"Young Adam" is a 2003 work by David Mackenzie. The protagonist of the movie is named Joe. He is driven by the desires of the body, tossing between different women, without moral bondage, and does not assume social responsibility. Mackenzie made a sharp summary of the story: "Young Adam" is a morally ambiguous story, and this is what makes it alluring. Joe has been running away, avoiding himself, and his conscience. He is rebellious, irresponsible, and endangering others, but he is also a sensitive person, equally vulnerable, and often struggles with what he should do. He is by no means as innocent as you think, but he should not be convicted either. At the beginning of the movie, a white swan floats on the water. This swan is the incarnation of sensuality. In Greek mythology, Zeus, the head of the gods, was overwhelmed by the beauty of the queen of Sparta, Lida, by the lake. In order to get her, Zeus turned into a swan and was chased by an eagle and fell to Lida. Hugging the swan in his arms, this hug yielded two children. In the current art gallery, you can see the paintings of Lida and the swan. Famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Cézanne have painted works of related themes. The age of mythology preceded ethics. At that time, there were no so-called moral constraints in the world, so if you want to tell the story of Zeus smoothly, you must temporarily discard these ethical concepts. Watching the movie "Young Adam" also needs to temporarily put aside ethical concepts. Our task is to understand it, not to judge it. Only in this way can we understand the truth of things. The film's name "Young Adam" is also meant for this. "Adam" is the first human being and the first man on earth. He has no preconceived notions of ethics and morality.
Clive Bell, the British aesthetician, stated in his art theory of "significant form": "A great artist can understand the pure form of things. For example, viewing a chair, as a chair has its own They do not recognize the objects for the purpose of living. They never regard them as sitting or wooden furniture, but as natural and useless chairs. They never regard the house as a building for the purpose of living. In their eyes, all things exist for their own purposes, and all things never exist for the means of other things. That is, they can free themselves from all preconceived concepts and associations and take care of things, and recognize things as pure forms. To know the innocent form of things is to take things away from all accidental interest and practicality and observe them, that is, to separate things from the acquired negotiation with human beings, and to observe their original truth." David Markenz It is such an artist who believes that adult "sex" is sometimes only a desire that needs to be satisfied from the depths of the heart. It stays below the waist of the flesh and is not driven by romantic love or traditional social needs. "Animal" is its pure state. His image expresses this point. The night when Casey accidentally fell into the water, the two of them were under the truck on the cold and hard road. They had to think of a night cat who likes to drill under the car. The first time with Ella, they chose to be on a dark, cold, hard stone; His behavior with Ella's sister is entirely the image of wild dogs in the streets. "There is no spiritual activity, no spiritual function, no romantic emotion, no ideal vision. This is an animal, a pure inferior animal (not a beast)! He has no higher needs." In Alexander Trocchi In his original novel "Young Adam", society is full of a group of acrimonious, depressive, hypocritical, and lynching mobs; the media have constructed their moral values and are keen to equate sexual behavior with sin. But in the film, the director did a "silencing and denoising" process. Set the story on the water. Joe floats on the water with the owner's family day after day, and settles with the situation. There is no fixed stop, away from the crowd, and outside the social moral public opinion. Such a special environment naturally isolates social "noise". Even in the boat, people do not resort to morality. Morality is self-restraint, not kidnapping others. After discovering his relationship with Ella, Les did not blame or retaliate, but just walked away. After Ella discovered the relationship between Joe and his sister, she understood the wrong person she had entrusted, and immediately distanced herself from him and took the initiative to retrieve Les. The director's processing is all to make the audience see the original state of things, that is, the truth. No wonder some viewers lost the urge to scold Joe after watching the film. The fixed-position lens of the camera also provides a calm observation angle, creating a "significant" and beautiful atmosphere.
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