At the beginning of systematic movie watching, I specialized in studying Duncan Jones, on the one hand because the starting point of "Moon" and "Source Code" was too high, and on the other hand because his works were very few. At that time, I thought that Duncan Jones would become a master of science fiction title system in the near future. Although "Warcraft" was also a work of Duncan Jones, because the film was too restricted by Blizzard, it would be difficult for anyone to be a director. Space to play by oneself, so this movie can't be considered Duncan Jones's own thing. I recently watched "The Silence". This work moved my thoughts. Duncan Jones may not become a great god who specializes in brains, but he will definitely become a great filmmaker.
The ratings of "The Silence" are terrible now, but is such a work really that bad? I don't think so. Such works may become popular research by many people after many years, and may even rise to the level of film history research. This is not the first time this happened. "Blade Runner" was criticized at the beginning of its release. When "2001: A Space Odyssey" was released, there were not many critics who praised it, but the status of these two works is beyond doubt. . There are too many similar things, and I hope that one day history will give "The Silence" a correct evaluation.
Next, I will forcefully brag about "The Silence", which involves a lot of spoilers and infiltration.
I always think that cyberpunk movies have two roots, the second is Philip K Dick, and the other is Raymond Chandler. The story background is generally derived from the near-future sci-fi setting in Philip Dick’s novels, with a general storyline. It comes from the tough guy mystery novel represented by Raymond Chandler. Although other types of things were later included in cyberpunk, as long as it is the near future, gloomy weather, the Kowloon City competition-like urban structure, and the absence of technology and the country that involve consciousness, these elements can be called competition. Bopunk.
"The Silence" is also called a cyberpunk movie, but if you think about it, the story of the film basically takes place in the dark night. There are only two daytime shots, and this model basically fully replicates "Blade Runner" (that is, where Duncan Jones calls tribute to "Blade Runner"). But other than that, the story does not seem to have much to do with science fiction, and the old mobile phone sets that appear in it are not as advanced as modern mobile phones. But the story is completely a tough guy mystery novel. Someone once said that Bengue’s mystery novels are reasoning, and the tough guy novels are pushing the door. This movie’s hero Neo’s reasoning journey is almost a whirlwind, the whole process is like bumping into a door, pushing a door open, and seeing it behind the last door. The body of the heroine.
Leo
At the beginning of the movie, we saw Neo, whose neck was injured by a speedboat propeller, floats on the water. Because of beliefs, his mother refused to allow him to undergo surgery, and did not hesitate to make him dumb afterwards. The next scene is Thirty years later, Neo is swimming in the pool. It’s worth noting here, why did the second underwater scene appear so soon, and then there are two underwater scenes. One is that Neo’s investigation is in trouble. The water roared silently, one is that he finally killed Dark. It is not unusual to see underwater shots so frequently . What is water in this movie?
Neo roars silently in the water
In the water, people can hear but cannot speak, and Neo loses the ability to speak in the water. After the end of the film he emerged from the water in order to protect the little girl and shouted the first word. This is the key, this moment. , He finally came out of the water. From the beginning to the end of the film, Neo has been trapped in the water unable to speak.
Neo called out the first word in the film in order to be a little girl
The image of water does not only appear in this form, such as Neo’s wood carvings, whether it is a wooden bead for Nadira or a wooden bed carved by himself, the patterns on it are dolphins, starfish, and seahorses. Perhaps it is precisely because Neo has been in the water that he can only sculpt the creatures in the water.
But what exactly does water mean?
Neo’s belief is a lifestyle far away from technology. This is the most interesting part of this movie. In a sci-fi world, Neo has always been adhering to not using any technology products, even facing the TV, and not paying attention to hot spots. News (the hot news in the film is exactly the story of Sam Bell’s clone returning to Earth in "The Moon").
Not being in touch with technology products makes Neo simple and straightforward. When he sees other people harass his lover, he will do it. When he knows that his lover will not leave him, he will express his love regardless. This way he is regarded as a fool by others, but he still adopts this Pure lifestyle.
The attitude towards technological products in the film does not seem to be very positive. For example, robotic dancers, robotic sex toys, and mechanical prostheses have become Dak’s tools to satisfy his desires (the little girl’s mechanical legs and the vocal cords installed for Neo). At the end of the film, when Neo made a noise in "Foreign Dreams", Neo's victory with a wooden stick and a mechanical leg was a clear demonstration of the director's creative intentions.
Originally Neo, as long as he adhered to his beliefs, he could simply survive without touching any technological products, but unfortunately, he lost his lover. In order to find Nadira, he had to take the initiative to use his mobile phone, ordering machine, etc. Modern equipment, so the process of finding a lover is a process of breaking his belief step by step. Although an artificial vocal cord has been installed at the end of the film, he still refuses to speak, and only speaks out when Nadila's daughter is in danger. It can be said that he is for love and conscience, preferring to let go of his beliefs.
At this point, we can probably understand the meaning of water.
