Iranian films, like Russian films, have a unique sense of depth and strength rooted in social history and national character, no matter how tender and delicate the subject matter is.
Abbas has a skilled and precise grasp of neo-realism techniques. From simple and natural movie scenes, life-like characters, to the use of long shots, wide-angle shots, and natural light, a picture of a village in the hills of Iran is not added. It is presented in a decorative manner, and finally releases the charming image charm.
At the same time, more importantly, Abbas vividly and concretely demonstrated the dramatic way of neorealist films through this film, in other words, without relying on the Kurishov effect or montage, the film's dramatic How are conflicts and effects manifested? How to fully express the theme of the film?
First of all, the long shot of the fixed camera fully unfolds the action process of the little boy during the rotation. As a result, the heavy burden of life and the boy's character psychology will appear. At the same time, the camera lens "relentlessly" moves back and forth with the boy (including between the two villages at home), also placing the viewer in the observer's perspective, delivering complete information while preserving a sense of distance (rather than montage-like Participatory, constructive and even disruptive).
In the composition of the film, the foreground of the picture is always occupied by various things, usually clothes to dry, which again does not rely on montage hints to express the heavy life background composition of the characters in the film.
Far from being diluted, the film’s drama is infinitely mobilized and inspired in Abbas’ long takes. This is also due to an artistic technique in his long-shot scenes: objects that block key information (such as a character's face), so that the viewer and the protagonist maintain the same perspective of suspense, thereby enhancing the uniqueness that can be achieved without editing. dramatic.
As for the composition of narrative paragraphs, Abbas also has a strong neorealism temperament. During the development of the film, he once departed from the main plot of the boy's actions, and focused on the side passages of other characters, and finally the boy entered (returned) to this passage and resumed the main story. This arrangement seems unintentional. Intentionally broadening the film's horizons, more dramatic conflicts and social elements can be included.
In addition to the above language skills, in the character setting, the boy in the film is always ignored by adult men and cannot be heard. His communicators are peers, old people and women. In the end, he chose to embrace him. Such camp setting must have extremely profound socio-historical meaning and even metaphysical philosophical interpretation.
All in all, this is a pretty touching film. The deep focus shot of the mother still working outside in the storm from the boy's room, and the little flowers tucked in the workbook in the final scene, are the most moving. And Abbas - the auteur-director whom Godard hailed as the last master of arthouse cinema of the 20th century - in a neorealist setting brings out the fascinating ways in which the drama of cinema is constructed.
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