In 2008, the Coen Brothers' "Old Nowhere" won four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director in one fell swoop. However, compared to many fans outside the United States, facing one of the most profound contemporary stories, facing such a distinctive and unique anti-genre film, it is not easy to read and understand, especially the Coen Brothers film. Some understanding of language style and creative process.
The Cohen Brothers are the most famous independent film standard bearers of contemporary American cinema. The older brother Joel Cohen was born in 1954, and his younger brother Ethan Cohen was born in 1957, both of whom were born in the United States. Because the screenwriter, producer and director of their works were completed jointly by the two, they are called "The Cohen Brothers" ". Since their 1984 Sundance Film Festival's "Blood Labyrinth" became a milestone in the history of independent production, as Joel Cohen’s wife Frances McDormand said: "Our style has become An independent system, I do not mean through Hollywood, but choose independent production. Joel and Ethan make the final editing of their film, and are fully responsible for the various creations of the film. They even get everything at the expense of the final financial benefits. "They used a series of films such as "Barton Funk" and "Ice Blood Storm" to determine their artistic style: special and vague genre movies; simple plots under complex plots; twisted and black humor; for the atmosphere An excellent grasp of. These basic features in content and form even influenced many American films in the future, and they became a trend a few years later.
"Old Nowhere" is adapted from the novel of the same name by Mark McCarthy, revered as a modern legend and literary pioneer. When the novel version of "Old Nowhere" was printed and released in 2003, his work had accumulated unparalleled popularity and prestige. The central content of "Old Nowhere" contains some of the most provocative topics that Mark McCarthy has been paying attention to, and he has listed them in his previous 10 novels, and has now become a classic: The All Ways of Life in the American West And the fast-paced ending; in a fallen world, the final glory and justice; the ongoing confrontation between humanity and evil; black comedy and modern violence; the interaction between temptation, survival and sacrifice; constant Escalating chaos; touched by the remaining love and a glimmer of hope in the dark days... In addition, McCarthy also likes characters with complex personalities and symbolic story themes. These will be continued in "Old Nowhere", and the organization is clear enough to give filmmakers a certain degree of space, or expand, enrich, or distort their film skills, and use a resonant storytelling method to combine textual aspects. The power is transferred to the eye-catching pictures and sonorous language. In this way, it is hard to imagine that there are more suitable director candidates than the Coen brothers, and only they can faithfully convey McCarthy's melancholic wisdom and naked humanity completely through images. The Coen brothers have used a series of practical actions to continuously prove themselves in the American film industry, including the highly influential black classic comedy "Blood Maze", and a series of creative movie legends that followed, including "Fostering Asia". Lisanna, "The Gangsters", "Barton Funk", "The Absent" and "The Three Kings", and of course the Oscar-winning "Ice and Blood Storm."
The Coen brothers personally worked as screenwriters, condensing the whole story into a tense and concise script with a dramatic structure, focusing on the dark humor and intertwined human secrets. Joel Cohen said: "There is a lot of humor in the original work. Although it is not enough to make you call it a comic novel, the story itself is of course very dark. This is one of the characteristics that we have always followed. , And also very violent and bloody, so this may be the most violent work we have ever produced. In this regard, we all hope that the film can truly reflect the characteristics of the original novel." He said: "We want to Make it as close as possible to the action movie. Generally speaking, this is a story about chasing and killing... But the story that really attracts us is because it overturns all the expected effects of this type of work. ."
Therefore, if you understand this and read the previous works of the Coen brothers, you will find that "Old Nowhere" is not new from beginning to end, but if it is bound by its external appearance, it will be difficult to truly understand this work.
In terms of the theme, the black connotation of the film is more unrestrained and surging, which fully embodies the sense of "helplessness" of fatalism. This black vein started from "Blood Labyrinth". In 1996, "Ice and Blood Storm", which won the Cannes Best Director Award and the Oscar for Best Screenplay Award, still uses a slightly black absurd plot and close to realist expressions, giving this film a special style that is difficult to describe; 1998 , The Coen brothers' "Murder of Green Toes" still has a consistent, mixed black, comedy, mystery, and even slightly artificial decoration style. The large number of hints, metaphors, and ridicule about American political history in the film are even more obscure. Although only tepid evaluations and general profits were obtained at the time, it was later regarded as an absolutely classic work; in 2000, "The Three Kings of Prison Escape" was changed from an escape comedy to an Odyssey. A mysterious drama about American history and beliefs. The film explores American history and politics metaphorically. It traces the historical changes in American democratic politics, religion, and people’s mentality in the 1930s... It can be clearly seen that the black It is the consistent style of the Coen brothers, and in "Old Nowhere", this black looks calm, but in fact it is turbulent and unstoppable.
Under the appearance of Western films, the breakthrough of "Old Nowhere" is more thorough than "Unforgivable" (1992). "Unforgivable" is still working hard to dissolve dreams and falsehoods and return to reality, while "Old Nowhere" is already in the realm of playfulness tells you: dissolution itself is meaningless, and reality is not real. So instead of saying that the Coen brothers adapted McCarthy's script, it would be better to say that McCarthy said what the Coen brothers were about to express. Just like their predecessors "Ice Blood Storm" and "Bowling Kidnapping", all the plots revolve around a box of money. In the scene of tracking the gunfight in a small hotel, the scene, sound effects, and sense of the lens can easily remind the audience of "Barton Fink", which is also repeated editing inside and outside the corridor, using sound to connect the entire space before and after the stage, using a kind of wisdom The exhaustive sense of fear pushed the atmosphere to a climax, burst out with a gunshot, and then jumped to another hunting scene. But when many fans are dissatisfied with the perfect ending, the audience will find that the original perfect rhythm, tense atmosphere, and vivid characters are all illusions. They find that cowboys, gunfights, and hunts have nothing to do with Western movies. . Some people applaud, some people regret, but you will find the truth in these illusions, so moving.
