Radu Jude's "Applause" (Romania 2015), although it won the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear Award-Best Director Award, I don't think there is any innovation. In terms of the nature and aesthetics of the movie, this movie is really ordinary, without simple, reflective and subtle movie characteristics. The ending of the film is consistent with the overall black and white style and narrative structure in the film. It really comes from tradition and has no profound meaning. In other words, it can be regarded as a tribute to traditional Western classics. The plot in the film, in addition to being a bit funny, has a metaphorical meaning of social semiotics. The key is to figure out where this "cheer" comes from?
In June 1835, the lame old catcher Constantine took his 20-year-old son Alysson to the province of Tara in southern Romania to apprehend Ionita, a Gypsy who had committed adultery with the Grand Duke’s wife. Romania at this time was still in a slave society. The primitive natural features and ignorant folk customs mirror each other, forming a charming, magnificent and strange style painting. Along the way, when the old catches their heads and their tongues are dry, they try their best to speak and talk, and their endless chatter can be described as the peak. I always don't like nonsense movies, except perhaps Rohmer's movies. Even Woody Allen’s movies are three or four in my eyes. I think simplicity is the greatest virtue of movies.
In the film, Lao Tzu's talk about his son is roughly divided into three categories. One is to brag to his son about his brilliant past, so as to teach him the experience of head catching. The second category is to ask his son what to follow in the process of marching. Pay attention What? The third is to tell my son some spiritual chicken soup based on the society. By the way, it is nonsense and meticulous. Whereas Qu and Hui are at two poles, hunting all the way, more serious, and taking the loop, it is completely relaxed and gagging.
The father and son fought all the way, and first met a woman driving a flock of sheep. The woman said that there are no gangsters, only the poor, and you are in vain. Lao Tzu told his son that you have to be careful of these village girls. Going forward, in the village, people who claim to be villagers say there are no gypsies here, only hospitable villagers. They had to leave in a noisy voice. On the road, my son took a leisurely time to practice the sword. Lao Tzu said that your posture is like a fist and embroidered leg, like a pioneer, you have to sweep the army. After crossing the river, the two of them came to a village that looked like a primitive tribe. A man ran away in fright when he saw them and caught the back ground, only to realize that the man was only scared. After the old catcher took out the arrest notice and read it out, he yelled and left.
Around a hillside, I met a priest. Help him fix the donkey cart, but he lost no time in proclaiming the greatness of Christ. He declared that since he believed in religion, his life has changed since then, and everything is in good fortune. I am the spokesperson of God. If you do not believe in religion, bad luck will be waiting for you. When his carriage moved forward, the disobedient donkey went into a blind spot on the forked road. The father and son laughed, it seems that God is not helping you.
After worshipping the priest, Lao Tzu took the opportunity to tell his son that even God cannot fully believe in him. You can only believe in yourself. This is my life-long experience of being a head-catcher. Only if you learn what Lao Tzu is, can you take over my class and be an invincible head-catcher. Passing through a gloomy forest, I saw a man who was robbed cat in the water all the time, calling him up, he said that he had just been robbed, the water was cool, let me rest. The old head catcher laughed at others, thinking that he was intercepted by a gang of gangsters when he walked out of the forest. Leave money to buy the road. The old head catcher had no choice but to offer silver taels. The old gangster said that I used to catch heads too, and I was tired of doing it. He told them that there was a gypsy village with more than thirty people going east.
It seems that the old head hunter usually encounters robbers, and the sure way to deal with them is to offer money, and there is no other way. As the old gangster said, we have no names and no names, just money. When the old man talked, he often hummed a song. The son laughed at him with a crow's mouth, and said something unlucky. In the village, Ionita and his young son were really caught. On the way back, Lao Tzu talked about his son frequently, and made a lot of jokes. The complete relaxation of his mind and body originated from what he said. Now, as long as he safely sends this guy to the hands of the Grand Duke and gets the reward, he will be done.
Ionita's youngest son was very amused, humming, "I want to walk" for a while, and for a while, "I want to eat fruit," but the old man said that "fruit is poisonous." The child laughed at the puppet show at the market, and seemed to forget the arrest of his biological father. After that, the old head catcher handed the child back home to others, and the earthen ferris wheel was slowly rotating by the wind. The father and son still escorted the Gypsies all the way west. At night, there was a lot of fun in the country hotel. I was afraid that my son would be a "sissy" and it would be useless. He asked his son to find an old cock, and the son came out. He smiled and dragged the old cock to the woodshed, as if he was using his own "golden gun" as his son. Celebrate.
The starry night is lonely. Before going to bed, Ionita complained that I had not raped the Grand Duchess, she was the one who seduced me. The old man asked if you regret it. If you do, you won’t regret it, you might as well let me go. If you let go, my cash cow is gone. The sky was white, and I continued on the road. Lao Tzu told his son to let him run behind and exercise. In many movies, scenes of slaves running behind horses appear. At this time, it will be 30 years before Romania abolishes slavery.
Traveled thousands of miles, and finally brought it back. The old head catcher first asked the Grand Duke's wife, hoping that she would tell the truth and admit that Ionita was innocent, but she said that I hate this man and I don't want to pity him. Reluctantly, the big bus arrived, and the gypsy was pushed onto his own trial stand. Intermittently, while the old head catcher was flattering, he also wanted to help this innocent person, but was slapped by the prince. The Grand Duke is determined to use lynching. Those kind-hearted crying requests are useless. In the eyes of the Grand Duke, a pariah who is like an ant deserves only the capital punishment, in order to emulate you. In such an autocratic society, not only one person is castrated, but also a large number of living beings in such an autocratic society.
The lame and weak son, the gypsy who will not run away, the grandduke's wife on the sickbed and the cold-blooded and cruel grandduke have created an imperfect and sick society for the film. In the film, only human voices are often seen, while the shadows of people are faint. This is a sorrow that the real society cannot touch. Finally, the shocked father and son continued to fight on their way. Lao Tzu said that it was really an accident, killing people, this is the sorrow of the system, they are more barbarous than the southerners, they wander around, so barbarous. In fact, apart from Lao Tzu's talk about his son, selling his life experience, showing off his brilliance, there is almost nothing else.
The ending of the film is nothing new, let alone a breakthrough. The Russians, Hungarians, Turks, and all kinds of believers encountered on the way only have semiotic significance and have no substantive deconstruction of the film itself. But one thing was finally clarified and extended, and it was even more profound. That is, the film not only reveals and interprets the history of the slave society, but also arouses people's thinking through the irony of the past and the present.
"Cheers" wins over new wine in old bottles. It is precisely that Lao Tzu's tireless rumors about his son are triumphant. Why on earth "cheering"? Who is "cheering" for? The old head catching the person, An Ran delivered it to the Grand Duke, this is the father and son cheering for their profession. The Grand Duke Ruyi lynched the Gypsies. This is the Grand Duke's applause for his rights, or the slave owner's applause for slavery. And those gypsies who were left alone, and the Roma who are still being expelled to this day, they have always been wandering, and no one "cheers" for them. From this, I wondered whether the director would like to use the film to sing a tragic song for those who are still adrift, so as to cheer them a few times and alert the world to their attention. In fact, everything is in vain, this is just a movie.
2015, 12, 7
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