This article first appeared in DeepFocus
So far, "is it funny" is still the only truth for evaluating the pros and cons of comedy. The instinct to seek joy is placed on the opposite of seriousness and rationality; excessive accommodation to physiological phenomena makes it difficult for comedy to defend itself before unfair treatment. The two sides obviously ignored a serious question about laughter: the most intuitive difference from other creatures is that humans laugh. Laughter is so special that even the greatest comedy writer in history is not tolerated to change its secret formula at will. It is derived from the desire for diligence and will also damage the feedback and spread in the enclosed space.
After the baptisms of Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, and Adam Sandler in the 1990s, a set of "metabolic systems" connected on and off the screen was established. Laughter Constantly reflecting on various mischievous, terrifying, and even terrifying "physical spectacles".
At the beginning of the 21st century, "Borat", who fought with the protagonist of this article one after another on the big screen, depends on the realism of "touch porcelain". This is why he is keen to "host" false documentary identities and "fishing law enforcement" under the guise of interviews. Identifying the forbidden areas of ideology and civilized concepts leads to frequent disputes, and ultimately has no choice but to point the finger at the focus of power; the core logic is about the increase of the burden of comedy, not the political obligation of the original creator.
Judd Apatow, who also strives to "reproduce", has no intentions in the ideological realm. He has always focused on "buddies, sex, drugs, and parties" (strictly speaking, the mental age is under 18)-can this be an important evidence of the low-level interest and lack of depth in the works of the "Apatou Gang" system ?
For this "former famous comedy director", the decibels of laughter can't match the real temptation after all. Whether it’s "Bad Belly" (unexpected pregnancy), "Funny" (sudden illness) and "Forty Confusion" (middle-aged crisis), which are brought to the screen based on personal experience, or with talk show comedians The “tailor-made” semi-autobiographical story "Life Wreck" (Trainwreck, 2015) , "Crashing" (2017-2019) and " The King of Staten Island" (The King of Staten of Staten Island, 2020) .
From the perspective of imaging principles, like Quentin Tarantino and other "fundamentalists", he defends the authority of physical film exposure and development, and refuses to mix real analog images with digitally transcoded virtual pixels—combining reality in time and space. The moment of interception generates an actual carrier that cannot be restored once modified, rather than editing a copy that can be infinitely modified and synthesized.
Sorting out Apato’s few director’s works, the focus is not on the "under 18 years old" funny formula, but on the "Bromance" style he created-rather to downplay the laughter, but also to maintain the structure and character. rigorous.
Perhaps nothing is more paradoxical than the "self-reality" narrative logic in the framework of modern comedy.
Dumbfounding
With the label of "Three Commons Comedy", Apato started his "self-salvation" for more than ten years starting from "Funny People" (2009) . His works are often permeated with a sense of astonishment that he wants to laugh but cannot laugh: the smile that bursts out instantly is overwhelmed by the embarrassment that immediately follows.
Even if the burden also stems from cognitive dislocation, Apato will not prolong the reverberation too much, but will further present the reasons and costs of the dislocation, making the audience less likely to laugh. The famous scene of " The 40 Year-Old Virgin " (The 40 Year-Old Virgin, 2005) inherited the grammar of the "thriller" comedy in the 90s. It was not until the protagonist's pores bleed that the audience experienced the fear. Painful.
In his best work, Apato tries to make the ambivalence of "joy, anger, sadness, and joy" agitate between two characters in the same scene. The root of "not funny" is that Apato replaces the plot sequence of "starting-inheriting-turning-combining" between the paragraphs with the mental journey of "happiness-anger-sorrow-happiness" in a single paragraph, and the twists and turns in the emotional guidance. Go straight ahead. This makes the emotional points of each scene rich and full; the more characters involved in a single scene, the more complex the emotional changes.
In This Is 40 (2012) , wife Debbie repeatedly raided her husband Pete, who was hiding in the toilet and playing with a tablet, and Pete asked Debbie to help check the anus. Apato made the characters laugh. Put it in a crying situation. The embarrassment of being unable to retreat stems from the freezing of time and space caused by the moment of the crash, which prevents the audience from falling into careless presumption. As a result, the laughter turned into a wry smile and a sneer.
(Illustration: Because in the former, the audience can vent their emotions, while in the latter, through the resonance of the situation, the audience simultaneously experiences the oppression and embarrassment from the opposing parties.)
In the end credits, you can see Apato’s production strategy. During the shooting, the talk show actors were given plenty of room for development. Later, they extracted improvised golden sentences in the one-stop performance, kept the paragraph goals, and reorganized the narrative nodes. This move undoubtedly expanded the length of the film.
Power subversion
In "Funny Characters", the laughter exists in the form of intercepted talk show clips. In the life of the protagonist, not only the boring, mean and lingering loneliness are deliberately highlighted, but also the funny becomes torture and oppression.
