Specifically, "The Last Movie" is a movie with such a melancholic style. The whole town is a lifeless scene. The deserted streets are covered in sand and dust. The young people have no entertainment of their own. You can only go to the billiard halls, coffee shops, and movie theaters that symbolize the old western hero Lion King, reminiscing about the glory of the past, but you can't find your own direction. They don't have their own cars, only one or two broken trucks. They also don’t have their own women. They are either girls with abominable looks, or old women who have passed away. The only sexy and beautiful young girl in the town, Jesse, is a coquettish silly girl who doesn’t know what she wants. She seemed to worry about being a virgin before she got married, so she couldn't wait to find a man who could have sex with herself. In short, regardless of men and women, these young people don't know what they want or what else they can get. They can only get around and live their lives.
When the former Western hero Lion King died, the empty and cold side of the entire town was completely revealed. The two friends fought against each other for Jesse, and the only innocent fellow (he was always cleaning the dirty streets) was killed by a car while sweeping the street. When the young people watched the last movie "Red River Valley" screened at the Lion King Cinema and watched John Wayne and other Western heroes roaring on the screen, they could only remain indifferent. At the end of the film, the actor came to his elderly mistress, and he was held by the old woman's hand with a numb face, as if it were all right. The whole picture then overlaps again to the empty and sandy street, echoing the opening of the film.
This small town may be a symbol of the state of the American spirit in the 1970s. The old western myths have died out, but new myths belonging to young people have not yet been established. They can only go to the cemetery (cinema) of the old myths. Remember the spirit of the dead over and over again.
It should be said that Bogdanovic is the least rebellious among the new Hollywood directors, because he is a person who grew up watching classic old Hollywood movies and studied movies. He likes John Ford and Howard Howard. And Alfred Hitchcock, and try to imitate their style in their own films. However, just like this "Last Movie", he was just paying tribute to the dead, he was still confused and couldn't find his own direction.
Unlike Bogdanovic, Lucas's "American Style Painting" is a full of vigor. Although the young people are still confused, they obviously already know what they want. In this movie, they have their own handsome sports cars, have their own girlfriends, and listen to their own DJ music stations day and night. When Xiao Ke hesitates, he will go to the radio to find his idol, the wolf, to answer his doubts. The wolf orchestra belongs to the young people's own culture and belief.
In the film, the young people have finally determined what they want: always thinking about the short history of the outside world, understanding the importance of love, and choosing to stay in the small town with his girlfriend for the rest of his life; but Xiao Ke, who has been hesitant to stay, has been hesitant to stay. Give up the possible love, resolutely set foot on the forward plane. In the end, Xiao Ke looked down at the earth from the plane. This shot is reminiscent of the opening of "Easy Rider". Two knights hid in the car and the plane roared over them. They could only put their heads down and endure the plane. The huge noise. In the 1970s, Lucas let Xiao Ke get on a plane and set off for his ideal university. Finally, instead of wandering aimlessly and resisting, the young people have found the direction they are going to go, constructing a utopian myth that belongs to the future, and no longer struggles to question the past Eden that has disappeared.
Bogdanovic is cherishing the memory of the Garden of Eden in the past, while Lucas is working hard to build a utopia belonging to the new generation. It's getting more and more marginalized.
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