Reality and fantasy, life and drama have always been the themes that movies like to explore, and they are also frequently used techniques. However, few directors put these two themes and techniques in a movie at the same time, and "Ukiyo-e in New York" is such a movie. In the film, the protagonist focuses on checking the feces that have just been discharged from the toilet. This is a reality that other movies dare not and do not want to shoot; however, the characters in the film buy a house that is always burning and live in it all the year round. It is so divorced from reality. When the protagonist as the director creates and rehearses a drama in a movie, it is the interweaving of life and drama, it is the show of the drama in the drama; however, when the content of the drama in the drama is to perform the director’s reality in the movie When life, and the director's real life changed due to the deduction of the drama in the play, the multiple reflections in the kaleidoscope made us blur the boundary between life and drama. "New York Ukiyo-e" was rated as one of the top ten best films of the year by Time magazine, but not many viewers like this movie, because when watching "New York Ukiyo-e", the audience must decide for themselves the cut point between reality and fantasy, as well as the relationship between life and life. The boundaries of drama are daily tasks in real life, but not what most audiences want to do while watching a movie.
Kayden is a stage director and screenwriter. He is middle-aged with a fat figure and bald hair. Kayden has a 6-year-old daughter and a wife who works in painting. Like many middle-aged men, Kayden encountered bottlenecks at work, and his relationship with his wife was gradually weakening. To make matters worse, Kayden felt that he would die soon. This is how it happened. When Kayden was shaving in the morning, the tap suddenly exploded. In a panic, Kayden cut his forehead and went to the hospital for treatment. When the doctor sutured him, he found that his pupils could not contract, so he suggested that he go to the ophthalmology department. After the examination, the ophthalmologist advised him to see a neurologist. During this time, Kayden found that he had bloody stools and hematuria, as well as difficulty in salivation. However, his wife was not very concerned about his symptoms and left for Berlin with her daughter. The psychiatrist also ignored his complaints, but rather enthusiastically promoted the books he published to Kayden. As a result, Kayden suffered severe convulsions shortly after his wife and children left, and must call the police for help.
There has always been an ambiguity between Kayden and the ticket seller at the theater, Heather. When the two finally reached the point of going to bed, Kayden cried in bed, lamenting his relationship with his wife and daughter, and the fact that he was about to die. As a result, the relationship between Kayden and Heather came to an end. Later, Heather moved into a house that had been burning, and married and had children with the son of the original owner who lived in the basement.
Just as Kayden was frustrated and desperate, the postman sent an email informing him that a certain foundation had allocated a large sum of money to fund him to launch a new drama. So Kayden made up his mind to create a work that reflects the real life and can be passed down to future generations in his lifetime. And, at the suggestion of his assistant, Kayden selected an abandoned large warehouse to rehearse a play in which everyone is the protagonist and the audience is in the play. As a result, this has become a play that never ends.
After his wife and daughter left, Kayden got her diary from her daughter’s pillow, who was only 6 years old at the time. After my daughter went to Berlin, she never returned to New York. But this diary is constantly adding content, as if my daughter is always using this diary to record her own life. Through reading this diary, Kayden was able to discover the growth process of his daughter. When she was 11 years old, her daughter's photo was published in a magazine, and her naked body was covered with tattoos. As an adult, her daughter danced in a striptease bar and twisted her body through the glass window. Kayden tried to find his daughter, but was either blocked or regarded as a stranger. As for the wife, she has been with other people a long time ago and has never been in contact. Kaden was later with Alison, an actress in the crew. After Kaden was rejected by Heather, he made an appointment with Alison, and after accompanying Alison to her mother's funeral, the two began to live together and have children.
Every time when rehearsing on the scene, Kayden would give the actors a small note, and then let them play freely according to the instructions on the note. Kaden felt that God arranged his life in this way: one instruction a day, but the ultimate goal is unknown. In this way, seventeen years have passed, and the theater is still lining up. During this period, Kayden's father passed away, and his daughter also passed away. The daughter was seriously ill and asked to see Kayden before she died. Kayden is here. Since the daughter grew up in Germany and only speaks German, the two must wear a synchronous translator to communicate. After a series of German words, Kayden understood. It turned out that his daughter had asked him to apologize for abandoning his wife and daughter. Kaden tried to explain that he did not abandon her, but his daughter couldn't listen. As a last resort, Kayden complied with her daughter's insistence and begged her to forgive, but the daughter finally replied that she really couldn't forgive him, and then passed away...
After his daughter died, Kayden tried to contact his ex-wife. He found the address of his ex-wife and went to visit directly. Just as he was about to knock on the door, an old man outside his ex-wife's door gave him the key to the room because the old man thought Kayden was the cleaning lady Ellen who was scheduled to come. After Kayden admitted that he was Alan, he opened the door and entered his ex-wife's house. Inside he saw a piece of paper, on it was the bed sheet soiled after his ex-wife asked Allen to replace her and her boyfriend Yun Yu. So Kayden changed the sheets and cleaned the toilet. In this way, Kayden often went to his ex-wife's house to clean. But the ex-wife always writes the instructions on a small note. Until the end, Kayden left a message to express his true identity, and his ex-wife only replied through a note, saying that there is a cupboard in the house. If Kayden wants to live in it, it will be easier to clean.
