It's easy to unwittingly turn lyrical into writing about the Dardenne brothers' work, because the magic of their few films has the power to sink in.
The entire film is almost always aimed at the hero and there are a lot of close-ups and close-ups. Any heavy breathing is faithfully recorded by these two filmmakers who have been making documentaries for 20 years. It is impossible for the audience to stay outside and calmly look at what the characters are doing. Despite this, people's psychological activities are still invisible, especially when a character simultaneously expresses complex emotions such as anxiety, frustration, confusion, pain, etc., the simple foreshadowing of the scene is created with extremely high tension. suspense. Although this consistent photography style lacks aesthetics, nothing is more true to the psychological description, in fact, it is true to the point of ruthlessness. There are many feature films that claim to be filmed in documentary style, but only the works of the DARDENNE brothers have truly learned from each other's strengths, and their depth is almost comparable to that of Mr. Bai Xianyong's short essays (which may be a very inappropriate comparison). Prior to this, the film's "psychological description" "It's always on the surface.
Another factor that makes its psychological description so good still stems from the documentary: the multi-faceted representation of the characters makes them full. TV shows like "TRUEMAN SHOW" are sure to be popular even if the audience is only watching him spend an hour eating, because a complete peek at a character's different performances can express the character more strongly, and of course satisfy people General voyeurism. In "LE FILS" this contrast is reinforced to the limit, and people can always feel the stark contrast between the inside and the outside of the male protagonist, even if they don't know why. No Hollywood movie will deliberately show a positive character masturbating, but French movies will give him a few close-ups of his penis no matter what shape it is. It has nothing to do with the plot, but it looks real. This is probably why the characters in French films are always more lifelike than Americans.
The negative angle is in the bright place and the positive angle is in the dark place, so as to control the audience's choice. The thoughtful details in the film make it hard to let go. The male protagonist drove the car too far and had to go backwards, first to express his emotional excitement, and secondly to emphasize the face and face of "the queen": a pair of angry eyes that almost burst into flames made people shudder; the constantly shrinking scene made people feel nothing Follow the shape; the little boy suddenly asked the hero to be his guardian, showing his complete trust and emphasizing his "victimability"; even the hero's left thumb can see a piece of carpenter's often bruised blood. Seemingly casual, the rambling film is full of suspense.
The narrative structure is a typical suspense movie. It takes fifteen minutes to see the face of the little boy for the first time, and it takes twenty minutes to lightly reveal the relationship between the two protagonists (it takes only one sentence and only three seconds, I missed it by accident). "What's he going to do?" "Will he kill him like a stray dog on the side of the road?" The audience is chained tightly to the end of the "always ask questions" movie, and old questions are answered by new ones. The problem was immediate and more serious. The suspense creation of Hee's films is also incomparable because the desires of the characters in Hee's films are clear, but the male protagonist in "LE FILS" cannot understand his own desires. what. In fact, how many people can always clearly understand why they do something? Again, that's what makes the film so gripping: the unknown and the compelling truth. New wave movies are full of such ambiguous characters, but between suspense and ambiguity, the Dardenne brothers do find a wonderful balance.
LE FILS cares about human nature. "The DARDENNE brothers have always rejected any intention to stir up the audience's emotions and comment on the ideology of the protagonist". The work "ROSETTA" a few years ago caused an uproar and even caused the Belgian government to revise the labor law. Although this is indeed the supreme honor of the filmmakers, "ROSETTA" still only cares about human nature -- when ordinary individuals face the problem of survival Struggle on the bottom line of morality. "LE FILS" shows the journey of two people who should be opposed to each other trying to "self-redemption". Like its old work, the story of "LE FILS" does not have a very clear ending, but the "hopeful life and psychological reconstruction" is certain.
At this point, the DARDENNE brothers are not always so objective and callous.
PS: The actors of "LE FILS" are extremely good: Gourmet, who is known as "even the scruff of the neck", is naturally no problem. Although the little boy who plays FRANCIS is not handsome, he has a face like a lion. Occasionally A glance at the combination of fear, disdain, loneliness, evil and innocence is very intriguing.
View more about Le fils reviews
