Folktales and Festival Atmosphere
——About Kusturica’s "Give Me a Promise"
/ Su Qiqi
"Give Me a Promise" is a work of Emil Kusturica in 2007, compared to the kind of "Underground" In the dark night carnival under the heavy yoke of history and politics, Kusturica’s recent works seem to have intentionally made history and politics a little marginal (but he still has to add a little bit of taint and satire on politics) This is an important element in maintaining the “contemporary” of his work), and re-creating vitality, morality, and destiny, which are more “pre-modern”, seems to be more eternal elements at the center of the movie, and deliberately give The movie has a "HAPPY END" ending. The formation of this new narrative direction, for a very mature and conscious film writer like Kusturica, means a change in his overall concept. There is despair and evasion of real politics, but it is in evasion. , He tried to find something beyond real politics (something that still maintains its own nature and rhythm under politics) from the direction of “civil”—this is Kusturica’s farce. It's just the reason for the shallow commercial farce. His films are films with a world view, conscious pursuit of aesthetics, consciously looking for structures and elements that can be relied upon in the tradition, and through his uninhibited processing and transformation, they appear smart, indulgent and joyful, which also reflects A film writer tries to form a relationship with the world, and his attitude towards the world.
1/Starting from folk tales and returning to the folk
Before his death, grandfather left three last wishes to his 12-year-old grandson Tsana: first, go to the city to sell the cow Chevitka; second, use the money from the cow to buy a piece of Saint Nicholas Portrait of Gula; third, bring back a wife. The main plot of "Give Me a Promise" revolves around the grandfather's will to Tsana, which is a very typical folktale narrative structure. Almost all folk tales have "bringing back a wife" as the core. Whether it's the drama-style prince slaying the dragon to save the princess, or the comic-style peasant's third son (often the youngest son who has lost the right to inheritance) in various coincidences Bringing back a girl in and funny, bringing back a wife means the reproduction of life and the continuation of life. This is the core behavior of daily life that has not changed under any political system, and in Kusturica’s movies Obviously, this behavior can also be used as a container for sexual desire, ethics and love. Love in Kusturica’s movies does not require bourgeois processes, beauty, and pure desires, it is enough to define love, and the indulgence of lust and the relationship between lust and money is “anti-love”. The film easily constructed several sets of opposite binary relationship items: good/evil, love/money, country/city. With the help of the shoemaker brothers, the pure little Tsana defeated the black boss and married the beautiful girl. , A closed narrative of return was completed in the wedding celebration.
Relying on a traditional, classic narrative mode is obviously a trick, but in this trick, there is Kusturica’s respect for folk traditions (in this extremely weird movie, there is a kind of obsession with religion and belief. Affirmative attitude), and what he tried to resist real politics from folk traditions. On the one hand, in the agricultural society, "wisdom" is the most admired in folktales. The wise are always among the people, and the rulers are always stupid. This tradition is inherited in "Promise to Me". The grandfather in the movie is an invention. At home, he uses his various small mechanical devices to deal with rich and powerful rivals. On the other hand, there are various crude sex jokes in folk tales. Revised "civilized"), reflecting the original and abundant vitality. Modernization has brought a more sophisticated division of labor and more materials, but wisdom and vitality have been damaged. Whether the transformation from an agricultural society to an industrial society is "evolving" is a topic that can be discussed separately. Kusturica cherished a love and nostalgia for rural life, but he did not "analyze" these problems, but followed his own instincts and hobbies, with an excessive, absurd, and enthusiastic The style is to praise what he wants to praise, but his uniqueness is that his praise is not single-or that there is no idealism about the past that flows into emptiness. Grandpa's powerful inventions are in harmony with the little Tsona. In the trunk of the car, Jasna's vigorous sex was all logically too weak, and there was a certain inner self-doubt about the praise. Kusturica did not emphasize the logical correctness and strength of the film. He constructed "Promise to Me" based on a far-reaching traditional and weak realistic possibility, and after providing a framework with internal cracks, Regardless of carrying out the spoof to the end-let the problem of logic stop here, the pleasure comes on the stage, and let the pleasure exert its power in its own way.
All Kusturica’s films have the thrill of watching “this one family”, his unconstrained imagination, and his uninhibited descriptions of sexual behavior (in fact, the sexual descriptions in his films are not straightforward and vulgar, but only for incest, "Taboo" topics such as bestiality are completely unobstructed), as well as his national style music that fills the movie from beginning to end, all make his movies like movies that move forward under the trend of sensory pleasure. There is a kind of vigorous vitality. In fact, Kusturica’s movies are chaotic and organized. After the extremely weird and crazy scenes, there is still a powerful controller who grasps the coordination between the parts of the movie and the overall style.
