Cinema Good Read
I don't know who offended "CATS Cats". After the premiere, the major rating websites gave one-sided bad reviews. Whether it was film critics or netizens, they all used their brains to laugh at the film adaptation of this musical, and some even suggested that it should be Wanting to get the Oscar back from the director, especially the premonition that the cat people's magical appearance is more sensual than the musical, made me full of curiosity about this movie. When I entered the unmanned cinema early in the morning, I didn't know who would greet me. A fluffy meteorite.
This furry meteorite is not covered with hot magma, but with pheromones that seduce the soul. The magic of Blue Night is full of the whole film. "CATS Cats" is not about cats, nor about people. It's the story of the cat man. The opening is quite clear. The human who abandoned the protagonist, the little white cat Victoria, is faceless. However, the cat man who appears in this film has a human body and a human face, as well as a cat. Their fluff and dexterity, because they resemble cats, they do not walk upright with their heads held high like humans, but tiptoe and sway their bodies, jumping, kicking and kicking, lightly like cats, and expressive like humans , in particular, the tail seems to have its own life, like a magic wand possessed by a demon, constantly wriggling, sometimes rising high. They show their teeth and claws when they are angry, show their heads when they are happy, and even make high-pitched cat meows instead of clapping or cheering that humans are accustomed to. They are cat people and Jericho cats, the owners of the long night.
Tom Hooper didn't change the whole story and purpose. The story is that on this night, all kinds of Jericho cats will introduce themselves in the dance party by singing and dancing to win. After the cat elders are selected, they can have a new life, so every cat person tries their best to dominate the dance forest. At the same time, Victoria, a new stray cat person who has just arrived, finds out that there is a down-to-earth cat person while getting to know other cat people. The old catwoman, Griz Bella. Hiding in the corner and peeping at everyone, because everyone does not welcome her. On top of all the cat people, there is a green-eyed bad cat, McCavetti, who has his own calculations to win this game.
As for the purpose is very simple, as long as you can face it sincerely, even if you have a fallen soul from the past, you can shine.
"CATS Cat" is destined to be a classic or cult that will remain in film history. First of all, as a musical with complete singing and dancing, digital technology fully reveals the actors' bodies, so the dexterous body movements and dances of the cat people, It can be seen more clearly, only a few characters wear sweaters to show their status or downfall, fat cat people and thin cat people are very clear, and further, all the close-ups are a confident presentation, representing their understanding of digital The results of the synthesis are very confident, it is unprecedentedly fitted, one-piece fur.
This is something musicals can't do, and movies can do.
Secondly, watching the episode of Jenny Dot, played by Fat Amy (Jennifer Hudson), is an eye-opener, showing the working ability of this fat house cat in charge of the kitchen. The cat people are generally scaled down, dancing and lining up. The army of cockroaches is even grabbed by Jenny as a snack while marching in the procession. You can even see its thin brown wings and hear the crisp taste. , like Shrimp Wei Xian, despite the frightening sight, aren't mice and cockroaches the two creatures that cats are most likely to interact with? Humanizing it, while preserving the cruel relationship between cats and these two creatures, will it hurt people or certain groups in 2019? If the audience can't bear even this little cruelty, and they have to go out to vomit, they have to run to the Internet to complain, can the creator create a more impressive scenery?
This is something musicals can't do, and movies can do.
The movie takes the audience to get to know all kinds of Jericho cats one by one with the one-night adventure of the new cat Victoria. The scenes and dances of each section can be said to be designed for the cat people who will appear in the section, whether it is The junkyard and cemetery where the cat people first appeared, the kitchen where cockroaches and mice are hidden, the scene like a nightclub, the deserted and lonely street, the trash can restaurants, the boudoir of the rich people (so where have people gone? ) and the stairs, the dilapidated moonlit Egyptian theater, the gloomy and cold port... all built to the relative proportions of cats and people, so we can see that everything becomes enormous and interesting, accompanied by almost Songs without interruptions (only one or two lines without songs) cats and people come and go, jump up and down, and the cameras come and go, fly up and down, and from time to time close-up the faces of the cats and people and their Such a figure as possessed, because there is no need to change the curtain, it can be said to be a crazy party without a cold scene.
