When "Snow Country Train" was released in 2013, South Korea's Barunson Publishing House republished a three-volume bound edition of the original comic "Transperceneige", with a quote from director Bong Joon-ho printed on the cover. "One day in 2005, I picked up this comic for the first time, and at that moment I realized that it would consume a whole period of my life. Since then, a dangerous and unusual film adventure of mine has begun. In 2004, the "Snow Country Train" comic was introduced to South Korea for the first time. This was the only country where this comic was translated and published except for French/Belgium where it was produced. Transperceneige, an original comic book, is a new vocabulary composed of two French words, "snow" (neige) and "transperce". It is the name of the never-ending train in the comics. In 1977, the writer Jacques Robb proposed a story idea, but his collaborator Alexis died shortly after writing. Five years later, cartoonist Rochette joined. The first volume of "Snow Country Train" (later named "The Escaper") was serialized in the famous comic magazine "À suivre" (À suivre). The Belgian Casterman Publishing House, which publishes The Adventures of Tintin, has published a pamphlet. In 2005, it won an award at the Angola International Comics Festival. However, with Rob's death in the 90s, "Snow Country Train" was gradually forgotten, but in the hearts of a small group of French comic fans, it is still a cult classic and even regarded as the greatest science fiction masterpiece in the history of French comics. . "Snow Country Train" uses a closed train as the last Noah's Ark of mankind, to show the social class division, oppression, and the horror of centralized rule, giving it a George Orwellian fable. At the same time, Rochette’s minimalist black-and-white painting style, expressive presentation of character expressions and absorption of American comics and film noir styles made it a significant part of the trend of French comics turning towards adults in the 1980s. work. Ten years later, in order to commemorate Rob's restart of the comic, Rocht recruited a new script collaborator Legrand (Benjamin Legrand) created the sequels "Survey Team" and "Interlacing". However, the sequel broke the "train never stops"-the setting that it cannot be stopped, and the style of painting has also changed a lot, which can be said to be unsuccessful. Rochette later recalled, "For a long time, I wondered whether the choice of the sequel was wrong. But today I know it is right. Because without the sequel, "Snow Country Train" would not be published in Korea. , There will be no such movie as Feng Junhao"—not to mention the chance of being rediscovered by readers in the 21st century. With the film being shown in various parts of the world, publishing houses in the United States and the United Kingdom will also release the English version of this comic for the first time in 2014. Hell sentence (spoiler below) "Snow Country Train" is now more defined as a "picture book novel", the name was born after it "Watchmen" and "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" led to its popularity. Picture book novels are inherently more suitable for adult reading, and the stories have the conflicting structure of novels and the themes are deeper. As a political fable dressed in science fiction, the author completed the sci-fi setting of the apocalyptic disaster in a few words: the earth’s climate changes, human beings are facing extinction, only one train can stop the severe cold; it is driven by a magical perpetual motion machine, It revolves back and forth around the earth. Once it stops, the system will be broken and everyone will be frozen to death. Just like in real life, the residents of the train are divided into upper, middle, and lower layers as if a cup of muddy water is cleared. The story of "The Escaper" begins with a man on trial. The creators once stated that they were inspired by the film "The Trial" by Orsonvilles adapted from Kafka, and also mentioned Godard's black and white science fiction film "Alpha City", where a man came to Alpha by train. City, trying to destroy a supercomputer that symbolizes totalitarianism. The protagonist Prolov could not bear the famine in the last carriage, breaking the glass and trying to escape to the front carriage. He was taken to the locomotive for trial. In the meantime, he met the heroine Adeline, a naive middle-class girl who sympathized with the bottom class. As we approached the locomotive, the class of residents gradually rose. Prolov saw things that he thought had long since disappeared from the world, coffee, tobacco, botanical gardens, aquariums, and libraries, and also learned about food distributed to the middle and lower classes. The terrible origin of protein chunks. They met a priest in a long robe in the middle carriage, using the sacred locomotive to preach fanatically for God. Some cars are movie theaters that play "Casablanca" or "Star Wars VII", and nude pictures are posted everywhere in the top cars. People who have nothing to do with sex and drugs are used to anaesthetize their lives. Finally Prolov comes When I arrived at the locomotive, I saw the ruler of all this, a weak old man who looked like a scientist. The other party told Prolov an amazing truth, and the real reason why Prolov was taken from the last section to the first carriage for interrogation was also Uncover. The end of this comic is a few years later, and the Snow Country Train finally stopped at its terminal station-Silent Hell. The