For the impression of the film "The Clover Archives", I believe that most fans will focus on the dizzying handheld camera photography that runs through the film, the mysterious and terrifying thousand-year monster, and the seeming explanation of the causes and consequences Unknown but left enough foreshadowing the plot. But in fact, few people will remember that the first trailer of "The Clover Archives" was aired before the "Transformers" movie. Most sci-fi fans actually didn't remember how bad "Transformers" was after watching the movie, but rushed home to check out the mysterious story of the trailer that didn't even have the name of the movie at the time. This sudden propaganda method is of course the hands of the god-like producer J·J·Abrams. This resume has "Lost", "Mission Impossible", "Star Trek", "Planet" The god-like producer of "The Great War" not only conceived the outline of "Clover's Archives", but also came up with such a propaganda method that sapped the appetite of science fiction fans. And when the trailer for "10 Clover Road" hit again in January this year with an unpredictable mysterious identity, fans of science fiction and the series that have been looking forward to the sequel were all excited about it. After 8 years of waiting, the "Clover Archives" will be continued, and the dizzying and exciting world will once again be expanded.
But I believe that when fans walk out of "No. 10 Clover Road", most of them will have such a problem that bothers them:
Is this really a sequel to "The Clover File"? Even, does this have any connection with the world of "Clover Archives"?
In JJ's view, "No. 10 Clover Road" can only be called a blood relative of "Clover File". As a producer, he has never said that "No. 10 Clover Road" is the orthodox sequel to the series, but it will share similar themes and movie genres with the original. Just like one of the essays, it is a separate chapter, but it also enriches the themes and stories of the entire series. Fans who understand the long production history of this movie will also know that the original script of this movie does not even have any elements of science fiction, but is just a secret room thriller called "The Cellar". But Damian Chazelle, when the director and screenwriter of "Burst Drummer" modified the original script, the "10 Clover Road" that everyone sees now began to take shape. In a sense, Chazelle's changes will certainly not be too few, because his name has even become a member of the screenwriter. The final script also obviously left a lot of his marks. For example, John Goodman's Howard is as isolated and popular as the role of J.K. Simmons in "Burst Drummer".
Therefore, to evaluate "10 Clover Road", how much should be discussed independently of the "Clover Archives". Although fans of the series may regret the lack of continuation of the overall story, no one can deny that "No. 10 Clover Road" is indeed a well-made secret room movie.
In my opinion, this movie has surprised fans from the appearance of the trailer, and even a directorial debut that can leave a mark in movie history. Starting today, I will look forward to every movie made by the name Dan Tratenberg.
Tratenberg is not a director from a professional background. In fact, his creative experience began with video podcasts and short films, and then slowly learned from shooting different brands of advertisements, and finally reached today's director position. It can be said that this experience of Tratenberg is a typical inspirational story of working hard towards his dream and finally succeeding, and we can also see the results of his efforts over the years in "10 Clover Road".
The creation of a movie covers many different elements, including not only the obvious elements that can be seen in the screens such as script and photography, but also the subtle elements of sound effects, performance, atmosphere production and even arrangement. As the head of the production team, the director needs to supervise and implement all these subtle decisions. It is precisely because of this test from various aspects that most directors cannot do well in all the elements that make up their films in their feature film debuts. Generally, it is good to be able to do a few things well. And as time goes by, they will perfect other elements that they haven't considered before in future works. A typical example is the one mentioned earlier, Damian Chazelle, one of the screenwriters of this film. Many aspects of his feature-length debut "Guy and Adelin on a Park Bench" are unsightly, but even so, we can still see some of his specific styles in full. And these specific styles are so shiny in his later "Burst Drummer", and he also considers things that he didn't take into account before.
But there are other directors whose virgin works are full of personal styles that will affect their future works, and they can still be considered in various other aspects. A more recent example is Christopher Nolan's "Follow". Whether it is from the script to the performance of the actors or the design of the nonlinear narrative, it is extremely precise and highlights Nolan's style in the future. And Tratenberg’s "No. 10 Clover Road", in my opinion, must be the highest-ranking directorial debut in history. Throughout the whole movie, as audiences, we can feel that he has full control over all aspects of his personal style with confidence, but the quality will not be reduced due to excessive indulgence. This kind of control is particularly evident in the question card drawn from the car accident at the beginning of the movie. Regardless of the sound effects, the setting of the scene, and the effect of the question card, it is as if the director is saying to the audience "Welcome to the world under my control", confident and full of style. As for how to use the soundtrack to create a suspenseful atmosphere in the movie after entering the secret room, how to provide photography in a limited space that is not annoying, and how to schedule the actors to give wonderful performances, I believe that the audience will not be satisfied after watching the movie. There will be any doubts.
