Hollywood Domination Chapter 436: Topology movie
Although there is no clear instruction, most of the audience can see that the current Coke needs more than love in the strict sense. At least there is no basis for love between Mentos in their 30s What she needs more is a descendant, a continuation of life—maybe not necessarily related to her by blood, but this sense of inheritance in life is the most urgent need of Coke now.
And what about Mentos? He has a subtle feeling for Coke. He wants to know the story of Coke's life, explore whether he has left traces in her life, and understand the logic of the world, but he doesn't want to touch his scars, which makes him His cross-examination plan was repeatedly blocked, and the progress was completely behind the plan. Even in the companionship, he developed subtle emotions for this Coke. It was a new thing for him, and he was a little confused by this feeling, but unconsciously, he gradually accepted this kind of dependent life.
"The story of Mantos' life can actually be deduced from the story of Coke. Coke's parents died very early, and she lived in a relative's house. This is what the first story brings us. Information, so, what does this imply? Mentos, who is in his 30s, is now Mantos. What he needs is tolerance, care and help from his elders. Life, he feels exhausted, but his wife and children are unable to give him support, but keep asking for it. This is an important reason why he is on the verge of collapse. Is this the reason why Mantos meets Coke at his current age?"
Looking at the picture of Mentos and Coke going to the city to buy groceries together, Alan leaned back and thought thoughtfully, "You can see that Coke's child is in her 40s. Died at many years old, this detail will not be without reason, it is mapped to the reality of Mantos, is it because of this reason that he and his wife have reached an impasse? Because of the death of the child, the wife has been moody? This is also Mantos Is it the ultimate reason for Toss's poor mental state? This pressure has never been released?"
In this warm and leisurely scene, the voices of Mentos and Coke are once again covered by the background music. They walk through the scenery of spring, summer, autumn and winter together. Coke is getting thinner and more bent, And Mantos is still in his 30s, making people lose their sense of time, and it is difficult to judge how many years have passed in the movie-but Alan has carefully noticed that in many corners of the town, objects are no longer the same as they were originally. Its appearance is the same as that of flowers in the wild, shining with a thick liquid-like light, but this phenomenon is still quite slight. If he hadn't discovered it at the first time, and then paid special attention to verifying it many times later, it is very likely that he will see it. leave.
"Coke is slowly dying, um, here Mantos's performance is very measured, you can see in the montage that his expression has been changing slightly—especially his eyes, that kind of smile The feeling of tears is worth noting... This is the difference between a good actor and a bad actor. Even if a good actor has a straight face, there is drama in his eyes, while the expressionless expression of a bad actor is completely expressionless ..." Alan had a feeling of enjoying the food, "The most rare thing is that the special effects in this section are very natural and realistic. Even under the comparison of Heath, the increasingly thinner and shriveled Coke has no sense of distortion—— — Even if you already have preconceived prejudices, and you will unconsciously search for flaws, it is still difficult to see that this is a CGI character... Such a technical level will definitely applaud the Oscars, and the judges like this kind of plot details the most The special effect of the service..."
Yes, although 90% of Coke's current image should be made by cgi, Jennifer may just contribute the face model and do motion capture, but her image is not incompatible with Heath I feel that in general special effects masterpieces, the virtual characters modified by cgi are with the real people. I always feel that the lighting on both sides and the movement mode of the cgi characters are different from the real people. Although I can’t tell where it is, I can still feel it. Yes, but Coke doesn't have this problem. She even has extremely realistic facial expressions. If everyone didn't know that Jennifer played the role in four stages, many people would think that the old version of Coke might have been played by a different person. ——However, at this stage, she has no chance to show off her acting skills, and the director rarely gives close-ups. After all, the entire face is made of special effects, and it is a human face. The audience examines the details and views "" Avatar's standards are different.
"Hey, Mentos, how is Coke?" The scene cuts to the normal rhythm again, no longer a montage cut, in the accounting firm where Mentos works-he has been working in this job, and the work The environment has always been large and spacious, and the decoration is a bit modern, which is out of tune with the environment of the small town - his colleague asked with concern, "If you are worried, you can work from home these days, you know, Until—"
He didn't continue, but everyone's reaction conveyed the message to the audience that Coke was about to die, and the audience didn't question the rationality of this line-this is not the style of this movie. It is indeed absurd to put it in other movies, but here it has a particularly reasonable feeling. Maybe this is the charm of magicism.
