Explain in advance: This film review is limited by the author's level. It can only analyze the creation of the atmosphere, but it is difficult to analyze the deep meaning too much.
The political meaning in the film is very clear, but I don't want to explore too much, because it is too clear and it breaks away from the mysterious temperament of the film itself. However, when expressing the clash of civilizations, the perspective of foreign visitors makes foreign civilization a kind of mysterious symbol. The foreign civilization here is not only the Indian civilization, but also the barbaric civilization of the western town. The foreigner is not only Blake, but also Nobody. Nobody is a predecessor who has received the baptism of double civilization, but is still lost in the identification of civilization, but for Blake, he is an ideal guide. Nobody is like a person holding a torch in the dark. After the walker moves forward, it is when he extinguishes the torch. It is worth mentioning that when the protagonist first entered the town and the Indian tribe, he used a set of contrasting subjective perspective panning shots, which also confirmed what I said, Blake's identity as a double foreigner.
Neil Young’s electric guitar is a coordinated existence in the black and white dreamland of the west. I don't know much about music, so I can't comment more, but its vicissitudes and lonely temperament need not go into details.
The scene transitions in the film use complete black connections, and the sound is either silent or continues the plot development. For example, the short shots of two killers riding forward after a black screen, I imagined the possibility of not connecting with a black screen: First, the shooting sounded, the killer fell, and the picture also played a narrative role, which was obviously clichéd; second, Not connected with a black screen, the two of them rode the corner after the gunshot sounded, and there is no difference in the picture, which seems to be not much different from the original presentation, but a delayed empty mirror has already foreshadows some unexpected situation, but the black screen is It can be a surprise in the peace that the audience thinks the scene ends, and it has a more contrasting impact. Jia Muxu’s explanation of the split-screen connection is that “the ending shot of the scene will dissolve in the darkness and need not be disturbed by the nature of the first shot of the next scene.” This is indeed the case in perception.
Blake's vertigo when he was dying in the Indian tribe impressed me wonderfully. In fact, it was just a dissolving of some close-ups and subjective shots, but to me it seemed to be a precursor to becoming a fairy, like lightning and thunder before a heavy rain. The strangeness of the lost stranger is strengthened to the extreme at this moment, so it is better to go back, it is better to go back.
At the end, Blake lay in the canoe as the waves rushed towards the sea and sky. The sight of this "sea" deeply shocked me. The lack of focus on the text while watching the movie made me mistakenly believe that the home of the protagonist would be a peaceful and mysterious river, rather than such a treacherous and changeable ocean. It is in harmony with Blake’s fading body, dying soul, and peace. The sense of peace brought by the light of the sky and the shadows of the clouds formed a great contrast. Although the death of Nobody and the killer should also be part of the conflict, its sense of alienation has washed away its fierce and bloody fate, and the destiny referred to by the name Nobody has reduced the tragic nature, and even turned it into this peace. a part of. And at this moment when it seems that the soul is going to return to immortality, the turbulent ocean shows the powerful vitality of the soul. So we know that after experiencing social death and physical death, the place where the soul will go is by no means a paradise full of divine light, but rather unpredictable and turbulent like the sea, and this is also Blake's "dead" body. The meaning of searching along the way: searching for the place where the dead soul escapes from the body.
There are many things that can be said about this film, such as the killer, such as tobacco, such as the dead deer. There are many metaphors in the film and some topics about animatism or fatalism can be talked about, but my philosophical level is far from being able to. On the level of one or two, I also hope to avoid over-interpreting these metaphors, but destroying the mysticism that it attracts me.
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