"True Detective": The cold detective drama that attracted Obama

Alyson 2022-11-07 16:19:26

If this year's Oscar's best actor statuette was not in the hands of Matthew McConaughey, "True Detective" would not be so popular that it would paralyze the HBO TV website. Although this series first aired on January 12th, it attracted 2.3 million viewers. But for most people, its plot has been slow to a painful level. Compared with solving the case, the two policemen are more inclined to talk about it. But for a small group of people, this slow rhythm is a charming accent, exuding a "noble and glamorous" temperament. U.S. President Barack Obama was fascinated by this accent. Mr. President couldn't help but ask the CEO of HBO when the DVD of "True Detective" will be released.

The high-cold detective drama

"True Detective" tells the story of Louisiana police officer Rustin Cohle (Rustin Cohle) and Marty Hart (Marty Hart) investigating a serial homicide case from 1995, and until 17 years later In 2012, they found out the real culprit. Although this series has only eight short episodes, the audience feels the length of time it takes to solve the crime. This length of time is not caused by the difficulty of the case itself, but by the storytelling method of "True Detective".

General detective films will tell stories in a way that is comfortable for most people—focus on solving the case itself. The character and experience of the detective in the story are just auxiliary materials for solving the case; but "True Detective" is contrary to the case. According to the principle, it doesn’t care whether the majority of the audience is comfortable. Compared with solving the case, “What kind of people are the two police officers, Rust Cole and Marty Hart, and what kind of life they live in? Life, what kind of world view you have" seems to be more important. Therefore, when most of the audience is anxiously looking for the murderer, Cole expresses to Hart Schopenhauer and Nietzsche's worldview.

The dramas that are ignored by most of the audience may be high-cold dramas that are highly sought after by the niche, or they may be rubbish dramas that have been thrown away by Rotten Tomatoes. "True Detective" is obviously the former, people compare it to "Breaking Bad", and HBO is not to be outdone, and declares "True Detective" for the drama series award, directly challenging the final season of "Breaking Bad" . Why does "True Detective" do this?

Anthology of Southern Gothic Dramas

As HBO said when recommending this series, this is a "poem-style, southern Gothic series with contemporary film noir temperament". It is well-made, and the opening of the series alone is already a "fascinating person not paying for his life" accent. In the unhurried confession of male and female voices full of magnetism and small fresh style, frame by frame is composed of characters and The silhouette composed of the scenery exudes the "noble and glamorous" literary film temperament. The state of Louisiana in the film, despite its fascinating scenery, reveals an indescribable sense of depression, and the woman with antlers on her head and a spiral poke on her back set the tone for the darkness, horror and despair of the film. .

Like "Breaking Bad", although the plot of "True Detective" progressed slowly, those plots that seemed insignificant at the time became the key to determining the progress of the entire case. Like a web that is woven seamlessly, "True Detective" is more willing to tell you the story in a way of stripping the cocoon. This way of paving the foreplay too long is indeed not exciting enough, but when the late climax appears, it does It will doubly compensate for the excitement that the audience has lost.

Being able to set up the plot so meticulously is not unrelated to the fact that "True Detective" is a series of selected poems. The general way of making American TV shows is: as long as you think about the beginning and process of the story, it is enough. As for the ending, that is something that needs to be considered later. Some unpopular American dramas were cut off when they were filmed. Of course, there is no need for endings. There are also some popular American dramas that are filmed season by season until the audience's enthusiasm is almost consumed. Draw a pause in the story hastily. The most typical example is "Lost". The stunning tiger head and body are matched with a cheating snake tail. Of course, what’s even more cheating is that in a popular American drama, the starring role is likely to be "murdered" for various reasons. He was mistakenly killed in a court scene. It is said that he was brutally murdered because he couldn't get along with the screenwriter. And the female number one CUDDY in "Doctor House" did not want to renew after the contract expired, so the screenwriter who was caught off guard had to arrange a "hurried ending" for CUDDY and Doctor House.