"Okay, I'll go back and discuss it with her." This sentence obviously hurt Mantos, and his face contorted for a moment - after this sentence, 'Coke is about to enter the end of his life' It seemed to be a fact he couldn't escape, even if he had been telling himself not to care about it before, but now, he couldn't escape it anymore.
Although his eyes were full of thoughts, on the surface, Mantos still nodded politely, accepted his colleague's kindness, and stood up, "I'm going to pour a cup of coffee, do you want it?"
"Give me a cup too." The colleague said with a smile, and handed the mug to Mentos, and he picked up the two cups and walked into the tea room, but he didn't pick up the coffee, but was in a daze Finally, as if he had made a sudden decision, he put the cup on the table, hurriedly walked down the stairs next to the tea room, walked along the street, and soon reached the woods—— After a quick glance back, Mantos stepped out of the town.
"Can't face loss?" Alan tightened his beard thoughtfully, and couldn't help hissing in pain, "Mantos's character weakness? Almost every time he leaves, he is in harmony with The crow is related, but this time it is his own decision-interesting, or, when he was in the rest of the age group, he was addicted to the life at that time, and he needed force majeure to force himself to face reality, but this time, he He chose to leave on his own. At his real age, he chose to leave. Does it also mean that he cannot face the real reality, and he is still a failure, right? Or this is not a failure, but just his personality, yes His fate..."
This is just his conjecture. There is not a single word of explanation in the movie. After Mantos walked out of the town, he quickly recognized the direction and continued to walk forward-the more he walked, the lines of the surrounding scenery changed. It becomes flatter and flatter, and the trees, flowers and plants seem to have become a mass of flowing silver water, barely maintaining its shape—the journey is almost at the point, and Mantos's footsteps are getting faster and faster. In the end, He couldn't wait to run forward—until the dense forest appeared in front of him again, but this time, the body of the tree had already melted down softly, and Mantos touched the scar he left, and it melted into a beach water.
As if the dominoes were toppled, the towering giant trees melted into the ground one after another, and the buildings and people turned into fly ash. As Mantos ran, the whole town was like a dream Destroyed silently and quietly, becoming a silver drop, blending into the time and space under his feet, only the house where Coke lived barely maintained its shape, persevering precariously in the frenzy of melting buildings around him, Mantos ran into Coke In her room, she knelt down in a pool of silver-white water in front of her bed, took away the stethoscope beside her bed, bent down and held her hand——
Now Coke is almost horribly old, she is so thin, curled up on the bed sheet, almost like a shrimp, one of her eyes is covered with an old age ring, with black eyes Her hair was white, her eyes were staring blankly ahead, except for her slightly heaving chest, there were almost no signs of her being alive. She didn't have any special reaction to Mantos' arrival, she just shook his hand slightly with effort. hold his fingers.
Mantos’s lips trembled, his eyes wandered around, unwilling to fall on Coke’s face—it seemed that he still couldn’t face the farewell scene, but he couldn’t help being attracted by it, he whispered Said, "I-I-"
But Coke didn't respond. She moved her finger and pointed to the small bedside cabinet, and the camera followed and captured a birdcage on the bedside table. Mentos stared at it intently. Looking at the small and cute black bird in the birdcage, and then looking at Coke—the audience’s breathing became heavy, even if not everyone can think about every metaphor behind the camera like Alan, but seeing Now, most people can still understand the meaning of the crow. At least for now, releasing the crow seems to mean the death of Coke.
The expression on Mantos's face was mixed with fear and reluctance, but under the trembling of Coke's fingers, he picked up the bird cage heavily, closed his eyes and swallowed a few times, and opened the cage door.
"This is a big improvement for him..." Alan sat up straight, "But it is so logical under the background of the atmosphere, maybe his departure just now is the last pain of growing up, not a kind of pain. Escape from..."
