"Home of the Beast" is adapted from the children's picture album of the same name published in 1963 by the American illustrator Maurice Sendak, known as Picasso in the fairy tale world. The book has never faded out of the public in nearly 50 years. Vision, director Spike Jonze arranged a 40-page album into nearly 100 minutes of video, and it took a lot of risk to make changes; for a work that seems to be a child's theme, if it weren't for the use of a computer Special effects deceive and deceive the audience, it is very difficult to be pleasing to the eye, but fortunately, the works presented today are very complete, and the story told is very complete, natural and deep. The loneliness, sadness, anger and fear shown by the protagonist Max are contagious in the elegant and delicate background music. The film reproduces the sensitive children's psychology in the original work by projecting in the fictional world, and has a deeper discussion on the relationship between space and characters. As a work adapted from a children's book, this film captures the essence of the original work, with the elegance that "Harry Potter" has never been involved in, and the wildness that "The Little Prince" has not captured. Maybe the children can’t interpret the extremely subtle sadness in the film, but at least they know how to dodge in the jungle, walk in the desert, and drive on the wasteland. They probably have more choices, better time, and easier A moving moment, but this will not weaken the power of the image of "Home of the Beast".
[Wander around like Max]
At least Max is not an unfamiliar image. He has a childhood like an ordinary person, facing an awkward situation, whipping the world overgrown with grass with dead branches, looking for an outlet for the maddening depression in his heart. What kind of child is Max? Full of enthusiasm and creativity, eager to communicate but not a playmate.
When the film started, he was alone in the huge room, tossing, shouting, and crawling after the pet, like a ferocious little beast. This is the way children of that age deal with loneliness, it is a catharsis. , Is also a confession. At home, Max sometimes moved slowly like a cloud without making any sound, and sometimes made a storm like a storm but received no response. In a single-parent family that ignores his own existence, he is ignored by everyone. The cold violence from his sister and the severe rebuke from his uneasy mother who has suffered from the hardships of life in the adult world. When he was having a snowball fight with his sister Claire’s friends, he showed an unprepared smile. He felt that he was not alone in playing with everyone at this time, but he never thought that games that were not malicious would also become unscrupulous due to fanaticism, but He was not ready to accept being conquered by powerful forces, nor did he expect his sister to show the same indifference to his experience, which means that the short-term joy and excitement of the talent is only his wishful thinking, so vulnerable.
The negative emotions caused by loneliness made Max have no time to choose to dispose of the lonely object, so his recklessness brought harm, and this kind of harm exceeded his expectations; the sister’s friend did not think about whether his own way is suitable for Max, suitable for one Smaller children, so when Max cried with pain and grievance, he was even taken aback. Rather than saying that Max in the story is walking towards an illusion step by step, it is better to say that he constantly sees his confusion in the ups and downs of emotions, and finds what he really wants from hesitation and helplessness, those emotional changes that seem to be in circles. Make him keep moving forward, and keep getting closer to the starting point.
The Max in the film was labelled as lonely, weak, wronged and manic at the beginning. All his anguish was impossible to talk about and no one told, so he chose an extreme way to get himself back to his mother. The vision put her into a dilemma, and finally released the anger suppressed in Max's heart, and turned into a savage island for her control and wildness. However, in fact, even though he became the king of the behemoths in "Home of the Beasts" by lying, he still failed to possess the ability to control this freedom and power. He neither had the powerful magic that everyone expected, nor did he have the mature mind and enough maturity. The strategy made everyone peaceful, he was just a child-grievance gave him wild thoughts, and the fetters, after crossing the commanding heights of self-exile, brought Max endless loneliness and fear. He wants to return home, even though what awaits him there may still be indifference and loneliness again and again, but what about? The child always has to go home, and he will gradually grow in the seemingly ordinary rivalry with himself.
[From Picture Album to Video]
Picture albums are of great significance in many children's books. The picture simplifies the text narrative, making the visual image information more intuitive, concise and easy to accept. This is especially true for moving images. "The Home of the Beast" has made many changes on the basis of the original work. In addition to complementing the family members and making them a force to promote the development of the storyline one by one, "Home of the Beast" also changed the book to grow a jungle from Max's room. This kind of fairy-tale appearance uses Max's escape due to a quarrel as a wedge, and moves to a small island that actually exists in the outside world. Although it can also be regarded as a world of fantasy that does not exist, as a way and means for Max to dissolve himself, this kind of adventure strokes that go with the flow may be more able to create rhythm and conflict, and it is more suitable for the world created by images.
As a low-cost film, it does not seem necessary to reproduce the "jungle sprouted from the bedroom, vines crawling across the ceiling, and the entire wall replaced by the endless night" described in the album. The film will use more pen and ink for the depiction. Max’s state, in addition to capturing his expressions, movements, and immature voices, the songs and film soundtracks produced by Karen O & The Kids and Carter Burwell in two separate ways are indispensable. It can be said to help the audience enter the film. Style and mood did my best. As far as the film is concerned, these two soundtrack albums are both worth listening to.
Because the actor who plays the plush partner has been isolated from the world in his jacket, the little actor Max Records can hardly communicate with other characters in "The Home of the Beast". The post-dubbing also means that the language of the plush partner during the live shooting is almost narration. Even all the opponent plays with Carol can only communicate with simple body language; relying heavily on the lack of external conditions, the one-man show that only enters the role through the imaginary puts extremely harsh requirements on the young actors.
In the picture album, the plush partner is only part of this extraordinary and peculiar adventure. The story focuses on "Where the Wild Things are", which is a concept of space, combined with the setting of "wild beast home" growing in the bedroom. Shows the change from manic to calm that happened in Max's inner world. In the film, out of consideration for the initiation and acceptance of the drama conflict, the plush partner then becomes an important role to participate in the narrative. Careful friends can find that after Max was frustrated in the snowball fight, he lay at night and looked thoughtfully at the globe on the bookshelf, which was engraved with "For Max, the king of the world, who loves you-dad", The friendship between Carol and Max is also based on the lack of paternal love. This mode of growth through mutual influence replaces the extremely abstract self-healing growth in the original work. It is undoubtedly easier to transform into images and easier to understand, but perhaps in depth, it is slightly mediocre.
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"Home of the Beast" has a background similar to "Caroline", and also uses a whimsical world to highlight the contradictions in the protagonist's heart. It also takes into account the graceful scenery and the strange crisis. But compared to the latter's bizarre and detached context, this film has a more real and warm side. Looking back on our childhood, we all used our own way to appease our parents like Max, use our own way to create whimsical stories, use our own way to defend our rights, use our own way to complain, resist or escape, use our own way I understand myself, solve myself, dispel myself, and finally grow up in my own way, far away from the childhood full of childish fun and turmoil. The extraordinary passion shown in the film is endless. With the excellent picture and music, sometimes rough and sometimes detailed emotions are so sensitive and subtle. Maybe this is not a very popular film, and it may not be able to get the most. People’s approval, but I still want to believe that I’m willing to walk into the world depicted in "Home of the Beasts" and find the wildness that has long been forgotten deep in my heart, even if I miss it again in the endless stream of people.
2009.12.28 Su Fu, Beijing
Su Fu found the electronic version of the original picture album to download: http://ishare.iask.sina.com.cn/f/6294731.html
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