Objectively speaking , the nearly 3-hour "Tony Erdman" (also translated "The Life of a Mad Father" in 2016) feels like watching a TV series, not just because of its length, but because of its emphasis on narrative expression.
I think that the reason why it has caused such great comments and applause is that what the film involves is precisely catering to a certain harsh reality in Europe, including the European Union, and hitting the small heart of the Western elite world group. The world is changing, but no one knows where. With the world order roiled by populist politics, financial crises and terrorism, and the tensions created by Russia after its annexation of Crimea, pessimism pervades Europe, and these intellectual elites cannot find it. Going to the bright exit, I can't find a solution to the problem.
The bridging of the old Europe and the new Europe is far from the horizon, old and new problems are emerging one after another, and economic and security issues have become increasingly prominent. After the Greek economic crisis, with the Brexit, the EU integration suffered a major setback. Everything became swollen, rushed and unsolved, and individuals from all walks of life were consciously and unconsciously involved. They each figured out their own life prospects and survival chances, or how to ensure the original quality of life. Building a global community with a shared future has become increasingly urgent, but it is only a slogan on paper such as the G7, and people are generally in panic, anxiety and confusion.
This is the biggest dilemma in the development of modern civilization. It is as pervasive and pervasive as the smog. It is better to escape as soon as possible than to be disturbed. Of course, there is no antidote to both the smog in the air and the smog in people's hearts, only to suffer silently. If the smog can make the heart and lung function stronger, it is tantamount to opening your eyes and talking nonsense, or it is better to die early. The overall pattern of the world, under such multiple troubles and siege, has become more and more obscure and unclear, and it is difficult to clarify that day.
In this context, even though the film "Tony Erdman" won nothing at the Cannes Film Festival, it was awarded the highest score of 3 or 7 in the history of the Cannes Film Festival. In addition, the three major publications of French "Cinebook", British "Sight and Sound", North American "Film Review" ranked first among the best films in 2016, and they have embarked on the altar of being worshipped.
Born in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1976, the new-generation female director Maren Ader graduated from the Munich Film Academy. She also works as a screenwriter and producer. She has directed "First Time Teacher" and "The Perfect Second Pair", and participated in the production of Portugal. Director Miguel Gomez's acclaimed masterpieces Forbidden (2012) and One Thousand and One Nights (Trilogy) (2015). The film starring father Winfred is the 70-year-old veteran actor Peter Simonishek, who has played roles in "Crime Scene", "Rental Boys" and "Falling in Love with a Philosopher". Sandra Wheeler, born in 1978, starred in her daughter Ines, who has starred in films such as "Requiem", "Heaven is Above" and "Crazy Love". She is an authentic acting school.
Although "Tony Erdman" is not a pleasing film, it still generally conforms to the basic value judgment I like about films, that is, the fusion of reality, humanity and artistry. But whether there is such a "sacred position", this is also the benevolent see the benevolent and the wise see wisdom. Film evaluation, there is no unified standard and value system for evaluation, it is more based on feeling.
In terms of reality, Winfred, a middle-aged man living in Germany, went to Bucharest to find his daughter Ines. Ines has been working there for a year. She is the representative of a large consulting firm. She provides the best investment planning solutions for Romanian companies that want to go abroad . Turning her hands into clouds and covering her hands into rain is what she represents, the interests Yuguan Fang must do.
In the film, the daughter simply asks her father, who pretends to be Tony Erdman, to go with her to a large oil company. Eriscu, the head of the company, said in front of Tony that he would fire a worker. Tony asked him not to fire him. The poor man with no livelihood, which made him naturally think of his own predicament. Before he came, he quit his fancy job of "playing tricks" in the nursing home, and his beloved old dog Weili died. The only thing he cared about was this strong and feisty daughter.
When he told his daughter that the worker was going to be fired, she even said that if he would not fire him, then our employees would be fired. This is the result of bad competition in the world economic structure. Of course, the Escury told him, I was joking, not really trying to fire the worker. Whether it's a real joke or not, it doesn't matter.
Ines faced all kinds of bosses, such as multinational company CEO Hennenberg, in order to do his business, she took the initiative to accompany his wife Natalie to go shopping, leaving the father aside as a fool. Wait the same. Natalie said something meaningful, I like a country with a middle class. This sentence summed up the strategic goal of her husband's giant enterprise expansion. Middle-class countries represent the country's overall consumption level and national happiness index.
