The ending will always be unexpected. "Selena" had a good hand, but it was scribbled. This movie tells the tragic story of a woman. Selena had a miserable childhood. After marrying George, she ran a timber business with her husband. After an accidental miscarriage, she became increasingly insecure and planned to murder George’s illegitimate son. Since then, she has accelerated her path to destruction. In the end, he took the initiative to repeat the tragedy of his childhood family. This is a cold tragedy, unfortunately, the level of the film is also a tragedy. The tragic power contained in the story itself was torn into a pile of fragments by the hasty narrative and chaotic footage, floating lightly in the Great Depression era in the United States, floating above the jungles of North Carolina.
Even if it is not as expected, it can be seen from the film that the story is actually very good. And the plot density of this story is very high. The love and marriage between Selena and George, how she built her prestige in the woodland world full of men, and the contradictory or ambiguous relationship with George’s men Buchanan and Galloway. The intense jealousy of a woman who has an affair with George, if there is no proper narrative structure, and there is not enough length, it is almost an impossible task to complete it. This is still a period drama, and it takes a bit of pen and ink to explain the background of the times. The director did not make a choice, and told the whole story like a running account. High-density plot, low-density details, skeleton, no flesh and blood, the narration is like rushing to the scene, so it feels full of haste. Susanna Beal’s "Better World" and "After the Wedding", including the first English film "Memory Lost in the Fire", all tell stories with relatively simple plots with high-density details, her delicate emotions, and keenness Insights, and thus will be successfully expressed.
As a Danish director, Susanna Bill's favorite handheld photography inherits the legacy of the Danish film group "Dogma95". This hobby was somewhat restrained in "Selena", and her preference for capturing actors' subtle expressions and close-ups was still retained. However, her compromise approach did not achieve good results, and the close-up of Jennifer Lawrence often seemed inexplicable. Of course, there are editing reasons, but more of it is caused by style imbalance. Susanna did not find the right style for the story, and did not coordinate the form and style. The sense of reality and simplicity pursued by hand-held and close-ups often works well in daily and realistic movies. In this period drama, it often becomes a dazzling discomfort.
Every character in "Selena" is not enough to be liked, or even annoying. Selena is jealous, George is arrogant, Galloway is weird, and Buchanan is unfaithful. This is obviously different from the director's previous works. Her protagonist is usually imperfect, but very pleasing to the audience. Judging from the hasty narration, the director also seems to hate every character and does not want to stay beside each character; inappropriate shots also exacerbate this feeling.
Character, society, and destiny are common factors that create tragedy. Although it is a period drama, the period factors of the film are weak, character and destiny are the main reasons. At first, George was a domineering president and a weird man among the bourgeoisie. He didn't love the easy city but the jungle. After Selena turned to be one of the speakers, George's previous system began to shake. Like disease, tragedy can be contagious. The tragedy of the past was the mine on Selena's body. With a fuse, it would spread like a malignant tumor. She turned herself and everything about herself into disaster, her fate was cursed, and destruction was the only ending.
The beauty and shock of the tragedy comes from its inevitable, but the director did not make the inevitability of the tragedy. Selena’s story is more like a series of accidents and coincidences in a linear arrangement. Unpredictable emotions dominate. If this is the case, the story is worthless and there is no need to tell it. Like "Madame Bovary" to Flaubert, what Flaubert shows is the inevitable process of tragedy. What director Susanna should do with Selena is to reveal the inevitable cause of her tragedy. In addition to the disgusting temperament exuded by the characters collectively, this movie is more of a senselessness. And unsentimental works are the worst tragedy.
This movie was first produced in 2013's "American Hoax", and it has only been released and released in theaters or video websites in various regions. The reason for being hidden in the snow cannot be clearer now. This is also the greatest significance of its publicity.
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