There is only one Clint Eastwood in this world. At the age of 89 this year, he brought his self-directed and self-acted movie "Mule" to the big screen in the mainland. It was released for 3 days and the box office just passed 2.5 million.
The film "Mule" has been watched. Objectively speaking, it has a full score of five stars and it is worthy of four-star recommendation . This is a very interesting story: Old Earle is a gardener who grows flowers. He has superb skills in planting flowers and often wins championships in various flower art competitions.
But on the back of these champions, Old Earle was obsessed with planting flowers and was alienated from his family. Because he was busy with work, he never celebrated any wedding anniversary for his wife, which led to the breakdown of the marriage. He also didn't attend his daughter's birthday or even the wedding. This keeps the relationship between Old Earle and his family at a freezing point.
Sadly, the flower planting career that Old Earle sacrificed to switch to is also facing a crisis. Because his flower garden did not open the most popular online shop nowadays, Old Earle, a gold medal gardener for many years, was eliminated by the times.
The old Earl who lost his career is like losing his most beloved toy. He was at a loss and wanted to return to his family for the first time in his life. At the engagement banquet of his granddaughter, he met a young man who recommended a job to Old Earle. The specific content of the job, the young man did not say, let Old Earle go to the interview by himself. The place of the interview was a rudimentary garage, in which was a gang of thugs. What Old Earle had to do was to help the bandits carry the mysterious package. He can't ask or open the package, just drive. The reward for a run is very generous, which is a sky-high price for Old Earle. At this time, Old Earle had no other choice, such a good job, let's do it.
In fact, at this point in the plot, you don't need to watch Old Earle later check the package, you also know what is in the package. The old Earl, who knew everything, had also experienced the war of bullets when he was young, and he was not afraid when he arrived at dusk again. He slowly began to enjoy the journey of crime. Even Old Earle had a youthful moment on the journey.
As Old Earle delivered goods more and more smoothly, he changed from a gold medal gardener to a "gold medal mule" in the gang world. He is shipping more and more goods, and his rewards are getting richer. But the gang was raging and infighting. The new boss and his subordinates were not very polite to Old Earl, and for Earl, the pleasant delivery journey was over.
The police were also watching this newly emerged gold mule. Under the double crisis, Old Earle also caught up with his ex-wife's child who was critically ill. He didn't want to miss it again this time, so instead of delivering the goods according to the gang's plan, he carried the goods halfway to his wife's house. He caught up with his wife for the last time.
Old Earl, who attended the funeral, knew that the police and gangs were looking for him frantically now. He drove on the road again. At this time, the old Earl was already hopeless, because the family forgave him for the last trip with his ex-wife. When he was intercepted by the police halfway and sitting in the courtroom, under the watchful eyes of the whole family, he did not defend but took the initiative to plead guilty. To some extent, he has redeemed himself.
At the end of the movie, Old Earle was in the prison flowerbed, and he was doing his job again. This old man, who had been on the road of crime, went round and round and returned to the origin of life again.
"Mule" is the 41st work of Eastwood's directorial career and the 75th work of his actor career. It uses a true story that happened in the United States to interpret an absurd story unique to the elderly. Regardless of whether it is in the play or the character portrayal, it is as neat as a textbook. And it also carried Eastwood's as always tough guy aura.
In the resume of this old man who is nearly 90 years old and still creating, you will see: He won the Oscar 5 times. He is the winner of the Double Life Achievement Award at the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals. He won the Golden Globe Awards 5 times. He won the French Film Caesar Award four times. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, and Producer Association. He has won four awards at the American Film Institute. Even the Film Academy Awards in Japan awarded him 4 trophies. It can be said that Eastwood is a living movie legend.
Born in Eastwood during the Great Depression in the United States, his father was a worker in a steel mill. In the depression era, he often had to follow his parents everywhere, because no steel mill did not lay off employees frequently. In 1949, when the Second World War ended, Eastwood had just graduated from high school. During the summer vacation that year, in order to supplement his family, he went to work at gas stations everywhere.
While working, his handsome appearance was picked up by a cheering film agent. Under his recommendation, Eastwood went to audition for a B-level film. A year later, he was admitted to the acting major of Los Angeles University and dreamed of being an actor.
