In 2015, a "Border Killer" made Canadian director Denis Villeneuve famous in Hollywood, and then he became Hollywood in 2016 and 2017 with two film works "Advent" and "Blade Runner 2049" respectively. One of the most popular and famous directors at the moment, even the sci-fi masterpiece "Dune" has extended to him the olive branch to direct and adapt the film of the same name. But what I want to discuss with you today is not these few movies that we are all very familiar with, but the film "Prisoner" directed by Villeneuve in 2013. Villeneuve used this film back then. The first English film he shot in his life came to knock on the door of Hollywood, and this film he used to be a stepping stone now seems to be a masterpiece that has been overlooked.
1. Dennis Villeneuve
The movie "Prisoner" tells the story of a father and a policeman looking for two missing girls at the same time. Such a subject matter can be said to be not too complicated. For the mature film industry in Hollywood, you can make this story into a more exciting 90-minute commercial film by simply finding a director, but in the hands of Villeneuve However, this story became a 153-minute movie. There is no doubt that Denis Villeneuve is indeed a director who likes to make slow films. For the three movies that have made him popular in recent years: "Border Killer" is 121 minutes; "Arrival" is 116 minutes; "Blade Runner 2049" is 163 minutes long. But the problem is that the specificity of the scripts of these three works is enough to make the film about two hours long, and the "Prisoner" is not a very good script, so why would it be filmed so long?
The answer lies with Villeneuve. Although this movie lasts for two and a half hours, there is no feeling of procrastination in the process of watching it. The strings in your mind seem to be held tightly by Villeneuve, all the time. Strained. Throughout the course of the film unfolding, Villeneuve has been using an implicit technique to hint and mislead us, let us fall into his trap step by step in our self-righteous reasoning and judgment.
Sorry, misplaced the photo
Soon after the beginning of the film, he showed us the mysterious RV, and then through various hints such as Alex’s mysterious whispers, sudden dog abuse, songs that only missing girls can sing, etc., to make Hugh Jack in the film. The role of "father" played by Man also made us who watched the movie more and more convinced that Alex was the murderer, racking our brains and waiting with anticipation for the evidence to show up so that Alex could do justice, but until the end, we It was discovered that all of this was a mystery set by Villeneuve, a wonderful smoke screen.
The same technique appeared again in "Blade Runner 2049" four years later. For most of the film, the audience was the same as the character K in the film, thinking that he was the "Son of Destiny" and was always there. I was struggling to find evidence, but in the end I discovered that there was a magical reversal in all of this. This can be said to be Dennis Villeneuve's best tricks, and he also played this trick so well. Even if you already know his routine, you will still be fascinated by it. Whether it is a realistic theme or a science fiction theme, he has the ability to turn a story into a puzzle of layered reasoning, so that the story can be unhurriedly unfolded without making the audience feel impatient.
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive people's debts. Don't let us fall into temptation; save us from evil."
This is a prayer from the beginning of the film, and this prayer actually tells us the key word of the movie at the beginning: "Temptation". In the film, Hugh Jackman plays the role of father Dover, who seems to be a very devout believer. His belief in God is manifested in every aspect of life. However, is this belief originating from the heart? God gave him a temptation, let his daughter disappear, and gave him a very suspicious murderer candidate. As a result, he lost himself in this temptation and finally committed the crime of hurting others.
And the other protagonist in the film, the detective Rocky, played by Jack Gyllenhaal, also accepted a temptation. As an unbeaten “superior detective”, he faced the increasingly diminished vitality and face of the missing girl. Faced with the pressing of the parents of the missing girl, and the looming confusion of the suspect, can he still be an honest policeman? Can he face his scarred past without falling into the darkness? At the end of the movie, we all saw the answer.
The original English name of this movie is Prisoners, please note that this is a plural word, so this movie is not only about Dover, a prisoner lost between self and God, but about a group of prisoners who are missing. The girls are prisoners, the detective Loki is a prisoner, the suspect Alex is a prisoner, Bob who committed suicide is a prisoner, the priest who walks for the sky is a prisoner, and the real murderer is also a prisoner. It can be said that in this movie Almost every character is a prisoner. They are either trapped in their inner cage or trapped in the actual cage. These cages are temptations from the dark, and they do different things in the face of temptation. Reaction also means everyone's fate.
Here, I want to specifically talk about Jack Gyllenhaal, who plays detective Rocky. In this dual male lead movie, Hugh Jackman played Dover is relatively easy, because this role is a very emotional and simple role; but Jack Gyllenhaal played Rocky is more complicated Much, although this character is a policeman, we can know from the film's dialogue that he grew up in a place similar to a juvenile reformatory. Most children who grow up in this environment will not have any happy experiences. Therefore, when watching Gyllenhaal's scene in the film, you will find all the small details in his role in playing this role. For example, due to the pressure of work, other police detectives have always untied their shirt collars, and only him, from the beginning At the end, no matter what the circumstances, the opening of the shirt collar is firmly buckled, as if trying to suppress a certain emotion, and his whole expression is like the opening of the shirt, which is always tight and tight. Looks blank again.
