Without the jewel of "Lola Run" in front, Tom Tykway's new film "King's Hologram" is still a very good movie: elegant and uniform yellow and blue color scheme, clean narrative, and The solid performance of the veteran star Tom Hanks is really not low.
Tom Tykway was only 33 years old when he filmed the internationally renowned "Run Lola" in 1998. He is very much like our Veuve Clic director. He was the pinnacle of his life when he shot, and he has since gone downhill. Therefore, the biggest problem with "The King's Hologram" is not in the movie, but in the director. We will have higher requirements for a long-established director, and we will be more tolerant of new directors. So, if this film is replaced by a young director, it should arouse admiration.
This film is adapted from the novel of the same name and tells the middle-aged crisis of Alan Clay, a middle-class man. Tom Hanks's role in the film is about the same age as the director himself, and the director himself is probably also experiencing a midlife crisis.
This middle-aged man also suffered a career decline, divorce, illness, and financial difficulties that made him unable to pay for his daughter's tuition. So, with the encouragement of his boss, Alan Clay went to Saudi Arabia to try his luck in an attempt to regain his glory. His task is to lead a three-person team to show the hologram to the king to gain the opportunity to build a new business district for Saudi Arabia, but the king has been slow to show up. This task is like Hitchcock’s McGeffen. The meaning of the movie is not the king’s hologram, but the life dilemma projected by the protagonist when dealing with this matter.
We can feel that the director was full of emotions when showing this failed man, perhaps a kind of sympathy for middle-aged people; he teased Alan Clay in a humorous way instead of letting him It seems too unbearable to earn the sympathy of the audience. First make the audience smile, and then slightly sad. This feeling was especially strong when Alan Clay walked into the tent, beaten up his spirits, and greeted his colleagues with a cheerful appearance. He always overslept and dropped the shuttle bus by mistake. He took the initiative to greet people like in the United States, but others ignored him; his American sense of humor almost caused him a big trouble; he couldn’t sit in a Saudi chair and fell three times; his team was arranged in In a simple tent, and next to it is a luxurious high-rise building. The tent has no WiFi, no food, and even the air conditioner is broken. No one can repair it. He tried to change the office conditions of his colleagues, but his Saudi contacts were never seen. Trace. Even when he was seduced by a passionate Danish woman, he was "not working" anymore. Did he feel his body was hollowed out? In Saudi Arabia, he was castrated, unable to find his job status or life status.
movie also arranged for him a hired driver and guide Joseph. This happy and nervous Saudi, because he seduced the wife of a certain rich man, was always worried that his car would be detonated by the rich man. But his fear seemed to just stop at his mouth. He kept calling and entangled with that woman, and didn't intend to end the relationship. In addition to the plot function, Joseph is like a mirror image of the male protagonist. The two form a contrast: they are both in trouble, the male protagonist is a bit discouraged, and Joseph is full of vitality, although he seems to be in danger at any time.
film attributed Alan Clay's midlife crisis to the pressure of international competition in the new era, especially from China. Although in the end the hero finally waited for the king and made a successful display for him, it was of no use. Because China has long used the same product and has got the king at half the price. The dumb-faced American team watched the masked Chinese (a kind of silly seriousness) chatting with the king (in fact, there is no, but the word, oh you know) nothing can be done. Moreover, the last job of the male protagonist (Shiwen Company, which produces high-end bicycles for sale on Taobao) was also destroyed by the Chinese. Okay, maybe this is true, but it's kind of black humor.
The business failed, but this hapless man was reborn. Because he met his true love, the Saudi female doctor Hakkum, a strong and fragile woman, is getting divorced. In Saudi Arabia, divorce is an unattainable hope for ordinary women. Hackham helped Alan Clay successfully cut off the lipoma that had always plagued him, and aroused his male desire. This is how the director hinted at the male protagonist. In the end, Alan Clay lost his job in the United States, found a high-paying job in Saudi Arabia, helped his daughter pay for her tuition, and lived happily with Hackham. It seems that the male protagonist has indeed solved his midlife crisis. However, he did not make any substantive efforts for this, except like a poor son-in-law who cut the door upside down, he found a rich woman and solved himself. This solution is not impossible. It may indeed be a daydream of some poor people, or at least it brings some spiritual comfort to the male audience; it is just too chicken soup for the plot of the movie, and lack of power. . The director dealt with the real life dilemma too simply and too optimistically. The reality may be that problems that cannot be solved here cannot be solved no matter how far away. Obviously, as described in the movie, the crisis-producing China continues, not only in the United States, but also in Saudi Arabia, giving Alan Clays a devastating blow.
Finally, as a movie fan, I still can’t accept that for such a warm or warm film, the director’s column was signed by Tom Tykway; and what I have been looking forward to is that he can take it again Produce a "Lola-like", rough and powerful movie, rather than a small and refreshing cure for everyone.
See you again.
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