Red-Lynn Ramsey's "Narrative Experiment"

Katrine 2021-11-28 08:01:20

Text/Lulu

There is no idea, and the writing is more casual.

It seems difficult to find a suitable argument for this film, especially for someone like me who doesn't know how to analyze it from the perspective of drama. In fact, this movie really tells a too simple story. An adult woman Eva who dreams of traveling around the world suffers from the pain of losing her husband and child, and she gets pregnant shortly after she emerges from her grief, so she has to give up her dream to be a one. The housewife, and the born child, Kevin, is a very uncomfortable master. He is against the whole world and even against himself. The relationship between the members of this family is very tense, and the adult Kevin seems to be gentle. Many, in fact, got worse and ended up in jail because of their radical behavior. The story ends here.

But I really want to write about this movie. One reason is that the director is Lynn Ramsey, who I like very much. Another reason is that this kid like Kevin can resonate with me a lot. Autistic tendency. Social barriers may have a perverted Oedipus complex. His ending is more like his own wish, entering prison, torturing himself and torturing his mother. No matter from which angle I look at it, it looks like an advanced version of me. It is the British director who can fear the pain of growing up so real.

Kevin

Generally speaking, red is the color of life, a color full of vitality, but the film does the opposite. The red at the beginning of the film is a positive red. At this time, it represents young women’s yearning for the world. , And later, as her dreams shattered, the mother-child relationship became worse and worse. Red gradually represented randomness and impermanence, and then to the ups and downs of emotions, and eventually became anxious, restless, exposed and offensive weapons. It exists in the picture all the time.

Or sprinkle a slice

Or stay quietly in an inconspicuous place

As large as a table and a wall

As small as a balloon and a pen

In short, the whole film is flooded. Although it does not participate in the narrative, it always reminds us that this is a sign of the character's emotions. In fact, it can play the same role as the soundtrack, and it is also an important element to promote the plot.

The idea of ​​using color as an element is very experimental, which is also the characteristic of director Lynn Ramsey's filming. In today’s world film industry, she is regarded as one of the female directors with outstanding characteristics. Compared with the audacious Catherine Bigelow, her style is more similar to the delicate Kelly Reichard and Andrea Arnold. , Not only the similarity of the theme (both like to use emotional trauma as the topic), but also the similarity of the technique.

Rechard is good at accumulating small emotional points to make the leap from quantitative change to qualitative change

Wendy and Lucy

Arnold has his own unique insights and mastery of audiovisual language, especially the capture and use of single-field environmental elements

The main light source that keeps flickering during sex, and sometimes the small actions in a scene are edited

The film’s director, Lynn Ramsey, is very good at using a variety of environmental details to externalize the heart of the protagonist of the film, anxiety, panic, and fear. Her previous "Mouse Catcher" and "Mervin Kara" are both In this way, the heart of the child is externalized, and the heart of the self-enclosed girl is externalized. And "You Have Never Been Here", which was shortlisted for the main competition in Cannes last year, upgraded this style and directly used the soundtrack as a single layer of narrative. The soundtrack is the inner world of the protagonist and reflects his mood swings. He killed, escaped, Thinking, every action has a specific drum rhythm and a sense of relaxation to describe. To some extent, Ramsey is a combination of Rechard and Arnold.

You have never been here

Speaking of audiovisual methods, the editing of this film is also quite eye-catching. On the whole, the two lines are advancing in parallel, one talking about the cause, the other talking about the result, and the time is one after the other. The content of each paragraph also responds to each other, and finally comes together. However, the director used narration, flashback, and interruption in the process. Just to name one example, my mother just came out of the company and was inexplicably punched by a strange woman. The interruption appeared. The next segment was the occurrence of tragedy. This beating Her woman was shot by Kevin. She could do nothing but tolerate it silently. The sudden appearance of the tragedy brings a sense of confusion to the audience, so we can also experience the chaotic state of the character, helplessness and helplessness. Editing is also creating blurred and dizzy effects, such as editing faces immersed in a pool together, as if they are inseparable from mother and child, but they are separated, and can never be reconciled. Another example is the extensive use of cross-editing + weird sound effects + slightly The shaking lens always reminds us outside the screen that the characters here have reached the brink of emotional breakdown, and the sense of despair can't be dissipated.

Red×1
Red×2
Red×3

In fact, color can also be seen as a kind of contrast. Red is the kind of warm color that has a stronger visual impact. The tone of this film is depressing and sad, and the emotional core is also cold. Use warm to hit cold, which is very contrasting. The effect can sometimes create a gap. We can see that the red color of this film not only appears on the surrounding things, but also on the characters.

Kevin

After a basic understanding of the plot, the icy characters we are familiar with sometimes put on warm clothes, and they are "defamiliarized" to some extent. At this point, I suddenly realized that Lynn Ramsey seems to have his own personal interest in the alienation effect. For example, in "You Have Never Been Here", the screen is a video of a murderer and the background music is Rosie&the Originals. Angel Baby is not only a pleasant and elegant atmosphere, but even the lyrics are bluntly saying "I love you, you are an angel". Put it here, this killer is an angel, an elegant murderer. This and the identity of the killer are two extremes. This slightly playful approach also appears in her other works. There will always be one or two places. It is almost impossible to put the soundtrack, the identity of the characters, and the difficulties they are in together, but once they appear, they will always make people. The eyes (ears) are bright, and this kind of wonderful chemical reaction is really a wonderful pen. Of course, this is also related to the director's good musical taste. At least, she can do it every time, using old English songs with the simplest melody to create an unexpected atmosphere.

In the main competition list of the 64th Cannes Film Festival, there are the Palme d’Or "Tree of Life", which was later regarded as a masterpiece by many fans, and the realist masterpiece "The Boy on a Bike" by the Darnet Brothers, Cannes darling Aki His new work "Le Havre", as well as Almodovar, Ceylon, Las Vontier, Bonello, NWR and other powerful masters and directors compete on the same stage. Perhaps "What's wrong with Kevin" is one of the most inconspicuous of these films, but it is different after all. Looking at this movie again, I found that it could be better. Director Lynn Ramsey has a lot of room for improvement. Sure enough, she won the screenwriting award at the 70th Cannes Film Festival last year, which is also an affirmation of her ability. , This is a director who is very worthy of attention.

View more about We Need to Talk About Kevin reviews

Extended Reading
  • Darren 2022-04-24 07:01:06

    It's not human, it's beast

  • Jordi 2021-11-28 08:01:20

    Three-line narrative 18 years. . Having a child is the biggest suspense in a woman's life! Young people are extremely beautiful, women are extremely miserable.

We Need to Talk About Kevin quotes

  • Celia: Me and Kevin were playing Xmas kidnapping.

  • Eva: [standing at the counter of the miniature golf course, the mother sees a group of obese people and rails to her son] Whenever I see fat people, they're always eating. Don't give me any of this... 'slow metabolism, it's my glands' crap.