When facing the suspect, a tiny detail also reflects Gyllenhaal's intentions in playing this role, that is, he will keep blinking. We all know that when a person blinks constantly, his heart is very nervous. Rocky played by Gyllenhaal always has a "dead face", but he only faces the suspect twice. At times, he blinks constantly and becomes emotional. This detail instantly magnifies the tension in the character’s inner emotions. This kind of extreme tension only when facing a "bad guy" is also the character Rocky wants to suppress. The manifestation of the shadow of childhood in my heart.
2. Roger Dickins
Yes, the photography of this film is Roger Diggins, one of the most outstanding photographers of the time. This great photographer who emphasizes "natural" and Villeneuve, who is used to slow work, is simply perfect together. The partner also pushed this movie to a more extreme peak. In the video "The Greatest Cinematographer of the Century, Personally Tell Me a Secret of 1917" produced by Jihe.com, it clearly explained the artistic concept of Roger Diggins, a master photographer. Today, we Applying these concepts to watch the movie "Prisoner" back and forth, you will find many bright spots.
Physical setting and realistic lighting
These two points were perfectly demonstrated in the scene of arresting Alex on the rainy night. We can see that in this scene, all the light sources are very real, and Rocky’s car lights are on high beams instead of driving. The dazzling light illuminates the left half of the picture, and the bright headlights of the gas station in the distance make the background of the picture very bright. At this time, Loki in the center of the picture has become a Any dark silhouette illuminated by the light, and a part of the RV exposed on the right side of the picture, is illuminated by a bunch of car lights on the left side of the picture, but it is not clear. This picture shows the tension of the plot at this time. The feeling was set off, and the audience's hearts were lifted up at once, ready to be prepared for emergencies at any time.
Not exaggerated lens and single camera
In the scene where Dover ran home alone to find a girl, Dover went to the basement to check if his daughter was hiding here, and quickly left after finding that there was no trace. Here, the camera does not directly hit Hugh Jackman’s face. There is no doubt that if you want to express a person’s emotions, it is the best way to shoot his expression changes on the face, but the film does not do it here. There is neither a multi-camera showing how a nervous father panicked looking for his daughter, nor did he look at the actor's face to see how he panicked and sweaty, but placed only a camera in the basement quietly. In the corner, as the actor left unsuccessfully looking for a girl, he slowly moved to the gas mask on the right side of the screen.
We knew from the beginning of the movie that Dover is a person who likes to prepare for war. His basement is also his refuge for survival. There are all kinds of biological resources. It is not surprising that gas masks appear here, but gas masks are the world. A symbol of doomsday, when people see gas masks, they will always unconsciously think of terrible things such as nuclear pollution, the end of the world, and so on. Here, the camera is not aimed at the flustered father, but at the anti-virus. After the mask, the lights in the basement were turned off, everything was plunged into darkness. It can be said that the psychological fear caused by the photographic effect here is double the effect.
Prefer wide-angle more than telephoto
After finding the missing girl, Loki, whose head was bruised by a bullet, drove her all the way to the hospital. After driving out of the dark path, Loki's car suddenly came to the busy road. In this shot, the wide-angle lens illuminates countless vehicles in the distance. Although these vehicles look blurry, their lights are as bright as the lights of all the signs on the street, so bright that people can’t open their eyes. With strong light, we can see dense snowflakes falling from the sky. Loki, whose vision was blurred due to injury, and the dying little girl merge into this bright and dangerous traffic, leaving the hearts of the audience hanging in the air for fear. What accident happened.
Love fixed lens
In the last scene of the whole movie, the camera is staring at the policeman Rocky motionlessly, watching him there repeatedly because of the Ruowu whistle and self-doubt, and then self-denying, there is no movement of the scene. It made people look very anxious, for fear that he would turn around and leave in the next second. Then, the camera started the slow advancing method that Roger Dikingster had, and continued to advance towards Jack Gyllenhaal's big eyes, making people unable to help but hold their breath, hoping that the whistle could sound a little more.
Using the artistic characteristics of Roger Dickins summarized by Jihe.com to set this movie can make people realize more clearly how powerful this movie is. Grabbing the hearts of the audience, let the two and a half hours of time slip away without knowing it.
3.John Johnson
The soundtrack of this film is John Johnson, the composer from Iceland seems to be very handy with cold themes. The movie "Prisoner" is a movie without a climax, and the soundtrack of this movie is also "no climax". The whole story is a low performance of wind and string music, just like the low clouds over the small town in the film. , The pressing person can't breathe, and the melody of the double bass alone seems to be a knife on people's hearts, every time it pulls, the audience's hearts are also picked up. It can be said that Johnson contributed a lot to the creation of the suspenseful atmosphere of this movie.
Now it seems that this film that brings together the three great gods of Dennis Villeneuve, Roger Dickins and John Johnson is really an outstanding film work. This piece was used by Villeneuve to become a stepping stone to Hollywood It is not an ordinary brick, but a golden brick with full weight. Two years after working together on the film "Prisoner", the three got together again to create the stunning work "Border Killer"; a year later, Villeneuve and John Johnson collaborated to create "Arrival"; One year later, Villeneuve and Roger Diggins teamed up to create "Blade Runner 2049"; and the next year, the 48-year-old John Johnson suddenly passed away, so that we never saw the three again. Great God works together. Therefore, from today's point of view, the significance of the movie "Prisoner" is much more important than its own artistry.
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