Twenty-one years ago, I was shocked by an alternative musical . I felt a little dizzy when I watched it. It was only because the whole film was shot with a portable DV, and the shaky photography and jumping editing made me feel more Novelty and excitement, never seen a musical like this. Although the film's tragic atmosphere is heartbreaking and depressing, the song and choreography are what I remember most, and I can still hum many of the melodies and lyrics to this day. This film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year, and I believe many fans have seen this "Dancer in the Darkness" .
I recently watched a musical "Annette" that also won a prize at Cannes, and when I watched it, I unconsciously thought of Lars von Trier's "Dancer in the Darkness". Undoubtedly, both directors are very bold, dare to challenge the most difficult genre of singing and dancing to please the audience, and even admire them for integrating their own unique styles into this ancient film genre, giving it a fresh feel. As the founder of the "Dogma" movement, Von Trier set off a wave of film revolution in the world that year, breaking the aesthetics and shooting methods of the Hollywood film paradigm, completely liberating the actor's performance, and even redefining the function of the director. Location. Although "Dancer in the Darkness" is not strictly a "Dogma" movie, it still follows his favorite DV shooting method, and is deeply branded as Von Trier's exclusive author. As the final chapter of the "Trilogy of Conscience", this work has become the most skilled and complete embodiment of the director's style. Although the theme was criticized by many film critics, it is still not afraid that the work will become Feng Trier's masterpiece.
Compare this year's new film "Annette" by carrax, nine years after his last "Sacred Motors", his filming speed has never been fast, but this interruption more or less implies that he is caught in creative bottleneck. However, judging from the Cannes response, the French director, who debuted in the 1980s and cannot be classified, still has enough face to be selected as the opening film of the film festival, and finally won the Best Director Award. In my impression, Carax has been selected for Cannes competition many times, but it has only been affirmed until now, which seems to be a bit of compensation after knowing it. In fact, this award is well-deserved: Karax and Von Trier have come to the same destination, both reinterpret traditional musicals with unique expression techniques and personal style labels, giving people a strong sense of impact, which is similar to when I watched "Darkness" The Dancer in 'The Dancer' is very similar in style.
Fans who like "Sacred Cars" will definitely feel familiar with the beginning, because there is also a scene of crowded street performances in "Sacred Cars". Then, it is not uncommon to see the "green" elements that appear from time to time (the lights in the theater, the hero's coat, etc.); the scene of thousands of people shouting in unison at the talk show scene, and the shape of puppet children, All make people feel the horror and weirdness, but also make people recognize the director's best symbol. Karax removes the barriers between the film and the audience, and the director and the band appear in person, directly intervening in the narrative; when the heroine performs the opera, the stage set becomes a real forest, and then returns to the performance scene. Use this narrative text to seamlessly connect a variety of entertainment mediums, from talk shows to opera to concerts, puncturing the delicate façade of pop culture with poignant portrayals (empty talk shows accompanied by blind mass echoes, elegantly performed operas of death, and exploitative concerts of children’s voices), full of irony and distaste for commercialized popular entertainment.
Loyal fans of Karax must have a deep sympathy for the heroine's dress, helmet and motorcycle, and it is hard not to think of his royal hero Denis Lawan. His collocation with Lawang is very similar to the partnership between Truffaut/Jean-Pierre Leau and Cai Mingliang/Li Kangsheng, witnessing an actor's process from youth to aging in the camera. Today, Rawang is really unable to play this young role, and Karax has to find another actor, and Adam Driver's academic-oriented interpretation is very different from Rawang, but there is still merit in this musical. .
Although Karax has repeatedly denied it, in my opinion, the male protagonist has the director's autobiographical color, and the dark temperament of the destructive tendency has always run through the fate of all the characters in his works, from the youth in "Bad Blood" to the The tramp in "Love in the New Movie", and then the man who had an incestuous relationship with his sister in "Paula X", witnesses the proud, indifferent and crazy side of French artistic youth.
As the basic requirements of musicals, song and choreography are the keys to success or failure. Although Bjork's songs for "Dancer in the Dark" were considered "unpleasant" by many people back then, compared to the songs in "Annette" The work is obviously much more "sounding". In an interview with the director, I learned that the duo of the Sparks had written 70 or 80 works for the film for the director to choose. However, the quality of the songs I heard so far cannot be praised, except for the opening song that is more pleasant and catchy. Other than that, the other works are really not impressive. The reason is that the actors are flawed. After all, neither of the two leading actors is a professional singer, but another, more important reason I think is the creator's problem.
Back then, Bjork not only composed music for the character, but also performed the character himself. This "integration of human and song" interpretation undoubtedly imbued the song with strong emotions. Therefore, despite the infamy of "unpleasant", he was still able to be nominated for an Oscar as he wished. . In this "Annette", the Spark brothers failed to perform their own creations in person (I dare to imagine that if they sang the original, would the actor's mouth shape work?), let the non-professional singers Driver and Cotillard When performing, more or less lost the soul in the song. Compared with the uneven level of the songs, getting a little back on the choreography depends on the director's eclectic creativity, which is performed by singing in the car, on the boat, in bed, during sex, and murder. This is similar to "Darkness". The Dancer in ' is exactly the same.
Under this dark genre of singing and dancing, the themes discussed in the film are unusually familiar. Whether it is the confrontation between the roles of husband and wife , or the desire of parents to control their children , there is no outstanding point of view output. The grave of love is marriage and children. This topic is a bit boring in this American script. A man with a bright career is gradually covered up by his wife's talent. The roles and strong and weak relationships of the husband and wife remind me of the same man who was written by De Lai. Fu starred in "marriage story" , the two films also have a scene of a quarrel between husband and wife, and this film even arranges the two people's fierce confrontation on a ship in a storm, in addition to eliciting the dark side of the hero, Symbolism is too deliberate. In the second half, a spooky puppet child appears, which makes the story visually expressive unexpectedly, and the symbolic meaning also comes quietly. It is said that this film is dedicated to his daughter by the director, and this role naturally has a pivotal role. mean. Nonetheless, the handling of the father-daughter plot still fails to elevate the clichéd topic that parents' excessive desire for control over their children does nothing but destruction. I was deeply impressed by the scene where the father and daughter finally met in the cell. The daughter finally showed her real face, showing that she was no longer a doll in the hands of her parents. However, compared to "Dancer in the Darkness", which was also arranged to end in prison, this tear-jerking ending is difficult to turn the tide. Karax's attempts to fend off creative bottlenecks have not been satisfactory.
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