In my opinion, the most admired filmmakers are always those who control the overall planning as a director and write stories as a screenwriter. And these filmmakers with two roles, just like what Truffau said above, it’s easy to have one or two works in a long career that describe them as if they wanted to tell the world the true colors of their favorite industries. Life behind the camera. For Truffaut, this work is of course "Days to Make Nights" which he wrote, directed and acted. Looking at the contemporary filmmakers, after finally getting the long-arrear Oscar, Martin Scorsese brought us a love letter to the film "Hugo"; another example is Paul, who was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. • Thomas Anderson, who has been curious about the porn industry since he was a child, brought the chaotic masterpiece "Boogie Nights" about the golden age of the American porn industry when he was 27 years old (I really should find time to write well Take a look at this movie...); Quentin Tarantino, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of movie history, is indispensable. His endless tribute to movie history in "Inglourious Basterds" has been talked about by fans. It's endless.
As one of the best contemporary filmmakers, the Coen brothers are of course unavoidable of this unwritten custom. As early as twenty-five years ago, from the perspective of screenwriters, they brought to everyone "Barton Fink", which satirizes Hollywood's rigid self-use but not innovation. Many fans think it is their best work, and they are obviously quite satisfied, and even plan to make an exception to write a sequel to the tragic screenwriter Fink when they are old. However, they are not old yet, but they have other things to say about Hollywood, so there is this "Long Live Caesar".
Our protagonist is one of the executives of Capital Pictures, Eddie Mannix. Of course, if you know enough about the history of the film industry and know the works of the Coen brothers, you will find it easy to find that these two good filmmakers in the previous sentence have already opened two for us. joke. Where was the last time Capital Films, a fictional film maker, appeared? Of course it is the aforementioned "Barton Fink". And Eddie Mannix, a famous person who really existed in early Hollywood, worked for MGM (MGM), he specializes in solving various difficult problems for companies and superstars.
And our Eddie Mannix, played by Josh Brolin, is also a man who specializes in solving various problems. He wants to convince the well-known director Lawrence (Voldemort Ralph Fiennes) to let a non-acting action actor Cowboy Hobby (Alden Ellenrich), a highlight of the film, I believe it will soon become a Movie star) to participate in his latest feature film; he wants to maintain the image of Diana (Scarlett Johansson), trying to prevent the media from knowing that she will become a single mother; he also always pays attention to the paparazzi sisters ( Tilda Swinton plays two roles) to unearth the company’s ulterior secrets; of course, he also oversees the production of the film studio’s biggest film "Long Live Caesar" this year, but the star Baird (George Clooney) was taken away by a group of mysterious people led by another movie star Bert (Channing Tatum). In addition, he has to think about whether he should accept the invitation of the aviation giant Lockheed to leave the film and television industry.
In addition to the Hollywood superstars mentioned above, there are also a large number of well-known names of movie fans who starred in the film. Including Francis McDomond, one of the regulars of the Coen brothers, the wife and actress of his brother Joel, and Jonah Hill, another twin star in "Dragon and Tiger Boys." Oh, by the way, I seem to have forgotten to say that the combined playing time of the two of them is even less than two minutes, right?
While lamenting the great appeal of the Coen brothers in casting, we also have to admire their attempts at different types of movies. As we all know, the Coen brothers first made a name for themselves with crime suspense films. But in addition, they have also tried comedy and thriller dramas, until the western drama produced many times in recent years. And this time, due to the Hollywood story in the 1950s, they finally couldn't help but play all types of movies again. "Long Live Caesar" is interspersed with the production process of five different types of films, and the protagonist Mannix exists to solve the various dilemmas in these productions. We have Western dramas starring Hobby and feature films directed by Lawrence; we have water musicals starring Diana and dance dramas starring Bert. And the titled "Long Live Caesar", I believe you can also guess that it is an epic drama. It is no exaggeration to say that the limited fragments shown to the audience in these small movies are even more entertaining than many real movies of the same kind on the market, so that at the end of the final film, I even failed to watch these. The full version of the small movie is still not enough. And the Coen brothers continue to show us the fragments of these small movies and their production process in the movies, of course, there is no lack of all kinds of jokes that make people laugh. Although the Coen brothers rarely produced a real genre film, it is not too much to call "Long Live Caesar" a comedy. Director Lawrence and Cowboy Hobby's rivalry can be called the most funny scene in all Cohen's movies, not even one of them. And if you can find many eggs buried in the movie that pay tribute to Hollywood in the 50s, I believe you will laugh more when you eat popcorn.
