Christian Mungi’s new work "Graduation Exam" is a very neatly structured movie. It is not difficult to compare with the previous work "Beyond the Mountain", and Mongi has become more impartial in this film. , Put away his sharp edge, but also put away the long shots he is famous for, the style is more rounded and more sophisticated. The director himself revealed a detail during the interview. The ending we see now is not the one in the original script, and hints that the original ending is much more abrupt and cruel than the current one. Speaking of this, it is not difficult to explain why there is an inexplicable "horror film" at the end of the film. In my opinion, the most important aspect of "Graduation Exam" lies in the script. Cannes awarded him the Best Director Award (of course because he has won both Palme d’Or and Best Screenplay), most of which are also for this good script. of. A script that can actually tell the story in 100 minutes is naturally very attractive. Education, ethics, the operation of social machines, the expectations and disappointments of intellectuals towards the country, too many things, big or small, make Mengji kneaded like dumplings in this movie, and people have to admire him. The keen observation and storytelling ability of Romanian society. We have been educated to write essays since we were young to "see the big from the small", but it is actually difficult to do so. Especially in a medium such as movies, how to achieve the dual tasks of presenting a full "life-like" and "realistic" to the audience and avoiding superficial preaching is a very skillful thing. As those of us who have all experienced exam-oriented education, it is not difficult to find resonance in the "Graduation Exam". The ardent expectations of parents, the efforts they make behind the scenes, and the differences between personal wishes and parents' "planning", It must be a moment that every family has experienced more or less. But what I want to say "seeing the big from the small" is not just focusing on this. When we begin to carefully analyze the root cause of Romeo's painstaking efforts to escort his daughter abroad, what you see is more than just a father to a daughter. His care and love, and the complicated feelings of an intellectual towards his country. In the middle of the film, Romeo confided to his daughter that he actually regretted the decision to return to the country. The director is here to put the individual, family and society together. From here, "Graduation Exam" is no longer just a movie about family education and father-daughter relationship. In fact, the director could have chosen to continue to strengthen and develop this dark line. In the film, there are many "officials" who hold important positions like Romeo and can be called the "mainstay" of society. Most of them have a conscience and are more familiar with the world. Tao, I still understand the similarities and differences between "East" and "West" , What is the story behind them? There is also a mother who doesn’t have too many scenes in the film, a mother who is portrayed as “adhering to the moral code” and “losing” other things. After Romeo returned to Romania for more than 20 years, what is her story? Woolen cloth? Mengji didn't let the film develop in this direction. In the second half, the role of her daughter's boyfriend Marius began to increase, so that the development of the whole story continued to "closely unite" around the father and daughter. What we see this time is a Christian Mungi who is not so ambitious. In an interview after the screening, an audience from East German background asked a similar question, and Mongi himself said that a role like Romeo is indeed a microcosm of the Romanian generation, (I think he is also talking about him Yourself). Since 1991, they have gone from being full of longing for a new country to gradually integrating with the "original rules" of society, which cannot be summed up by a simple sentence of "helplessness". And this loss derived from idealism is further integrated into the indoctrination and education of the outlook on life for the next generation. However, the next generation of "flowers" no longer shoulders so many nations and feelings like they did. In the process of national transformation, the things people pursue are constantly changing. The collision between the different values of the two generations, Mengji passed the motif of education in the "Graduation Exam", and the entry point of "College Entrance Examination" was cleverly given. Excavated it. However, the fly in the ointment is that although the poster shows the father and the daughter, in fact only his father Romeo starred in the film, and it was almost his one-man show. Regardless of the role or performance skills, the daughter's actor Maria, the Romanian actor who had appeared in Michael Haneke's "White Ribbon" and grew up in Germany, is much less impressive. There is no more flesh-and-blood opponent to play Romeo, which is even more regrettable than the lack of a strong ending in the film. Almost ten years have passed since the director took the Palme d’Or by borrowing "April Three Weeks and Two Days." "Hibernation" is a benchmark for how much a contemporary director can evolve in ten years, so Mengji is undoubtedly going to lose his color. "Graduation Exam" is an excellent work, maybe it can win the Palme d'Or as it was ten years ago. But this year, only holding back the consolation prize for the best director can be regarded as showing something. ——The German-born Romanian actor who had appeared in Michael Haneck’s "White Ribbon"—has been inferior. There is no more full-blooded opponent to play Romeo, which is even more regrettable than the lack of a strong ending in the film. Almost ten years have passed since the director took the Palme d’Or by borrowing "April Three Weeks and Two Days." "Hibernation" is a benchmark for how much a contemporary director can evolve in ten years, so Mengji is undoubtedly going to lose his color. "Graduation Exam" is an excellent work, perhaps as good as ten years ago to win the Palme d’Or. But this year, only holding back the consolation prize for the best director can be regarded as showing something.
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