Like many movies based on true events, Frozen begins with a similar statement - it's a true story. The events described in this film take place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of survivors, all names have been changed. Out of respect for the victims, the rest of the story is based solely on fact.
However, after the film was released, the Coen brothers, who acted as writers and directors, have repeatedly made denial explanations on different occasions. One time the frame of the story was based on a real case, but the details were made up by himself; another time it was said that the case did not take place in Minnesota; and the most recent one was in 2015, Joel, one of the Coen brothers, was completely candid. The story is entirely fictional.
Anyway, going around, at least one thing is true: We've all been lied to by the Coen brothers.
Of course, cheating is cheating, we still love watching the Coen Brothers movies. It can be said that in "Frozen", the Coen brothers' interpretation of the incident is very flexible, and they have done an almost documentary-style research on the cause and effect of the incident. That is, they represent the real with a sufficiently perfect fake. We cannot deny their fictitious intentions, but their representation of events has reached a level higher than entertainment by fictitious forms.
Generally speaking, when we refer to the Coen brothers, the commonly used labels are mostly "film noir", "absurd", "violent" and so on. Indeed, these words form the basis of Cohen's films, but they are not set in stone. They never set out to frame themselves a style visually, the real excitement is always in telling a variety of stories. "Frozen" marks the beginning of the second stage of Cohen's style. From this work, the reference frame of Cohen's films has changed from stylistic types to real life; the camera position has changed from moving shots to fixed shots; the handling of characters has also become more delicate ; The dialogue increases, and it is closer to the language of daily life.
Here, especially the use of fixed shots, shows the Coen brothers' desire to seek a way that is closer to life to represent reality, reflecting their ascetic artistic outlook to part ways with those commercial films. After the technology disappeared, the space was given way to an impromptu aesthetic. The Coen brothers used a simple method to create a realistic story, but they did not let the audience go to the front of the development of the story behavior. Meaning, but concise and precise.
Cohen films have evolutions and persistence. The most prominent is their obsession with scene aesthetics, and each of their films places great emphasis on the location of events, such as "Blood Labyrinth" in Texas, "Murder of Green Toes" in Los Angeles, and "Frozen". ” in Minnesota. Taking "Frozen" as an example, the vastness, coldness, and tranquility presented by the geographical features of Minnesota and North Dakota are not only the background of the story, but are also closely related to the context and core spirit of the story. This emphasis on geography shows that they attach importance to the relationship between the geographical environment and the character and psychological state of the characters. The relatively closed environment has formed a special cultural atmosphere, and it has also created a group of special characters who are regularly bound by life and fend for themselves.
"Kidnapping" is another common feature of Cohen's films. The same is true of the main line of "Frozen". Jerry wanted to raise funds and handed his wife as bait to two kidnappers, hoping to get a ransom from his rich father-in-law, but it resulted in a series of terrible massacre. The reason why the Coen brothers have a soft spot for this cliché old meme is that it has the advantages of diversity and drama. It can not only adapt to different themes, but also create dramatic tension and mobilize the audience's attention at once. stand up.
At the same time, the suspense of "kidnapping" lies in the conflict between two aspects, one is between the kidnapper and the kidnapped, and the other is between the kidnapper and other kidnapping-related persons. Interestingly, in "Frozen", the kidnapped Jane only appears in the first half, and her death is only taken lightly by the narration of others. Starting from the kidnapper's accidental encounter with the patrol police, the core of the story was replaced by someone else, and the whole incident gradually got out of control, resulting in successive accidents and deaths after that. As a result, the relationship between Jerry and the kidnappers gradually deteriorated, and the fake kidnapping turned into a real kidnapping, which finally made Jerry taste the bitter fruit of playing a two-line game.
It has to be said that such a plot development reflects the tried-and-true "black humor" of the Coen brothers. The most intuitive expression of its absurdity is the setting of the characters: Jerry, who is obedient and slightly scheming, Jane, who is vulgar and rustic, the old father-in-law who is stingy and stubborn, Carl who is chattering, Kia, who is taciturn, and who is pregnant. Maggie, there's something funny about everyone, whether they're good or bad. Let's look at the setting of the plot, such as two kidnappers doing prostitutes in the same room, watching Jane who is covered with her head rolling and crawling like a monkey, policewoman Maggie meeting her old Asian friend, Kia using a wood chipper to deal with her companion's Corpses, etc., some plots are meaningless, and even if they are deleted, it will not affect the development of the plot, but there is no doubt that it brings some kind of "bad taste" pleasure and satisfaction to the audience. Of course, the most absurd thing is still the whole story of "Frozen". The usual routine was unexpectedly subverted. A series of accidents made the kidnapping complicated, but it was ended simply by the policewoman. A total of six people died. But in the end no one got the money.
Just as Hugo described the word "grotesque" in "The Cromwell Preface"—creating deformities and horrors on the one hand, ridiculous and comical on the other—the Coen brothers' films have a similar duality , which not only has elements of genre films, but also breaks through the fixed mode of genre films, subtly deconstructing and reorganizing images. However, under the surface, there is also a calm and real objective reflection of their real life, which interprets the anti-law of life and the world.
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