——————Xia Yan's "Bao Shen Gong"
"99 Homes" is indeed a series of repeated scandals. One of the most overlooked works of the year, this film by an Iranian-American director is based on real events in 2006. It satirizes the ugly faces and resentful cruel reality of real estate company executives. It can even be compared with last year’s Russian film. "Fools in a Dangerous Mansion" is comparable, but this small-cost realist independent film is buried in the mass-produced Hollywood assembly-line genre, whether it was the lack of revenue at the Venice Film Festival last year, or the film at home and abroad. The scoring sites are not well received. It is called "the taste of primary school students' composition", except for the 91% freshness on the website of Rotten Tomatoes, which is probably far from the praise that this film deserves.
The filming location is located in the scenic Orlando, Florida, where the world-famous Disneyland and Universal Studios are located. Americans call it the "City of Fairy Tale." The beauty of Orlando’s attractions lies in its colorful, novel, dynamic, and pleasant warmth. Although small, it has a big world in a small city (Baidu Baike). The film has repeatedly used a short mid-range perspective to show this. It uses bright colors, but it tells an extremely cruel "Orwellian" story. No one in the film is absolutely innocent. From certain definitions, this is an out-and-out "" "Film noir" is similar to last year's "Nightcrawler". Although there are no shadows in the film, the dirty cities and femme fatales, these noir films "standard" exude a sense of despair, which makes people shudder from the bottom of their hearts. It is a complete humanity. despair.
From the beginning, it was a bitter and humorous irony. The first shot established the depressive tone of the film. A “nail house” shot and committed suicide, while the real estate contractor Rick Carver ignored the people around him indiscriminately. Regarding other people’s lives as one thing, and the contrast in the film is also very obvious, without concealing it, this is probably the reason why some "film critics" are not optimistic about the film. In the middle of the film, Dennis suffered from The writer turned into a violent person. Through a series of montage shots, we saw the brokenness of a warm and harmonious family. At the same time, the director deliberately showed Rick Carver’s home, an exaggerated private villa. Among them is a swimming pool, two cars parked at the door, his wife and three children are well dressed. These depictions are intended to create a huge contrast that everyone can see.
The protagonist Dennis Nash, as a single father, had to be a beast for his own family and to establish a "father image" in front of the children. He gradually became more interested and more ambitious. When he was expelled from the house and When he had to live in a motel, would he think: Before long, he will become the person he hates most, the object of people's curse, and the beast that drove a Land Rover and stood in front of other people's homes full of empty talk? No, he didn't think of this. He shuttled among the crowd. In order to survive, we learned the world, we learned the compromise and hypocrisy, and gradually became the kind of person he hated most when he was a child. Therefore, the author is unwilling to grow up, unwilling to get married, unwilling to face reality, unwilling to interact with people, and being obsessed with film and entertaining himself, all because of this.
The only flaw in the film lies in the male protagonist’s family conditions. He is not like a person who cannot afford to pay debts. He has a Dodge pickup truck and can afford to buy a PSP for his son. The child also has an NBA jersey. The luxury of Buddhism is still a middle-class family, perhaps just for the placement of advertisements, but this advertisement is too inappropriate and almost damaged the entire film.
Naturally, those poor people who cannot pay their debts occupy the commanding heights of morality, which will inevitably lead to moral kidnapping of some people. Of course, the author is different from some virgins. These poor people are indeed not entirely reasonable, but the behavior of real estate companies. However, it is the resentful hooliganism. When we take out loans, we should think twice about whether we can really repay these debts.
If this film is placed in China 10 or even 20 years ago, it will definitely be interpreted as "revealing the darkness of capitalism." Such an interpretation must be superficial and metaphysical, and true works of art should not have limitations. This behavior is not exclusive to which "ism" or "country", but an appendage of the deformed human nature under social development. The director of "America is not sympathetic to the weak" said this sentence through the mouth of Rick Carver, of course, not only It is the United States, this world is even more so, the strong build, and the weak have no sympathy! Liu Cixin's "Dark Forest" law still applies in human society!
There is no need to say more, and there is no power to change, listen carefully, only hear the wailing of the wronged soul behind the money!
Steven Raymond Lynch
Yiwei Year, Ding Hai, Moon Jiyou Day in Beijing
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