This is another global film, co-produced by the United States and France, and directed by the British Scottish female director Lynne Ramsey, a crime action violent police gangster emotional drama. Starring Joaquin Phoenix was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to a Jewish mother and an English, German and French father. Seeing this, do you feel that you have already made a half circle around the global village?
The film tells the story of a killer. After completing a murder mission, Killer Joe received another order: to find the "daughter" of a state senator who was sold into prostitution. Unexpectedly, he was involved in a political dispute. Joe's mother and manager were killed one after another. He was determined to seek revenge. After searching and fighting, he found nothing.
The usual action movie's routine is that one word does not agree, fists and feet are added; And this film is very unique, there are few hearty fights and moving and killing, and all the plots are interpreted from the perspective of Killer Joe. Every scene has Joe's presence. The rhythm of the whole film is very slow, and the story unfolds without haste. There are constantly flashbacks of the camera in the middle, interspersed with Joe's memories of his past life, allowing us to understand Joe's life, suffering from father's domestic violence, mother's care, and overseas battlefield experience. Joe's character is as warm as spring to his relatives, as enthusiastic as summer for his work, as ruthless as the autumn wind sweeps leaves to murder, and cruel and ruthless to his enemies as harsh winter.
He was full of love for his mother and took good care of her. Killing people and saving people is his job. After signing the agreement, he earnestly fulfills it and earns a living. It is precisely because of this profession that he is not restricted by law that he has become a marginal person in society. There is no sense of achievement and no public recognition. Nina, who was rescued by her, was a young prostitute. Since she was a child, she had been played by politicians and businessmen who seemed to be sanctimonious. She was helpless and on the edge of society.
There is a scene where Joe sees his mother being killed and gets so angry that he shoots the two killers who killed his mother. One was dead, and the other was seriously wounded and dying. At this time, Joe lost his closest relatives, all his thoughts were lost, and he slowly lay beside the dying murderer. The hands of the two unknowingly held together, and almost simultaneously hummed the song "Never Have Myself", which implied the theme of the film "You were never here". They know that there is no injustice or enmity between them, both of them are killers, and they cherish each other. Of course, their actions cannot be said to be just, but they have a lot of helplessness, they are just pawns at the mercy of those politicians.
Seeing this, it is natural to think of "House of Cards". A TV series that truly reflects the status quo of the upper class in the United States. For their own interests, politicians do not hesitate to use all means, and they do not hesitate to use the blood of the people at the bottom to dye their red tops. Compared with dictators such as Amin and Suharto, one is doing bad things naked, and the other is doing bad things in the guise of democracy. I have always believed that the idea of democracy is a good thing. But what society has really established institutions to realize the ideals of democracy? Just a little more hypocrisy.
In the West, politics, like business, has its ups and downs. What is gained is profit and money, what is lost is morality. Just as businessmen are desperate to get money, politicians are recklessly grabbing political interests. Those acts of killing people at will, regardless of the law and regardless of morality, are the most normal means for them. In this way, they lose their normal human nature. After becoming a political animal and an economic animal, those family, friendship, love, etiquette, righteousness, honor, morality and laws are all unimportant. They are all words used to defend one's own image and weapons used to accuse opponents.
People at the top act recklessly, but it is the people at the bottom who are unlucky, especially marginalized people like Joe and Nina. Joe and Nina are both small people, they are powerless and do not want to change the society, even powerless to change their own destiny. I just want to live in the cracks of society. But society does not leave them even this hope. It seems like they never existed. I remembered Wang Lifa's words in "Tea House": "These dogs and girls are all alive and delicious, why don't I allow me to eat wowtou?" At the end of the film, Nina asked Qiao: "Where are you going? Joe said: "I don't know, where do you want to go?" Nina said: "I don't know either." The future life is so far away and so confused for them, they only have an unbearable past, no future, no hope. Only the walking dead live.
The soundtrack to the film is great. Fits perfectly with the screen. The director seems to be making such an attempt: not relying on lines to develop the plot, but relying on images to speak. Maybe this is the "movie feel" that professionals emphasize. The advantage is that people get a good visual enjoyment; the disadvantage is that, without the lines, the development of the plot is not quickly understood by the audience. The whole story is a little dull. The sense of form is good, but after all, we viewers want to see a story in a relaxed environment.
My rating: 7.0.
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