The crow, which was as small as a sparrow, hopped a few times, happily jumped out of the cage, followed Coke's skinny hand all the way up, jumped onto her shoulder, and ruthlessly pecked her forehead—— ——In Mantos’ shouting and stopping, the house, furniture, and the Coke on the bed all melted at an accelerated rate in the whirlwind, turning into a drop of silvery liquid, which fell into the short beak of the crow, and the black crow The bird flapped its wings and uttered a long cry to the sky. In the whirlwind, its body became bigger and bigger, and quickly turned back into a giant bird. Instead of responding to Mentos, it flew to the sky Go, Mentos yelled, chasing it straight forward in the melting city, the camera zoomed out further and further, in the collapse of the whole city and the whole wilderness, thousands of giant crows came from a distance Flying, but there is only a small black spot on the ground that keeps moving forward and moving——
"...This is really..." Jon was speechless, and before she knew it, she squeezed the handle tightly——Judging from the special effects, this scene is indeed spectacular, whether it's the melting of the city, It was still the scene of the crows flying, both of which had an incredible sense of beauty, but what moved her even more... She couldn't tell what it was, but the episode just now did make her hold her breath, there was an inexplicable sacredness and solemnity It seemed that the picture had touched the deepest part of her heart, and she was too shocked to regain consciousness, let alone organize her thoughts.
"It's so beautiful..." Alan's reaction was faster than Jon's, "This composition..."
After a long shot, the screen cuts to Mantos again. He keeps running forward, his expression changes from complex and sad to focused and pure, as if everything he wants to do now There was only running—finally, he stopped abruptly and stopped at the edge of this silver-white world—the camera flew up, pulled out a distant view, and the spectacular waterfall of time appeared in front of everyone. There was a low sound of gasping in the projection hall, and the rushing, magnificent water made a rumbling sound in the starry sky, falling down without stopping, going down, down in the endless starry sky...
The crows scrambled to fly down the waterfall, and soon all disappeared. Only one crow was still hovering over the waterfall. Toss stared blankly at it, and then turned his head to look at it, showing a sense of nostalgia.
At the same time as he turned his head, the crow screamed, folded its wings, and threw it into the waterfall like a bullet. When Mantos turned his head suddenly, it had disappeared, and panic flashed across his face. Anxious and hesitant thoughts, but finally took a few steps back, screaming and rushing towards the waterfall.
In the empty starry sky, a figure quickly jumped down. This scene caused many people to let out low sighs. Then, the water flow sound effect of the waterfall swelled up and took over everything, and Mantos also fell into the water flow ——In the crashing rush, many lights and shadows passed before his eyes, the words and smiles of the four Cokes, the words and deeds of the four Mantos, the various pasts between them, and the silhouette of Mantos in reality ——
Among these fast pictures and the sound effects of rising to the surface of the water to inhale from time to time, the figure of the crow has been looming. Mantos stretched out his hand and struggled, as if he wanted to grab something. Crow's claws, but with a crisp cry, the picture suddenly went black——
After a few seconds of darkness, the sound of car horns and human voices gradually became stronger, and the conversation with a British accent sounded in the distance, and the screen gradually brightened. Mantos staggered, as if thrown by something As if on the ground, he ran forward a few steps in embarrassment, and then he stabilized himself. He looked around in shock, and found that the drivers around him were busy chatting and didn't notice him, and his car was parked not far away. The driver's seat was empty, as if no one was there.
Going a few steps forward, Mantos turned his eyes to the edge of the fence, and he was suddenly startled—he himself was leaning against the edge of the fence, looking into the distance—and in the wilderness far away , there is a crow flying, it seems that it is flying from this direction.
As if it didn't intend to fly away, the crow stopped on a tree, and the original Mantos turned his head and glanced in this direction inadvertently, and now Mantos shrank back in fright, After a while, he stood up again and looked in the direction he was in - he saw that "I" seemed to be attracted by something, climbed out of the fence and walked out, and Mantos also unknowingly walked to his original position , looking at the back of 'I' who was attracted by the white camel under the tree and walked forward.
The crow disappeared at some point, and the pure eyes of the white camel and bull seemed to pass 'myself', and met Mantos, he stared blankly at the white bull, watching himself staggering into the twilight In the middle of the night, the night was getting thicker and thicker, and soon, "I" in a black suit had been submerged in the night, only the white cow walking leisurely in the distance could barely distinguish it.
