"Return to the Clown (Part 1)": The monsters we fought together in those years

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(The article was first published on the public account "Movie Madhouse", WeChat ID: dianyingfengrenyuan)

First of all, this article is about the 2017 version of "The Clown", but the new version is divided into two episodes, which have been released now, and what everyone sees is the first episode, which is about the childhood life of the protagonist and their first. The experience of competing with the "clown" for the second time, so the author marked it as "shang". The next episode may have to wait another two years before meeting the audience. Nevertheless, even as an independent film, the excitement of "The Clown's Soul: Part 1" is undeniable.

In fact, even from the point of view of the main creative lineup, the quality of this film is nothing to worry about. Director Anders Muschetti is a rookie in the field of Spanish horror films in recent years. After the long-shot horror short film "Mom" became popular ten years ago, it was discovered by Gilmour Del Toro and directed the Hollywood feature film. After the release of the feature film in 2013, the version was a blockbuster and was well received, but there are also regrets-the plot is filled with water, so the purity of the short film is missing, and the director's talent is also difficult to further display.

Fortunately, this time he met a good team again. One of the screenwriters is Carrey Fukunaga, the director of "True Detective" and "Beasts Without Boundaries". He not only knows how to advance the narrative, but also ensure that the tonality of the subject matter itself is not affected. The storyline that respects Stephen Kim’s original work and can keep up with the times in emotional and ethical portrayal; the director of photography is Jeong Jung Hoon, the old partner of South Korean ghost director Park Chan-wook, and has seen "Old Boy", "Bat", "Miss" and other films Fans of moviegoers should be impressed by the gorgeous and cruel style of classical images, and this time may be the reason why they have cooperated with European and American directors many times. The photography technique is slightly westernized, but the sewer scenes have a vague taste of Korean crime movies. ; The soundtrack was instructed by Benjamin Wolfisch to create. As a disciple of Hans Zimmer, he loves the soundtrack of horror films, but he does not blindly exaggerate the horror atmosphere. Appropriate warmth.

Of course, this film didn't get the author's favor from the beginning. The new version of the clown is similar to the "Blue Road", which is quite nasty and interesting, but on the whole it is still too handsome and too young. At first glance, it is not as full and three-dimensional as the clown played by Tim Kerry in the 1990 version; the life of the whole film The passages are a bit more than I thought. It changes the tightness and tension of the first episode of the 1990 edition. Although this kind of narrative rhythm has a feeling of "walking with me" (the original work of the film is also by Stephen King), but as A horror film, the initial impression this film gave me was too loose; and after the actor Billy’s brother was murdered, the film was not immediately enveloped in a depressive and sad atmosphere. The story of the positive film began with a positive and bright tone. Look a little off topic.

But as the plot unfolds, while the film is getting better, the so-called flaws have also begun to reflect their value. First, if the 1990 version of the Joker mainly relied on Tim Kerry's dramatic madness performance and some terrifying special effects makeup to make up for the lack of production technology and directorial atmosphere, then this time in Anders Muschetti With the blessing of skillful lens scheduling and unconstrained computer special effects, the way the clown abused people has also risen from the previous "April Fools' Day level" to "disaster level", and Bill Skarsgard only needs to use realistic performances to hide needles. It’s enough to express the horror of the clown—this is the more real childhood shadow; second, although there are many passages describing life in a small town, all of them point to the social problems that have always existed in the United States—domestic violence, campus Bullying, racial discrimination, feminist rights violations, etc., and these issues are like the filth of the sewer, forming a blind spot in society, so we can also say that clowns are the incarnation of the dark side of society, whether it is a social problem or not. Product; Third, creating psychological shadows is not the starting point of the original author Stephen King and the film director. "Overcoming fear and meeting the future" is the core of the story. As long as they get rid of the raging clowns, the children have to continue to grow up and continue. The best way to live a life and overcome fear is to unite sincere and kind friends to face difficulties and overcome setbacks together, just like the seven children in the film, whether black or white, boy or girl, fat, thin, strong or weak, Going together for a better tomorrow (Like the film not forcing the role of the yellow race to cater to political correctness!).

Looking at the global film industry this year, regardless of the quality of word-of-mouth, the word "surprise" is generally lacking. The only remaining surprises are mainly concentrated in the field of youth campus mode movies that many audiences disdain. In addition to "Clown's Soul (Part 1)", another film in the United States "Spider-Man: Homecoming", Thailand's "Genius Gunner" and even our China's "Flash Girl" and "Report Teacher!" Weird monsters! "To make the audience understand that it turns out that campus youth films not only fight and force love to love, but also the immature but not negligible ambition for the future that young people have in real life. I hope that these wonderful works can bring the same inspiration to the domestic film market that cannot be ignored. We are not short of money from Hollywood celebrities or a production team comparable to Hollywood, but if our overall creative level is not enough To catch up with mainstream Hollywood blockbusters, can we learn from other people’s successful creative experience and implement the development and consolidation of genre stories step by step, instead of spending a lot of energy asking the navy to wash the ground and proving that “the people like to hear and hear, you are old Several"?

"Return to the Clown (Part 2)" is expected to see you only in 2019. If you don't have so much patience to wait for the second half, the first episode will be enough for you to remember; if you are also fans of this story, you can look forward to the progress of the next episode with the author. The first episode is not without its deficiencies. A few children are standing still, but the character arcs and character traits are not perfect yet. Let’s see if they grow up to become flesh-and-blood in the next episode. By the way, pray that the clowns in the new version don’t look like they are. The nonsensical big spider in the old version (it is said that the original is also).

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