Celebrities, nostalgia, absurdity, irony, kidnapping, scandal, these points are enough to become a gimmick, make "Long Live Caesar" fun and beautiful.
But what the Coen brothers really want to do, as the Communist Writers League said to Clooney (except for the protagonist below, the actor name is mainly used instead of the role name) is to carry his own ideological goods in the script.
Almost all of this review has spoilers, so I won't be reminded anymore. But since the discussion is about interpretation below the surface, it has to be so. Dear readers choose to leave immediately or continue reading.
To say that a work has multiple levels of interpretation requires a clear entry point, reveal a flaw and tell the audience, "I want to say more than what you see", and the person who sees it can walk
in when I see it. , I clearly realized this when Mannex watched "Long Live Caesar".
Clooney performed perfectly with the actors and the lighting set, from far to close to the end, walking through the crowd to the cross, and when the super close-up fell on his face, he forgot the words.
Isn’t it a bit weird to spend a lot of time and effort but to fall short of success, and abolish useless materials but let the person in charge see it?
Next, everyone reminded Clooney that the word he forgot was
Faith.
Yes, in my opinion, "Long Live Caesar" is about faith.
From this perspective, everything can form a new interpretation. For example, the protagonist's surname is Mannex, which means that this is a movie about people and beliefs.
Next, let’s take a look at what "Long Live Caesar" says from the perspective of people and beliefs.
The United States in the 1950s was plunged into an unprecedented crisis of faith.
Under the flowers, Capitol Pictures is full of extramarital affairs (actress Johnson and director Lambert-Highlander starring), homosexuality (director Fiennes and actor Clooney), alcoholism and other behaviors;
Representatives of the four schools of Abrahamics praised the script and the characters after a heated discussion of the doctrine, and did not really care about the current situation of their sect.
Religious beliefs are declining, and ideology will occupy the corresponding position. The League of Screenwriters representing Hollywood minds abandoned religious beliefs and embraced communism/socialism.
If only here, what "Long Live Caesar" does is only present the level. Next, they (again!) delved into the human situation and gave their own answers.
First, they told the audience that Mannex was powerless. His sense of control is all hallucinations.
The wife told his son that he wanted to change his position on the baseball team. He completely forgot. The son was very happy in the new position.
Johnson was pregnant and needed to get married, but the child’s father Lambert was married and Scarlett could not marry him. So Mannex came up with a genius plan for false adoption. As a result, Johnson and Jonah Hill got married at first sight;
Swinton (sisters) had been threatening Mannex to expose the gay scandal between Clooney and Fiennes, and he wanted to exchange it with new gossip. To seal up, the source of Channing defected to the Soviet Union, and the scandal could never be seen again;
Clooney was kidnapped by the writers’ league and disappeared, and Mannex was completely helpless. As a result, the new action actor Ellen Ritchie was extremely clever and brought peace (both both). Can't say save) Return to the actor, the loss will be less than a day.
In these four things, Mannex’s efforts were all in vain; and these four things all happened on the same day, is it too many coincidences to come together, or as the Bible says, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" ?
Next, they presented people of different beliefs and their circumstances.
A crowd of Hollywood people who had lost their faith walked by in a muddle-headed way. Clooney listened to a communist sermon and immediately wanted to join. After being slapped by Mannex, he returned to a blank state;
Channing, who believes in communism, and the other screenwriters , Loss of money and freedom (Chaining who defected to the Soviet Union believes this is also the case);
Mannex and Ellenrich who believe in (broadly) Christianity (people from Texas or some other southern state, the probability of not being religious is too small), they will eventually see a rainbow after the storm;
an important figure here is the editor Mike saved by Mannex Dormond; Without her wonderful hand, Ellenrich's romance film is just a shit, and neither he nor Mannex had a good time. Joel is not a random role in putting his wife on the mirror.
Finally, they put their foothold in "choice."
Mannex is a devout believer. Not only does he confess every day, but (in his opinion) he commits sin at most by smoking with his wife behind his back. Although he beat Clooney, he also pulled Clooney back from his path to communism. , For his status as a believer, it may not be useless.
In this film, when he faces Lockheed's offer, it is not only a job, it is actually a big choice between good and evil.
In this film, Lockheed appears as a representative of evil temptation.
What they are involved in is the research on hydrogen bombs that can "trigger the Third World War";
what they provide is the temptation of increasing money again and again;
most importantly, the headhunters who recruit Mannex will hand him cigarettes every time-as long as Mannex is here Losing at one point is tantamount to being defeated. The following metaphor is self-evident, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the Satan of Mannex.
At the end of the film, Mannex, who has been swaying, made a choice under the inspiration of the priest, rejected the evil temptation, and chose the difficult but right path in his heart.
At this point, the presentation and discussion of faith by the Coen brothers has finally come to an end. Their attitude could not be obvious.
Looking back, can it be said that the Coen brothers also gave their own answers in the face of the current state of faith?
And seeing you here, how did you feel about your initial choice?
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