"August: Osage County" is a film that I accidentally read on bilibili. The tags are "The Stars Rip", "Theatrical Adaptation", the Stars Rip, Well, the stars are really shining, Aunt Mei, Big Mouth Roberts, Ivan, miss sunshine, Benny...Theatrical adaptation, well, it can be compared with "The Killing", which was adapted from a single scene by Polanski's drama a few years ago. So, I took the label and started watching movies.
At the beginning of the film, it even said "life is very long" twice. TS Eliot said it. Of course, many people have said this sentence, "life is very long". This sentence is accompanied by several scenes. The Badlands of the American South, The Badlands, yes, a poem by TS Eliot, the foundation of modern poetry. At the beginning, these blockbuster shots of the southern plains and a few sentences are quite meaningful. Immediately after that, the whole story was tediously unfolded by several important dialogues. During these two hours, a family with three daughters in the small town of Osage County in the south of the United States unearthed not uncommon secrets. In Love Wants to Kill, the scenes are revealed.
Based on the principle of no spoilers, I don’t want to talk too much about the plot itself. Since it is a movie adapted from a drama, the drama is naturally quite full of conflicts, the scenes are monotonous and the characters are few, and the important actors are doing their best to explode them. There are very few places where the director can play. The plot advancement and dramatic conflict are all completed by the actors and dialogues. It's not just a simple empty shot, it may also hint at the background of this family story. If you don't understand the living background of the American South, how can you understand this family living in the American South? After the film, I asked Du Niang, "Where is Osage County?" Du Niang didn't know, but I figured it out myself. Maybe it was a small town in the southern United States, the hometown of Native American Indians, hot, dry, suitable for There is very little land for cultivation, poor living conditions and so on. When the old couple in the story is still living in this desolate and miserable town, and the daughters go to other places to make a living, is it even more unbearable to endure each other? Is life too long to be hopeless?
Anyone who has watched this film will surely be impressed by the shocking drama and Aunt Mei's amazing acting skills. Aunt Mei perfectly portrays a perennial drug addict who looks crazy and is fragile and sober in the heart and pretends to be strong and mean mother. Bringing the acting skills of several big names who played against her to a higher level also has a sense of sight, and of course, because of her excellent interpretation of the role, several tearing battles are even more exciting. But I think this movie can be made better, from several different angles, such as a more realistic drama style, more prominent characters, more intense dramatic conflict, as simple and rude as "Killing" to give the audience a direct impact. Another example is this family ethics theme, the characters' feelings and inner drama can be handled more delicately, and a little exaggerated is like "Shouting and Whispering", which appeals to the feelings between the three sisters on the expressions of the characters in the close-up camera. So the problem still lies with the director. This director focuses on simple storytelling and several family conflicts. On the premise of a good script, it can give people a deeper shock and thought.
Finally, let’s talk about the theme of the film that many people have said and written. Some people have quoted Eileen Chang’s saying “life is a gorgeous robe full of lice”, and Shakespeare also said “life is full of noise and commotion , but can't find any meaning." Well, "The Sound and the Fury", Faulkner's masterpiece, also tells the story of a family in the American South. At that time, the American South was still full of slaves, and of course it was equally cruel. The reason why I like this film, which is actually poor, may be because of its cruel theme. The pleasure of turning on my robe and full of lice is all my wickedness, and we still love it under the truth of life is all I have absolute sincerity.
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