"Hey, buddy!" With a few loud horns, someone shouted at Mentos. "Would you like to move your **** back into the car? Stop artificially creating a traffic jam?"
Mantos was obviously taken aback. He turned his head and looked around, only to realize that the traffic flow had begun to move. It seemed that the traffic jam had ended, and the drivers got on the car one after another, preparing to leave.
The time seems to have completely returned to normal, Mantos sat in the driver's seat hesitantly, his cell phone was buzzing desperately, he picked up the phone and said, "I'm here now, there is no more traffic jam It's gone", while looking at the white bull in the distance, it has turned into a small dot, and it seems that it will disappear from the field of vision in an instant.
The traffic is slowly moving forward, and the camera is pulled up. This colorful road has a different kind of splendor in the night. The slow rhythm of the lights, the flashing frequency and the soothing background music, Intertwined into blurred bands of light... However, all this was destroyed by a piercing brake sound, and the lens suddenly returned from out of focus to the focused state again - amidst the scolding of drivers and the sound of horns, a car hard Turned sharply, drove to the shoulder of the road, a figure opened the car door, ran out staggeringly, jumped over the fence in a panic, and ran towards the wilderness—in this boundless wilderness, this black spot Moving up and down in the night, Mantos' voice sounded again, and this time, his and Coke's roles were reversed.
"What do you think about traveling?" Coke's voice seemed young and happy, and she giggled lightly, which was very different from the etherealness of the opening title.
"Okay," Mentos said with a smile in his voice, which was unprecedentedly relaxed, "I am on a business trip for six months every year, I go from New York to Washington, from Mumbai to Singapore, from Rio de Janeiro to Reykjavik...you don't know these cities? It doesn't matter, you just need to know that they are all very big and wonderful..."
Amidst his narration, the camera gradually zoomed in, and Mantos ran into the familiar woods again, and the camera passed over the tree that appeared many times—but the traces he left at that time He has disappeared, he ran through the woods, and ran into the night town. Everything seemed to be back to the beginning. The 16-year-old Mantos stopped at the door of the hotel, gasped on his knees, and stared at the crossroads ahead. ——
"Hey." When the 16-year-old Coke walked through the intersection with a group of female companions talking and laughing, Mantos stared at her blankly. The undisguised love and tenderness also caused low sighs in the theater: There is no doubt that Mantos loves Coke, and he will give up reality for her when he loves it. The meaning of the journey. ——After this brief distraction, he finally stepped forward and stopped Coke.
"Hey." Coke was obviously very curious about this stranger, she stroked her braids, and replied amidst the snickering of her female companion. "Are you new in town?"
"Yes," said Mentos, holding out his hand. "Jack Anderson."
"Ah——" Not only Alan, but many people made the same voice. This is—has Mantos finally revealed his real name?
"Norma Stonebridge." Coke said with a smile, she reached out and shook Mentos.
"Okay, Norma, nice to meet you." Jack also showed a smile on his face, and he and Norma walked forward naturally. "Norma, what do you think about traveling?"
"Is this your pick-up line?" The camera slowly zooms from the faces of the two to the whole body. Many people have noticed that Norma's dress has changed a lot—she looks more modern , at least it is no longer the style of the 1920s, and even the shops in the small town seem to have the flickering light of the TV. "So—what do you think about traveling?"
"I travel for six months every year. I go from New York to Washington, from Mumbai to Singapore, from Rio de Janeiro to Reykjavik... You don't know these cities? It doesn't matter, you just need to know that they are It would be great if it was very big and wonderful..."
The camera moved upwards over the building and moved to the top of the roof. It became a train station, and on the platform, Jack carried a box and got into the train that was parked on the platform with Norma. Compared with before, Norma, who seemed to have grown up, pointed out the window, while Jack, who had not changed at first glance, was much calmer. He turned his head and looked at a car parked on the awning of the platform. A crow stared at it silently.
With the sound of a whistle, the train moved forward slowly, the camera zoomed in, and finally landed on the watch worn by Jack, the second hand moved forward tick, tick, tick, tick, in the sound of the whistle Amidst the long beeping, the rolling of wheels and the crowing of crows, the screen finally went dark, and the ending song gradually sounded: the film is over.
