For a director who pursues and has full confidence in his own strength, surpassing oneself is never new. The pursuit of perfection is their driving force. This is often manifested in continuous shooting on the basis of already great success. Similar stories, sometimes even remakes of the same story. For example, Tsui Hark often remakes his own or his predecessors’ works after a period of time. "New Dragon Inn", "Swordsman", "Shushan Biography" are all such products; another example is Martin Scorsese in After "Goodfella" was regarded as a gangster movie of the same level as "The Godfather", he filmed "From Casino" with the same theme and style, not for the box office, but to make up for the lack of perfection in the previous work. The place. This type of director has some obvious characteristics: stubborn and close to paranoia; with fanatical passion and full of vitality; seeking innovation and change, not subject to tradition; workaholic; likes to use the sword to go slant and style is king; has something that ordinary people can hardly match. Talent.
William Friedkin clearly belongs to this category. In addition to commercial considerations, the filming of "L.A. Life and Death" was also aimed at maximizing creativity and innovation. In this direction, William Friedkin must make more attempts on the basis of the "French Drug Network". In terms of form, it strives to break the genre limitations brought by traditional police films; in terms of content, it has to build a more visually expressive plot than "French Drug Network"; technically, William Friedkin wants to create a plot The chase scene is more impactful than the car chase scene in "French Drug Network". Judging from the final product, William Friedkin apparently achieved everything he pursued. Therefore, although "L.A." is inferior to "French Drug Network" in terms of value, it does not prevent it from becoming a good movie full of creativity and vitality.
In "French Drug Network" in 1971, William Friedkin has made many effective attempts, such as grafting the thrilling genre to the police and gangster genre, and getting rid of the traditional police and gangster movies with fighting, chasing, gunfighting and other actions. The form of expression, instead of winning with rhythm, tension, and atmosphere. In terms of character images, he tried to change the black and white stereotypes of police and criminal films, placing them more in a vague boundary. The bad guys are not heinous, the good guys are not perfect, and at the same time, he gives them more complex humanity. In "L.A. Life and Death", William Friedkin did not explore more formally, but retreated to a relatively safe position, but went further in the characterization. Jimmy, played by Gene Hackman in "French Drug Network", is impulsive but still courageous and courageous, while Richard of "L.A." is completely anarchist, with an emotional personality and acting viciously. Spicy; as a police officer, he is lawless and unscrupulous to achieve his goals; he treats people around him cruelly. This kind of character setting has subverted the heroic image in traditional police and gangster films, and there is no wanton and wild power besides the rebellion. Correspondingly, the villain representing evil is also more complicated. Eric, played by Willem Dafoe, is a talented painter. To him, crime (printing counterfeit banknotes) and creation are more like twin brothers, and he only has One principle, to remain unchanged and respond to ever-changing changes. Similar complex humanity is also manifested in some secondary roles, such as Richard's lover and Eric's lawyer.
Corresponding to William Friedkin's unchanged form, the plot has relatively returned to the traditional taste of police and criminal films. Unlike in the past, where both good and evil are placed in a balanced situation, "L.A. Life and Death" focuses more on the protagonist Richard, expressing his complex character in all details. The plot revolves around his improper actions, placing the characters in an extremely isolated environment, seeming to be fighting the entire society on his own. This unbalanced structure creates a tremendous amount of pressure, and Richard's conflict and aggression under pressure therefore have a stronger tension. On this basis, the story developed to the most impactful moment in the film, which is also the most subversive detail in the film. When Eric was successfully trapped, because of the negligence of his partner, Richard was killed by a bullet in the shootout—very suddenly. The moment, completely shocked me! In my impression, letting the protagonist exit in the middle of the story seems that only Hitchcock did the same thing in "Mentally Ill", but William Friedkin put it at the climax of the story, creating an unprecedented impact . Thinking back carefully now, this is really a very clever setting. Eric's behavior has developed to an extremely dangerous point. No matter what his purpose is, the result is extremely controversial. Here, his death not only changed the structure of the story, but also Delayed the arrival of the climax, and at the same time avoided certain moral and ethical conflicts brought about by his success. Thanks to the shocking power of this detail, the changes and changes in structure, performance skills, and technology seem to be insignificant. The most unexpected thing is that in the epilogue, William Friedkin once again reversed our conservative movie-watching experience. He even let Richard, who had tied our emotions but disappeared, acted like a mysterious, weird but logical The way of resurrection, thus creating a recurring fateful space, bringing the story to a whole new level of ideology.
The last remaining problem is a chase scene, just a scene, but it is the ultimate challenge of all directors, it is not only technical, but also artistic. In the early 1970s, when William Friedkin was filming "French Drug Network", his producer was Philip D'Antoni, who was also the "Police Network Iron King Kong". "("BULLITT"), and the chase scene in "Police Net King Kong" was regarded by William Friedkin as "the most outstanding car chase scene in the sound film era". When William Friedkin decided to set up a thrilling chase scene in "French Drug Network", he regarded "Police Net King Kong" as a ruler, and strived to shoot a chase scene that has a perfect effect in the film structure. In the end, he created a classic paragraph comparable to "Police Net King Kong". In "L.A. Life and Death", he once again accepted the challenge of transcending the peak. It seems that there is never the word "impossible" in the dictionary of people like him who pursue perfection. In order to create change, he first put the scene in the middle of the story rather than the climax of the ending; then he combined the car chase with the gunfight to create a more sinister situation; finally he let the scene go through more Space. It seems that the rest is really only a technical problem, but for the Hollywood technicians, this is obviously not a problem. From this, William Friedkin is close to success again.
