That was my first impression of the Oscar-nominated Hugo. This is not a simple nostalgic movie, but a flowing 3D love letter, written to the French film master, the originator of silent films, Méliès, and the splendid old movie time he created, to the man who has been away from us for many years. The silent film masters who are deeply remembered by filmmakers are a high tribute to pioneering the silent film era of our today's films. This is a film destined to remain on the epic of world cinema, destined to be a brilliant introduction to the film curriculum because it is no longer just the adventures of a 12-year-old Hugo, but the life of the silent Méliès Wonderful portrait of ups and downs. In this film, Méliès is portrayed as the stern old man George Méliès who runs a toy store at the train station, and the adoptive father of Hugo's friend Isabel.
As described in the film, Georges Méliès (1861-1938) was originally a famous magician and puppet artist, but was inspired by the realistic train short film by the Lumiere brothers. One of the first photo studios in the world was established in Montreuil. He used specialized actors, sets, props, make-up and other means to shoot films, opening up a completely different path of film creation from Lumiere's documentary style. His first film was The Dreyfus Case in 1899. He was best at shooting a series of mythological films such as "Cinderella", "Bluebeard", "Magic Lantern", "One Thousand and One Nights", etc. At the beginning of the 20th century, he took the lead in creating science fiction films such as "Journey to the Moon", "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Conquest of the Arctic". In particular, "Journey to the Moon" has a huge impact, not only establishing the style of science fiction, but also determining the position of film rehearsal in film production. Méliès' films were the first steps in cinema as art.
"Journey to the Moon" is the pinnacle of Méliès's film career, which brought him great fame and money, but at the same time it also laid the foundation for his decline and became an insurmountable moat. Because Méliès was too rigid in the way of dramatic expression, he resolutely refused to use external locations, and refused to change the angle of the camera during the shooting process (except for the moving photography stunts that show the movement of objects). This conservative limit Méliès's artistic development. By 1910, Hollywood in the United States had already shot a number of action films such as "The Great Train Robbery", and montage had gradually become the grammar of movies, while Méliès at this time was still shooting "Space Travel" and "Conquest of the Arctic". and other repetitive works. Seeing that his films were gradually being hit by the rise of Hollywood movies, the box office was sluggish. In order to get rid of the financial difficulties, Méliès finally decided to break his own dogma and spent huge sums of money to go to the Pacific to shoot the film for a whole year. But when he spent all the money and returned to the voyage, he found that most of the filmed films could not be used because of the loose wax seal and mold. This complete failure dealt Méliès a fatal blow. The studio in Monteroy was closed, copies of Méliès' films were sold in packages, and the films that once contained countless geniuses, wits, and fantasies were melted down as waste plastic to make toothbrushes and combs. Méliès himself disappeared completely from the film industry and from his audience, and became a small businessman who made his living by opening a candy and toy store at the Gare de Montparnasse in Paris. It wasn't until 1928 that several journalists rediscovered the value of Méliès and his contribution to the development of cinema while researching film history. The articles of these reporters made people re-understand Méliès and his films, and gave him the honor and recognition he deserved in the film industry. People can't believe that the originator of silent film, the master of the film who once galloped through the wind and clouds, lived in such a secluded life in a very ordinary and difficult railway station, Méliès once again made a sensation, and was held in Salle Pleyel in December 1929. A retrospective of his films was the most glorious moment of his life. In 1938, Méliès died in a nursing home at the age of 77.
Inspired and influenced by Méliès's life, Brian Selznick, a children's book painter who is also a movie fan, wrote and painted a novel where reality and dream intertwine, history and reality shine, romance and nostalgia. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007). As soon as the book was well received, it was immediately bought out by GK Films and started production.
The director who made this film, Martin Scorsese (Martin Scorsese), is also a film master himself, a well-known figure in the history of world film, famous film works traverse different eras, including "Mean Streets" ( MeanStreet, 1973), Taxi Driver (1975), Raging Bull (1980), Good Fellas (1990), Las Vegas (1990) Casino, 1995), The Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006) The film, established his unshakable status as the most famous American realist director in film history. It is said that the first thing that film students do when they go to school is to read all of Scorsese's films, and then they can basically understand the history of modern American film. With Scorsese's stature as a Best Director Oscar, Palme d'Or in Cannes and Golden Bear in Berlin, "Hugo" should be a well-deserved choice.
Martin Scorsese really lived up to expectations. He shot "Hugo" with cutting-edge film technology, as if stepping back in time, reappearing scenes, stories and past events in the era of Merriem's silent films. The feeling of fantasy, as if traveling through a time tunnel, makes today's young audience understand the former silent film master Méliès again, as a salute to the brilliant characters of that glorious era.
This $170 million film not only recreates the scene of the Gare Montparnasse in Paris in 1930, Méliès's early glass studio in Paris, but also in 1895 at the Gare Montparnasse in Paris. The real accident scene of a steam train passing through the glass caused by a rollover accident was put on the screen, making people feel so vivid and amazing when comparing the old photos of this accident. It is said that this scene was all shot with physical miniatures, and 7 cameras were shot from different angles at the same time, in order to capture the earth-shattering feeling of rolling over.
The reason why Martin Scorsese shot this film with a 3D camera is to reproduce the realism of Méliès film technology, just like Méliès, the founder of the film more than 100 years ago, who attracted countless audiences with his film innovation. The eyeballs left an indelible impression on them. The final "Hugo" was edited from 135 hours of film. As a love letter to film history, it recorded the brilliance condensed by the innovation, creation, revolution and turning point of film technology over the past 100 years. and humanities.
So far, the film has garnered 106,000 tickets worldwide. With the launch of the Blu-ray disc version and the promotion of the DVD sales market, the commercial value of "Hugo" is likely to create a new miracle in the history of film after the 3D movie "Avatar".
As Isabella said in "Hugo", everyone comes to this world with a purpose, and only when we find this purpose can we fulfill our life. If the purpose of Méliès' life is to create the birth of silent films, then Martin Scorsese's aim is to show the glory of Méliès with new film technology. The movie can't help but reflect on the purpose of our life and whether our life is complete. History is like a song, the past is like dust, many years have passed, and many people have been forgotten, but Méliès and his silent film era have once again shined through the movie masterpiece "Hugo", shining all the way. The creative and most poignant long journey is like a negative film that has been rediscovered. When we look back again, we can't help but warm our hearts.
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