The relationship between the characters in the film, regardless of the relationship between the star Simon and his assistant Ira, Ira and the buddy Leo, Ira and his girlfriend Daisy, Simon and his ex-girlfriend Laura, Laura and her husband... each group of relationships They all point to a "third person" who is not present and implies a secret that must be kept; either needs to be concealed from the other party, or needs the other party's help to conceal, and disputes and conflicts break out are the moments when the secret is accidentally broken .
The internal logic of the loose, block-like structure is the embarrassing moment when this man wheel was accidentally "revealed": Ira accidentally discovered that Daisy and her roommate were asleep; Leo accidentally discovered that Ira had concealed Simon's invitation; her husband accidentally discovered Simon has recovered and cheated on Laura; Simon accidentally discovered that Ella had "betrayed" herself trying to redeem Laura's marriage... and what was even more "funny" was that before the secret was exposed, the strong side always stood in irrefutable and "absolutely correct" Stand on the other side of the PUA, and the weaker side has to swallow because of its dependence on the former in objective survival. Therefore, confidentiality has become a contract and obligation of class status, and has nothing to do with trust and promise; therefore, the seeds of subversion of power relations are planted.
Before the secret was exposed, the audience had already witnessed the sophistry of the strong and the guilt of the weak-everything was finally exposed to the most unacceptable and helpless embarrassment. Just like Debbie's attempt to seduce Pete in "Forty Confusion", she embarrassed her naked beautiful breast.
Scream
In the intensifying multi-triangular relationship between Simon and Ella in "The Funny Man", the parties will eventually face a trap of right and wrong, and everyone without exception, out of luck, chooses to harm others and benefit themselves. But it's a pity that God's will make people, and the result will be detrimental to others and self, and in the end it is a mess.
Through Simon who escaped from the dead, the film explained the black theme that there is no rebirth and fluke in life. Point out the theme with Eminem's cameo: Death is not necessarily a bad thing, what can we celebrate (rebirth) now? Simon's unwillingness caused him to turn into the wrong track after healed. In his opinion, the desperate romantic action (recovering old love) is a taboo for self-interest (seduce married women) in secular concepts (Ira's perspective). , And endanger the close friendship and lost love, and put oneself on the verge of life danger again (being blown up by the "first generation Hulk"). There is an extremely heavy core of tragedy wrapped in the coat of comedy—just like another Chinese translation of this film: Fate is so funny. Compared with the implicitness of "comical characters", the irony is expressive.
(Illustration: The similar "prophet" was replaced by another "entertainment myth" in "Wreckage of Life"-LeBron James.)
In "King of Staten Island", when Pete was rejected by all his patrons and forced to stay overnight at the bottom of life in the fire brigade, he was accommodated because he was so sober that Thunder loves his mother and the other is the heroic father. God bless, so people here will rescue themselves no matter how reluctantly. Therefore, Pete's request for help did not shy away from the "emotional kidnapping" element.
What Peter's "extraordinary action" shows is its implicit inner trajectory, which is based on the analysis and reasoning within the emotional relationship. The confrontational relationship between the two sides and the narrative tone of the scene have changed as a result: Even in a predicament, Pete can still gain the upper hand with his cunning wisdom as much as possible. This crucial passage of the whole film takes the lead in accomplishing two functions: from the narrative side, by confronting the fathers, ending the protagonist’s sinking collapsed life; and using "sly wisdom" on the emotional side to make the audience feel a touch of warmth And tolerance. It just right points out the unique charm and thickness of Pete.
The not-so-acclaimed "Wreckage of Life" and the film are like the "diptych". Apato wrote about family fears of one and two sides: the fear of the father's time and the fear of the father's absence. The former is the only film in Apato’s work that has no name screenwriter but uses the most urban empty mirrors. These deleteable and ineffective "spatial clocks" are inherited from the function of the crystal ball retained by the terminally ill father: as a "marker" for Amy to be merciful anytime, anywhere; in the structure it contrasts its appearance.
And when Amy and Doctor Allen broke up, the urban empty mirror suddenly disappeared as she traveled from here to there. With the disappearance of the fixed scene, the love-lost Amy loses the spatial coordinates in her life.
(Illustration: The most interesting scene occurred on the night of the first date of the two in 43 minutes. Apatou was in a live environment, from dark to light, from the inside (bar) to the outside (street) and then to the inside. (Taxi) process, calmly completed the promotion of the relationship between the two parties in three spatial changes.)
Biography structure
In terms of genre, "King of Staten Island" is not strictly a comedy, but should be classified as a biographical film with certain comedy elements. Therefore, we have been able to examine. Since the beginning of "Funny Figures", Apato's creation has turned to the last two "stubborn illnesses" that are obvious to all: lengthy and ridiculous.
Biographical films portray characters by selecting various events that occurred in the protagonist's life or a specific period (breakdown, pregnancy, illness, etc.). Different events show different aspects: such as family affection, friendship and love in life; work, responsibility and interest in career. Therefore, biographical films mostly adopt the block structure of "forms and spirits do not disperse", and the dramatic connection between events is not necessarily obvious. At first glance, the plot of "King of Staten Island" gives a cluttered impression: Pete sees off his sister, tears off his mother with Rae, attends college parties, picks up Rae’s children, applies for tattoos, works in restaurants... The distribution reflects what qualities of the protagonist? Is there any logic behind it?
