What kind of flowers can the story of one person and one corpse tell? The answer is: not only can tell about flowers, but also about warmth and philosophy. "Swiss Army Knife Man", a story about a man who was helped by a man's corpse to escape from a deserted island and let himself be redeemed. The plot is absurd enough, and Daniel Radcliffe (player of Harry Potter) is sacrificed enough (not only played a male corpse but also dedicated his hairy pp many times). "The Fallen Leaves Return to the Roots", a story about an old man who sent his corpse back to his homeland thousands of miles away. There is laughter and tears, surrealism rooted in social reality, and the black humor of the Coen brothers (in this year the Coen brothers released their absurdist culmination of No Country for Old Men). Chinese and American directors have performed well in their respective cultural backgrounds, especially director Zhang Yang who still told such a down-to-earth story without touching the red line. And the young American director has brought the American spirit of exploration to the extreme. Although the two directors tell two completely different stories, and even the themes to be expressed are different, there is no denying that both films are good enough. Where do they win?
First of all, winning is based on the idea. Needless to say, this setting has killed most movies and even independent experimental movies.
Second, the winning is in the way of presentation. Putting this kind of story in the hands of ordinary directors can only use the tear-jerking method (see Feng Xiaogang's movie "Tangshan Earthquake", to use Feng Xiaogang's words: not crying is not a person. Although Director Feng just won the holy game with "I am not Pan Jinlian" The best film at the Bastian Film Festival, I still won't show mercy to "Tangshan Earthquake". And Zhang Yang, the director of "Leaving Leaves Returning to the Roots", is a frequent visitor to this international A-category film festival. Silver Shell Award). It is probably the most clumsy and despicable way to forcibly drag the audience into the scene by increasing the actors' crying scenes and hypocritical lines to create tears. Such a method is like forcibly adding narration when the plot is difficult to promote, and forcibly adding memories when the character is difficult to describe. But "Swiss Army Knife Man" doesn't do this (it's a tragedy indeed), and the whole film is full of laughs: riding a farting corpse as a motorboat, corpse water dispenser, making fake encounters... although these are a bit heavy and even It's disgusting, but it's undeniable that these bizarre plots made us laugh and move more or less, especially Daniel Radcliffe's smile at the end (well, it may sound a bit strange, but it is the truth. [Laughing and crying]), moved to tears. The Fallen Leaves Return to Roots doesn't do that either. Uncle Benshan showed us that a tragedy can also be very joyful. The bizarre plots can also be very moving: being robbed in a car, eating a banquet for an uncle who gave him a fake funeral, pulling a cart to race with an ox, rolling a car and accidentally falling down a mountain, being corrupted while eating and discovering that there are fake banknotes in his hand, getting a haircut The shop recognizes his niece, and the shelter picks up a girl... Uncle Benshan has encountered countless bizarre things along the way, and always sticks to his original promise and inner bottom line. Especially when he was lying on the hillside with the corpse, and when he saw the beautiful sky, he thought that he might as well go with his brother (there is flat and soothing music here, but it is the most memorable place in the whole film), and tried his best to commit suicide. But unsuccessful, funny and sad. At this time, the sadness and helplessness of the little people are vividly expressed, which makes people feel pity. This plot can definitely be called the essence of the whole film, which instantly raises the theme of the film to a philosophical level (some parts at the end can be ignored, you know) . Taken together, the two films justify that sentence: a true comedy always has a tragic core. People are always promoting optimism, but it is difficult to accept heavy optimism. Humans are really strange.
The theme, "Swiss Army Knife Man" is like a movie version of a novel by Kafka. The bizarre, ghost-like story deduces the profound theme of human alienation and loneliness. And "Falling Leaves Returning to Roots" also depicts the face of China as a whole and the loneliness and helplessness of little people in such a big environment through each of the down-to-earth little plots.
The more movies I watch, the more I like independent movies like "Swiss Army Knife Man". Only such movies will not be subject to too much pressure to return to the original cost and public opinion. This makes it easier for them to focus on the story, rather than special effects, stars, etc. to attract attention. When the audience's focus is on this, when can the audience be said to be mature.
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