Speaking of the performance of the actors, it is hard to imagine that the performance of the three actors in such a narrow space can be so wonderful (Bradley Cooper should not be counted in the cast...). As the protagonist from the audience's perspective, Michelle is played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Although this role didn't have much character development in the process of the movie, it was a plump and emotional role from the beginning of the movie. The big reason why I don’t like ordinary thrillers and horror movies is that most of the protagonists are so stupid, and the plot will always rely on them to do things that people with normal IQ can’t understand. People have any sympathy. My complaint applies even to the previous work "The Clover Archives", because Hurd, who holds the camera, always does incomprehensible stupid things. But in this work, Michelle is an independent and intelligent woman with her own goals from beginning to end. Every decision she made in panic is the best decision in the desperate situation, and just because we as the audience will never complain about why the protagonist is stupid, we can feel more upset for her, even in She was happy when she finally escaped. As for Winstead's performance of this powerful female character, there is nothing to complain about. The decisive and slightly weak performance is probably the best summary I can think of her interpretation of this character.
But what really surprised me was actually John Goodman's vivid performance of Howard, the neurotic character. It can be said that the success of the suspense created by this film depends largely on whether the audience believes in the role of Howard, and a distinctive feature of the film is the many 180-degree changes in the audience's understanding of the actual situation. Howard must be a kidnapper; No, Howard is right, he is a good man; No, Howard is a perverted murderer; I went, it turns out Howard is really right, the world is crazy. I believe it is not an exaggeration to say that this is the mental journey of most viewers? In addition to the development of the plot, this change of opinion comes more from the outstanding performance of Goodman, an actor who has never been nominated for Oscars. And this is even the first performance worthy of an Oscar nomination this year, but there is no suspicion of showing off. Most of his performance is so subtle and vivid, whether it is the seemingly weak expression when recalling his daughter, the ruthlessness of killing another person in the secret room, or the swaying with the music when the overall atmosphere is extremely tense. The dancing posture is so convincing. And the most creepy thing is the face that suddenly shaved off his beard after he and Michelle were left in the secret room. As for whether the credit should be attributed to Goodman or the director, it is left to everyone's own judgment.
Abrupt ending
Let's talk about the end a bit. If the last fifteen minutes of the movie is a Hitchcock-like psychological thriller, then the last fifteen minutes can be said to be a Spielberg-like science fiction drama. Although the change of the film's tone seems very abrupt, and the sudden appearance of aliens seems to be a bit rigid on the theme of "Clover's Archives", this only outdoor 15-minute sci-fi drama still has a very high quality of shooting. . Perhaps let's put it this way, if the name of "No. 10 Clover Road" is just the original "The Cellar", I am afraid that more people will be shocked by this unexpected setting, right? This is also the reason why I think this ending is feasible, because as an independent film, this kind of sudden ending actually gives the audience a rare excitement. But I am still very fortunate that "10 Clover Road" can be called a member of the "Clover File" series, and I am also looking forward to how the world of this series will expand in this way.
I don't dislike this well-made series of movies that seem to have no connection with the original. After all, to have such a good movie, I am willing to make more money with the original name.
-------------------------------------------------- "Clover Archives" series of contact discussions----------------------------------------- -----
n In the future, I will finally have time to update...
Friends who have watched "Clover's Archives" believe that more or less will know the last scene of the movie, when the video again jumps back to the hero and heroine in Kang a few weeks ago When playing in the amusement park in Nishima, we can see something falling from the sky outside the window of their Ferris wheel, as shown in the
picture below:
This black dot that fell from the sky is actually a satellite, belonging to a company called Tagruato Japanese company. And this fallen satellite was actually the culprit who awakened the monster that was sleeping in the deep sea and then attacked New York.
Going back to "10 Clover Road", what did Howard do before? It is revealed in the movie that he did exactly what he did about satellites. What company does he work for? Yes, it is Tagruato. In the simple Tagruato website made for the promotion of the movie, we can also see Howard was named the best employee of February 2016:
Howard is the best employee of February 2016 on Tagruato "Official Website"
And Tagruato is one of the few elements that can link "Clover Archives" and "10 Clover Road". Although Howard may not have anything to do with the falling satellite (the time is a bit mismatched because he will be his 7th year with Tagruato in 2016), it is not difficult to infer because Tagruato is at the center of the entire event. Howard more or less learned of the existence of alien creatures and monsters in his daily work, so he had the behavior in "10 Clover Road."
Then... it seems that there is no other connection...
Of course, there is also the existence of the drink Slusho throughout the two movies, but when it comes to the plot, there is probably no connection. ?
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