"Lucky Piel" is not a stunning work, but its "anatomy" of the "origin family" is delicate, profound, warm, and direct to the heart. Billy August's narration and images are very "classical", the "three-dimensional sense" of the characters is "classical", and the appeal of the film is also "classical" - he brought us this film when he was in his seventies. "Classic" masterpiece, a shining moment after the decline of his creativity
As one of only a few "Double Palme d'Or" ("Pell the Conqueror" [1988] and "Benevolent Betrayal" [1992]) winners in international cinema, Billy August has become Denmark's "Double Palme d'Or" National Treasure Director".
However, this "film master" who once dominated the international film industry has never produced a "Palm d'Or" level work in the past ten years. Moreover, since "Goodbye Bafana" in 2007, Billy ·August no longer works in the main competition unit of the three major European film festivals.
Billy August was born in 1948, that is to say, after the age of sixty, his creative power declined markedly.
Since 2008, Billy August has gradually become an "old friend" in the Chinese film industry. In 2008, he served as a judge for the "Golden Goblet Award" of the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival. In 2011, he served as the artistic director of the "New Talent Support Program" of the 14th Shanghai International Film Festival, and in September of the same year, he was also employed as the cultural consultant of the Hangzhou Municipal Government. In 2015, he directed the Chinese film "Feng Huo Fang Fei" (2017). In 2017, he served as the chairman of the jury of the 7th Beijing International Film Festival "The Temple of Heaven". In 2019, "Lucky Piel" directed by him won the Best Film Award for "The Temple of Heaven" at the 9th Beijing International Film Festival.
We know that when a foreign filmmaker becomes an "old friend" in the Chinese film industry, it often means that his film career has begun to decline, such as the famous Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Sylvester Stallone and others.
Billy August can't escape the curse of "old friend", especially when he has the closest relationship with the Chinese film industry, he directed the "bottom work" of his film career, "Feng Huo Fang Fei". However, although "Feng Huo Fang Fei" is a failure, it is not a big bad movie - after all, Billy August's basic skills are still there.
Billy August is a master of literary adaptation. Most of his main works are adapted from famous literary works, such as "Pell the Conqueror" adapted from the works of Nobel Prize winner Martin Anderson Giants (1993) was adapted from the Latin American author Isabel Allende's novel of the same name, Goodbye Bafana was adapted from James Gregory's novel, and more.
Lucky Pie is based on the novel of the same name by Danish Nobel Prize winner Henrik Pontopidan. Back to his best way of creation, Billy August really recovered. Billy August can never go back to his own
"At his peak", but "Lucky Pier" once again proved that he is still the best "classical narrative" filmmaker in the international cinema today.
Billy August went to Sweden to study photography when he was young. His film career was deeply influenced by the Swedish film master Bergman, and he was also a "student" that Bergman recognized very much. Billy August's Palme d'Or-winning Betrayal of Goodwill was written by Bergman, who of course directed it. Billy August really lived up to the expectations of "teacher" and handed over a classic.
Bergman is a master of cinema, whose creations are multifaceted, ranging from profound philosophical works (The Seventh Seal, Virgin Fountain, etc.) to great melodramas (Married Life, Fanny and Alexander, etc.) ", etc.), there are early comedies ("Smile on a Summer Night", etc.), etc.
As Bergman's "chief student", Billy August studied mainly Bergman's melodrama, and learned the essence of it. However, Billy August is not an imitator. The core of his melodrama (concepts, thinking about life and life, etc.) comes from Bergman, but his narrative techniques and image styles have their own characteristics .
In a sense, Billy August is a relatively old-fashioned director, and his films often lack the spirit of artistic exploration and the forge of formal innovation. He is the guardian of classical narratives, and with a steady and precise attitude, he tells us one heartwarming story after another.
Many of Billy August's works have an epic quality due to their ups and downs of narrative and heavy, oily images. Of course, Billy August is not an epic director, and there are few grand "epic scenes" in his films, but he can shoot "epic" in melodrama, which is difficult for other directors reachable.
"Lucky Pier" is a typical Billy August work, and it is in the same vein as "Pell the Conqueror", "Benevolent Betrayal" and other classics.
It can be said that the level of "craftsmanship" and "craftsmanship" of "Lucky Bill" can be included in the best works of Billy August, but its "old-fashioned" appearance is indeed a bit unsatisfactory. time to see you.
Therefore, although the quality of "Lucky Piel" is placed in the main competition unit of the three major European film festivals, it is also considered to be of medium-to-high level, but it has not qualified for these three film festivals that advertise "film art".