After graduation, like all young people with dreams of acting, Eastwood went to Hollywood. For Hollywood directors and producers, a wild boy like Eastwood is hard to tame at first glance. He always dangled a cigarette on the set and squinted at people. This resulted in Eastwood only having some pure dragon roles to play at the time. For example, in the 1955 B-level film "Tarrantula", Eastwood only appeared for a while at the end, but still half of his face appeared on the screen:
Even so, Eastwood still did not change his crude image. He was still on the set with a cigarette in his mouth, squinting at people, like a cowboy who would draw his gun at you at any time. So in 1959, a western cowboy drama called "The Whip" came to him. Eastwood found a suitable role positioning, and finally squeezed into the mainstream world of Hollywood.
Based on this role, Eastwood ushered in his first peak as an actor . He took over the filming of the classic Western cowboy classic "Red Dead Redemption" by the Italian director Sergio Leone.
In this Eastwood's fame, he is transformed into a righteous cowboy wandering around, his marksmanship is lightning fast. If you observe carefully, you will find that his appearance is exactly the same set on the set: dangling a cigarette, squinting, and looking at you uninhibitedly.
"Red Dead Redemption" is a trilogy. After that, "The Fistful of Twilight" and "The Good, the Good and the U.S." have both ushered in success in Europe and the United States. They completely set the shape for the actor Eastwood- he is a lone hero.
After acting in seven or eight western cowboy shootout films, Eastwood was tired of copying "Red Dead Redemption" every day. He wanted to transform and set up a production company by himself using the money he saved in the past few years. With the help of being a producer, his desire to be a director is also ready to move. At this time, there was an opportunity to get rid of the cowboy shackles and to participate in the directing of the action part of the movie. This is the "Dirty Harry" series depicting urban beast detectives.
When making this film, Eastwood, as the funder, negotiated with the director and set aside a part of the action scene for him to try the shot. In order not to make the rest of the crew feel abrupt, the director also asked for a leave of absence because of a cold when filming that action scene. Eastwood, who first directed the tube, didn't mess things up. It only took him a day to finish a high-altitude scene in the movie with complicated scheduling.
After "Dirty Harry", Eastwood, who tasted the director's pleasure, gradually ceased to be interested in pure performance. He began to direct and act by himself. With the assistance of a production company, Eastwood made five films in one go. By the time of the sixth "Western Law Enforcer", Eastwood was 46 years old, perhaps a late bloomer, this sixth directorial work was nominated for an Oscar for the first time .
But "The Enforcer of the West" is not a breakthrough for Eastwood. It is also a story of a lonely cowboy, but the background is placed in the American Civil War. Since then, "The Pale Knight", nominated by the Palme d'Or in Cannes, also followed the old path. In order to find a broader subject matter, Eastwood has tried various types.
He filmed "Sky of War" on the subject of war. He also participated in a fantasy American drama "Legend of Surprise" with Spielberg. By 1988, the 58-year-old Eastwood decided not to be so blind to killing mice. He wanted to make a story about his favorite jazz musician. He succeeded. With this "Jazzman", Eastwood starred in Whitaker and won the Cannes actor award. Also because of "Jazzman", Eastwood has touched his own directing pulse.
The affirmation brought by "Jazzman" made Eastwood realize that technology and form are not important. From the heart, dig deeper into the characters and stories, is the future of the director. Adhering to this principle, the 1992 "Unforgivable" was shortlisted for 9 Oscars, and finally won four laurels including best director and best film.
The story of "Unforgivable" is a retired old assassin who, in the face of the reality that persecutes himself, once again shot a cruel fable of killing. In the movie, Eastwood, directed and acted by himself, was a frightening murderer. In order to protect his family, he returned to the ordinary and has been tolerating his violent desires. He quit drinking, threw away his gun, raised pigs, and became a dirty farmer.
When someone came to the door and said that he wanted to give him a sum of money to let him kill again, he hesitated. But swine fever is permeating the pigpen, and the children do not choose food or clothing when they are hungry. This former demon king decided to go out of the mountain in the harsh wind.
If you think that the next plot is that the old killer is going all over the world by himself, then you are back to the old path of a lonely hero. In fact, the Eastwood marksmanship in the film has long been missed because it hasn't killed anyone for more than ten years. Riding a horse, he will fall because of old age.
This old man who seemed to be panting on foot was beaten up in a bar, fell to the ground and climbed out of the bar. His injured body groaned, as if he would no longer draw his gun. But when the old man who was walking with him was humiliated and killed, the devil drank strong wine, and he woke up.
The flames of revenge were burning, and the old killer's pistol was on fire, and blood ran into rivers. The people who had underestimated him finally saw the absolute coldness in the eyes of the god of killing. He said to the enemy who insulted his friend: "I kill women and children... I kill all those who can walk and climb. Now, I am here to kill you."
