The film has an unusually striking and inexplicable opening. On an abandoned football field soaked in rain, a two-year-old girl chases a herd of cattle with great interest. The picture is full of hallucinatory danger and indescribable worry, without any metaphor. In fact, the little girl in the film is the daughter of Regadas. They used to spend countless happy afternoons in the meadow together. The little girl's staggering footsteps and childish calls chasing animals are so beautiful. Regadas couldn't help but freeze and record it and share it with the world, without even needing too much explanation, just presenting it directly. It can be a girl's dream, or it may be the incarnation of a demon, and it doesn't need to be clearly defined. As Legadas said, when we look back, we can't always tell if something really happened or if it was just a creation of our imagination.
The camera moves from the outdoors to the indoors, and the red glowing demon sneaks in with a heart-pounding horror atmosphere, but it does not bring the desired consequences. More uplifting and bizarre images follow: a dog being beaten to death; a couple and villagers talking to each other for help in a dilapidated house called The Philosopher; scuffles between teenagers in English rugby; a sauna The naked confrontation and desire of everyone in the room came out; then the most shocking moment came, the man who killed Juan by mistake faced the fallen forest, pulled out his head, and the rain poured down with it. Under a camera with blurred edges created with a glass wine bottle, the images interweave in an unreal flow, seemingly unrelated but essentially unified. The scene of the man's decapitation is close to final destruction, and there is nothing to continue; Rugby symbolizes the dynamic sport of things, but the intimate physical contact implies unforeseen danger, meaning that life goes on, even if you The fear would not stop; and the red glowing demons silently passed through the room, seeming to herald disaster. All of these ambiguities of story themes and incoherence of narratives, here in Legadas, can be boiled down to the word "frustration": adults are spiritually imprisoned and emotional, and when the male protagonist realizes his life He will pass away in pain, and he will realize the brilliance and freshness in life, those small and simple joys. And this just corresponds to the title "light after darkness", which means that there is always darkness in life, but people have to learn to release themselves as much as possible and re-light the lamp in their lives.
Outstanding and provocative, peaceful and absurd, as clearly presented here as the two wings of a Legadas film. The devil who appears in the middle of the night walks through the lifeless house, mysterious and bizarre, and seems to have absorbed the essence of Latin American magical realism, reminding one of the ghosts walking around people in Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude". The Parisian sex sauna scene is a visual shock mixed with a dreary idyllic depiction, a cynicism about the primal desires of human beings. At the wedding party, Juan's discussion of literary works such as "War and Peace" suggested that while the elites were spiritually rich, their life difficulties were even more prominent. In addition, what is exciting is that the film also expresses the spiritual crisis brought about by some class conflicts. The Juan family, who settled in the countryside, and the surrounding farmers are in tension that cannot be ignored. As a subject of increasing concern for Regadas, which served only as a subdued backdrop in [Battle for Heaven], it is amplified here among the indifferent villagers who threaten stable order and social etiquette.
[After the Light] can be seen as the "glass world" of Legadas, which highlights beautiful rural scenery and tender family time in a series of lucid daydreams and indulgences, and in some bizarre recognition In the interweaving of intellectual imagery and otherworldly lenses, they drift further and further apart. Mixed with mundane and terrifying little things, such as the cruelty of animals and the infestation of demons, they embody Legadas' highly experimental cinematic intentions beyond their elusive practical significance. Just like an alien, an ethereal existence. Regarding the blurring and jumping of the image, Legadas explained, "I think we do live in darkness, if you want to be a slave to reality, you might as well not make a movie." Use your own feelings and memories to shape images and discover the truth of life. The rugby part was shot from Mount St. Mary's College in Derbyshire, England, where Legadas stayed, and the country house was Legadas' home on the outskirts of Mexico City. Even the out-of-tune yet incomparably sensational piano duet comes from the life perception of the Legadas artist. Some scenes and images, although meaningless, convey a bold and attractive visual or stylistic effect, such as broken memories in the imagination. flowing in the stream, gradually rising to the ethereal void.
Originally published in "Watching Movies Weekly", please make a statement for reprinting, thank you!
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