Another reality is that Ines' interactions with male colleagues Tim and supervisor Gerald and local assistant Andy are quite intriguing. Several times she asked Tim not to interrupt when she reported to Gerald her plan. But privately she and Tim are boyfriends and girlfriends, at least sex partners. When she was tired, she ran to his room, she completely relaxed, let him eat the cum that he sprinkled on the cake after masturbating, her strength was evident.
But in the end, when she held a nude party for her birthday in the name of team spirit, Tim, her boyfriend, was unwilling to get off the list and left. Gerald quit and then got off the list. Another person who dared to leave the list was assistant Anka. The reason why Anka dared to be naked is because she cares about her job, or is afraid that her job will not be guaranteed. Gerald's feet jumped when her father, dressed as a Bulgarian exorcist, entered her room. Then, the big monster presented her with a bouquet of flowers and swaggered out the door.
The daughter followed the big monster to the park, and a little girl greeted her with a smile. When Ines saw it, she ran over and hugged him tightly, but he couldn't make a sound and walked away. He fell, breathless, just as reality had left him breathless. So does the daughter. She eventually quit her job in Bucharest, saying she was going to Singapore as a representative. Reality is harsh enough. But the father-daughter relationship is memorable.
The expression of human nature in the film is mainly concentrated between father and daughter. Winfred, who has high blood pressure, has a blood pressure monitor that will sound alarms from time to time. When he is unhappy, he will wear braces and even deliberately fart to fight back against this annoying world. A father who pretends to be a ghost is always a big lump in his daughter's heart, and he can't throw it away or get rid of it. At first, he came uninvited and said he could stay for a month, making his daughter nearly faint. When his daughter took her to an important party, he couldn't keep his mouth shut when it was time to shut up.
For example, in the face of the big boss Henneberg, he said that I hired a fake daughter, and she would cut my toenails, which caused the other party to laugh. Henneberger repeated his words, leading him to say that you plagiarized my words, and his daughter was so anxious that her business would be lost. No father-daughter relationship is ever harmonious. He brought his daughter cheese rubs and sausages. My daughter said that you don't have to give me anything, and you don't have to send me money. The subtext says that you are so shabby and you have to act as a facade, and I am ashamed for you.
The reality of the daughter reflects the human love of the father. One day, finally, her daughter fell asleep and failed to answer several calls. She claimed that these calls were too important for her, and she had been preparing for this for several months. Her scolding was incessant, and in desperation, she spun around and broke her toenails. This pain was in the heart of the old man, he had to leave, waved, and said goodbye. But he took away her daughter's key, which is irrelevant to her. As long as the old father returns safely and does not come to disturb her normal work and life, it will be a blessing.
But what she didn't expect was that, at the party, Ines was telling her girlfriend that this week was really annoying me. My father came here and insisted on discussing the meaning of life with me... But at this time, my father actually She appeared wearing a wig and braces, which made her very embarrassed. He posed as Tony Erdman in and out of all of her places, making her unbearable. He also specially approached her friend Tatyana and other sisters. He became an omnipresent shadow. Even when she was chatting with her supervisor Gerald about work, he sat quietly on the side with his back to them, but he let out a big fart.
The father, who goes by the alias of Tony Erdman, can only respond to the world that makes his son embarrassed by farting. The most ridiculous thing is that he actually dressed up as the German ambassador to Romania and came to the house of a local female resident. Seeing they were making Easter eggs, he asked his daughter, who was dressed as a secretary, to learn how to make eggs. Then he played the piano and wanted to thank his daughter, who had to bite the bullet and sing "On Beloved" by Whitney Houston.
The father played vigorously, while the daughter held her breath and sang even more fiercely. "In a lonely place, I learned to be independent, whether it was failure or success, at least I firmly believed that no matter what they took away from me, they could not take away my dignity, because I have the greatest love in my heart, it is easy Do it, learn to love yourself, that's the greatest love." The daughter ran away after singing "hysterically". He sat quietly in a corner. He said sadly, in fact, I am not an ambassador, and she is not my secretary, but my daughter. The woman smiled and said, I know real ambassadors. The tolerance of others and the powerlessness and paleness of self are really dwarfed.
