Individuals of fairy tales
Looking back at the fairy tales we watch, at important moments in the plot, each individual solves the problem by himself, whether it is a prince, a queen, a peasant, or a blacksmith. When it is critical, they will not send anyone to execute on their behalf, or to speak for themselves. The prince must kill the dragon himself in the forest to win his princess; the queen must bring the poisonous apple to the princess; the princess must accept the sacrifice of magic ritual with her soul. Here, we can say that "the individual of the fairy tale" is a brave subject with desire and practice. The individual in the fairy tale is different from a rational person who believes in fate. Therefore, he will not consider the situation of others, he only needs to bear his own destiny on his shoulders. (As Bazin said: myth can be self-sufficient, its own logic is enough to be convincing.)
The film retains this quality precisely in the screenplay. Therefore, the king wanted to go into the river to assassinate the river monster himself, and the old woman straightened the wrinkles on her body and boarded the king's bed herself (there is no such thing as straightening the wrinkles in the original book), which is undoubtedly a formalization, not a kind of Reality. So what is the significance of the way of images in the sense of fairy tales? We can say that the complexity of image vision just corresponds to the "abbreviation" of the fairy tale plot. In fairy tales, even the most thrilling plots are only a few strokes. "A fire burst out of her heart, which made her restless, and she especially wanted to hear stories. This desire was so strong, Torture her to the death." (A paragraph from the introduction to "Five Days Talk")
Fairy tales lack personalized psychological descriptions (in fairy tales, only some words similar to "scared", "shame", "fascinated", "unfortunate"... such stereotypes are used in fairy tales. What is important in fairy tales is events), perhaps for a better oral communication, and to create an "isolation" from the audience, so as to achieve the instructiveness of the story. Therefore, in this film, the director has to find a way to resist the symbolism brought by formalization (for the convenience of interpretation, he may have to leave some more), but also to pursue the effect of "reading isolation". For example, the performance in the movie brings a certain psychological description. So we can see that the king's worry before going down the river to assassinate the river monster is a realistic side; at the same time, the set props in it are rudimentary (and distinctive), which is an unrealistic side .
(The uneasy sigh of John C. Reilly's king before going down the river to assassinate the river monster and the stage set-like stones and monsters)
That is to say, the unreal props explain the director Trying to stage the corresponding plot in a fairy tale. This is really a way of isolation (other than that, the other killer is the segmented narrative).
This seems to be the opposite of what another Italian director Pasolini did when he adapted the myth of Oedipus. Pasolini tries to guarantee the full "reality" of the myth. When he was adapting it, he probably just thought "simply" like this: Oh, this is a story about killing a father and marrying a mother. And the mystery he shoots seems to correspond exactly: in different realities, some people follow bizarre traditions and customs as a kind of sacred belief. And these people are the characters in fairy tales or fairy tales. That is the mystical reality of the age of civilization.
(The lack of meaning in "Matthew's Gospel", for Pasolini, an amateur actor - or an "amateur" performance is a must)
(Salma. Hayek's face. The face of a star is impossible to completely give up the strength of "acting", whether in terms of occupational disease or as a symbol)
The adaptation of Pasolini is also an interesting aspect, and there will be opportunities in the future Discuss it again.
In addition, the film as a whole has an inexplicable sense of suspense. There are many follow-up shots behind the characters, or in front of the characters. In a turbulent atmosphere, everyone thinks that things seem to go darker. when developing further. This is a kind of inertia brought about by the lens. Including the use of music is also promoting this. Many times in the twins story I thought Elias was going to kill his mother just to be with his friends, of course because of the unease about the twins' weirdness - including how weird they looked, but also because In the film, there is a lot of use of Steadicam motion shots that express uncertainty and the scheduling of actors' postures.
But in the end the twins showed a real brotherhood and naturalized the weirdness, which is one aspect I really like. Although I do not doubt that the restraint it shows—the restraint of the spectacle—is based on the insight and structure of the allegory, but is the shaping of the suspenseful atmosphere just a form of kitsch? In the face of such a star-gathered, transnationally-produced film, the director's options may not be limitless, so let's take it as an irony for the time being.
View more about Tale of Tales reviews
