The director of the film, Walter Hill, is good at shooting police and gangster films, action films and westerns, and he wrote most of the scripts himself. Although most of his films are not outstanding at the box office and word of mouth, there are still good works. With the passage of time, under the audio-visual bombardment of Hollywood action car chase films where special effects, speed and scenes are soaring everywhere, this "Tooth Extraction" can still bring a different feeling to the audience. It is concise and powerful, and the black style is fully displayed. This thrilling car chase film is regarded as the prototype/template of Refn's "Desperate Drive" (you can watch the two films to compare, there are many similarities in character setting, visual style and emotional tone). The film's simple, grim noir style also reminds me of Jean-Pierre Melville's crime films. All characters in the film are referred to by general identities or things, without individual names, such as The Driver, The Detective, The Player, The Connection, Teeth, Exchange Man, Fingers, The Kid, etc. In this way, the characters are quite symbolic, and the director has arranged several places where the characters look directly at the camera during the dialogue, as if their every move is consciously performing and conveying information to the audience. What is more obvious is the glamorous beauty portrayed by Adjani. She stares at the camera for many times in the film and speaks, and her expression and actions give people a sense of alienation like an outsider who knows everything. And her name is "The Player" It symbolizes the living state of dealing with black and white and the ability to play both the police and the bandit in the palm of your hand. The car chase scene should be the most anticipated scene by most audiences (although I personally watch it more for the goddess), maybe the car chase scene in this film is not as exciting as many action blockbusters today, but it is minimalist. The scheduling and footage are also immersive enough. Most of the racing chases are live-action shooting, with smooth editing, mainly to quickly switch between three types of shots - the long-range shot of the car chase, the close-up shot of the two people facing the front windshield (occasionally there are also close-ups of single people in the car and A close-up angle of two people behind the characters in the car) and a low-angle "subjective shot" of the front of the car. In order to enhance the sense of tension, the sound effects deliberately highlight the roar of the engine and the friction between the tires and the ground. In the climax of the underground parking lot chase scene, there are not many engine sounds and fricatives in the paragraphs where the two sides are trying to find each other. Instead, there are a few high notes that pop up occasionally, constantly stirring the audience's already nervous heartstrings, simple and effective. . The inheritance of the style of film noir is another main feature of "Tooth Extraction". [The following text may contain some spoilers, those who have not watched the movie should read carefully] (1) Low-key and high-contrast lighting. Since this film is a color film, the color also partially weakens the contrast between light and shade compared to the black and white film, which is less particular about the arrangement of light and shadow. However, if you look closely at the interior scenes in the film, you can find that the lighting method is basically similar to that of film noir. (2) Dark night background. Most of the film's plot takes place at night, and the few outdoor scenes during the day are also cloudy, and the sun, which symbolizes light, is always absent. (3) Scenes in city corners and shadows. The characters in the film meet in dark and deserted streets, dimly lit bars, dingy shabby hotels, deserted underground car parks and train station halls at night. Typical film noir scenes such as these convey a gloomy and icy air that not only highlights the dark side of a character's situation, but also heralds a tragic fate. (4) Ambiguous moral positions and themes of greed and betrayal. In the film, The Detective, played by Bruce Dern, will not hesitate to cooperate with the underworld to design and capture opponents in order to taste a long-cherished wish. And Ryan O'Neal's The Driver, despite being a desperado, makes a career of helping robbers and criminals escape by car, but claims to have always stayed away from firearms and let his enemies go twice (two sentences "Go Home" Said to The Teeth who was beaten on the stairs and the driver hired by the other party at the end). But The Driver's idealism is more or less at the level of words. He carried a gun with him in dangerous situations, and twice killed arrogant criminals in self-defense. Characters in film noir always have complex and contradictory inner worlds. In this world, there are no masked characters with a clear distinction between good and evil, only people who wander in the middle ground between good and evil. Film noir seeks to present the darker side of human nature, often revolving around violence, greed, deceit and betrayal. The Driver and The Detective were both deceived by the Exchange Man (the middleman) in the film, and The Player also "beauty saves the hero", putting on a police detective. Even bank robbers betray each other and kill each other. The only woman to tell the truth (The Connection) was shot. (5) The ending of nothingness and disillusionment. Film noir is always full of pessimism and fatalism. The characters in the story are often "too clever in their calculations and mistaken for Qingqing's life". The Driver didn't get the money in the end (although it was implied in the film that he was in love with The Player, and the two kissing was also shown in the trailer, which was later deleted), The Detective's strategy failed, and they still couldn't arrest each other, The Connection and the bank The robbers were killed at gunpoint, and the Exchange Man, who thought he was a fisherman, was left with a tragic end. Alright, that concludes the review section, thanks for your time! Finally, two tidbits and wonderful lines are posted: ① The script of the film was originally written for Steve McQueen. ② Sylvester Stallone had planned to appear in the film. ③The male protagonist "The Driver" has few lines, only 350 words in total. ④The rough-cut version lasted for just over two hours, but the whereabouts are currently unknown. ⑤ (There are no Chinese subtitles, but the English subtitles that come with the Blu-ray version are not difficult) The Detective: I respect a man that's good at what he does. I'll tell you something, I'm very good at what I do. ⑥ Green Mask: See,
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