The members of "ALPS" are medical staff (Aris Servetalis), nurses (Aggeliki Papoulia), gymnasts (Ariane Labed), and coaches (Johnny Vekris). They all have no names and only call each other by code names. The name is of considerable importance to the existence and formation of an independent person. Zhang Ailing once said: "A name is integrated with a person's appearance and qualities, creating an entire impression." Each character in the film not only has no name, but also lives. The background and other information are also ambiguous. They are like dolls with empty appearances. They are very flat, blank and highly replaceable. However, because of this, they are suitable for the status of "actors" and can fill in various personalities according to the needs of customers to satisfy others.
The paradox is that even if they change into performance costumes and start to play a certain role, they still only show the "surface". Therefore, we saw the nurse drinking water and biting her nails according to her father's instructions when playing a tennis player. We also saw that when she was acting as the girlfriend of the owner of the lamp, she was corrected by the man from time to time with the words that the woman used to make love to make her tolerate. Can't help laughing. These seemingly exaggerated, inaccurate and weird fragments almost run through the entire movie, making people feel unbelievable and at the same time even more dumbfounded. The expressions of the actors in the film were dull, and their dialogue during the "show" was blunt and dull. Even if it was a quarrel, they didn't feel any emotional twists at all, as if they were reading lines.
In addition, under the lens of Yogg Lansimo, the relationship between people is even more indifferent and alienated. The interaction between the characters and customers in the play is like walking dead, which is totally unconvincing, but they hope to make up for the shortcomings of the death of relatives and friends and pursue spiritual comfort, although this is just self-deception. So, what happens when a group of actors are off the scene? Will their body and voice speak so much that their interpersonal interaction will be more natural and vivid? I think the answer is no. Take the interaction between the nurse and the father as an example. In the film, there is a constant presentation of the nurses helping the father's eye drops, as if this is a standard schedule. In addition, the nurses’ ignorance of the father’s good at dancing also highlights the two points. People are unfamiliar and alienated. It turns out that no matter whether they are close or close, everyone is "playing" a certain role in order to satisfy the needs of others and complete the relationship with each other.
"Uncommon Service" is very reminiscent of the Swedish director Roy. In Roy Andersson's works, they also tell the story at a slow pace, and the characters they create mostly show emotional indifference with the No. 1 expression; as for the story theme of "renting relatives", it is similar to that of Japanese director Yuan Zi Wen. (Sono Sion)'s "Kiko, Renting" (Kiko no Shizhuo, 2005) echoes each other. However, rather than saying that "Uncommon Service" aims to explore the substitutability of emotions, I think Yug Lansimo is happy to deconstruct "true" and "false."
As mentioned above, whether nurses are in real life or acting, their boring speech and standard interactions are exactly the same, making it difficult to distinguish which is true and which is false; or the relationship between nurses and their fathers It was another show at all. Another example is a gymnast. At the beginning of the movie, she was dressed in black to practice gymnastics with heavy classical music; before the end of the movie, she did the same gymnastics, except that the color of the clothes was changed to peachy red, and the music was changed to brisk pop. Electronic dance music, after the dance, she happily hugged the coach and said, "You are the best coach in the world." The echoes and contrasts of the two scenes are too neat and formal, which seem deliberate and artificial, which makes people can't help but question. The authenticity of the gymnast identity: is she a real gymnast? Or is she "playing" a gymnast?
With the development of the plot, the line between real life and drama has gradually blurred. In the final analysis, if it can be separated from the story, then of course we know that everything seen on the big screen is a fictional drama, but the actors follow the director. The request reproduces the text in the script, just like the characters in the play perform according to the needs of customers. So, what is true? What is false? At least, our emotions while watching the movie are true, and the constant thinking after the movie is also true—just like the philosophical proposition "I think, therefore I am" put forward by the French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650). ─This is absolutely beyond doubt.
The story of "Uncommon Service" is grotesque, obscure and surreal, and it is not easy to chew. It is an uncommon film that challenges the taste and acceptance of the audience. Relatively speaking, it also provides an open space for interpretation, especially It is the abrupt end, which is really interesting. I think this is the most interesting thing about watching Yug Lansimo's work.
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