The protagonist of the film, Pete, is a "home squat", "giant baby" and "Loser" who quickly retracts into his comfort zone when he feels a little discomfort. By creating the pressure of the collapse of his life line and career line, the protagonist is forced to retreat irresistibly, and finally learns to face the growth clues, whether it is the same as Seth Logan in " Knocked Up " (Knocked Up, 2007) . Seth Rogen) Not much difference? Are you forced to "fry cold rice" after losing your former muse?
In fact, the film's portrayal of Pete's three-pointer makes it different from the past image of Apato. Perhaps this is the perseverance of letting actors adapt their own life experiences and perform their own roles to achieve the effect of "no distinction between people and dramas". Are there any biopics that are more "real" than the biopics that I have filmed? The characteristics of the age of the "millennial crowd" are not only reflected in the full body tattoos, but also in the various details of their lives: for example, tattooing minors at the request of Lei's son seems to be the same as creating the "Flash Iceman" for him. Seriously; I think it's not worth having all the tips through confrontation, and I want to avoid disputes even if I lose what I deserve.
By showing the commonality of his behavior in different relationships and different events, he summarized and summarized Pete's original character: retreat.
(Illustration: This is a stubborn disease that the protagonist must overcome in the drama task. From this, we understand that the film is a story closely related to inner conflict, and the protagonist's task of trying to break through and deviate from action is clearly different in the narrative context .)
flexible
Pete participated in the college party of his sister for 6 minutes. Shouldn't this silly pen that didn't advance the main line and make people play the whole thing? But if you put it into the time node of the movie, you will find the meaning of its structure. The party carnival is at the center of the 137-minute film. Before that, every aspect of Pete's life was in desperation:
In terms of family affection, his mother accepted Ray’s suggestion and decided to let Pete move out;
In terms of career, the tattoo shop’s desire to be an apprentice was met with ridicule;
In love, his girlfriend forced him to confess through a fake date;
In terms of friendship, the buddies invited him to help rob the drugstore.
After the party orgy, Pete, who considers himself abandoned by life, "recklessly" puts into a series of actions. This not only failed to solve the actual problem, but put himself in a real predicament: he was directly involved in the robbery; and after destroying Lei’s family and his own family, he became homeless; he was kicked out of the house by his friends and girlfriend. , Desperately had no choice but to go to the fire station.
(Illustration: In the paragraph in the sojourn fire brigade, the team members "prank" twice to clean up Pete)
Unsurprisingly, Pete did not face any of the above-mentioned setbacks, which were actually "self-inflicted", and escaped as usual. But the strange thing is that he unexpectedly accepted a task that was absolutely not an obligation, and he could completely quit, and he persevered happily-sending Lei's children to school (?!)
From the perspective of the play, this "unconventional choice" of the character rarely acts on the feedback of resistance, because this action does not originate from a pressured struggle-Pete's initiative can not be attributed to "abnormal personality." , But the most essential aspect of the protagonist's heart-the delicacy and kindness wrapped in layers.
The author’s self-confidence is reflected in the fact that Apato put this "hidden truth" into the protagonist’s closest relationship, and then deliberately emphasized the various quarrels and abuses between them...until Pete made this unthinkable for the audience His "unconventional choice" calmly rationalized the "no regrets" of the three women, mother, girlfriend, and sister, to Pete. Before being discerned, their physical and mental dedication can only be misunderstood as the obscenity of a straight male author.
(Illustration: The inner logic behind the behavior is that Pete is trying to fill the scars of the absence of "father". Because he has suffered so much, I don't want others to suffer this catastrophe, even the child of the person he hates the most.)
"King of Staten Island" is Apato’s most particular work in composition and scheduling. Its tone is gray and dark, with low saturation, and prominent contrast in a space with limited lighting. The style of the whole film is the most distant from the comedy genre. Far. Always looking up at Pete in the frame from a low angle, the ceilings of various buildings always remain above his head, and he is always in a depressed state. In scheduling, characters are mostly placed in shadows or backlit light positions. The most obvious thing is that in the empty stadium under the scorching sun, the face is shrouded in the shadow formed by itself as much as possible. Quietly, it shows how terrible the protagonist’s status quo is to pass by and not want to get rid of.
In the rigorous narrative focus and audio-visual planning, "King of Staten Island" is a mature work that can be freely controlled in terms of emotion and rhythm. Comics, firefighting, tattoos, and confession are all key emotional renderings, and they appear sophisticated and confident. Back to the key scene of the film's "totem-like", that is, the desperate Pete comes to the fire station that he least wants to face in the middle of the night. Apatosshi used Pete's "two standings" before and after to stand up the film.
(Illustration: Once standing in front of the fire brigade in the middle part, once looking up to the sky on the streets of Manhattan at the end, where the protagonist's father died. In the transition between light and dark, the real and fictional portraits blend perfectly.)
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