Author: Secretary of the Round Head
The 75th Cannes Film Festival has come to an end, which is also the first time the film festival has been held as scheduled in three years. With the gradual improvement of the new crown epidemic in France and the lifting of various restrictions one after another, this Cannes event has finally resumed its former grandeur, and the number of participants has increased significantly compared with last year. As the premier film event in Europe, the Cannes Film Festival gathers the highest quality art films and author films from all over Europe and even the world.
“close”
“broker”
“Laila’s Brother”
“Tori and Lochita”
“Holy Spider”
“especially”
Master II Palme d’Or
The most important event at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is the second time Swedish director Ruben Ostrund won the Palme d’Or for his new film “Triangle of Sadness”. Five years ago, Ostrund had already won the award for “The Square” when he was only 43 years old. Interestingly, the last time it won the award coincided with the 70th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, and the organizing committee specially produced a diamond-encrusted trophy; this time, it coincided with the 75th anniversary, and the organizing committee also specially produced a pink rose quartz 18k gold diamond-encrusted trophy. , the two special trophies were all won by Ostrund, making him in a way the luckiest double Palme d’Or winner in history.
Like The Square, Triangle of Sadness remains a work of mixed reviews, but that hasn’t stopped the jury’s preference for the work, led by Linton. The film is divided into three chapters, giving the impression of watching a bull that Picasso has drawn more than a dozen drafts in a row: it starts with the most mundane details of life, then moves to a scene with complicated characters and complicated plots, and finally enters a pair of opposites. The metaphor of the entire human social history, from the simple to the complex and then back to the simple, the whole process is not only hilarious, but also creates a huge space for reflection. Ostrund’s recent works have become increasingly complex, difficult to categorize, and, so to speak, create a genre of absurd irony. Neither comedy nor farce, they use precise and subtle observations of human behavior and deliberate overreach to push the audience far out of their psychological comfort zone and question the nature of social relationships.
The rookie is new enough
In addition to touting several of the world‘s top Mesozoic filmmakers, Cannes Film Festival Artistic Director Thirier Fumau is also continuing to introduce newcomers from his “lineage list” in due course. However, judging from the development trend in recent years, although there are many newcomers, there are very few who can really be called “rookies”. Their new works often lack the courage and energy shown in the famous first works, and there are certain fluctuations in the level.
For example, although the Belgian teenager Lucas de Hoot and his work “Intimacy”, which won the jury award this year, have received a lot of praise, there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of structural awareness and theme expression. The other two new faces, Ali Abbasi and Leonor Sehai, were also the winners of the “Un Certain Regard” category in previous years. This year, they were shortlisted for their works “Holy Spider” and “Exotic Homeland” respectively. The main competition unit, but these two works also tend to be mediocre social problem dramas. Compared with the previous works, they lack depth and lose style, which is a pity.
On the contrary, the older generation of creative groups who have been shortlisted in the main competition unit of Cannes for many years showed even more amazing creativity this time: the Darney brothers contributed the most heterogeneous work in their careers, “Tori and Rocky”. Tower”, and won the 75th Anniversary Award this year; the 84-year-old Polish director Jez Skolimovsky created the road movie “Donkey Cry” with a donkey as the protagonist, which received many praises in Cannes , and finally won the Jury Prize; in addition to David Cronenberg, Claire Deney and other directors who have been excavated and admired by Cannes for many years, new works have been launched. These works may hardly be called the best works of these filmmakers, but they are among the most characteristic, bold, and therefore most controversial works of their creative sequence.
The rise of Asian cinema?
Among the 21 works shortlisted in the main competition of this year’s film festival, five are from directors from Asia or the Middle East (descent), accounting for nearly a quarter, which is not much. In East Asia, the new works of Hirokazu Koreeda and Park Chan-wook were both shortlisted for the main competition and won the prize. The former continued the creative theme of “The Thief’s Family” and helped Korean national-level actor Song Kanghao win the Best Actor award, while the latter won the award for “Resolve to Break Up”. The Best Director Award makes South Korea another big winner besides Ostrund this year.