second episode of "Survey Team" tells us that the Snow Country Train is not unique. There is also the same train running on the same track. People here are living in fear of colliding with the previous car that doesn't know where it is. The second train will occasionally stop to send survey teams to collect resources from the outside world, including bringing famous paintings from the museum back to the train for the entertainment of the upper class. The protagonist Puig is a member of the survey team. The third part "Interlaced" continues the characters of the second part. This time the train finally meets the first train and learns the terrible fate of the people there. Soon after, they received the faint sound of music from afar. The Rolling Stones of the 20th century seemed to sing sadly, "When the train leaves the platform, behind it flashes...When the train..." ( lyrics). However, when the survey team came to the place where the signal was sent, they found that there were no survivors, only a cold phonograph was spinning in vain. The Snow Country Train is still the last refuge for the destiny of mankind. Like a merry-go-round, like hell, futile and unstoppable. However, human beings have nothing but it, nowhere to go. "Enjoy the hell you have", the comic gave a rather desperate and poetic ending, perhaps it will remind you of Frank Miller's "Batman: First Year" sitting on the train to Gotham City Sheriff Gordon's inner monologue, "Gotham, that is, this is all I deserve now, maybe, it is my sentence in hell". The second film adaptation Feng Junhao’s film continues the comic’s setting and the first part story frame, while absorbing a lot of detailed material from the latter two. However, it is completely different from the original in terms of plot, characters and ending. The adaptation is basically The above is the extent to which all the materials are broken up and creatively rearranged and constructed in accordance with the director's own worldview. From the perspective of the final result, although Feng Junhao's film has lost the tragic poetry of the original comic to some extent, it is a complete presentation of the author's director's personal worldview. If a movie wants to be like the audience, it must be based on the foundation of empathizing with the characters' motivations and emotions in the story. Although the original manga is widely admired, it has a significant shortcoming, that is, the main characters in the three parts are thin and the powers who act as the incarnation of totalitarianism are facialized. In the adaptation, Feng Junhao first focused on creating a character that can lead the entire film, giving him a sense of hierarchy. Unlike Prolov’s personal actions in the original book, Curtis’s rebellion turned into a Spartacus-style collective riot. As the leader of the poor and ultimately the successor of the regime to some extent, Curtis is no longer just a pawn to push the plot, but a mirror that reflects human beings. He gradually faced severe choices. First, in the name of survival, he affirmed the rationality of such a centralized society and oppressive rule, or whether such a human being, such a hell is not worth saving at all. In the film, John Hurt, the spiritual mentor of the low-level rioters, and the ruler Wilford, played by Ed Harris, have hidden motives. From a metaphorical level, they and Curtis Like the two sides of a coin, they have a mirroring relationship of duality and unity of opposites. If Prolov’s final choice in the original book is out of despair, while Curtis is out of a deep understanding of the totalitarian nature and the destiny of mankind, Feng Junhao also deepens the original comic’s allegory of the social system to a higher level. The height of philosophical reflection. Feng Junhao is a master of arranging material, designing metaphors, and puns. The film is full of various symmetry and contrast. The beginning of the movie is in the space where the black night sky and the white snowfield are set against each other. A train roars in. The body (the original is 1001 carriages) continues beyond the screen. What quickly breaks this natural beauty is the chaos in the last carriage. This scene is directly from the first section of the comics. The most impressive character in the film comes from Tilda Swinton. She gave an extremely exaggerated performance and became the crazy incarnation of the powerless minions in a centralized society. However, the real ruler Wilford has Realistic and calm image of a wise man. At the same time, the movie also enriches the background of Wilford, the creator of the Snow Country Train, which is not in the comics. The inventor's crazy dream of living on the train eventually became a reality for all mankind, which is also full of great irony. As the train moves forward, the camera moves forward with the rioting crowd. As the social ranks continue to rise, the colors on the screen transition from gray to the colorful and warm green, blue, yellow, and red, forming a series of symmetrical movements. The repetitive movement of the train is interrelated with the historical inevitable trend from centralization to riots and then to centralization. echo. If in the original manga, the Snow Country Train is like the animal farm in "1984" (the following reply points out that this is wrong...), then in Bong Junhao's movie, it is also similar to the end of "Memories of Murder" The dark railway tunnel that links history and the future, and the riots rolling toward the front section of the carriage is a ritual of repetition