It was sweltering heat, and the weather was too hot to go out. I casually flipped through movies at home and saw Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing". What are you doing?" This sounds more interesting. And this movie coincides with the cicadas chirping on the trees outside the window that can't stand the heat.
The first half of the film mainly depicts a black neighborhood in Brooklyn, where people live on a hot day. The pace is slow and rambling, a bit unfocused, but not very boring. The appearance of various characters is a bit like the "Hundred Rivers and Seas" technique of our ancestors "Water Margin". The second half of the film began to exert force, and as the contradiction gradually appeared, a spark eventually led to the arrival of violent conflict. Due to the sufficient foreshadowing in front, the final climax is more exciting. Netizens say that it is "tension". I dare not use the word tension. I have studied literary theory for four years, but I have never fully understood it.
But having said that, this film is indeed very good at shaping the group portraits. As for the excellence, I can't say one, two, three, or four. Recently, I have seen several mentions of the creation of group portraits in movies, that is, the two outstanding domestic films this year, "Favorite" and "Steel Piano", mostly criticize their group portraits for their ineffectiveness. I have seen both films, but I don't think much of the characters in "The Piano of Steel". "Favorite" is indeed a little bit worse in this respect. Of course, this film is not mainly about creating characters. The characters are not atypical, Wang Baoqiang's horn brother, Jiang Wenli's pig-riding sister, and the one who never forgets the red books, and everyone can even rediscover the background of the elders, but in a movie as a whole, they are not. I feel that they are a bit abrupt, there is no cause, there are only various effects (death methods). Besides, many characters got together from the beginning, and nothing meaningful happened other than talking, laughing, and slapsticking, almost purely to create a humanistic and social environment for the two protagonists.
Compared with "Favorite", the group portrait shaping of "Do As You Should" is brilliant. All the characters live in the same neighborhood and know each other, but they each have their own lives to do, or they each have their own clues. Mayor lingered on the street, courting the old lady; stammered selling photos all over the street, stammering; in order not to compare, here are some examples. The protagonist, Mucci, is a pizza delivery man. On the one hand, he is in contact with the Italian pizza shop owner, and on the other hand, he is in contact with the black people in the block. In the end, it was he who was the first to raise the trash can, the window of the chopped pizza shop, and cause the riot. Each thread of each character progresses independently, but at the same time, they often intersect, and most importantly, they appear so naturally, like real life, although the group of people live in fucked up, full of swearing, loud music. Nine out of ten online comments were impressed by the director's mise-en-scene, which is true.
What is also commendable is the director's attitude in handling the film. As a black director, he also fights for the rights of black people, but the attitude of the film is extremely calm. There is no pity for black people or indignation for white people, just calmness, and some viewers even feel disgusted with black people after watching the film. Maybe the director just wanted to use this film to arouse the audience's self-referentiality. Why should I discriminate against black people just by watching a film? Look, maybe this is how discrimination against blacks comes about, it's just so unreasonable!
Although he looks at the world with a cold eye, he actually has a warm heart, and he cannot help but remind people of Lu Xun••••••
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