Cactus Bill
Kektes may be the biggest villain in the film, and the role setting is quite contradictory, such as caring for and reprimanding the old woman. To understand this character, we must analyze it from the perspective of the background of the times.
Obviously, the background of this movie is that after the United States defeated Germany, after a large number of troops stationed in Germany, Kecketts stayed in Germany as a deserter, and wanted to return to the United States with his daughter by forging his identity. Duncan Jones has concealed the introduction of the background of the times, and the experience of Kecters, which has increased the difficulty of understanding the film.
Here I try to speculate on Kecketts’ experience.
The reason why Kektes stayed in Germany and became a deserter was to participate in the "Become a Dad Club", and Nadila was obviously a descendant of Middle Eastern immigrants living in Germany, living at the bottom of society. What does this make us think? When Kektes was in Germany as an American soldier, he was with Nadira, who was a descendant of immigrants. It is too easy to think of the story of American soldiers and Vietnamese prostitutes during the Vietnam War, and several people are talking about Nadira. The past was quite unbearable, so we can speculate that Nadila was originally a military prostitute or a sex worker who earned money from Americans.
The so-called "Dad Club" may be that after learning that Nadila was pregnant, Kecketts decided to stay instead of abandoning the mother and daughter (the laughter's choice in "Watchmen" was to abandon). In terms of general values, this choice is very humane, but as a group of American soldiers, this choice is quite irrational. Kektes' reaction to Duck's ridicule of the "Dad Club" in the film is quite illustrative.
Nadira, who was born at the bottom of society, interacted with Kektes and gave birth to Kektes for the purpose of changing his circumstances and immigrating to the United States. Then Kektes stayed as a deserter, which limited Nadila's idea of emigrating, and it was inevitable to break up with Kektes. Kektes became a deserter for the mother and daughter, and later lost Nadila, so he could only choose to guard his daughter alone and bring her back to the United States under a false identity.
The "foreign dream" of the boss Maxim may be the place where two people get together. Both of them are working for Maxim. Kektes is still a frequent visitor of "Foreign Dreams". I am afraid that the wooden beads were also given to his daughter by Nadila through the brothels frequented by Kektes. The name "Foreign Dream" itself is full of profound meaning. Kecketts and Nadira are each other's "foreign dreams", but they are destined to wake up. When the film started, the two people hated each other a long time ago. Nadira has been raising money to try to get the officials to arrest Kektes, and Kektes directly killed Nadira. The foreign dream also implies that Kekertes is destined not to return to China successfully. Returning to the United States is also a "foreign dream" for him.
For Kecketts, when he gave everything he would rather be a deserter, just to stay with his wife and daughter, but in the end he got betrayed by his lover, and his world can be said to have collapsed. This also explains his moodiness.
For Kecketts, Nadila is the femme fatale in a tough guy novel (or film noir), but for Neo, Nadila is his muse.
Naadirah
Nadira’s hair is blue. At the beginning of the film, Neo was carefully placed in his home. The most important thing is an ink bottle. Several small flowers with the same color as Nadira’s hair are inserted in Neo’s water. This ink bottle is the director's ingenuity, showing the relationship between the two.
I just talked about the relationship between Neo and water. In Nadira's eyes, Neo's lifestyle and beliefs made him a pure person like water. But Nadila's past was quite difficult and sad, and this first past made her yearn for a pure life. Her relationship with Neo was quite simple, and she was afraid of adding impurities to this relationship if she didn't tell Neo about her past.
The relationship between Nadila and Kektes was impure at the beginning. Although Kektes was a person with a lot of affection, he could even serve as deserters for their mothers and daughters, but maybe it was because of the impure feelings, maybe it was. Because he didn't like Kektes at all, maybe because of Kektes' irritable character, he would not go with Kektes. The tragic ending of this relationship was determined from the beginning, and Kecketts was not Nadila's choice.
A key plot about Nadira is not clearly given in the movie, but the plot is quite important. What happened between Nadira getting Oswald's address and looking for Neo at night. During the conversation between Nadila and Luba, we can know that Nadila is raising money (it should be to bribe the military to capture Kecketts), find Nicki to find a way, and Nicki asks her to find a way on Oswald . When Neo found Oswald, Oswald said that the prostitute "Nadira" had stolen things. When he found the address of Nadira, he found that Luba, who was in the state of women's clothing, was Oswald's "Nadira". We can know that that night, Nadila and Luba agreed that Luba went to Oswald’s house to be called in as a dress, stealing money by the way. So before Nadila found Neo at night, he should have handed the money to Sergeant Robert and asked him to arrest Kecketts. Although we cannot know whether Sergeant Robert agreed on the spot, he should have collected the money and may even violate it. Nadila (the dialogue between Robert and Kecketts can explain the problem). Nadila was very upset when she found Neo. She wanted to confess her past to Neo. It seemed unnecessary to confess this at this moment, but if Sergeant Robert wanted more money, she had to borrow money from Neo. Up. Who would have thought that he would be pushed down without mentioning who Kecketts was, and then he would be killed when he opened his eyes.
