Sidney Lumet’s films are usually sentimental, but few films are emotionally exaggerated. Sidney Lumet often tells wise and intricate stories. He is politically left and often discusses social themes in his films, but he does not put political films first. The reputation of "Twelve Angry Men" is time-honored, and it has become a textbook film that interprets the spirit of American justice. In 1957, Henry Fonda held the copyright of "Twelve Angry Men" and needed a director to put the script on the big screen. He saw Sidney Lumet taking an acting class in New York, so he decided to work with the director who has filmed hundreds of episodes of TV shows and series on CBS and NBC. "The Twelve Angry Men", Sidney Lumet’s first feature-length feature film, the script is as follows: a suspicious juvenile crime case was tried in court, and 11 jury members believed that the child was guilty, and the only one held “reasonable” With a "skeptical" attitude, during the two-hour court break, he persuaded others not to speak impassionedly for justice, but to put aside the cloud of prejudice and arouse everyone's inner respect for life. Two hours, one scene, only dialogue and confrontation, to explain the birth, character, attitude, and inner ups and downs of 12 people to the audience. This tests the ability of novice directors and even more confidence. Henry Fonda was dissatisfied with the simplistic and simplistic setting, and Sidney Lumet made the film with the careful calculation of the TV people, which only cost 350,000 US dollars. It’s a pity that the distributor Fang Lianyi was so happy that it arranged for the film to be screened in full on Easter. As a result, there were only a few rows of audiences in the large theaters in Manhattan that can accommodate thousands of viewers. The film went offline horribly after a week, and even the filming cost was too late to recover. . The court scenes in the play are extremely exciting. "Twelve Angry Men" won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival that year, and was nominated for an Oscar for best film director and screenplay adaptation. The reputation of "Twelve Angry Men" is time fulfilment. It has become a textbook film that interprets the American judicial spirit-"showing an era in a limited space." The court is a place that will often appear in Sidney Lumet's movies in the future. He uses movies to examine the justice and sins, betrayal and perseverance that the world is accustomed to. Sidney Lumet’s most well-known movies-"Twelve Angry Men", "The Grand Trial" (1982), "Night Falls Manhattan" and "Sentence Me Guilty" (2006) took place in court, "Assault" "Zher" (1972) is a story related to the interrogation. "Hot Day Afternoon" is a ridiculous crime with black humor. "Conflict" penetrates into the corruption within the judicial system. In these movies, people take it for granted that justice lies in the questioning of conscience and morality. Down has become less reliable, and the word "life" is cherished. When we talk about "justice", what are we talking about?
Sidney Lumet has personally experienced the golden age of the American television industry, and also witnessed the madness of the industry after it flourished. Filmed in 1976, "TV Station" is the most important film of Sidney Lumet's life. He made his debut in the TV industry, experienced the golden age of the American TV industry, and witnessed the prosperity and madness of this industry. Wind and Cloud is not only a sober reflection of the "one step at the time", but also a few decades later, it still proves the farce and tragedy of the Brave New World. Let’s start with Sidney Lumet’s career. After the end of World War II, he retired from the Radar Corps in the Far East and returned to New York as a drama director. In 1950, he was accepted by CBS and became the director of the suspense drama series "Danger." By 1953, he was doing three shows on CBS and NBC at the same time. In three years, he shot more than 200 episodes and TV series. He was one of the most prolific young directors. The harsh living environment of the TV station forced him to develop fast shooting skills. "Twelve Angry Men" was filmed for 19 days and cost 350,000 US dollars. Even for "City Prince", which ran