"Despicable Blood" is a "noir film" made by a young director for young audiences with the theme of youth life. It is loved by young French audiences.
The theme of the film is clearly pessimistic. "The dragon gives birth to the dragon, the phoenix gives birth to the phoenix, and the son of the mouse burrows in the ground." The argument of some bloodlineists in my country seems to have found a bosom friend in Western countries. Alex's father, a bandit, died under the wheel. Therefore, he must also embark on this road, and he cannot escape the fate of tragic death. The son of the robber can only be a street hooligan and a homeless person. In order to change his situation, he could only take risks and make a one-shot deal. As a result, his beautiful vision to change his life finally came to nothing. As he himself said when he was dying: "I am also like the waves in the sea, always smashing on the rocks on the coast, and can't get to the other shore..."
Younger generations like Alex are sipping the bitter wine of life amid the pessimism of the end of the century. But they are still young after all, they are pursuing beautiful things and looking forward to the future. The director uses many metaphors and symbols in the film to illustrate this. For example, before the narration of the film, there is a group of shots of swans spreading their wings, and they fly so lightly and gracefully, which is the beautiful vision of the protagonist. What followed was a harsh reality. There is a stark contrast between the two. Another example is the girl in white that appears twice in the film, all of which appear and disappear in a flash, symbolizing that something pure and beautiful is attracting Alex, but his pursuit is illusory after all. In reality, Anna didn't want to run away with him. It was only after he died that when Liz galloped away on a motorcycle, Anna seemed to suddenly realize something, and ran quickly in the direction Liz galloped away. The film ends with a shot of Anna running away. This galloping shot is drawn very poetically, forming an end-to-end echo effect with the swan spreading its wings. There is also a group of mother and child shots in the film. The young mother first walked down the street with the child in her arms. Later, she put him down and moved forward slowly, letting the child stagger behind; when she reached the corner, the mother suddenly turned and hid, letting the child come to find her. In this street scene, Alex also participates in the game of mother and son. In front of the staggering child, he suddenly blocked his view of following his mother. This group of shots is full of childish interest and contains a kind of human beauty, which contrasts with the heavy state of human existence.
The director of the film, Leo Calax, was only 26 years old when he made this film, which is his second film. Like the directors of the "New Wave" period, he also embarked on the road of film director from a movie fan. His first film "The Boy Meets the Girl" was filmed in 1983, and it was also a pessimistic youth film. The temperament of young people determines that Leo Karax should take an innovative path in film creation. He's willing to take risks by not following old film conventions. This "Lowly Descent" is a successful attempt to combine realism and modernism. The story of the film has a dramatic structure, with a beginning and an end, a plot and characters, but a large number of close-up shots are used to describe the parts in the camera sequence; color and black and white are used alternately, and the sound and picture are contrasted and separated; a large number of jumps are used. , dark turns and black grid insertions push Godard's editing style to the extreme. This deconstruction of reality is one of the film's most striking features. The "unrealistic" treatment has a surprisingly strong effect. For example, when Alex and Anna expressed their heartfelt feelings to each other, the camera did not talk to each other, but the two spoke to the audience side by side. What's particularly unique is that Alex's use of "ventriloquism" made him not open his mouth obviously, but gave people a deeper feeling. In the same time and space, a single close-up shot is used to express the different emotions of Mark, Anna, Alex and other characters. These treatments enhance the appeal of the film.
Director Karax strives to make the picture have a lyrical beauty. For example, when Alex and Liz rode their motorcycles through the clearing, Liz wrapped her arms around Alex's waist in the back seat, her beautiful long hair fluttering in the air; when Anna and Alex were skydiving In the shot, the fainted Anna's eyes were closed, Alex decisively slid from the rope to Anna, and then asked Mark to cut the rope. The parachute opened after the rope was cut, and Alex fluttered under the opened parachute with Anna in his arms. These poetic images are unforgettable.
Karax also did not ignore the traditional dramatic tension. An example is the scene where Alex takes himself hostage. The ground floor of the building where the laboratory is located is already full of police, arranged in a phalanx. Alex went down to the bottom, looked nervous, put a pistol on his forehead, and passed through the police phalanx. On the way, he suddenly turned around and walked backwards. At the same time, the sheriff was shouting: "Everyone, don't shoot! I'll deal with him alone." At this time, the whole atmosphere was extremely tense, and it really reached the climax of the drama.
The tension of the drama requires actors to support it. The performance of Denis Lawan, who plays Alex, is also a factor that energizes the film. Alex's appearance is not at all beautiful, handsome, or even ugly, like a street rascal. But he showed the character's kindness so well, and his body movements were so flexible that people didn't hate his appearance. Denis Lawan has been drafted a second time by Leo Carax due to his versatility. The lead role in his first film, Boy Meets Girl, was also played by Denis Lawan.
Alex was a poor little fellow at the bottom of the society, but Denis Lawan played him very seriously, neither hilarious, or pitiful, nor rude. Small, but like a man. He loves and loves very seriously, and never behaves indecently. The director has indeed poured infinite sympathy into this character. There is a scene in the film where Rawang takes full advantage of his physical movements. Alex runs on the pavement, using Chaplin-esque dance moves. It both reinforces the theme of "Life is Heavy" and is an affectionate tribute to filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.
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