"Unforgivable" is such a movie that breaks the laws of Western films. It has not created any sharpshooter legend, the old killer in the movie, his marksmanship is bad, and his skills are clumsy. He didn't seem to want to kill anyone at all. But he could suddenly violent at the last minute and kill everyone, only because his anger made him extremely vicious. He understands that the core of violent violence is to shoot, shoot, and shoot desperately.
Such a design pulled the legendary sharpshooters off the altar. Eastwood uses "Unforgivable" to deconstruct the type of Western movie he represents: no one wants to become a desperado, but the world is hard and dangerous.
"Unforgivable" opened up Eastwood's directorship career and governor. A year later, he directed the road film "Perfect World", where the robbers and children from single-parent families traversed Texas. This American version of "The Summer of Kikujiro" is teary and tender.
The old cowboy who became gentle, then brought Aunt May Streep together to stage the love drama of "The Bridge of Madison County". But what the old man is really good at is the subject of crime. "Mystic River" in 2003, a suspenseful movie about how the shadow of childhood caused a murderous murder. Its depth and complexity are the pinnacle of Eastwood's creation so far. I don't want to talk about this film too much, because I want to leave it to "Pianpian Suspense Club".
"Mystic River" brought Eastwood two more gold-rich Oscar trophies. Eastwood was 73 years old by then. The old man, he turned around and filmed the four Oscar-winning "Million Dollar Baby". At this time, Eastwood has become a god.
"Million Dollar Baby" is a very special boxing movie. It doesn't give you an inspirational story of boxers fighting against rivals. Instead, it tells you a story about how a girl with boxing dreams worked hard and failed completely in the end.
The boxing girl in the movie is desperate for dreams. She is like a fierce she-wolf who just wants to succeed. But there are more brutal beasts in the forest, and when she is defeated, her life comes to an end. Paralyzed by her opponent, she begged the coach to unplug her breathing tube because she could no longer stand on the boxing ring.
Such a frustrating boxing story, unexpected, is still the spiritual totem of countless boxers. Why? Because it speaks out the unique charm of boxing : born to boxing, and dead for boxing. Conversely, it is a true dream chaser, and broken dreams are equivalent to death. In his seventies, Eastwood is still so passionate in his soul.
After "Million Dollar Baby" burned Eastwood's blood, he directed the commentary "Letter from Iwo Jima" and "Flag of Father". Two major war films were made in the same year , and the elderly man made countless young directors embarrassed.
In the past two years, Eastwood basically has a rhythm of one to two films a year, constantly acting as a director. His "Suspicious Cloud for Children" used a bizarre serial murder of children to put Angelina Jolie on the stage of Oscar nominations. In 2009, he used the story of South African President Mandela and the rugby team to put Matt Damon under the light of Oscars. Eastwood continued to support his younger generations. In 2014's "American Sniper", Bradley Cooper was one step away from the Oscar actor.
In the new work "Mule", Eastwood not only called Cooper again, but also called his daughter Alison Eastwood. She performed in real life in "The Mule" and also played the daughter of the old mule. In fact, because he is busy with directing career and extramarital affairs, Eastwood is indeed the same as the old mule in the film, and his relationship with his family is very cold. But because of "Mule", he repaired this relationship.
At the premiere of the movie, Eastwood called all his children. This includes the father's illegitimate daughter Laurie Eastwood. In 1954, when Laurie was young, he was sent to a friend's house in Eastwood. For more than 60 years, the old man has not admitted this daughter. When filming "The Mule", Eastwood saw himself in the old mule Earl. So before the filming was finished, he publicly admitted his mistake and accepted the illegitimate daughter.
After "Mule", the 89-year-old Eastwood has two more movies to make. One is "Life Hanging by a Thread", which he will be screened when he is 90 years old, a dangerous story about trespassing into the headquarters of terrorists. The other is "The Elegy of Richard Jouville", which he will release when he is 100 years old, which will describe a crisis in the Olympics. After 100 years old, Eastwood has not had a chance. I believe he will continue to shoot, 101 years old, 102 years old, 103 years old...
After all, for Eastwood, people are "veterans who are not dead, but withered." And he is "the veteran will never die if he doesn't die . " Call for such a hardworking old man. I hope that when I was 89 years old, I could be like Elder Yi, still in small and big livers.
Blessed Elder Yi to live a hundred years, and worshipped.
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