"This is a true story. The plot of this film took place in 1987, Minnesota. At the request of the survivors, their names were aliased. In order to respect the deceased, the rest were told truthfully."
You can understand this "introductory quote" by the Coen brothers as "There is no silver in this place" or "please check in." This "title" is not without the suspicion of fooling the audience, but it is also the unique "black humor" of the Coen brothers.
Although the story of "Ice Blood Storm" is not as "true" as claimed by the Coen brothers, it is not a random fabrication. Its subject matter should originate from a bizarre case handled by Chinese detective Li Changyu-"Under the Woodcutter" Wrong Soul. Although there are obvious differences between the real case and the film’s story, the "core concept" of the two is actually the same, that is, "out of control", a series of "out of control", self-written and self-acted "out of control", various The "out of control" caused by accidents, the "out of control" of the deep "subconscious",...
In my opinion, the core of "out of control" in the film is the "out of control" of the deep "subconscious"-the out of control of "male dignity".
"Little Man" car manager Shelly married the daughter of a millionaire, but he was not supported by his father-in-law Willie in his career. Not only that, after he found a good investment project, he was greedy and arrogant. Willie actually only wanted to take it for himself, only willing to give him a little "agent fee." Shelly is not willing to be a "little man". He wants to prove himself and regain his dignity by starting a business. Willy not only ignores his dignity, but also beats a few times from time to time, and finally even sweeps out the last bit of his dignity. The "little man" seemed weak and incompetent, but when his "dignity" got out of control, he would do everything, so he made up and directed the kidnapping of his wife.
Willie is a successful businessman. At the same time, he is the kind of rich man who takes money extremely seriously. He likes to do it himself, and he is extremely confident in his control ability. Therefore, he insisted on sending the ransom by himself. As a successful man, protecting his family (but not his son-in-law) and being able to deal with any crisis is the "dignity" that Willie is proud of. Before Willie set off, he actually predicted the worst possible situation. He was also prepared (with a gun), but what he never expected was that the robber Kao who came to take the ransom not only knew Shelly, but also Just got beaten up, and is in an unreasonable state. Unfortunately, he died in the confrontation. In order to maintain his "dignity" as a successful man, Willie paid the price of his life.
Although the robber Kao and Kea are partners, one is a clown and the other is a cold-blooded animal. After being stopped by the police on the highway, Kao insisted on letting himself "solve", but the "meat ticket" in the back row still made a "squeak" sound untimely, and Kia could only make a decisive decision and killed the police. Then Kea shot and killed two witnesses. In this process, the self-righteous Kao can only do things like moving the corpse. Kao's "business ability" is so poor, and he is constantly chirping all the time, and Kea naturally looks down on him. The Indian was spotted by the policewoman for threading a needle and faced the possibility of returning to prison. Angrily, he found Kao and beat him severely. Being looked down upon by his companions and beaten up by his friends, Kao's frustration is nowhere to vent, and Willie can be said to have hit the gun. What's even more unfortunate is that the parking lot guard, from the moment of appearance to receiving the box lunch, only a few seconds-they, to a certain extent, have become the "sacrifice" of Kao's out-of-control "dignity".
Kao returned to the wooden house and found that the "meat ticket" had been "torn". When asked, Kea just said lightly that she was too noisy. Then they began to divide the spoils. Kea thought that he had paid more and put forward a "compensation plan", but Cao turned a deaf ear to it and insisted on a split arbitrarily. After Kao went out, Kea carried an axe to catch up... Kea's "dignity" was extremely fragile, and if it didn't agree with him, it could "run out of control" and kill it.
In addition to these four men, there are two "important" men in the film, that is, the policewoman's husband and Korean high school classmates. The policewoman is pregnant with Liujia. To investigate the case, she must take care of the "dignity" of these two men. The policewoman has repeatedly encouraged her husband to participate in the competition, and after her husband has made small achievements, she has repeatedly praised. She is not only a witty and brave policewoman, but also a motherly wife. In the face of the "harassment" of Korean high school classmates, the policewoman offered courtesy and reported the greatest tolerance-she was like a saint. These two men seem to have nothing to do with the main line of the story, but it is their "dignity" that has been respected enough that they can stay away from the "out of control" world.
In this story, the darkest humor of the Coen brothers may not show the "out of control" and "impermanence" of the incident, but the "out of control" of the men, to be precise, the "out of control" of the "male dignity" .
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