King of Death: With the applause of Feng Junhao winning the Palme d’Or award, the 72nd Cannes Film Festival has finally come to an end; but for domestic fans, the days of waiting for a movie have just begun. Taking advantage of the enthusiasm, we will continue to share with you this year's popular films in Cannes these days.
Today I still want to talk about the controversial Xavier Dolan. This controversy started with "Just the End of the World", then "The Death and Life of John Donovan", and then to this "Matthias and Maxim", which was once recognized as a "genius director". Lan seemed to be deeply caught in the curse of "bad word of mouth". How can he get out of this predicament? How far can his film road go?
Author | Lan Zhan
Xavier Dolan, who has maintained the efficiency of film production in recent years, returned to the Cannes main competition after three years, still bringing a same-sex theme "Matthias and Maxim".
This movie is not exactly the same as I expected, and the feeling after watching it can be said to be very complicated. What can still be seen is Dolan's talents far surpassing his peers, as well as his youthful mentality revealed in his movies.
But at the same time, we also see Dolan's perseverance on the road to a master, and the pressure of having to work hard to maintain his achievements because of his youthful fame and attention.
These two energies were screwed together, and in the end, Dolan used too much force in the areas he was not good at and failed to meet the standards, and he failed to maintain the level where he could have done well.
All in all, Dolan worked too hard. He wants to prove that he can make movies, he has the potential of a master, and he understands the techniques of art movies. So he asked for the complexity to be simple, and made this movie into a four-dimensional image that didn't even tell the story in place.
The movie "Matthias and Maxim" is a simple romance film that tells the story of two male protagonists falling in love because they made a short film and acted in a kissing scene.
Interestingly, this kiss did not trigger a coherent line of love that moved the whole body. Dolan turned to talk about the lives of Matthias and Maxim.
Matthias, played by Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas, is a young man who has just found a job and is about to start his career. Maxim, played by Dolan, lives with his mother and contributes a lot to support the family, but he does not get the respect and love of his mother.
To a certain extent, "Matthias and Maxim" is a repetition of "I Killed My Mother", that is, the kind of parent-child relationship that entrains violence and loud noises. In the film, Maxim and his mother never had a peaceful ending conversation. This plot setting is exactly the same as "I Killed My Mom".
It's just that the parent-child conflict in "Matthias and Maxim" is not critical, and it doesn't even help the plot. If this contradiction is removed and replaced with something else at will, it can still make the character of Matthias show a fragile and eager side.
Dolan played very well, with the subtle expressions of youth, the vigor when he was laughing and quarreling with his friends, the hysteria when arguing with his mother, and the fragile blur when he licked the wound alone afterwards, all were very accurately interpreted by him. In view of the fact that there are very few prominent male lead roles in Cannes films this year, Dolan is actually a strong contender for the actor. Of course, Banderas is naturally the loudest.
Regrettably, Dolan obviously doesn't write about other contradictions, so he can only play the best child with mother problem in the role played by him. In other words, the core of Maksim's role is not a youth in love, at least as important as the identity of "mother's child".
Matthias, who has no mother problem, is much thinner. This role is more stereotyped. He is a young man who has just started his career. He always eats and chats with different people, and talks with people he knows at work, either consciously or unconsciously. There is a character in the film who meets with Matthias from meeting and eating to talking about marriage, and Matthias does not ask his name until the last time he appears.
It is a pity that in the performance of the actor, perhaps because the role is relatively flat, so the space to play is very small. I don't even remember his looks even after watching the movie.
Like the description of Maxim, Dolan also wanted to create Matthias's wandering and insecure feeling, so that their love could be more than the erotic desire brought by the kiss. But the background of this character is very rough, and there is a sense of long-term nonsense. This is not a very advanced expression.
The whole movie is not too advanced, and there is production. Dolan made the choice of throwing watermelons and picking sesame seeds, that is, making art films like art masters, focusing on hard techniques such as photography and editing, and trying to strengthen production. But you have to know that technology serves the film text, and even the story is not well told, and no matter how good the technology is, it will only be empty.
The shortcomings of the film are obvious. Inappropriate editing and photography have appeared several times, and I just put music on my mind if I don't feel emotionally. Classical music represented by Schubert takes turns to play, for fear that people feel that I don't have ink in my stomach.
Is Dolan talented? Of course he is very talented, and he can even be said to be a genius director. The filming of "I Killed My Mom" and "Lawrence on Both Sides" is enough to prove this. It is not impossible for him to become a master director like Ken Lodge and Almodovar. We all know that he has a promising future.
His problem is that he is too eager for quick success, for fear that the name of this "juvenile genius" will be overshadowed by his age.
In fact, Dolan doesn't need to be so insecure. "Matthias and Maxim" is not without its shining points. For example, the kiss near the end and the crying scene at the end are all very touching. It can be seen that if he could simply tell a love story that started because of a kiss, it would be good enough in itself.
The ideal situation for this movie is that Dolan tells himself, analyzes boldly, and treats each other frankly as he did during "I Killed My Mom." The audience does not need to exert too much effort, as long as they concentrate on watching the movie, they can feel his love, his pain, his youth and fragility, and understand why they are all beautiful.
Childhood is no longer okay. Dolan was in his youth, and love is the best time. He is delicate, sensitive and fragile, and open to love without any scruples. This is the best film subject.
However, the status quo is really a pity. Dolan wanted to prove that his vanity was so strong. I wanted to make the shots refined and connotative, but the shots were clumsy and shallow.
I still have great hopes for Dolan. Keep your spirituality and protect your heart. He will shoot better in the future. Now he just needs time and precipitation. Maybe when he gets old, even if he has done extremely well, he will disappear in the movie.
After all, who cares how much technology Almodovar's "Pain and Glory" has? Even if there is no outstanding predecessor in the production, even if the photography is bright and the art is left blank, the editing is not gorgeous enough, so what? The audience was still so moved that they wept bitterly.
Of course it is possible for Dolan to make a master movie, but that is not now. He needs to grow up and mature the most now, and time will become a kind of experience. This is what he needs to understand most now.
Author | Lan Zhan; Official Account | Seeing Death in Movies
Edit | Riding a Rooftop Boy; please indicate the source for reprinting
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