The subject of exorcism has always been favored by the Western film market. First, horror movies have always been the favorite of young people. Second, such themes can be deep or shallow, and the commercial and literary perspectives can be freely chosen. It is said that it can not only gather popularity, but also relatively easy to win word of mouth. For directors and actors, why not do it?
However, in recent years, the shooting angle of exorcism-themed films has changed. In addition to retaining some of the unique characteristics of the film, such as thriller and suspense, directors or screenwriters have begun to add more or less judgments of social value to their works. For example, discussion of religious rituals, doubts about gods and ghosts, anxiety about beliefs, etc. This gave the exorcism-themed film a deeper conception, but it also reduced some entertainment elements, which is probably the reason why the film was not well received.
"Ritual" is not a pioneer of exorcism films that explore in-depth topics, and the earliest films that focus on such topics are not immediately verified, but another film "Asylum" last year is worth exploring. Compared with "Ritual", this film has no more entertainment value, the discussion of faith is more serious, and the expression is more jerky.
The attitude of high-quality actors The actors who
star in "Asylum" are all powerful, Julianne Moore, Jonas Lyson Meyers, Frances Conroy, Brooklynn Proulke Si is a superb actor. Although they are of different ages and participated in different types of films, they all performed well in this film.
Their good performance is not only in the skills of performance and the grasp of the characters' psychology, but also different characters in this film have different attitudes towards belief or religion. Some people have faith, but they believe in wizards; some people have no faith, because they only believe that science is the best solution to problems in the world. Of course, there are also people with right and wrong attitudes. Their different understandings of beliefs and religions are exactly the clues that the director wants to use the film to find answers.
Whether the actors themselves have beliefs and what religion they believe in is not the focus of this film. But when they interpret their roles, they can really see the basic part of their depth of religious knowledge and understanding of beliefs. How long is the development of an actor, in addition to skills and face accidents, self-cultivation is also an important link. In this film, it is the actor's deep understanding of the theme that is commendable.
Theme Concept and Practical Effects
"Asylum" reflects on the increasingly serious problem of human beings' lack of belief. In Western countries that believe in various religions, the believers of these sects use their teachings to restrict their behavior and express their devotion to the "Lord" or the supreme leader. However, in today's time, the development of science and technology has led to more and more people questioning these religions or beliefs full of metaphysical thoughts, their behaviors are no longer restricted by religious thoughts, and the ensuing social problems are becoming more and more many.
This film attempts to interpret the core of the crisis of lack of faith in the form of a horror film, in order to attract more audiences. However, such topics are too serious, and lack the entertainment texture and visual impact when expressing horror, resulting in the audience not being deeply impressed by the film, or unable to understand the director's intentions from it. From this point of view, the film is not a successful work.
What needs to be mentioned in particular is that the priests whose souls were taken away by witchcraft, in order to protect the souls without faith, destroyed human individuals, and then used a body to protect these souls. Such abstract and gloomy expressions in the past seem to have no guiding or educational significance. The idea
behind
"Asylum" is actually very novel. When a group of experts and professors who take science as the truth try to solve a certain problem in a scientific way, they always refuse to accept the claims of gods and demons. And the irony is that what took their souls in the end was indeed a strange husk that could not be viewed with justice or evil.
It is a pity that this kind of creativity has not been well developed, resulting in the film not being accepted by the public. The plot of the film does not match the boring practice of psychology and the practice of thriller, which causes the film to be too flat and boring. Without the ups and downs of the process, it is naturally impossible for the audience to accept it.
After all, there are many forms of film expression, and the key depends on how the director uses it. This film is not lacking in the director's ideas, but it oscillates between seriousness and entertainment, and it fails to achieve the desired effect in the end.
View more about 6 Souls reviews