The title of the film, No Country for Old Men, is taken from Yeats' poem "Sailing To Byzantium", but its meaning far exceeds the literal meaning. In this film, the characters, character, story, these vital elements of Hollywood movies have lost their original meaning, and become the technical medium and film symbol for the Coen brothers to describe the emotion of No Country (without relying on). Although the Coen brothers have always maintained care and expectations for people, the truth is that people are no longer important. In this black and ridiculous world, people will become powerless even if they have the heart. People are struggling in society, like a fish on the shore, being suffocated by the air. In the past works, although the Coen brothers pointed out the absurdity of the world and described the darkness of society, they still have sympathy and care for people. So at the end of their films, they are basically comedy styles such as victory, redemption, and return. Just as at the end of "Money Empire", the gods descended from heaven helped the male protagonist who was desperate and should have fallen to death. In "Three Kings of Prison Escape", the flood rescued three "new epic heroes" who were about to be executed... similar Such endings exist in most of the Coen brothers' films. After all efforts were ineffective, mankind had to pray for peace and happiness to the illusory religious gods, and the Coen brothers also sent comforting smiles to their fellow compatriots who were in a sad situation.
But in "Old Nowhere", this last comfort is also gone. In the movie, the old local police chief Bell told in a slightly tired voice from the beginning: he is a police family, he is the police chief of this county when he is 25, but he is fascinated by the senior police officers who do not carry guns. A young man he arrested not long ago killed a 14-year-old girl. Unlike what was reported in the newspaper, the boy said that this crime had nothing to do with passion, because he was born to kill. If you let him out, he will kill people. It’s hard for you to take any measures for crimes now... Bell, who has been trying his best to prevent crimes, is always one step late, unable to stop them, and finally frustrated. His wish came to his heart when he was old, which made his last hope shattered...
When audiences who are accustomed to the entertainment works of major Hollywood companies first saw their works, it was difficult for a moment to understand what the film was talking about, whether it was telling a strange story, whether it was revealing the living conditions of marginal characters, or expressing a kind of Outstanding thinking? And this black style with magical colors, narrative techniques that are completely different from Hollywood entertainment films, and exaggerated and deformed characters and plots have created a uniquely charming personal image world of the Coen brothers.
What is worth mentioning is the performance of the actors. Whether it's Tommy Lee Jones, who plays the old sheriff, or George Brolin, who plays Moss, especially Javier Baden who plays the evolutionary killer Zieg. The role of Zieg won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for JaVale Baden, but Zieg is actually the real protagonist of this film. This man with the hairstyle of a brothel boss in 1890 is a killer. The police, The detectives, shop assistants, and passers-by were almost spared, until finally he was seriously injured and escaped. Among the men, women and children encountered, only a grocery store owner and a boy riding a bicycle escaped the murderous hand. Baden played this kind of character with a breath of death from the inside out, or in his own words: "I know he is crazy at first glance, but he is normal. It seems that he has few movements, a bit like'end ', but the Terminator with a broken soul." However, the character of Zieg is obviously different from other killers: he has his own killer symbols such as coins and gas bottle guns (this is a wonderful prop ) Etc. They have their own principles of killing and never discuss them with others. He was always afraid of blood sticking after killing, and he didn't even want to watch it when possible. At least in his mind, murder is not shameful. As Baden said when talking about the characters: "I think this is a very powerful work. The whole article is about violence, or how to control violence, or how to stop the huge vortex formed by violence, and then use a kind of The right way to survive in this world."
In this way, when ordinary audiences see Zieg’s evil, this character is actually another huge question mark, questioning the soil that produced this evil. The chase in the film stems from the box of money and drugs, and it also implies the price that humans must pay for their greedy nature. There is a plot like this: Mosming knew the danger or decided to send water to the dying Mexican, and when he said goodbye to his wife: "If I can't come back, tell my mother I love her." Carla Jane looked confused. Said: "Your mother is dead." Moss said seemingly humorous: "Then I will tell her myself." This cold humor not only implies that Moss has embarked on a path of no return, but it is full of savoring. desolate.
At the end of the film, the tragedy happened unstoppable. The criminal killer Zieg was still at large after killing, but he accidentally got into a car accident; the old police officer Bell, who resigned, had nothing to do, and sadly told his wife about his father’s two things. Dream: In the first dream his father gave him some money, but he lost it; in the second dream his father rode forward without stopping, going to make a fire in the cold night... The first dream was very good The analysis is that he failed to complete the police mission handed down by his father. In the second dream, his father’s horn torch was going to light a fire in the dark-this seems to be hopeful in the dark, but as Haizi said: "From tomorrow on, be a happy person... why tomorrow? Because today can't be done." So, for Bell, the reason for keeping hope in a dream is just because he lives in a desperate reality.
Movie is a dream that shines into reality. The great thing about "Old Nowhere" is that it uses a kind of unreality to tell you the truth. The movies you see are not what I really want to express, but what you feel in your heart is what I want to give you. All technology surrendered to emotions and thoughts, this is the film that can be called art.
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