Compared with Billy August's past achievements, "Lucky Bill" has no improvement or breakthrough, but he handed in an 80-point answer after all. Behind the "movie art", snobbery is everywhere, and Billy August, who never seeks innovation and change, has been marginalized by the "movie art".
Just as the holding level of the Beijing International Film Festival is still in a certain era in the past, the aesthetic appeal it represents is also "past tense", and this aesthetic appeal is highly consistent with Billy August's film style. Therefore, "Lucky Bill" won the highest award at the 9th Beijing International Film Festival.
In today's "words", "Lucky Bill" tells the story of the fatal impact of a "family of origin" on a "genius".
The novel "Lucky Pie" (1898-1904) is an autobiographical novel written by Henrik Pentopidan more than 100 years ago. At that time, there should be no concept of "family of origin". This novel portrays the influence of "family of origin" on people so vividly and profoundly, naturally, not from the author's understanding of this concept, but from his own "painful" experience.
The same unfortunate person, Henrik Pontopidan was much luckier than the "lucky" Biel, who was unable to display his talents throughout his life, Henrik Pontopidan wrote "Healing Wounds" After that, he got rid of the fatal influence of the "family of origin" to some extent and became one of the most important writers in the history of Danish literature.
"Lucky Bill" was given to him by Bill's friend and Bole Ivan Salomon. Piel was indeed lucky before the "family of origin" destroyed him, he was a talented engineer, he met the Salomon family who could help him carry out his grand engineering plan, and he also captured the Salomon family. The heart of Miss Jagbe Salomon—a kind-hearted, insightful, and broad-minded girl. Most importantly, she loves Bill with all her heart, and she is the only woman in Bill's life who can help him get out of his "family of origin".
It's really "self-inflicted can't live", Biel personally ruined love, career and happiness. However, strictly speaking, it was the "family gene" carried by Bill that ruined all this.
Bill is an extremely strong and extremely fragile contradictory body, and his resistance to the family seems to make him fearless, but his excessively tense nerves simply cannot withstand the repeated beatings of the "curse" from his parents.
When he went to the pastor's (his later father-in-law's) house to thank him, the pastor who knew "the frailty of human nature" clearly saw that he only had a lifesaver left, so he jokingly asked him a very "rude" The problem. This seemingly "small" offense really shattered Bill's "strength" - he couldn't pick it up again, couldn't fight it again, he confessed.
This is a victory for "family genes", a victory for priests, and of course a victory for religion.
Everything is ruined. But Bill is in love with Jagbe, and he needs a "sounding" "reason" to break up with her. This "reason" is cheating, "legitimate" cheating - he found a devout Christian girl, he returned to "family" and returned to religion.
Poor Jacob. How much we hate "Scumbag" Piel, how much we feel sorry for "Goddess" Jagbe.
After having three children, Bill "awakened".
He knew that he was destined to be alone, and that his wife and children deserved better care—let them "separate" from his "family of origin" too.
He left, living alone in the wilderness, and advancing his engineering career to a limited extent.
After being seriously ill, he finally plucked up the courage to "reconcile" with Jagbe - in fact, he has been silently paying attention to Jagbe, he has failed her, but he loves her powerlessly.
And he is the only love of Jagby's life. After Pierre left, Jagerbe still had the chance to be nourished by love and blessed with happiness, but she was loyal to her heart and rejected the "olive branch" extended by her ex-fiancé again.
Having loved, Jagbe has no regrets and no regrets, not to mention that she has a greater love in her heart. Her love can't save Bill, so she decides to "save" more children who are as traumatized as Bill. In a sense, she went into philanthropy for Bill's sake - the deepest love, and the broadest love.
On his deathbed, Piel carried out his final "redemption", incorporating a modest legacy and great "engineering" into Jacober's philanthropy. Of course, Jagby accepted him without hesitation—in fact, she had never rejected him in her life.
In the end, the lucky one, Bill, became the lucky one again.
"Lucky Piel" is not a stunning work, but its "anatomy" of the "origin family" is delicate, profound, warm, and direct to the heart.
Billy August's narrative and images are very "classical", the "three-dimensional" of the characters is very "classical", and the appeal of the film is also "classical" - Billy August, who is in his seventies Bringing us this "classical" masterpiece is a shining "recovery" after his creative power declined.
I hope that Billy August will become more and more brave after fighting and come up with more shocking works!
PS: Like "Benevolent Betrayal", in addition to the movie version, "Lucky Bill" also has a TV version. It is divided into four episodes and has been broadcast in Denmark. I hope we can see it in the near future.
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