▼ When the violent past that is unbearably confronts the happy present, and the honest, simple, and decent life is about to disappear, what should the hero at the center of the whirlpool do?
Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke, screenwriter Josh Olsen believes that the dilemma in which the male protagonist is placed is very helpful in effectively expanding the emotional tension.
▼Tom Stoll (Viggo Mortensen) and his family live a quiet life in Millbrook, a small town in Indiana. Tom, who is taciturn, is kind, and he also opens a small restaurant. Wife Eddie (Maria Bello) and two children live happily on a farm in the countryside. Until one night, two murderous gangsters broke into Tom's small shop to rob. In order to protect the customers and employees in the store, the silent Tom suddenly broke out and killed the gangster cleanly.
His heroic actions made Tom overnight a heroic figure in the small town that was spread by word of mouth and followed up by the media. Tom was not used to being in the spotlight. He was eager to return to the quiet and peaceful life before, and this sudden attention, In addition to breaking the tranquility of the original life, it also brought Tom's family into extreme danger step by step. The mysterious scar-faced man Carl (Ed Harris) suddenly came to the door and affectionately called Tom "Joy Library". Sack", like a long-lost old friend, Tom tries to avoid Carl, but Carl is in hot pursuit of Tom. It turns out that Tom is actually a man with a violent past, 20 years of trying to avoid and hide a terrible past, and now, the idyllic happy life has been reversed overnight, as a loyal husband, loving father, Ben Fen restaurateur, how does Tom fight against the dark forces of the past while keeping his family safe? Can he bury this terrible past forever?
▼ The budget of 32 million US dollars is destined that the film does not follow a grand commercial route. Cronenberg, who has always been on the fringes of the mainstream, returned to his hometown of Toronto energetically when the new line company just issued the shooting license, and will cooperate for many years. The behind-the-scenes partners gathered again. Among them, Howard Shaw, who is also a fellow Toronto native, once again worked hard for the soundtrack of the film. As one of Hollywood's best film soundtrack masters, Howard has long-term scored for horror films or psychological thrillers. Xiao once composed most of Cronenberg's works in the form of symphony, so he has become a master of describing abnormal situations and gloomy scenes in the hearts of music fans. The unique tension generated by his music is amazing.
▼ Viggo Mortensen's most famous role should be Aragorn in "The Lord of the Rings", and his performance in this "A History of Violence" can better reflect his superb acting skills. When he killed three thugs at the door of his house, his eyes changed from gentle and calm to sharp and terrifying in an instant. This kind of eyes only appeared once in the whole film, and the wonderful performance is enough to make this film full of charm. Later, Mortensen collaborated with Cronenberg on "The Promise of the East", in which he dedicated a full-nude fight, not to mention the violence.
In "The History of Violence", two special "passion scenes" are used to describe the emotional relationship between husband and wife, which are detailed and specific. The first scene is the beginning. The wife deliberately dresses up as the school cheerleader, and uses the appearance of a young and beautiful girl in a uniform and short skirt to "seduce" her husband to "play" with her, which is full of game situation. This is the attitude of most Westerners, or the attitude of modern urbanites to emotion, sex, taste is very important, freshness is very important. A round house is not only limited to the "task of creating human beings" to reproduce offspring, but also the most important weight to maintain the long-term cooperation between husband and wife in spirit and flesh. The second scene is in the back part of the middle section. The gap between the two is caused by the concealment of the truth of the husband's identity. The wife leaves her husband with hatred and goes upstairs alone, but the husband is unwilling to be abandoned and wants to try his best to restore the previous relationship. Gentleness, when words no longer work, the husband uses a rude way to catch up with his wife, adapting to local conditions, and forcibly having sex with his wife in the cold staircase environment that symbolizes the relationship between the two at this time. The filming was very similar to a "rape scene". When both of them "vented" their negative energy, the wife slapped her husband in tears and slapped her husband loudly, leaving the husband in the stairwell in pain, sorrow and depression and loneliness. If the first scene is to witness the warmth and positive energy of love, the second scene is obviously the opposite. It turns out that sex is also a mediator of pain, confusion, and depression, although it is full of sadness and ugliness. But no matter what kind of energy is positive or negative, it is a figurative and realistic sex description.
●The film uses two dinner scenes to build the atmosphere of home. Most importantly, and most impressively, is the dinner scene at the end of the credits—Silent Dinner. The husband resolutely resolved the previous ties and returned to this ordinary family of four. At dinner time, the wife and two children were silent at the dinner table, and the husband stood there in a daze, not daring to sit down or serve the table. Rather than daring, it was better to say that the husband understood the importance of home and respected it. So he needs a permission, even if it is "acquiescence". So, you see that the child observes the mother for a while and finds that there is no resistance, and then prepares the tableware and chairs for the father very sensible, and then the husband (father) slowly moves to the table and sits down, Seeing that the wife still did not resist, the children began to eat silently, the husband picked up the dishes, and the family began to enjoy the family dinner silently and silently, but this was obviously not the "last dinner", but a reunion. The first dinner at home after being born is a new expectation and hope for this family. Restraint, forbearance, subtlety, full of inner strength.
●David Cronenberg's works are unique in the world film circle. Although they sometimes lead to polarized comments, for fans of art films who are used to watching Hollywood blockbusters, Cronenberg's bloodthirsty and bad taste can always bring Gives a special indescribable attraction.
For example, one of the early Cronenberg films was the infamous "Fly", about a man who accidentally incorporated the genes of a fly while conducting a genetic recombination experiment, and ended up turning himself into a giant. FLY: You feel disgusted and nauseated, but you also feel that you carry a unique kind of profound and sadness.
Most of Cronenberg's films are not out of the norm. His masterpieces "Murder on Video Tape", "Naked Lunch", "Crash", etc., are recommended for everyone to enjoy and enjoy after they are full.
● So far, Cronenberg has been unique in the world film. From 1997, he began to work for the "Order of Arts and Letters" department of the French Ministry of Culture. In 1999, he became the chairman of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. A retrospective of his works was launched, and books about him were published. In 2001, Cronenberg, 58, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Toronto. In 2018, David Cronenberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.
After graduating in 1967, he made several short films for Canadian television, and after two independent experimental shorts, David Cronenberg made his first feature film, Shivers, in 1975, and received Funded by the Canadian Film Development Board. The film tells the story of a group of residents in a high-end apartment who are attacked by unknown parasites and become hosts. As a result, these people fall into a state of uncontrollable sexual madness. While the film was a big hit at the box office, it also officially started David Cronenberg's "horror journey"!
In 1983, "Murder on Video" won the best film at the Brussels Fantasy Film Festival. In 1986, "The Flies" was nominated for the Best Director Award at the 14th Saturn Awards. In 1991, "Nude Lunch" was shortlisted for the main competition of the 42nd Berlin Film Festival. In 1996, the erotic film "Desire Express" won the special award of the 49th Cannes Jury. In 1999, "Sensory Games" won the 49th Berlin Silver Bear Award. In 2005, "The History of Violence" was shortlisted for the 58th Cannes main competition unit. In 2007, "The Promise of the East" won the Best Film Award at the 32nd Toronto Film Festival. In 2011, "Dangerous Methods" was shortlisted for the 68th Venice Main Competition. In 2014, "Star Map" was shortlisted for the 67th Cannes main competition.
As the banner figures of Canadian film, Cronenberg and the new generation of Atom Egoyan have walked out of their own film road in the siege of Hollywood in the United States, and brought Canadian films to the world, presenting a pair of A completely different attitude from Hollywood!
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