But a good action scene or chase scene is more than just a pile of money and technology, it also needs to have one of the most important things: characters, flesh and blood characters. A good action drama, in addition to creating dazzling visual effects, must express the characters and the humanity hidden behind the action. In "French Drug Network", Hackman drove after the high-speed train on the viaduct. He went through hardships and perseverance. The purpose of course is to catch criminals, punish evil and promote good, but what is contained in it is a flesh and blood. Characters. The reason why he has forgotten his life is because he is "a persistent, self-righteous, and courageous man." Entering the story of "L.A. Life and Death", in order to find a deposit to attract Eric into the game, Richard plans to rob the Hong Kong people who bought the stolen goods. After the operation was successful, he was chased and killed by an unidentified person, so he started a round of the city. The speeding car in the sewer escaped. This chase scene contains a wealth of character depictions. Richard robbed a huge sum of money in order to trap Eric. Once caught or killed, his previous work will be abandoned, so the action cannot fail, only succeed; so he was chased several times before the end of the mountain. When there is no way to go, he also finds an exit that is not an exit. This includes the fear of failure, the courage to put it to death, the difficulty of self-control in a crisis, instinct and other complicated psychological conditions, so that the character of the character's perseverance, determination, and daring to act is vividly displayed. This is where this chase scene really succeeds.
To me, "L.A. Life and Death" is a very special movie-watching experience. In addition to the rebellious and impactful things, it also includes an accident. After I watched the feature film and watched the highlights with interest, I decided to look back to see if there was a commentary track, so I went back to the beginning, only to find something different. The first time, it started with Eric making plates and printing money in the factory, and the concise and neat editing immediately caught me; this time, it started with the protection of the president, followed by a set of montages, explaining the case and the characters involved in the story; It was Richard's desperate jump on the bridge and subsequent gatherings, and then the story took on the beginning of what I saw for the first time. At first I thought it was the director's cut version, but later I realized that it was the wrong choice the first time I watched it. No wonder I always feel that some plots are too abrupt, such as Richard's mental activities and flashbacks.
There are two endings of the movie that were shot at the request of the film company’s executives. One of them is naturally seen now, and the other is that Richard and his partner were sent to remote Alaska to guard the earth. To be fair, the latter is not useless, but its expressiveness is not so good. This prompted me to think more. If the story follows the content I saw for the first time, and then remove the scenes that cause doubts, will the movie be better? I think it will be, because it is more concise, the first few scenes are actually not important. The relationship between Richard and his former partner does not need to be written in fact. It is completely enough to explain laterally through Richard’s behavior in the later plots. The scene of protecting the president is purely redundant, and its purpose is only to explain the identity of the character.
These things are where "L.A. Life and Death" is not as good as "French Drug Network". The plot of the latter is more concentrated and unified, while the plot of the former is too complicated and not direct enough. By the same token, the chase scene in the film did not surpass "French Drug Network" because the latter is simpler. But from a personal standpoint, I like "L.A. Life and Death" more than "French Drug Network." The former story's enthusiasm that is exhausted, not crazy, and not alive, is too much for my appetite. In the information I saw on the Internet, some people said that the most impactful scene was an anti-climax, but I don't think it's all. It creates a strong emotional impact, which is already a climax at this point; structurally, it delays the arrival of the climax, which means that there will be a real climax later. And this climax corresponds to the genre expectations created by the police and gangster movies. It should be a hearty blood and fire gun battle. This scene does exist, but the content is far from the expectation. It cannot but be said to be a pity. After all, it is not a so-called art film, and William Friedkin is too obsessed with the nirvana of William Dafoe, an art creator. Rock out.
Appendix 1: There is also a dew-point lens in the film, which is definitely worth the price.
Appendix 2: United States Secret Service
The U.S. Secret Service is a law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government, subordinate to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (before its creation in 2003, it belonged to the U.S. Department of the Treasury). The Secret Service was founded in 1865 and has more than 3,300 agents. Its authority includes combating counterfeit currency and protecting the president and other important personnel. It is also responsible for investigating a series of economic fraud, identity fraud, and providing evidence collection assistance for some local crimes. The Secret Service Uniform Service (White House Security Service) also assists in protecting foreign ambassadors to the United States. Generally speaking, the Secret Service has a "no comment" policy regarding its work. Plainclothes agents of the Secret Service generally wear clothes that suit their surroundings. In most cases, this means a traditional suit (usually a suit with sunglasses and earplugs in your ears). The uniform department of the Secret Service also wears the uniforms of the White House police, the investigators wear police uniforms, and the anti-sniper team wears police uniforms and vests.
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