Heather returned to Kaden. One day Heather suddenly called Kaden and said that he needed a job because her husband had left her. More than ten years ago, when Kayden started preparing for the play, he had hoped that Heather would serve as his assistant. But Heather refused at the time, because he didn't want to have anything to do with Kayden. Now that Heather wants to come back, Alison is already working as an assistant, so Kayden has to ask Heather to be a conductor again, although the show is still far away. However, because Alison later left Kaden for an actor in the play, Heather eventually became Kaden's assistant and rebuilt with Kaden. Alison took the position that Heather didn't want, but now it belongs to Heather again.
Finally, the play has progressed. Kaden wants to hire actors to play himself in the play. A person named Sammy came to apply. He said that he had followed Kayden for more than 20 years and knew everything about Kayden well. Sammy can even say exactly what he wants to say before Kayden speaks. Unsurprisingly, Kayden decided that Sammy would play himself. So I saw Kayden, played by Sammy, directing other actors in the theater, while the real Kayden followed Sammy, quietly explaining how the assistant modified Sammy's performance and dialogue. In addition, I can often see Kayden and Heather sitting in their seats, watching Sammy and the actress who played Heather perform their real lives.
Kaden also needs to add another role, that is Alan who helps clean up at his ex-wife's house. A middle-aged actress came to apply for this role. Because of her previous stage performance experience, Kaden quickly decided that she would play Alan. The actress who played Alan later played Kaden instead of Sammy. It turned out that Sammy played Kayden in the play, but he flirted and dated with Heather in real life outside the play. In desperation, Kayden also began dating the actress who played Heather and asked her to accompany him to his mother's funeral. The two even had a relationship after the funeral. However, when Kayden and Heather had a showdown about their relationship, both chose to be with each other. As a result, Sammy could not accept this fact, so in front of all crew members, he jumped from the height of the theater and committed suicide. For the first time in this play, the progress of the play has surpassed real life, and Kayden in real life is still alive. As a last resort, Kayden had to find someone to play himself. At this time, the actress who played Alan nominated herself. She said that she also knew Kaeden well and gave an example. Kaden thought about it, and agreed.
Time flies quickly, everyone is getting old, and finally Heather is also dead. Heather always lived in the burning house. According to the doctor, Heather was choked to death by smoke. After Heather's death, Kayden was discouraged. The crew persuaded Kayden to take a short break. Since no one played the role of Allen, why not let Kaden play it himself, and it would be free from the original position. So Kayden played Alan, he moved into the closet of his ex-wife's house, and did things according to the notes left by his ex-wife every day. Finally, Alan, played by Kayden, received the last note saying that his ex-wife had passed away. So Alan, played by Kayden, walked out of his ex-wife’s apartment building and onto the street in the theater, but there was no one on the street. When Kayden asked where did everyone go? The voice in his headset said that most of them were dead. So Kayden walked to a small square. There was a sofa in the square and a woman sat on the sofa. Kayden asked who it was, and the headset rang again, saying that it was Alan's mother in the play. So Alan, played by Kayden, sat down next to the man who played her mother. Mother comforted Ellen softly. Ellen felt extremely tired. She leaned her head on her mother's shoulder and died like this.
this the real life of Kayden? Or was it a hallucination after he got sick? Is the character in the movie acting the character in the play? Or is the character in the play acting as the character in the movie? It can be all or neither, it depends on which perspective you want to cut the movie from. In the play, there are all kinds of characters, either the protagonist or the supporting role, but these characters have their own lives, and in real life, they are all the protagonists. Just like Ellen in the play, she was originally a supporting role, but when Kayden played this role and looked at the play from this role, she became the protagonist, and her every move in real life Is magnified. As for gender and age, it has nothing to do with it.
"Big Citizen" is known as the greatest movie in American film history. This is not because this film has a huge lineup and a particularly complicated plot, but because before this movie, it has never used retrospective filming techniques, nor has it ever No one knows that the film can still be shot in this way, using the method of laying out the perspective of too many people. The value of "Big Citizen" is that it opened up a new century of film. I think that what "Ukiyoe New York" wants to establish is a milestone like that of "Great Citizen". As to whether it can succeed, it will be the test of time. In any case, this film has gathered a large number of hard-ground actors, either Oscar actor winners or nominated ones, and they are all common faces in first-class independent productions. These actors are not outstanding, but their acting skills are top-notch. Together with director Richard Kaufman's script, they fully express the absurdity and humor in the movie. As for Kaufman's attempt to innovate in film, whether it succeeds or not, it deserves loud applause. At least, I like this movie very much.
View more about Synecdoche, New York reviews