There was a burst of sparse applause. The audience was not as enthusiastic and expectant as they were after watching "Code Shero". Many people were discussing with each other the meaning of the ending. "Do you think this town is real? What is the whole movie about?"
"I think... the town might be somewhere between real and unreal, depending on how Jack sees it, doesn't it? When Jack sees it as a dream, it's fantastic, but when he When you start to take it seriously, it becomes a lot more real."
"Yes, but what exactly is it about? Is it Jack's upbringing? Or death, time, love, worldly relationships?"
"I think it's kind of weird—it's weird, it's not one of those classic art-house films where the theme is clear and all the metaphors serve the theme and what's behind the theme, it's a bit fragmented , but there is a solid core that runs through the entire movie, making it not scattered. It’s just that this core is not as easy to say as a classical art film.”
In this trial screening, all viewers have signed a non-disclosure agreement, and they cannot just leave after watching it. Instead, they must participate in discussions and feedback under the auspices of the statistics company, and fill out some questionnaires—this kind of trial screening The opinions will eventually be fed back to the producer, and may even lead to the modification of the film editing. There are many anecdotes in history that the producer modified important plots because of the feedback from the audience at the preview meeting. If Salvi Tucci hadn't been filming a new film, he would definitely be there as well. And Alan also participated in the group discussion as a member of the film critics. He said seriously, "This is a vague and chaotic perception, just like a psychological consultation. You get a lot of information and specific answers. It's up to you to put it together. But it's by no means meaningless, the changes in symmetry, mapping, and detail are all projections of Mentos—or Jack, I think if we look at it a few more times, we can start from You can see a brand new story under the surface, the story about Jack's life, especially the first half of his life. After arriving in the town for the last time, you can easily see that Nora's dress and temperament have changed. It's more like a—"
"——A girl from a good family, yes, at least her family is not particularly poor, and her parents don't seem to have died. Jennifer's performance brings out this nuance. In the final shot of Nora, She acted more confidently, and the faint inferiority complex she had at first was gone. So, if you take this Nora as the real her, then the previous Coke was a projection of Mantos himself, and the first half of his life was actually hidden In the first part, Nora's first half of life is in the last part, which is a correspondence—" Another film critic Andre interjected, "If you still regard this Nora as a projection of Mentos himself , then this also shows that Mantos himself has changed, he has become bolder and more pioneering-this is a very interesting movie, it is like an Escher painting, very subtle and unique- "
"Yes! Yes!" Alan became excited, "that kind of paradox, cycle and symmetry... a topology movie, yes, this is its unique temperament."
"But do you think the mainstream critics will appreciate it?" The staff sent by Warner asked sharply, "Do you think the current edit will be well received by the critics? Does it need some changes? Does it make you feel sorry?"
Several film critics exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"No comments so far," Alan said cautiously, stroking his messy beard. The details can be mined, the performance—of course, the performance can hit the Oscars, and the male and female lead nominations are not a problem, but of course, Jennifer will not win any more awards in the short term—"
Everyone laughed knowingly, and the staff from Warner also shook their heads with a smile, "But the movie itself—"
"I don't think its theme will be the kind that Oscar appreciates. Its topics are big and small, and it is very different from the reality and sense of history that Oscar pays attention to. Moreover, this complex and exquisite design and free romance It's very young." Alan shook his head, not hiding his admiration. "This is an exploratory work by Salvi, and you will have a clear feeling about it. He is freely exploring his inner world——"
"Yes, yes, you can feel the traces of his thoughts wandering, and the feeling of leaning out at the forefront of the industry. This seems to be a work full of aura, and of course, it was shot very well. For the use of special effects—"
"Yes, yes."
All the film critics nodded, "And those directors who can only use CGI to build robots and arrange the so-called absurd scenes in "Alice in Wonderland" should watch this movie, Salvi The use of special effects is really full of inspiration, those gorgeous and romantic shots, that kind of visual enjoyment-this kind of revolutionary creation will definitely have a great impact on the best special effects next year.”
"The whole lens language, he is getting more and more arbitrary in this aspect, but the editing and lens are so perfect——"
"—But you can still feel that this is a very young movie, and it is far from Salvi's pinnacle." Alan concluded. "It concentrates some of his cutting-edge ideas, which are very fresh. I think it will definitely be nominated for an Oscar for best film, but the possibility of winning the award is not too great."