or rebirth. Unlike the comics, the "circle" was broken at the end of the film. The opportunity was the intervention of two Korean father-daughter characters, Song Kangho and Gao Yaxing. The film found the hope of the continuation of human society in the only remaining innocence of children. This pair of father and daughter is also a common "roamer" image outside the system in Feng Junhao's films. Through them, the film has added a third-party focus to symmetry, circulation and repetition, thus opening a A revolution and rebirth. From despair to hope Bong Joon-ho’s most creative adaptation of "Snow Country Train" is the introduction of the concept of "train baby". Tanya played by Octavia Spencer Looking for the son who was taken away, this motive gradually became the reason for the continuous advancement of the bottom rioters, injecting vital emotional factors into the plot promotion. In the end, the destiny of the disappeared child can not help but be reminiscent of Chaplin’s "Modern Times" is also the most moving part of the film. Feng Junhao also transformed the pastor in the original book into a school teacher played by Alison Peel, and she led the children to sing praises to Wilford like a Nazi singing head. Feng Junhao’s treatment on the one hand avoids religious sensitivity, and more importantly, it satirizes the last hope of the right class for mankind-the brainwashing of children. For children-the only remaining innocent protection has become the most important thing in the film. Point. "Snow Country Train" grandly will be set up on the perpetual motion machine-on the basis of this theory that was considered absurd and ridiculous N centuries ago, which is destined to be measured by any standard for science fiction genres. It's all ridiculous. Feng Junhao is not making a science fiction film. The original book vaguely suggests nuclear weapons about the cause of the catastrophe of the sudden climate change. Under Feng Junhao's adaptation, the reasons become more stupid and even more stupid. Irony: In order to control climate warming, human beings released a refrigerant into the air, but the whole earth was frozen. This is like the final DNA test report in "Memories of Murder" and the US military in "Han River Monster" Like scientific experiments, it reflects Feng Junhao's own distrustful attitude towards science, human wisdom and stupidity, progress and destruction are also like two sides of a coin, only one step away from each other. In the original work, there is no date for the age of human beings to enter the glacier, but Feng Junhao gives a clear number of 17 years. This is to pave the way for the protagonist Curtis’s past experience, but it also allows some viewers to understand the number. Sensitive viewers gave the film a "creative" explanation, believing that the number 17 implies the age of mankind towards adulthood, and the protagonist Curtis' journey is just like a teenager entering society, facing the crisis of being assimilated into the adult world. Even Bong Junhao himself felt speechless when he heard this explanation. But let’s look at it from a tolerant perspective. Can’t the repetition and rebirth in the movie be regarded as a “human” coming-of-age ceremony? Lack of Sex The original comics contain a lot of sexual content, exuding a European-style attitude of freedom, which disappeared in Feng Junhao's movies. A reporter once asked Feng Junhao about the complete lack of chemistry between the sexes in the film. He smiled and explained that this might be due to strict tutoring when he was a child, so we had to tolerate the director's "implicit" character. In addition, the black humor in the original comics is also difficult to be transplanted into an English film shot by a Korean director. Even Bong Joon-ho's humorous temperament praised in his previous works has been consumed to a large extent. In the tribute movie, the cover poster of the original title "The Escaper" is posted on the wall of the bottom carriage. This is a tribute section specially arranged by Director Feng Junhao. The two original authors Rochette and Legrand also forged a deep friendship with Feng Junhao. They visited the studio in Prague and played guest roles in two rioters. In addition, there is also a low-level painter who is a portrait of others in the film. All of his works are from Rochette himself. Commenting on Bong Joonho’s adaptation of the film, Rochette said Bong Joonho deeply understands the difference between the two art forms of comics and movies, and has chosen the best route. Concluding Remarks Feng Junhao's fate with comics did not start with "Snow Country Train". When he was in Yonsei University, he often published caricatures in the school newspaper. In 2001, when he participated in the Vancouver Film Festival with his film debut "Kidnapping a Dog at the Door", he received a gift from the famous Asian film research expert Tony Rains. This is a book written by Alan Moore describing the serial murderer Jack the Ripper. The comic "From Hell", this work directly influenced the idea of Feng Junhao's "Memories of Murder". After reading the "Snow Country Train" in a comics shop on Daehangno, Seoul, Bong Joon-ho called his friend Park Chan-wook, who came forward as a producer to buy the rights to the comics. After 8 years of deliberation and meticulous construction, this Snow Country Train was finally completed and will be in front of Chinese audiences in March 2014. (Originally published in "Popular Movies", abridged)
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