more than 100 locations, he still It only took 52 days to shoot, and the cost did not exceed US$8.6 million. Abide by time, abide by costs, adhere to small costs, how fast and economical, these professional habits developed in the TV station accompany him to his old age, so when his peer directors are ruthlessly abandoned by the industry and the times, he can live long to shoot. Old, by 2007, he completed the new film "Before the Devil Knows You Are Dead". In 1976, Sidney Lumet transitioned from television to the film industry for the 20th year. He started from the peak and experienced a trough, and this year's "TV Station" will become a real splendor in his career. . "TV Station Storm" slides from a comedy to a farce. The end of the farce is tragedy. Lu Meite is joking, armed with gag and sharp irony to his inner sadness and distress. In the movie, the anchor, who was oppressed by the ratings, made a hopeless future. He made a lot of words in the show, but unexpectedly caused the ratings to skyrocket. And the crazier he was on TV, the more the ratings grew. The American society of that era was extremely repressed and morally imbalanced. , Obviously recognizes this madness. At the end of the movie, the ratings war continued. The anchor was shot and killed on the live broadcast scene dramatically, and the over-the-picture sound played: "This is Howard's story. This is the first case of being killed because of low ratings." Sidney Lu Meite contributed a classic line left to the history of film in this movie: "I'm crazy to this point. I can't bear it." The movie is lively like a carnival, and the thinking is thorough and cold: What is truth? What is news? What is a TV person? What is TV? When the power of the media can flood daily, morality
In those days, some critics sarcastically said that this film demonized TV, which was the envy and hatred of filmmakers towards TV. Judging Sidney Lumet with these words is narrow, the film has made him a status, and he has a deep and sorrowful affection for the television industry. In 1995, Sidney Lumet published his autobiography "Making a Movie", in which he wrote: "I think the best style of a movie is not to be seen, but to be felt." "Can be used I can do the same effect as filmed in HD.” After the remake of John Casowitz’s classic film noir "Gloria" (1980) in 1999, Sidney Lumet returned to TV. In 2001, he even served as the executive producer of the American drama "Hundred Meters Street", which was produced for the cable TV network for two seasons. Old age failed to prevent him from working. He started his second business in the TV industry at the age of 75. It was not until 7 years later that at the age of 82, he made a movie again and regained his familiar court trial theme in "Sentence Me Guilty". In Sidney Lumet’s film, the darkness and light in the individual’s heart are more important than the justice of the law. Right and evil, life and death, are both paradoxes and contradictions. The field is life. Lu Meite once said: "My film is concerned with personal psychological crisis, psychological fluctuations under the squeeze of cruel reality." He is fascinated by the courtroom, fascinated by ordinary people who rely on intuition and conscience to find answers under strong pressure, and he is interested in the mental state of people in crisis—especially the moral crisis. He cares about the vortex and deep current of consciousness and subconsciousness, so he appreciates Alan Renai. "The Pawnbroker" in 1964 is an overlooked masterpiece in Sidney Lumet's work, but it is actually his most satisfying work. At that time, Sidney Lumet was in full swing, with a dazzling, strong, and direct image style. He borrowed from Alan Renai’s frequent use in "Night and Fog" (1955) and "Hiroshima Love" (1959) The flashback technique tries to bring the audience into the subconsciousness of the pawnbroker. The nightmare memories of the concentration camp follow life like shadows, and memories and reality, consciousness and existence melt the boundaries of each other. This is the first film in the American film industry to reflect on the Holocaust from the perspective of a survivor. From today's perspective, its light should not be obscured by "Twelve Angry Men".