In fact, it was Hirohwa-eda, Park Chan-wook and Song Kang-ho who have been guests of Cannes for many years. Not only will all new works be shortlisted, but they will also be invited to be members of the jury. Therefore, it is only a matter of time for them to win the award; With the “rise” of Asian films, it is better to say that after “Parasite” won the Palme d’Or, Europe’s belated blessing and recognition of Asian films, and this recognition must continue the “strategy” and “determination” of the European Film Festival in the selection of films. See”.
In the Middle East, three Islamic films were selected for the main competition of this film festival. In addition to the “Holy Spider” mentioned above, there are also “The Boy from Heaven” and “Laila’s Brother”. However, it is worth noting that among the three works, only “Lyla’s Brothers” is produced by Iran and the director is from Iran. The main production funds of the other two films are from Northern Europe, and the creators are naturalized or settled in Northern Europe. Therefore, the discovery of Asian films and filmmakers in Cannes is still essentially aimed at supporting European films.
It is true that we have indeed seen rare and rare social landscapes in Middle Eastern movies in these films: “Holy Spider” conducts investigations into the extreme religious forces within Iran’s Shiites, the game between secular and religious, the underground porn industry and women’s social status. Although it is still relatively rough on the whole, its technique is similar to the prototype of a certain Hollywood blockbuster; “The Boy From Heaven” mainly revolves around the opposition between the Sunni secular government and religious authority, shaping the three The four insist on the image of truth, goodness and beauty, but the presentation of these films to the Islamic world is somewhat conspiracy-theoretical and spectacle-like.
The only exception is “Layla’s Brothers”. The film not only provides a comprehensive and in-depth description of the families at the bottom of Iranian society, but also allows us to see to what extent the sense of security at the bottom of society under the US sanctions against Iran has been destroyed. And the lowly living situation of women under the traditional patriarchal family system. This expression creates a great distance both from Farhadi-esque social melodrama and from our perception of other Iranian films. For this reason, the film also won the Fabisi Award from the Film Critics Association.
gender, race, class
Since last year, the topic of gender has become the most important topic of the three major European film festivals. From “Titanium” to “It’s Happening” to “Alcaras”, female filmmakers have won the highest honors in the three major film festivals, which also highlights the The whole of Europe is concerned about this issue. This year’s Cannes Film Festival is also the same. Except for a few films, most of the films in each section of the film festival will directly or indirectly involve the issue of gender power relations.
Perhaps the most contemporary of these is the Un Certain Regard Ukrainian film “Butterfly Vision,” which focuses on the story of a female military expert who is raped by Russian soldiers: motherhood prompts her to give birth to a child , but the relationship with her husband deteriorated uncontrollably and sharply, and her husband could only console himself in extreme nationalist behavior, and eventually committed suicide. In the end, however, we find that the heroine did not give birth to the child out of love, because she entrusted the child to an adoptive family shortly after birth. The several turning points of the film have sketched out an extremely complex psychological state for us, which not only reflects the most current fate of women, but also can be regarded as the shocking echo of the writer Alexievich’s book “No Women in War”. It can make people feel the tragic situation of everyone in the war.
The issue of race and refugees still occupies an important position in European film issues, and this issue is often associated with issues of community and class, forming a more diverse and complex criticism of social relations in the creator’s thinking. In Christian Mongi’s new work “NMR”, two Sri Lankan migrant workers make a big splash in a small town in Romania, and the hero himself returns to the town after being abused while working in Germany. From here, we can see the complex composition of class, gender, religion, and how far-right forces gradually expand their turf, turning seemingly innocent civilians into demons at their own pace.