But the poetry series is different. Each season is composed of an independent story. Therefore, before shooting, it is a complete story that determines the beginning, process, and end. It cannot be edited if there is no editor." "Danger", let alone a "tragedy" in which an actor disappears while acting. Because the filming cycle is shorter than those serialized American dramas, it can also attract big-name actors. Rust Cole and Mattie Hart in "True Detective" are played by Oscar actor Matthew McConaughey and "Black Miss" Woody Harrison in "The Hunger Games" respectively. The joining of these two actors is not only the guarantee of the high ratings for the premiere of "True Detective", their super-standard acting skills are also the biggest attraction of this series.

First-class narrative and lens languageThe

so-called narrative is the way of telling stories. A 17-year serial murder case can start from 1995 in chronological order, or flashback from 2012 back. "True Detective" uses a flashback method and is accepted by Rust and Marty. Two black policemen questioned, intertwining the reality and memories of 2012 and 1995. One of the scenes of collusion confessions cleverly pushed the plot to a climax. The audience can see Rust and Marty swearing to the camera, and then the truth unfolds in their memories. It turns out that they are lying.

Screenwriter Nick Pizzolato said: "The stories people tell are different from the truth. People tell lies when they tell stories, but videos don't. There are countless reasons why people don't tell the truth, and they may not even be intentional. Pizzolatto also said that the element of "everyone lies" will be maintained and become a feature of the "True Detective" series.

So is this kind of cross-reminiscence method of telling stories just to show that everyone is lying? Of course not. Pizzolatto also said that there are many ways to express this. "It can be someone making a confession, or someone speaking through the radio. There are countless choices." The "True Detective" uses the form of police inquiry. Is it to be cool? Not even more, high cold drama is not purely formalism. As the plot develops, the audience will find the suspense hidden in this narrative method.

In addition to the first-class narrative with both "form and connotation", "True Detective" also contributed a long shot that can be called a milestone in the history of television. During that amazing six minutes, the camera followed Rust to break and rob. After a gun battle, Rust took Ginger and escaped. The two passed through the grass, over the iron fence, and finally escaped into Marty's car. This segment is said to have been shot seven full length shots, allowing the audience to enjoy the best first-person experience.

The attraction of "dangerous"

In order to make the audience interested in understanding the two people, Rust and Marty, it is not enough to tell the story or tell the story well. The story itself must be attractive enough. After all, just relying on Matthew McConaughey's smoking hoops and drinking beer's handsome styling can't make you understand Rust, but Woody Harrison and beautiful girls messing around can't make you understand Marty.

Although women with cigarettes, alcohol, and nakedness have become attractive to men, these details also show that Rust is a rebel against "authority". He knows exactly what he wants, and Marty is like a big man. Like most men, they only know how to use their lower body to think, but forget about the consequences. But the audience also needs to continue to understand these two police officers in a plot that can continue to attract them.

For male audiences, there is nothing more attractive than dangerous things! This is why the main story of Rust and Marty is to detect serial homicides, and in the process of solving the case, Rust is even involved in a drug dealer rush.

Under the dangerous and powerful attraction, we gradually got to know Rust and Marty. 17 years, not only the years when they cracked a serial murder, but also the two people never understood, were full of estrangement, broke up, and finally became friends with each other. time. These two tough policemen did not have the "most powerful brain" to solve the case, but they were so real and attractive. This is also the most successful part of "True Detective" as a high-cold detective drama. In contrast, the good friends Juan Fu and Watson in "Sherlock" look like funny cartoon characters.

Wen\Fang Luoluo
Published in Hainan Daily

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Extended Reading

True Detective quotes

  • Detective Ray Velcoro: If you ever bully or hurt anybody again, I'll come back and butt fuck your father with your mom's headless corpse on this goddamn lawn.

  • Detective Ray Velcoro: Sometimes a good beating provokes personal growth.