Duck
Dak and Kektes are comrades-in-arms in Afghanistan and run a prosthetic clinic in Germany. They have witnessed the love affair between Kektes and Nadira. Kektes will also help when working for Maxim. For Kecketts, such a friend can be regarded as a good friend.
But Kektes is quite disgusted with Duck’s pedophilia. When he was playing bowling, Duck saw the underage girl who showed off her panties and said trivial words. When Ke used the camera to secretly take pictures of the girls changing clothes, Kecketts opened his mouth one after another, and claimed to report Duck so that he could not open the clinic, and even asked Duck to take over his house and work, as long as Duck didn’t. There is another idea of prostitution. In this plot, Kektes is out of the protection of his daughter on the surface, but it is necessary to know that after Kektes is gone, Duck will no longer be able to reach his daughter. There is no need to let Duck. The clinic is closed, so we can speculate that Kektes is to protect all the girls. This is a very upright act.
Compared to Kektes, Duck has nothing to do with integrity, and it can even be said that he is the real villain. He was timid and small-bodied, had no idea of resisting Kektes' violent behavior, and secretly made Kektes trouble. Kekertes threatened him because he mentioned "want to be a daddy club." Maybe it was just an overwhelming joke. Duck took a sneaky photo of Kekertes' father and daughter. After the bowling incident, he sent the photo to Neo. In the past, after Kecketts threatened to expose his secrets and slapped him in the shop, he even directly told Neo to go to "Foreign Dream" to find him. This incident directly led to the death of Kecketts.
There is no doubt that Dark was involved in the murder of Nadira, but in the restaurant paragraph, Kecketts told him that Neo was looking for Nadira. He actually said "good luck" and "if he finds it." , Everyone is happy". He knew that Nadira was dead, and this sentence became very meaningful. Perhaps he had hoped that Kecketts would be killed by Neo.
In a word, Kektes was pierced by his own knife, and Duck was the first to rush to the scene. At that time, he should be able to save Kektes, but perhaps because he hated Kek for a long time. Tess, maybe he wanted to attack the little girl a long time ago, maybe he was afraid that his involvement in the murder of Nadira would be exposed, he chose to let Kecketts die painfully in the basement, and let him watch him go upstairs Took his daughter away.
At the end of the film, he installed a vocal cord for Neo, just to make him say sorry to Kecketts. The plot design is very exciting. He knows he is sorry for Kektes, but he doesn't want to admit his mistakes, so he has to apologize through the mouth of Neo. For him, this is his way of salvation.
Mute
The difference between this movie and the general science fiction theme is that he only puts the story in the near future. In essence, such a story can happen in any era. But what are the benefits of a sci-fi background? It should still be an expression of the subject.
Neo’s beliefs do not allow him to come into contact with technology products, which makes him a clear water person, but in such a society, he can only remain silent. There is also a design in the film that the little girl also keeps silent, because she has been dominated by Kekertes from beginning to end and has no ability to speak, which is very similar to Neo. Only when the adult who ruled her dies, can she gain the right to speak. Another person in the film who is unable to speak is Nadila's mother. She is a marginal person (immigrant) who has been abandoned by the times. She has not used technology products for translation, and Neo can still communicate with her.
But are these few people silent in the film? Nadila was unable to tell his past in front of Neo, and Dak did not dare to refute Kektes. Even Kektes, who talked about the whole process, was using all kinds of rude words and deeds to hide his true dilemma.
At this point, the meaning of silence is obvious. It is an unexpressible dilemma. The people in the film are trapped in this fucking world. And advanced technology has not really changed the world, allowing everyone to make a sound. "Moon" also expresses this meaning, which is why the follow-up story of "Moon" appears repeatedly in this film.
This movie contains a lot of textual information. If you continue to dig deeper, you will find more interesting designs, such as Nicky doing private work, such as Kekertes bribing Sergeant Robert, such as the fat man in Stalin’s T-shirt and Kekert Si’s attitude towards communism, let alone Duncan Jones’s failure to talk about the main story on the stage, I believe that if all the plots are clearly explained, only ten episodes of American dramas can be installed.
In terms of character creation, in addition to the four main characters mentioned above, almost all the characters have bright spots, even the two doormen who only played a few times, and the waiter of the coffee shop, have designed quite interesting sections.
This movie is like a four-frame cartoon with two frames removed. Although it is easy to make people unable to touch the plot, Duncan Jones firmly adopts this narrative technique for the purpose of expressing the theme. "Moon" was well received, largely due to this narrative technique, but this time Duncan Jones played a bit too advanced, professional film critics did not see it.
If you can't see the plot hidden below, you can't analyze the performance of the actors, and then there will be a total collapse of word-of-mouth.
But anyone who understands this movie will be amazed by Duncan Jones' genius, he will definitely become a master beyond Nolan and Villeneuve.
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