Since the birth of film in 1895, the seventh art of film, which includes six art forms of "music, painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, and dance", has moved us for 119 years. 2015 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of film, a mere hundred years, but the development of film is rapid.
When the first film in film history "Train Into the Station" was screened, who could have predicted that the film would become popular in almost every corner of the world more than a hundred years from now? From single lens to multiple lens, from silent film to sound film, from black and white film to color film, from western film to feature film, from Dadaism to New Wave, the art of film is growing a little bit, and its meaning is gradually broadening. change. We can no longer accurately define the film, just as the appearance of the film makes us no longer able to distinguish between "imaginary reality" and "real imagination".
Movies change not only our lives, but also our civilization.
Speaking of "Whale Circus" director Bella Tal, perhaps he is well-known because of the 450-minute film "Satan Tango". Some film critics once commented that his film is "seven hours long but every minute is thunderous and fascinating. I hope I will watch it again every year during my lifetime."
Compared with this movie, "Whale Circus" is undoubtedly concise and concise. Especially the ingenious scene scheduling and light and shadow editing of this film is simply the perfect interpretation of film art. The main plot of the movie is actually not complicated. A small town that was originally peaceful and peaceful is out of balance due to the visit of the circus one day. The huge dead whale owned by the circus and the "prince" who claimed to have three eyes, a mouthful of apocalyptic speech and blasphemous behavior seemed to be a curse, completely disrupting the original order of the town; and finally; An unprecedented riot broke out in the town, a conflict between "violence" and "kindness". Finally? It seems that the "goodness" won, but the kindness who won the victory hunted down and killed the former "rioters", which naturally also affected some innocent civilians...
The irony is that such a movie with awe-inspiring respect for film art has a "Hollywood" translation called "Whale Circus" (like "Now You See Me" or "Pirates of the Caribbean"). Perhaps it was a failure in the promotion of the film. Compared with this title, the author undoubtedly prefers its literal translation title "Missed Harmony" (just like "Angel Loves Beauty" to its literal name "Emily Bran with a Wonderful Destiny").
But in fact, the title "Missed Harmony" is not a complete literal translation. The Werckmeister in the original title "Werckmeister harmóniák" is actually the name of a German musician in the history of music. He strongly advocated it at the end of the 17th century. The twelve equal temperament (the universal temperament that divides a group of notes (octave) into twelve semitone intervals, and the ratio of the vibration numbers between each adjacent temperament is exactly the same) is remembered by people.
Speaking of the twelve equal temperament, it is really a great temperament system. Since then, the moving melody can be passed on to future generations through it; the 88 black and white keys on the piano keyboard are made according to the principle of the twelve equal temperament . The reason why I have to worry about the title of this film is that this film is full of many metaphors. The complete and accurate halving advocated by the twelve equal law seems to make each melody lose its unique nature, but in reality Above, we should pay more attention to the seven tones in the scale, not to regard them as an octave, but seven tones with unique and independent characteristics. Extending this rule to the movie, you will actually find the metaphor exposed by the group riot in the movie that is subject to the "prince" bewitching: once the precise twelve equal temperament is incomplete, the elegant tone will change. It is harsh; in the same way, a social state in which there is only group consciousness and no individual emotions will no longer be orderly. The so-called "prince" instigation in the circus is actually just a cover. The real evil thoughts, this kind of evil thoughts caused by the complete collective consciousness, have already existed in the hearts of the residents of the small town. What they are waiting for is a reasonable release of the evil thoughts. The interface, whether it is a "prince" or a dead "whale", is just a tool in their eyes.
When it comes to metaphors, in addition to the plot metaphors that run through the opening and ending of the film, what I admire most is the monologue interpretation of Varushka at the beginning of the film. Under the dim light of the bar, Varushka chose three drunken people as the sun/moon and the earth, and he himself, like the creator of the world, directs the three people to follow the orbits of the sun/moon and the earth. Spin. Then, turning around, when the person representing the moon blocked the person representing the earth from looking up at the sun, the most magnificent natural landscape on the earth-the solar eclipse-just came. "When the moon obscures the sun's rays, everything is quiet," Varushka said. Immediately afterwards, the originally quiet shot ushered in a soothing and slightly apocalyptic piano sound (this may be the perfect combination of movie shots and music I have ever seen, and when the music sounds, you will even sincerely sigh The irreplaceable importance of music to movies).
For the metaphor contained in the monologue deduction in the opening film, I think it should be director Bella Tal's personal value judgment on good and evil. For the director, or for the film, the temporary evil is just like the earth temporarily losing its light because it is blocked by the moon, but when it loses its light, what should we do? Fear or cringe? Or is it to help the gang to be abused? No, all of these are not. When darkness comes, we have to look forward to it, believing that "this is not the end", so because of this belief, when the moon once again leaves its specific position between the sun and the earth, The light will once again illuminate the earth, and the kindness will finally use the warmth it represents to melt away those indifferent hearts that have been frozen because of the darkness.
In short, "Whale Circus" is a movie with too many movie elements. What is the real symbolic meaning of that giant dead whale? After the riots were calmed down, was the whale that was abandoned in the square a representative of evil thoughts or a lingering life of kindness? These questions are waiting for you to perceive and understand through watching the movie. Because, even if the author uses more words to describe it, when the pianist and the dead whale look at each other in the movie, the long-lost sense of peace and helplessness is precisely what any language cannot express.
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