"But do you think the general audience will like it?" Warner's staff wrote down something on paper, and he continued to ask, "How much potential do you think the box office has?"
"Uh..." Jon said, "I don't know what other people think, but just myself and my friend - we all like this movie, of course, we are all fans, but it has nothing to do with this." Big relationship, really, as far as the movie itself, we also like it. Although you can't clearly say its theme after watching it, it still makes you feel-delicate, interesting, and very beautiful, Those pictures, that kind of dreamlike feeling—although I can’t fully express the core idea it wants to express, and I can’t say that I completely understand it the first time, but it doesn’t hinder you whether you understand it or not. Watching a movie, because you know it expresses something—although it may be very philosophical, you can’t understand it for the time being, but you will have the urge to watch it again and experience it several times, because the picture is really beautiful—it Make me regret why it's in 3d and why I don't have a private theater at home, you know, because you'll be really sorry to think it's going to be out in a few months-"
"Beautiful, I think first of all beautiful, this is the biggest feature of the film directed by Salvi," Zade gushed. "In fact, it takes talent to make a beautiful movie. Really, at his age, you can only say that it is talent. There are many complicated scenes here, but he explained the entire logic chain very cleanly, and even many Time replaces the characters' lines and confessions, and fully presents their psychology, which is very beautiful and concise-in addition to being beautiful in the aesthetic sense, his sense of beauty is very rich, and the actors' performances are also very good. The big highlights and gimmicks, this is a movie that makes people think naturally, the geometric beauty of the structure is the source of its charm, and human beings really appreciate that kind of beauty unconsciously, they will feel that this kind of thinking makes People are happy, I think you don’t need to worry about whether the box office can make up for it, you can just follow this edit, if you cut it into that kind of popular love story, it will make the box office and movie reviews drop—”
As if noticing the staff's expression, he smiled, "I know, the cost of this film is close to 200 million, which is the result of joint investment between you and Universal Focus, Disney Touchstone, and a large number of independent film labels. , is considered a big investment for you, and you urgently need to pay back—I think Jennifer has no investment, and it is also a lot of pressure on you, but...my opinion is that you don’t need to worry about this, as long as you have Jennifer With Fo's performance and 3D gimmicks, it is unlikely to lose money on a global scale, not to mention that this movie is so beautiful—"
Yes, in several consecutive previews, both professional film critics and ordinary audiences gave positive comments on the film, although it is neither a traditional 3D commercial film nor a traditional art film, it can It is said that it is the most cutting-edge grafting product in the industry, and there is no precedent to follow. It is purely a gamble, but it is surprising that such an incomprehensible movie can be both refined and popular. The audience seems to really not care that they cannot I understood it the first time, but praised "Life Journey" as "really deep, making people want to watch it several times and think about it", and film critics like Alan Morrison have already written articles expressing expressed their own feelings.
"This is a topology movie", "represents a new transformation of Salvi, the key word of this movie should be breakthrough - under his leadership, Heath Ledger and Jennifer Jay Ferson has also completed an amazing performance", "the most difficult performance method by age group, the best performance result"... Different from the traditional evaluation of excellent works, this kind of comment is confusing at first glance, such as 'Topology Movie', on the contrary, has aroused the expectation of the film industry. After all, only a few people have seen the trial screening, and more people have been secretly looking forward to the Christmas schedule-such an unprecedented 3D art movie, whether it is The film itself, as well as its distribution and marketing, are of great reference value, and its performance at the box office is also very exciting: with a budget of 200 million yuan and publicity of at least 100 million yuan, it must be launched on a large scale , for this kind of movie with no peripherals, it is difficult to return the global box office of only 800 million yuan. It must hope to have a good performance at the Oscars in order to sell the follow-up copyright and make a profit.
As for "800 million worldwide and Oscar presence", this is indeed an extremely high goal for an art film. Even with Jennifer participating and receiving good reviews, this goal still seems high Unattainable, rumors about "Life Journey" are still quietly circulating in the industry: It is said that Warner and other investors intend to edit a more popular and commercial version, and give up the Oscars in exchange for box office, giving priority to returning capital and profit...