The Soviet school
of montage, in stark contrast to the Italian neorealist school so admired by Bazin, believed that the art of cinema was rooted in editing. Reality is ambiguous and ambiguous, and in Soviet cinema, which has the function of political propaganda, ambiguity and ambiguity are not allowed. The audience has room to think and evaluate for themselves. As an effective means of interpreting the inner meaning of things, inducing the audience's emotional feelings in the impact of the lens and the lens, and allowing the audience to passively accept the film's position, montage was used by Soviet filmmakers to an unparalleled level.
Formalism
In "Ivan the Terrible", the grand scenery, gorgeous costumes, exaggerated performances, rigorous photographic composition, and strong chiaroscuro are all imprinted with the style of formalist films. Eisenstein's portrayal of the character Ivan the Terrible has become the most metaphorical symbol in the film. Under Ai's lens, Ivan seems to have some indescribable divinity. His thin face with a goatee not only shows supreme majesty and power, but also symbolizes extreme evil and brutality.
In the last scene of the film, when the people of Moscow, holding up icons and crosses, lined up to the village of Alexandria to beg Ivan to return to the palace, Ivan stood on the high steps, the close-up showed his profile, he was slightly lowered Head, as far as the eyes can see, you can see the vague and small figures in the crowd in the distant view. Seeing this, I am afraid that anyone will have this feeling - Ivan has become a god at this time, and he is standing aloft, accepting the worship of his hundreds of millions of people.
A feature
of this film is the ubiquitous close-up. The function of close-up shots is to emphasize and magnify, to direct the audience's attention to what the director wants to emphasize, and to magnify the subtlest changes in emotions to the eyes of the audience.
At the beginning of the film, it is pointed out by the narrator: "This film describes the first giant who unified Russia in the 16th century. It describes the Grand Duke of Moscow who created a unified and prosperous country from the feudal aristocratic principality, and describes the establishment of martial arts in A commander-in-chief of the East and the West is described as the first emperor to put the crown of Russia on his head in order to accomplish these great things." Immediately afterwards, the bell rang, and a crown studded with jewels appeared in the camera. middle. This close-up has a double function, it first indicates the scene that is taking place, which is the coronation of Ivan becoming Tsar of Russia, and secondly it is also a footnote to the narration above, which is meant to say that this is a story about power.
In addition to the close-ups of various props, the facial close-ups of various characters are full of the whole movie. It is true that close-ups help to enhance the emotional appeal and drama, but so many close-ups also interfere with the coherence of the plot development, slowing down the rhythm of the film, sacrificing the naturalness and smoothness of the narrative, especially getting used to the fast pace. Contemporary audiences of Hollywood blockbusters are extremely uncomfortable.
Each frame of the light and shadow
"Ivan the Terrible" is taken out individually, and it can be described as an excellent photographic work. Especially the clever use of shadows in the film is worth pondering.
In the passage where Ivan meets the British envoy, a huge shadow of Ivan appears on the wall. Afterwards, the globe and the envoy in front of Ivan were also projected onto the wall. There were no real characters in the lens, but only the white wall and these three shadows. Ivan's shadow is on the left side of the picture, condescendingly watching the planet in front of him and the subjects on the planet, while the shadow of the British envoy is squeezed to the lower right corner of the picture, appearing humble and insignificant.
This group of shots is still a metaphor for "God", and it also shows Ivan's political ambitions. His eyes are not only on the Russian land, when other nobles are still thinking about the little vested interests in front of him, his eyes have already crossed the Baltic Sea, and his ultimate goal is to firmly hold the earth in his hands. God-like figure.
tyrant or lord
If Eisenstein can finish the third part of "Ivan the Terrible" as originally planned, perhaps we can see the interpretation of the story of Repin's famous painting "Ivan Killing the Son" on the big screen. Although called "the terrifying Ivan", Eisenstein did not highlight the tyranny of the tsar in this film. Although it also involved the killing of nobles, the nobles in the film acted as obstacles to the unification of Russia's wealth and power. of evil forces, and their killing received no sympathy at all. Instead, it was Ivan the Terrible, who was portrayed as a wise monarch with great ambitions to save Russia from being torn apart.
However, as the so-called "one will succeed, all bones will die", no matter what Eisenstein or Stalin himself thinks about Ivan's actions, and no matter how future generations evaluate the tsar's merits and demerits, whether he regards him as a realization Russia's unified and prosperous generation of Ming monarchs are still regarded as brutal and bloodthirsty totalitarian rulers. There is no doubt that power confuses the boundaries between gods and devils. Under the high throne, there are always piles of bones... …
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