Taking the memories of a protagonist as the main line, all the real memories of the young and frivolous teenagers are listed one by one. A film that is mainly based on memory will hardly resonate to a greater extent if the audience does not have a common experience and memory. Because in different cultural backgrounds, everything the director has done is meticulously paved, for the viewer, it is actually just a lens that is easily overlooked. Movies with memories as the main line, perhaps a well-designed shot, or a long-lost old song are enough to evoke people's infinite reverie and good memories of the past. Unfortunately, all the past about the United States in the American past is just unfamiliar to me, but the incitement of the scenes and music did not resonate enough for audiences like me. This is also the reason why I always feel that this is a very dull film. Of course, apart from the length of the film, which is more than three hours long, there are many unfamiliar scenes and unfamiliar music. Any wind of reverie. This is also the reason why I think Jiang Wen's "Sunny Days" is far more resonant and easier for me to feel than "Once Upon a Time in America".
It is undeniable that every shot of the director and screenwriter has been carefully arranged, even any detail seems to have been arranged strictly logically. After designing why this is so, you will silently admire the director. This is a carefully designed movie. And this is especially important for a movie, especially for the current movie.
When it comes to the plot of a movie, I tend not to like recaps. I tend to watch movies just for the feeling, and if a certain scene makes me feel enough, I will spontaneously have a feeling that I will never forget and remember. Especially for those scenes that were enough to deceive me and that the director deceived me with heart, I was especially moved. Only a movie with heart is enough to impress my critical eyes, I always think so.
Scene 1: The youngest child in the memory, after being shot not far from death, said calmly: "I slipped.". A naive and ignorant child never feels that life will end, and he never knows death, so he has a deeper level of calm.
Scene 2: Noodles, when she heard that fat girl was coming over when she was going to the toilet, she deliberately opened the toilet door so that she could see her little JJ as soon as she came in. As soon as he came in, the fat girl shouted something that seemed to be complaining, and Noodles asked deeply: Don't you want to be able to see my JJ like this? It means don't pretend, everyone knows it. So, Noodles wanted to propose to have sex with the fat girl, but the fat girl said: You can have sex, but remember to bring bread, I never take credit.
Scene 3: When the other little boy was holding the cream ice cream to exchange sex with the fat girl, he forgot that the cream ice cream was a condition for having sex with the fat girl because he waited too long. Eat up the cream ice cream. Forget all about sex trafficking that's going to happen. This is an unforgettable scene, which shows that for a child, sometimes sexual impulse or just a little JJ's impulse, when it is not really necessary in his mind, maybe if it wasn't for the little JJ's erection, he didn't know What he needs is a woman, at least he never really needs it in his mind. For example, compared with a certain cream ice cream that can have sex, he still chose cream ice cream as a child, rather than sexual intercourse.
Scene 4: Diana, a little girl who looks like a goddess in Noodles, knows that Noodles peeked at her dancing, but she still pretends to be tempted to take off all her clothes, leaving only a naked back to satisfy the voyeur. She also loves noodles. It was only later that she gave up noodles for her ideal, and what she couldn't put down was the love she once had for him. A person with pursuits and ideals is always not limited to a certain person, and will never make any changes for a certain person, even the one he loves the most. This is a woman's paranoia about ideals. The man's paranoia is simpler. Noodles only want to get her and the gangster temperament that he also has. When he finally can't understand it at the ideal height, he simply uses his body to get her, so the gangster's bias makes him choose Raped Diana. He couldn't understand her dreams, but he understood his need for her body, a man's need for a woman's body.
Shot five: "Max" worth mentioning. The only difference between him and Noodles is: Noodles can give up everything for friends, but he will not. Max is far-sighted, extremely calm but long-sighted, ambitious, ruthless, and never gives up in order to get what he wants. Combining intrigue and diligence, as well as a roguelike temperament, he obviously has all the qualities that all politicians need. Later, he finally achieved a splendid turn from a gangster to a politician after foresight. Even if all of this is based on the premise of sacrificing friends, he still feels guilty, but for ideals, just like Diana, for better ideals, he must give up everything. Friends do the same. To be honest, in a group of people, if it wasn't for Max's ability to control the situation, a few of them wouldn't have gotten the status they deserved or didn't get as much as they wanted. After all, Noodles is just a benevolent, rogue-like, unambitious scumbag. As the so-called success is also Max, failure is also Max.
In the end, I especially like the authenticity and boldness of the film. Whether it's the stark depiction of the sex, or how well it's shown on camera, I'm very satisfied. After all, this kind of truth, if you cover up sex, it will be an incomplete story or a false story.
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