Kaurismaki is one of the few contemporary filmmakers who writes, directs, edits and employs a fixed cast by himself. Consistent film themes, similar video styles, etc. have made him known as "the last author-director". Like Fanny and Alexander, Bergman's life summary, Le Havre is also a summary of his inherent themes and stylistic features.
1. Neorealism
When considering the style of "Le Havre", Markey has a clear direction: "I think this film tries to reinvent the French neorealism. Vittorio de The Sika and Cessa Zivatini style is the underlying tone on which I add a touch of Marcel Carnet and Jacques Baker to its neorealism. Whether it's my own starting point or this small town They all start from a completely blank slate. One can make it a Melville or Miracle in Milan or something in between. ."
□ Realism. The plot of "Le Havre" develops in a straight line, presenting a complete segment of life with a naturalistic attitude, the story sometimes jumps and sometimes stagnates, but never looks back. The history of the characters is all done in understatement. Kaurismaki will not use flashbacks to explain the characters. It is not because he does not care about the past, but only the present is what he is more willing to stare at; only the current situation is more worthwhile. write. Its setting is simple and the mise-en-scene simple: a table, two chairs, two characters and a bare room of nothing else, the dramatic stage on which the story unfolds. The lines are also concise and direct, without artificially creating a sensational climax. As he himself said, flashy designs only bring distance and ruin the realism he wants to create.
□Dogma95. "Le Havre" is reminiscent of Lars von Trier, also from Northern Europe, and his famous Dogma95 oath. The recent film movement was vigorous and soon died down, but in a way, Kaurismaki was also fulfilling his oath of purity in his own form. A real documentary clip in the film, the restraint used in sound effects, uses a naturalistic avant-garde to pursue the pure essence of the film, which is crazy and lonely, unique and familiar. He is also known as the forerunner of Dougma 95, resisting too much technology, abandoning the special effects of digital technology, and believing in the power of the image itself
2. Underwater iceberg
Like Hemingway's "Iceberg Principle", under Markey's intentional saving and restraint, there is an undercurrent of underwater "seven-eighths" hidden.
□ Minimalism. "Le Havre" has few characters, few scenes, few lines, simple plot settings, blank narrative and open ending settings. In terms of visual language, multiple fixed cameras are used to shoot a single shot, and the style of moving the camera is simple and neat, and the off-screen often becomes an important narrative space. For example, the scene where the shoe shiner leaves lunch and money for the children, only one shot is used to express: the shot Aiming at the stairs, the shoe shiner's hands put bread and money into the picture, the camera does not move, and there is the sound of water paddling outside the picture. The scene is now over, and the rescue relationship is concise and charming.
□ "Bressonian". People often compare Kaurismaki with Bresson. Under the restrained and unpretentious lens, Kaurismaki, like Bresson, presents a jerky picture and a discontinuous narrative. Different from the traditional narrative methods that focus on conflict and drama, there are no confrontational shots and schedules in Kaurismaki's films, and people and things happen in a silent and flat air. Just as Bresson is keen on photographing the hands and feet of people, Kaurismaki is also keen on the detailed movements of a certain part of the body, such as a look, a pair of shoes, a subtle movement, etc. In Le Havre, when photographing Marcel sitting in a restaurant, Kaurismaki ditches the medium shot and focuses on Marcel's knife and fork wielding hands. This stubborn capture of local movements creates the unique rhythm and interest of the film.
3. ■Distinctive personality
For Aki's fans, it doesn't matter what kind of story the story is, it's enough to appreciate the uncle's temperament and personality.
□ Cold outside and heat inside. The image style of "Le Havre" is as cold as usual. The overall tone is a cold gray-blue. The characters travel through the icy streets and live in cold-colored rooms. It is the true color and temperature of ordinary people's life. But under the cool tones of the story, the emotions are soft and warm, like the bright red in the interior and on the characters: the bouquet of red roses that Marcel put in the ward, the silver hair and red leather jacket in Bob's charity performance, parting The red coat he put on Idrisser from time to time, etc., are all hints of hope in life. This warmth is embellished with various colorful colors: when Idrissa's plan went smoothly, his wife was also discharged from the hospital in good health, and the yellow dress she wore and the yellow rose in her hand brought a family-like warmth , Outside the window, a cluster of pale pink cherry blossoms dazzled brightly.
□ nostalgic and classical. Like Markey's usual films, "Le Havre" is also "old", the social background and era of the characters are deliberately downplayed, and the characters and entanglements unrelated to the plot are taken out of time. There are only dilapidated buildings, shabby bus stations, outdated cars of old styles, and even TVs with small screens, not to mention computers and all kinds of modern technology. Archie is a rather nostalgic and conservative person who not only sets Helsinki as it was built over the past few decades, but also presents the French port to his liking. The film was deliberately made into a film similar to the poetic realism period of the 1930s and 1940s in France, and also deliberately created an atmosphere of a long time ago. Old-fashioned characters, well-designed props (like old music equipment), and nostalgic light and music create a space that seems to be happening in memory. And those street bars that emit dark neon lights and the simple interpersonal communication in them have a retro atmosphere.
4. ■Attitude
of alienation Kaurismaki refuses to surrender to mainstream society, popular aesthetic trends and consumer culture. His stylized lens language and concise and stern narrative together form his unique taste in European art films.
□Zero performance. "Le Havre" follows Markey's restrained handling of emotions and actors, and two queen actors - actress Katie Otining and actor Andre Wilmes appear in this film at the same time, (It even includes Truffaut's royal actor Jean-Pierre Leaud, who also starred in Markey's "I Hire a Contract Killer") - although they have grown old with the director, but What remains unchanged is the style of "zero performance": following Brecht's performance system, there is no performance, no skill, and sometimes even life is not felt, just like a programmed robot performing according to prescribed actions Activity. Markey also still exercises "absolute manipulation" on them, with strict requirements for every few centimeters of deviation in their eyes. Under this harsh madness, Kaurismaki's actors are always submissive to the plot and will never be forgotten.
□ Stop and watch. Kaurismaki is a bystander, looking coldly at the joy of each character, and even reluctant to let the camera intervene in it. The large number of fixed-form close-ups in "Le Havre" seem to be some kind of deliberate "distancing". Even the shots that are edited based on the eyes of the characters are not commonly used viewpoint shots - such calm and alienated shots provide a bystander's perspective. Kaurismaki does not put the audience into the characters, but only puts them into the scene, allowing the audience to see and feel for themselves. His humor is often dislocated in a slow and half-beat way - this kind of "natural stupidity" actually makes Uncle Aki also have a cute temperament.
【Published】
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