In Sidney Lumet's film, the infinite darkness and light in the characters are more important than the justice of the law. In "Twelve Angry Men," the past events of everyone in the jury float from the suppressed dim corner. In "Assault", the police detective who brutally enforced the law turned out to be a prisoner trapped in the past. He interrogated the suspect with violence, but he kept recalling his painful memories. And in the shocking "Horse Lovers" (1977), the psychologist who tried to untie the boy's heart knot in the horse lover gradually released his own demons. "Conflict" is about a strong and lonely boy. Al Pacino became the Sisyphus of the United States in the 1970s under the lens of Sidney Lumet. Power, system, and justice. Sidney Lumet sorts out these grand concepts in order to invest his understanding and concern on every humble but concrete "individual". He refuses to forgive the darkness and sadness of our world. It is to find the light of dignity of "man" in the darkness and sadness. Sidney Lumet regained his expertise in law and crime at the age of 82 and filmed "Sentence Me Guilty", and the response was good. The film is adapted from the longest gang criminal trial in American judicial history, and the court trial between square inches. Lumet, who is over eighty years old, is still easy to shoot, but this time the protagonist is not the judge, the lawyer, or the law itself. He is a self-defending gangster. He has been a villain, but he is also a traditional Sicilian man. He sticks to the old-school blood and affection. He is contradictory, real and vivid, and is the battlefield of the court. It is the boss who eventually touched the sensitive areas of the generals. The light of traditional morality. As a result, the movie became full of homesickness—this is the melancholy gesture of an eighty-year-old man. The 2007 "Before the Devil Knows You Die" also won a lot of praise.
He is obsessed with drama, obsessed with fixed space, obsessed with the human feelings analyzed in words, the most essential things of these dramas make his movies. For Sidney Lumet, the place where the dream begins is the stage. Sidney Lumet was born in Philadelphia and came to New York with his parents at the age of 2. His parents were Yiddish-speaking Jews and a pair of wandering entertainers who moved to New York and joined the Yiddish troupe. Sidney Lumet grew up in the theater. He followed his father on stage at the age of 4, ran a little dragon on Broadway at the age of 9, and played a young Jesus once at the age of 16. The war interrupted his acting career and sent him to the battlefield in the Far East to become a radar soldier. After retiring, he first returned to the theater, and later by chance, he conspired to work in the TV station. Sidney Lumet is obsessed with the stage after all. In the first few years of working hard on TV, he was most proud of making Eugene O’Neal’s "Iceman" into a series. In those years, he never stayed away from the stage, while making batches on the TV station, returning to the theater rehearsal when he had time. The stage plays that he has directed include Bernard Shaw's "Man and Superman" and Camus's "Caligula". Sidney Lumet has the eye to match the best play of that era. In 1960, he adapted Tennessee Williams's "The Fall of Opheles" into "The Wanderer", starring Marlon Brando and Italian "national actor" Anna Magnani. Tennessee’s original work combines Greek mythology and Freud’s theory. It is indeed a subject that Lumet would be interested in. The problem is that Lumet is good at portraying men in crisis, while Tennessee Williams’ talent is to write women. When the focus of the script turned to the heroine, the filming got out of control. The Italian woman Anna Magnani's personality is too bright and too strong. She can burst out energy on the streets of Rome, but she can't adapt to the American stage rehearsal. "The Wanderer" irretrievably broke away from Sidney Lumet's control and became an "unfinished masterpiece" that failed miserably at the box office.
In 1962, he brought Eugene O’Neal’s "Long Night A Long Road" to the screen. This semi-autobiographical script condensed Eugene O’Neal’s youth, emotions and talents. Sidney Lumet was in During the shooting, the film method and editing were downplayed deliberately, and the space characteristics of the stage were retained, allowing the actors to faithfully perform large-scale dialogues and monologues. Catherine Hepburn in this movie is superb and can be called the best performance of her life. In the same year, Sidney Lumet also adapted Arthur Miller's "Landscape on the Bridge". And Sidney Lumet’s boldest time was to adapt "Horse Fetish" into a movie in 1977. This script of writing desire, belief, and loss has been regarded as a shocking and horrifying work today. Look, the movie itself is a careful copying of the script, and what it accomplishes is Richard Burton's unrepeatable performance. In these movies, Sidney Lumet tried to hide himself, trying to faithfully return his face on the big screen. This "humility" is also exactly Lumet's style-he is obsessed with drama, obsessed with fixed space, obsessed with the human feelings analyzed in words, the most essential things of these dramas have created his aesthetics and created his films.
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