2/
When the folks re-enjoy traditions and folks as a banner against modernization, one of the most paradoxical questions is that we still have folk tales or imitation folk tales that can store our folk memories, folk ideals, and even wisdom Things like life force can also be resurrected in a character, but is "civil" still a physical existence? Is there still a space to be called civil? This problem did not appear in "Promise to Me". Folktales belonged to the agricultural society, and it was passed on by word of mouth naturally in the village. In the former industrial society, the village and the folk were the pros and cons of socks. Naturally, the folks will be taken out, but in a post-industrial society, is there still a smoky countryside? "Give Me a Promise" shows an idyllic pastoral scenery. An old and a small call themselves "farmers", but they have no signs of farming and are suspicious survivors of agricultural society. This is where Kusturica’s work is not solid. The overly clean picture makes the film’s reality discounted. If the discount is too severe, it is just a commercial film that daydreams the audience. It may become a "cure system", imagining a paradise-style village to treat modern diseases. Compared with the dusty urban-rural fringe in "Black Cat and White Cat" (Kusturica 1998), those greedy and ugly middle generations, "Promise to Me" took a step back-in "Black Cat" In "Cats and White Cats", there are wise old people and pure young people, but the middle generation has no traditional shelter and cannot immigrate to foreign countries. They can truly show the cruelty of reality, as well as, contemporary, real. , The degeneration and despair of the "civil". In the middle generation of "Black Cat and White Cat", good and evil do not appear to be so absolute. They are all tumbling in the same mud, with dirty skin, inlaid with gold teeth or wearing gold chains, and there is a combination of cruelty and despicableness. So a touch of warmth.
In "Give Me a Promise", what makes the audience (especially those from developing countries) feel cordial is not the meadows and hillsides in the movie, but the boy Tesang Gang who detained him when he was snatched from the cow. The fiber snakeskin bag is so familiar with its texture, it is probably exported from Yiwu. There is a mockery of globalization in the movie. To the United States, the European Union, and the current system in Eastern Europe, the gang boss is not satisfied with opening nightclubs to release loan sharks, and entering the real estate industry to build local twin towers. ——The gang boss has become the most eye-catching character in this movie (Miki Manojlovic, Kusturica's queen actor). The combination of money and desire (the money with desire in modern society is the so-called "capital"). Shining and doing everything, the movie spoofed him as a hungry bestiality lover. Is there some kind of "inhuman desire" hidden? Desire has exceeded the boundaries of human nature? But an important charm of Kusturica is his ambiguity in ethical boundaries, and always develops grotesque beauty and pleasure on the edge of evil. For example, the boss brought a hen that was robbed of plastic paper to become a "bride" into the small room, and then there were feathers flying in the sky, thrilling crowing of chickens, and the obscene peeping gazes of the people, and then the boss came out and zipped up, elegantly He dusted the floor and shook the feathers all over his body. This absurd sexual description actually has a "folk tale" aftertaste. Compared with Woody Allen's intellectual ridicule of various taboos in "The Book of Sex", Kusturica's attitude towards taboos is more straightforward. .
Dividing desire into pure desire and dirty desire is a kind of division that must be carried out in "Promise Me", because it is necessary to affirm desire and deny "anti-love" and "anti-humanity" desire, but Obviously, the desire for evil is much stronger than the desire for good, because it is not governed by morals, and the story has to go towards the ending of "HAPPY END", so it can only add more powerful external factors, so it is the giant in the folktale. The dwarf and the dwarf are on the scene. They become the protector and helper of the protagonist, so that he can successfully fulfill his grandfather's last wish. Good people can be blessed with a simple belief that people can hold on under the premise of theism. However, under the impact of evolution and atheism, it is difficult to reach a consensus on whether people can be "protected". Sturica emphasized the role of religion. Grandpa painted many icons on the wall. He asked Tsana to bring back a picture of Saint Nicholas. In Eastern Europe, Saint Nicholas is also the guardian of children. saint.
3/ Folk tales and festival atmosphere
start from folk tales, but cannot be settled in a real "folk", and the film cannot achieve a more effective and in-depth dialogue with reality. This is "Give Me The main issues of the Commitment. But even in the inferior Kusturica, it is still Kusturica. He can still create a carnival atmosphere and make the body and pleasure glow. This is probably Kusturica as an artist. , There is a kind of vitality in the talent, a kind of joy that can't be stifled. In "Black Cat and White Cat" and "Give Me a Promise", there are both weddings and deaths. The dead old people are resurrected again. Festival music resounds throughout the picture. "This kind of world experience is related to all ready-made and complete things. To be hostile to all delusions that are unshakable and eternal. In order to express itself, what it requires is a dynamic and changeable, flickering, and volatile form. All the forms and symbols of the carnival language are Permeated with the passion of alternation and renewal, permeated with awareness of the ridiculous relativity of the dominant truth and power.” (See Bakhtin’s Rabelais Studies) In Kusturica’s work, carnival is both Style is also a means.
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