Just by looking at their movements, we can see the individuality of each character, starting with the protagonist Victoria (a character that Tom Hooper made for the film version) from being timid to everyone's dance moves. , to skillfully jumping out of their own dances, and even singing their own songs, they are all presented in the most specific way, so when we can use singing, why use speaking? You can use dance, why use performance? The so-called cross-art adaptation, the most important task is to first clarify the two forms, and then to remove the rubbish and save the essence, jokes are not nonsense, adaptation is not random, each cat person's dance has its own uniqueness in this film For example, the dance of the young leader Catman, Streep, is very aggressive, and he wants to tease the ignorant Victoria at every turn, while the more weighty Cambie cat Jenny Dotty and the rich cat cat Buster Jones played or danced through other cat people and scene props, while Gegeley and Roprandice brought Victoria, like a circus, from jewelry to tables in the mansion. The food has been turned upside down, and the dance is graceful and charming. The energetic railway cat has exquisite tap dance, stepping on the rails crisply, making a vigorous beat... On the old cat who can't jump, it is changed according to his age. The singing is convincing, just listening to Ian McLean's theater cat Gauss sings the old but still old heart with the smallest movements with his trembling but powerful body, it is moving.
In the trailer, it was particularly eye-catching. Bomberulina, played by Taylor Swift, proudly appeared from the sky, sitting on the huge moon, lazily sprinkled with cat grass, and her charming and dangerous temperament was fully revealed. The villain, the second-in-command role played by the magic and depraved McCavetti, even the supporting role has a strong sense of presence.
As for Mr. Misoffrey, the magic cat who is ambiguous with the heroine Victoria, in addition to saving the heroine in the first half, he also played an important role later. He has a good personality, but he lacks self-confidence, so Always used to be a supporting role, using magic to add color to others, but this night his magic is about to become a "magic" that can compete with the villain. Tom Hooper may have to upgrade this role from the edge of the original musical to the role of the male protagonist. It is even more emphasized that this night is the "night of rebirth" for the Jericho cats.
Did Tom Hooper really know how to do this musical the way a movie can do it? Obviously, just watch the performance of the cat people on the railway, and it directly spans several scenes, from the indoor rails to the outdoor rails (here, the camera is also zoomed out to show the cat people dancing like branches and this one created by humans. The world is so small, but even so, the cat people can still find their place in it, such as the performers of this paragraph are the best working partners of the train station staff, without it everything can't start) , and jump from the outside rails to the inside of the train.
We know that he actually knows it, but he just doesn't want to use it all the time, such as flashbacks, fades, cross-narratives, etc... Because he believes that his actors' performances can provide a feast of sight and sound, and he believes their performances It can support the continuity of time and space. I believe their performances can support the rhythm of the whole film. More importantly, just like the elder catman played by Judy Dench, who is to the audience at sunrise. Say:
"Don't rely on translators because you've seen our work and play."
Yes, even if the story is so simple, there is no huge turning point in the plot, they have tried their best to dance their lives to show us, and their most real souls have been revealed in their performances.
If you really want to see something new, instead of being stuck in infinite nostalgia and complaining that everything is boring (note that this year's two major IPs, Avengers and Star Wars, both use nostalgia to a certain extent to try to achieve Good reviews, of course the details are different) You should take some courage, you should see such a unique and weird film, it can only be achieved through the film and not in the musical.
When film critics and fans accuse today's films of lack of creativity and experimentation, have they thought about how tolerant they are towards films that are really creative and experimenting?
I believe that in time, history will give Tom Hooper justice. Just as in addition to the new interpretations of many old songs, Swift's new song for the film, "Beautiful Ghosts", which corresponds to the classic song "memory" of the show, will definitely stay in the show. In history, it remains in the memory of the few viewers who have seen this film:
I never knew I'd love this world they've let me into and the memories were lost long ago So I'll dance with these beautiful ghosts so I'll dance with these beautiful ghosts
Jericho uses dance to define herself and not others.
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