We often say that a movie is a movie; a movie is a movie in a whole. But what is a movie?
Cinema is a child, no matter if you say that the first movie was born in the United States or France, the "movie" that appeared at the end of the 19th century is less than 130 years old.
So, compared to other things that have existed for centuries or even longer, the movie is still a child, and we don't know how to describe a child and characterize it.
"Film" is unknown. Homogenization is the backside of authorship, so when The Antichrist repeats Von Trier's authorship a lot, the viewing process is indifferent. At this point, Dolan is even more so. But it will still give praise, because at this time, I have fallen in love with the author. This is dangerous and requires off-field forces to stop it from spreading, such as watching all of his movies in one go, then frowning and humming in a low voice: I'm sick of it. Like disgusting a noisy child.
In this way, "Melancholia" is a very quiet movie in Von Trier's film, especially quiet.
To put it bluntly, a movie is a thing from beginning to end.
1. Track
Most of the time, the movies we accept and praise are on track, beautiful and lovely. Film, conceived and designed. The camera has its track, the beginning and the end of the film, and the track.
Documentaries are one exception. With the danger of tearing the track apart and regrouping again. This seemingly least creative form was the most innovative image of the 1920s, challenging the established trajectory of cinema.
Von Trier's films are captivating, on track but derail from time to time.
Just like the steady shot in Melancholia swaying between the bride, groom, and driver in the driving scene, as if it were shot casually, just to capture it. When Melancholy is far away, he turns to Justine who will not be able to get up. When something happens, the camera moves quickly, and before I can focus, I am attracted to another person.
Just like, Justine in this film. Went on the wedding route, but was two hours late. Follow the wedding process, but take a bath in the room. Follow the wedding's inevitability, but refuse the groom to have sex with another man. The human spirit is always on the track, then on a whim, derails, and finally returns to the track.
Precision and crudeness, certainty and uncertainty, but in general, we are all controlled by the director and only see what he wants us to see. Whether it's "Female Addict", "The Antichrist" or "I Made This House", in Von Trier's films, there is always a "psychologist" who controls the direction.
So movies are always about the track, the question is, how did the track come about, or whether we'll end up going off the track at the end.
2. Viewfinder frame
Movies are inseparable from the frame, a limited perspective.
Behind the invisible, there is an early warning. "The Conjuring" is the use of the limited perspective and space behind the film, and Wen Ziren is amazing.
Reality requires a perspective from an outsider's ascension. Therefore, documentary is the way one of the most paradoxical questions in the humanities and social sciences appears at the image level: what is truth?
Constructivism and critical theory in sociology have their own answers. In the philosophy of history, Croce said "all history is contemporary history", and Collingwood said "all history is the history of ideas", anyway, at my level, these are almost the same meaning. The truth is the intention of the individual, and it is inevitable to entrain private goods. Therefore, private goods are set to be true.
What is this private item? Viewfinder.
Authenticity is a real worry. So a set of comparisons was used. The near-half opening of the two chapters is an obsessive-compulsive contrast. Justine's anxiety and Claire's anxiety. Justine's anxiety is about the spirit, Claire's anxiety comes from threats, so one shot swings up and down the room traversing, one fixed in the corner pointing to another wider space.
The former is shaking, and shaking itself carries a kind of instability. The restlessness reached its peak once Justine arrived at the venue and continued to peak. It's sloppy, and the frame is the limit, so it's especially uncomfortable to be framed, so she repeatedly "runs away" at the wedding, and when she goes outdoors, the camera freezes and breathes.
The latter is fixed, and the fixed itself implies the existence of space. When going from a fixed point to a wider space, it is accompanied by another layer of frames. When Claire looks at Melancholy Star, it is across the window, across the woods, across the screen, and across the iron ring. Ever since, the frame has become a protection. Claire's anxiety comes from whether the frame is sturdy. Audiences are protected outside a stronger box, so those in the midst of the pandemic miss the coercive power of movie theaters.
Writing here, I don't want to write anymore.
The movie is nothing more than throwing out the question of the end:
Is this the power of the universe?
No, it's the human spirit.
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