HBO's new drama "The Third Day", which was supposed to be broadcast in May this year, had to be withdrawn due to the impact of the new crown, disappointing many fans. After all, this is Jude Law, known as "Qiu Hua", since 2016. After "The Young Pope", he returned to the small screen after a lapse of 4 years.
4 months later, we finally meet this horror film that focuses on religion and surrealism. The audience's reaction showed two extremes of good and bad.
"The Third Day"
This article contains spoilers.
1
The story begins with a down-and-out middle-aged man called Sam on the side of the road.
He looked hysterical, ranting about the £40,000 thing to the person on the other end of the phone, as if the sky was falling apart. But when he turned his face, he chatted with the other party about what kind of musical instrument the child should choose, with a warm and helpless look, as if the person who yelled at the phone just now didn't exist.
Then he started wandering aimlessly, and by a creek, Sam was sobbing with a child's shirt. Eventually, he threw his shirt into the water and watched it drift away.
Just when he finished all this and was about to leave, he accidentally bumped into two children playing games. And the content of this game turned out to be a girl wrapping her neck in a rope, and then jumping from the air...
Sam was terrified and rushed to rescue the girl, while the little boy who was in charge of tying the rope also fled and disappeared.
During their conversation, Sam learns that the girl's name is Epona. While solving Epona, he put down what he was eager to do and drove Epona home.
The girl Epona lives on a remote island with only 93 people. The road to the island will disappear due to the tide, and it will only be open at fixed times every day.
After sending Epona to the tavern on the island, Sam refused to leave and wanted to meet Epona's parents. While waiting, he missed the low tide.
The seemingly simple and peaceful island is full of eerie atmosphere. The residents here are preparing for a celebration in a few days. During this period, some people mentioned the confusing words such as "sacrifice" and "punishment".
However, Sam didn't want to get to the bottom of it. In fact, he was also in trouble right now.
It turned out that he and his wife opened a flower shop. In order to develop, the two decided to bribe a government planner with 40,000 pounds. But the flower shop was robbed and £40,000 disappeared.
But now he is trapped on the island, and even his mobile phone has no signal.
In desperation, he could only live here temporarily, hoping to leave as soon as possible tomorrow morning.
That night, he met Jess, a foreign girl who stayed on the island like him. The two met because of a misunderstanding. In the end, they sat together and had a drink together, and got together under the influence of drunkenness.
2
After waking up, Sam and Jace chatted frankly about their past. It turned out that a few years ago, Sam's youngest son was brutally killed nearby, and his body was thrown into the creek.
Sam has brought a piece of his son's clothes here every year since then.
As for the island, for some reason, Sam always felt a familiar aura. And when he checked on the island, he also accidentally found a newspaper about his son's murder. The people here obviously knew him and wanted to cover up the truth, and some people even wanted to put him to death.
Even the father of Epona, the girl he rescued the day before, came to him with a shotgun, and warned him that "darkness is coming" while telling him incomprehensible crazy words.
Sam wanted to leave this eerie place, but the friendly-faced tavern owner and his wife allayed his worries.
They claimed that the masked men who attacked him were just children playing pranks, and that Epona's father was a lunatic and advised him not to take those words to heart.
After listening to these explanations, plus Jace, who had a dewy relationship with him, kept him, he decided to give himself a vacation and stay on the island for another night.
As everyone knows, his decision will bring him a disaster.
3
"The Third Day" stars Jude Law and Katherine Waterston, who worked with him in "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald."
The director is Mark Mulden, and this is his second collaboration with screenwriter Dennis Kelly after "Utopia". Coupled with Philippa Losop, who has directed "The Crown" and "Three Girls", the whole film is full of a strong British atmosphere, strange and delicate.
Especially the stylized photography and colors add a lot to this film.
A long shot with a halo.
The color distribution is clear, and the unique scenery is rendered by the contrasting colors.
The male protagonist Sam is standing on the open field, the sky is dark, but the grass swaying in the wind seems to hide danger.
In this film, almost every frame is full of texture like an oil painting.
And these seemingly bizarre pictures also allude to the struggling heart of the protagonist, allowing him to wander between reality and illusion.
Tormented by painful memories, she is also filled with unknown fears about her new life.
The setting of this film has many similarities with "A Midsummer Nightmare", which became popular all over the world last year. They are all wounded people who have embarked on a terrifying and alternative journey in an unknown and closed environment.
In this seemingly paradise, there are actually many terrifying secrets hidden. Once opened, it will lead to disaster.
It's just that the narrative technique of "The Third Day" is more secretive than that of "A Midsummer Night's Fright". There is no clear horror and blood, but sharp knives in the dark, islanders wearing murloc masks... pave the way for a psychedelic disaster.
However, the film has a lot of flaws. Chief among them is rhythm.
Because it is necessary to express the complex and changeable heart of the protagonist, many of the contents of this film are one-man plays by the male protagonist alone. Although Jude Law's performance in this film can be said to have reached a new level, the large-scale personal play is all performed by eyes and subtle expressions. But many viewers didn't buy it. After all, the lengthy and hysterical inner drama is not acceptable to everyone.
In addition, the religious information about the mysterious island is too vague, and it feels overwhelming, making people feel depressed and want to escape.
Secondly, the consequence of synchronizing reality and fantasy is that it will confuse the audience, unable to distinguish whether what is happening in front of them is real or whether there is a problem with the hero's spirit.
For example, the 40,000 pounds that the male protagonist Sam has been talking about. At the beginning of the film, he swears that someone broke into the store and stole the cash, but when he was staying on the island, he found the money in his trunk when he was drunk.
It makes people wonder if all this is because the male protagonist has made up a one-man show for himself after losing his beloved son.
Therefore, the final plot trend of this film will directly affect its reputation. Whether it is conferred a god or is forgotten depends on whether the following content can fill in these holes one by one.
But Qiu Hua's fans will chase him no matter what. After all, although the male god's hairline is almost gone, his acting skills and appearance are still online .
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