing is, I'm not responsible for everything that screwed up. This design always reminds me of a Japanese drama "Escape is shameful but useful". Under the heavy pressure of life, the upper management can oppress the subordinates, and for the subordinates, it is almost natural to escape, but the gravity of reality makes people lose the courage to resist, so they can only cowardly regard the "Baby Boy" as the last The life-saving straw, looking forward to him helping us unload the burden of unbearable responsibility. How like the weak in Lu Xun's writings, while drawing a knife to face the weaker, while creating a false "idol". This is Jin Min's first critique of today's society.
The temptation and trap of cute pets
In this part, we need to talk about the key image Marumei mentioned earlier. Ma Lumei is a cartoon image designed by a female designer based on a puppy she raised in her childhood. Once it was launched, it conquered the market because of her cute and loving shape and powerful healing ability. Seeing this image, billboards on the side of the road, backpacks of passers-by, mobile phone chains, etc. And whenever the female designer is under a lot of pressure and self-doubt, Ma Lumei will "survive" and become the support of the female designer, and finally the suspense is lifted, we only know that the puppy of the year was because of the negligence of the female designer. She was run over by a speeding car, and the female designer couldn't accept it in her heart, so she had the design of Ma Lumei. Ma Lumei was the female designer's escape from the cruel reality. In the play, this cartoon image finally developed into A symbol of escapism for all.
The design of this branch instantly reminded me of some of today's phenomena: I don't know when, as if overnight, everyone has become a cat slave, and countless people are addicted to cats and dogs. The video instantly captured all short video apps, and countless internet celebrity pets were born.
It is not ruled out that everyone really likes small animals, but it broke out into a social phenomenon in a very short period of time, which must have a social reality basis. In fact, another animation masterpiece "Rick and Morty" also mentioned this issue: the meaning of keeping pets is to gain a sense of superiority. Because there are always too many setbacks and injuries in real life, which will make us feel that we have no sense of existence, and there will never be anyone in this world that is more dependent on your existence than your pet. Feeling to a large extent comforts the fragile spiritual world of many people, so more and more people are addicted to it intentionally or unintentionally. This is Jin Min's second critique of society: don't put too much of your spirit on those "healing systems" because of the heavy reality.
"The reality that I lost my home is my true home"
In fact, "Delusional Agent" wants to show the spiritual predicament of modern people: indifference, numbness, cowardice, everyone is dissatisfied with this society, and everyone contributes to this bad society, everyone has difficulties, but face to face When faced with these difficulties, everyone invariably chose to evade responsibility and push others... So everyone's spiritual world was crumbling, but this deformed society was as solid as a rock.
As for the solution to this dilemma, Jin Min used the choice of the middle-aged police detective in "Delusional Agent" to give a vague answer. The middle-aged police detective has never been able to solve the case of "Baby Boy". His wife at home has been ill and unable to bear children for many years. The pressure of life and the setbacks of work made him once indulged in his own delusions: that is his memory full of life. Breath, a childhood town full of humanity, no pressure, no frustration, a lovely daughter, and all good things. But when he saw that Ma Lumei slowly invaded this world, he suddenly realized that he had been running away, the beauty in front of him was as thin as a piece of paper, and the reality that made him lose his home was him. The real home.
So the delusion was shattered, and he returned to reality. He lost his job as a police detective and became a lonely janitor. Everything seemed to have returned to the original point, and the society was still so cold and orderly. I think Jin Min is not so optimistic about the world. He also has the plight of modern people, but he is still willing to choose to face the harsh reality. This is a bit like one of the main themes of the Hong Kong drama "Bridge of Sighs" I wrote before: whether life is full of happiness or full of sighs, we should not live in an illusion
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