Migrant workers are often subjected to extremely unfair treatment, sometimes even risking their lives. For example, in the Darney brothers’ “Tori and Rochita”, the two protagonists who came to Belgium from Ghana can only sing in restaurants. for a living. But this is not their main business. In order to make money faster and return to the vicious smugglers (ironically, these people come from community churches), they can only help the Belgians to do the dirtiest business. The most astounding thing about the film is that the moral dilemmas that usually feature heavily in their work are completely wiped out, leaving only a threat lurking in the dark and a protagonist who is constantly acting but unaware of the threat. This also makes “Tori and Rochita” a psychological thriller rather than their forte moral drama, and the subversive creativity grows coquettish flowers in the cracks.
Epidemic and mental symptoms
Over the past few years, many films have begun to directly express the physical and psychological feelings brought about by the epidemic. Although more films do not directly involve the new crown epidemic, they hope to express loneliness, pain and desire for the outside world. audiences resonate psychologically or physically.
The work “Mediterranean Fever”, which was shown in the “Un Certain Regard” unit and finally won the Best Screenplay Award in this unit, is such a film that directly reflects the repressed mental state of modern people. As the story develops, we gradually realize that the protagonist is severely depressed and wants to seek suicide, and the reasons for this include many levels, such as his political depression as a Palestinian immigrant who cannot be recognized, his role in child support in family relationships, and gender relations. Reversed familial depression, and social depression without a regular job and lack of interpersonal communication. Although the movie gives a picture of life that is not unique to the epidemic era, it is undoubtedly closely related to the isolation and loneliness of people under the epidemic.
If it is said that the epidemic has brought psychological and spiritual pain to the vast majority of people, then those who suffer from physical diseases have personally experienced the threat of illness and death. The work “You You” in the “Un Certain Regard” unit tells the story of a patient with pulmonary fibrosis who refuses treatment and hopes to spend the last time in nature. In the film, the heroine suffers from breathing difficulties, and her husband’s care for her is of no avail, until she sees the magnificent natural scenery of the Norwegian fjords on the Internet, so she decides to go alone. With the passage of time, her condition gradually worsened, but she was given the opportunity to re-experience life and life, and gained an indescribable freedom and peace that transcended past life and rotten flesh.
If the new crown epidemic has broken contemporary history and the “post-epidemic era” has quietly begun, then many creators are actually at this historical node, rethinking the relationship between man and nature and between man and man, trying to achieve individualism Under the framework of humanism and humanism, a new balance has been found.
It is no coincidence that “Eight Mountains”, which won the Jury Award in the main competition unit and “Donkey Roar”, and “Mountain”, the award-winning work of the director’s bi-weekly unit, both have “mountain” as the theme, especially in “mountain”. Among them, the male protagonist is far away from the world, discovers an unknown luminous creature among the snow peaks, and acquires a super power from the mysterious creature that can make his arms glow transparently. The heroine who meets by chance is not afraid of this, but naturally accepts the “flaw” that has never been seen before. This is undoubtedly a reminder to the audience that no disease is enough to isolate people from each other, whether physically or mentally, and perhaps the terrifying virus of the new crown epidemic will also become the “light of enlightenment” in a new era of mankind.
In addition, this year’s Cannes Film Festival has no shortage of gems. For example, the work “Torment on the Island”, which received rave reviews but failed in the main competition unit. The film is supposed to be seen as a political film about the black box of power, but it doesn’t unfold in the familiar, Gafrasian way at all. It’s an everyday, casual, holiday-like, passive political film unfolding in a resort where politics no longer operates in a familiar way to anyone, but becomes a nude dance in dim lights in a nightclub : seductive, empty, meaningless.
At the same time, a good film does not have to be a grand epic, nor does it have to discuss any social issues. It may be enough to be able to write personal experiences in a way that comes from the bottom of your heart, such as the award-winning film “Sunny Morning” in the director’s biweekly section. The title of Mia-Hanson-Love’s new work is taken from a little poem by the French poet Jacques Preville, “Sunny Morning”, which tells the self-contradiction of a loner: there seems to be a shadow outside the door, but And no one shows up; he is aware of his loneliness, but also that he is not completely alone – and this is perhaps the inevitable fate of every filmmaker. (round-headed secretary)
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责编：崔益明 ]