Another highlight of the film is the photography by Roger Dickens. This 13-time Oscar-nominated master who has not won any awards (it is estimated that he will not win this year), has created the tone of the movie in the movie for the audience. Every movie that the audience saw in "Long Live Caesar" was made from the perspective of the final product at the beginning. However, when we were still immersed in the joy of watching these boutiques, the lens always opened quickly. We see the entire production team. On the one hand, it is in sharp contrast with the joyful atmosphere before, on the other hand, it highlights the huge resources required for the production of a movie and the hard work of the producers. As for the light and shadow effect similar to the film noir every time Mannix confessed, I don’t need to comment too much.
Although "Long Live Caesar" has the above-mentioned commendable advantages, I felt an inexplicable disappointment when I walked out of the movie theater. This may be because the diamond-level cast made my expectations too high, but the 106-minute film length gave all the actors a feeling of underutilization. Many people outside the protagonist Mannix actually deserve longer acting time, such as the cowboy Hobby, who is particularly hilarious. I even think that Jonah Hill’s role is worthy of a whole extra movie because he is so mysterious and interesting. In addition, those carefully considered plays in play were not connected in some way at the end of the film, giving the audience a surprise. Although this may be an excessively demanding requirement for ordinary filmmakers, the Coen brothers are not comparable to ordinary filmmakers. Regarding these branches that have been given a lot of space and sufficient preparation, in the end, there is no summary ending, which is a little regrettable, let alone those discussions about party politics.
In fact, the discussion of the significance of the film industry may be one of the few questions in the seemingly superficial "Long Live Caesar" that tries to make the audience think. We can clearly see the love of the Coen brothers for movies in every small movie. But as ordinary viewers, we can always only see a piece of joy and peace in the lens, but we don't know that there are hundreds of people working hard day and night behind the lens. The Coen brothers, as the best filmmakers, certainly have the right to use a film to discuss the film industry. What is the Hollywood film industry, perhaps, as the funny Lockheed agent said when he tried to find Mannix to quit, "Rather than serving in this circus, it is better to be a decent and respectable person. work".
In addition, while "Long Live Caesar" simply makes people laugh, it doesn't seem to try to explore other deeper issues. Maybe it's just that I didn't care too much?
Having said that, the Coen brothers actually injected enough material into almost every film they made. But whether to over-interpret these films, they are always left to the audience to decide for themselves. And "Long Live Caesar" is no exception. After all the ostensibly discussions about the Hollywood film industry, a potentially big theme of the film is obviously the discussion of faith. Including the discussion of Jesus at the beginning, four people of different faiths on a large table gave completely different and contradictory statements. This discussion with the Rabbi and the Christian priests is fun enough in itself, but whether to go to a deeper interpretation depends entirely on the choices of different audiences. Another example is Mannix, the protagonist. If ordinary audiences just want to enjoy the discussion about his work beliefs throughout the film, it does not matter. But the interesting thing about the movie "Long Live Caesar" is that the protagonist who wipes people's buttocks everywhere, the only protagonist in the movie who has not done anything wrong, is the only one we see People who feel morally conflicted. The characters that other audiences have come into contact with are somewhat shameful, but they have never regretted it. And what about Mannix? He was a person who went to church to confess twice in 27 hours, and even felt guilty for smoking an extra cigarette. Perhaps the Coen brothers just wanted to use this role to tell everyone that these people in society who are not awkward in shape are actually the most tortured. Of course, there are also discussions about the different political opinions in the Hollywood blacklist, as well as other more profound topics that need to be decoded, I will not elaborate on them one by one.
Although I am usually someone who can overinterpret movies, I don't want to think too much about what "Long Live Caesar" presents this time, because the movie itself obviously did not choose to pursue a deeper meaning. For me, this is no problem. "Long Live Caesar" is like when the Coen brothers suddenly wanted to write a comedy like "Murdering Green Toes" while on vacation, they lay down on a beach chair and lightly wrote an entertaining script, but this time the theme is In the film industry, the setting is Hollywood in the 1950s. As an audience, if you can read the subtle tributes and the indispensable religious jokes in the movie, you can certainly laugh more happily. But it doesn't matter if you don't understand, because there are enough stories on the surface of the movie to make people laugh.
Will it be my top ten works this year? Probably not, but I had a good belly laugh in the cinema. Really, not all movies need to have an overly profound interpretation like "Serious Man", and "Long Live Caesar" is just a comfortable movie that just needs to enjoy the process.
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