One of the details is very nonsensical. The father opened the door privately and came to his daughter's house and hid in the cabinet. The daughter screamed and exclaimed in fright. The strange thing was that the old father took out the handcuffs and handcuffed the daughter. He thought it was a joke, but the joke turned out to be true. , he couldn't find the handcuff key, so he could only go out and ask someone to open it. The handcuffs are the deadlock between the father and the daughter. The embarrassment of this appearance shows that the father and daughter are not on the same channel. Of course, is there a problem with the settings of the film, too much banter.
In the end, Ines' naked birthday party falls into the trap of self-defeating misunderstandings that shame her father. In the film, in order to stimulate the father, the daughter deliberately asks the father to take drugs with him. The father, who had angina pectoris, had to play on the scene to cater to it. Her father always embarrassed her, and it seemed to her that she was bored to death. Until they returned to Germany together and sent away his old mother. The father and daughter were in the green courtyard, and everything seemed to be quiet.
At this time, Tony Erdman has been restored to Winfred, and the father-daughter relationship has been restored. He said to his daughter, "You ask me the meaning of life. In fact, the key is to seize the moment. The moment is the most difficult to detect. Many things happen in an instant, and only after the fact can be known. When I recall your childhood, when We wait for the bus at a bus stop and everything is fleeting, that's the nature of life and life. Saying that, he left. The daughter was stunned for a while and followed out, like a gentle light, leaving silently. It is the so-called instant arrival of eternity.
The artistry of the film , which integrates multiple media, follows and shakes the camera, gives people a real cinematic feel, direct and hasty. In explaining the psychology and emotions of the characters, it focuses on the essence of playfulness, and a series of small tricks seem extremely inconspicuous, but they are fascinating. Of course, the comical element of my father sometimes makes people feel blunt and contrived, and a little less natural. Deliberate banter will naturally detract from artistic expression. The reason why I say there is a feeling of watching TV is mainly because of the performance techniques. The main axis is simple and delicate, and it still belongs to the traditional way, but it is a bit procrastinating.
In addition, the jumping nature of the film also makes us a little scumbag. Shots that the director could save, like flying from Germany to Bucharest, were all omitted. A plot continues with another plot almost instantaneously, and the jump span is also very large. The purpose of omitting complicated and unnecessary narratives is to cut into the importance of the character's presence more quickly, and make the father and daughter collide more closely, which has an obvious effect.
But there is a gain and a loss. Because of the jump of the lens, simplicity and simplicity are two different things. The jump is for a better narrative, to master the rhythm of the narrative, and the simplicity contains poetry. Except for the ending, we basically can't see the simplicity and mellowness of the film, perhaps this is the bitterness of "Tony Erdman". Of course, it's also its downside. It seems that they have no leisurely poetry to express.
At the beginning of the film, Winfred's brother, to a man who delivered a courier, said that Tony was still sleeping, he just got out of prison, and yesterday forced a prostitute to eat dog food. To put it bluntly, he's an asshole. When Winfred came out lounging, he said my brother was a total bullshit. The banter speaks volumes about the bleakness of Winfred's life. In the end, the father and daughter did not reach a settlement, and the daughter still had to continue her life journey. The father can disappear as much as possible, but he can only be confined to the world of himself. It becomes almost impossible for a person to change and influence a person in modern society.
There is also an inconspicuous detail in the film, a pair of beggars dressed as Roma, who are sent away by Gerald's glamorous group. This shows that the integration of human beings is only verbal, and it falls on countries and individuals, and how long it is. The mutual learning and integration of civilizations has become even more distant under the shadow of extreme terrorism. Come to think of it, the reality of Europe is already at a severe crossroads. A single anti-terrorism problem is enough for them to have a headache.
The urgent reality that Europeans are facing today is whether to “beat the dog” behind closed doors (reducing the inflow of foreign refugees, and do all they can to eliminate potential remaining terrorists), or open the door to accept them (continue to share the refugee quota, this endless and turbulent refugee flow) When is it), it seems that there can only be disagreements, and there will never be a good plan. If you close the door, you are afraid of ruining the reputation of a lifetime, that is, the universal values that exude and benefit the world. Otherwise, frequent terrorist attacks will hurt them. The problem is unsolved but needs to be seriously faced. In such a situation, just like the life of an insane father in the film itself, there is no mood to present it poetically, it is better to be embarrassed to the end and bored to death.
2017, 1, 5
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