And "Abdomen" is a work of art, from head to toe, without compromise. Like a very finely made vessel, it may have flaws and cracks inside, but as a whole, it is perfect. As far as these two movies are concerned, Masaki Kobayashi's "talking about things" through genre films is not the best, and his intentions are not new. In this respect, he can't compare with Akira Kurosawa. But on the other hand, he can not only build a very rigorous structure, but also take care of the details-in "Abdomen", every breath is beautiful, ups and downs, making people afraid to breathe.
One is the lens. The shots are not fluid, end-to-end, but cut directly from one frame to another, simply and decisively. This makes the screen produce a certain static effect, each picture is like a corner of the stage. That is a very small corner. Reminds me of Noh. The performance of the actors is also similar-the body's display is strictly constrained in a certain "field", and the inability to switch back and forth means that all the power must be applied to the point: the eyes, expressions, small movements, and even The tone of speech (singing). The transition between the picture and the picture, the stage and the stage seems unreasonable, but in fact every tenon is extremely accurate. There are three ways to do this: One is the rigorous structure of the story. "Cutting the Abdomen" tells the story in the most traditional way, echoing each other (the book at the beginning and the end, point the title-expand the suspense-deep-climax-the end, end to end), pay attention to symmetry (Jin Yun and Qian Qianyan The story, the same beginning and completely different ending). The second is the control of the rhythm. It's like a person with a degree of cultivation, taking a sigh of relief, and then letting it go after a long time. This is true from the whole of the film to many small parts, one by one, the muscles are good, and the breathing is not messy. The third is the taste, or atmosphere, created by the film. This is the deepest line, its beauty. I have almost never watched Noh dramas in their entirety. Most of them are scattered impressions from various movies. Noh actors' modeling, costumes, props, movements, singing and lyrics-any part of it is meaningless and boring when taken apart, but when they are integrated, a strange beauty comes out. The so-called human temperament, the so-called movie style, the so-called beautiful type, the so-called soul. The Japanese put their soul on a certain point, which is unfamiliar to me, but in "Cutting the Abdomen", it grasps this beauty so well that people who watch it only remember the beauty , And forget its cause and effect.
Story structure, narrative rhythm, and inner breathing-these three build up "Abdomen" from the outside to the inside. In other words, these three aspects are completed, and a movie is basically completed. "Abdomen" is pinched out.
Finally talk about music. The existence of music in "Cutting the Abdomen" is like nothing. Like the fragments that often appear in movies, they are switched, paused, and stretched in unexpected places, and the music is played. The camera is in accordance with the rhythm of human action, and the music is in accordance with the rhythm of the camera. The music is flicked when it is critical, but it does not let people find its hands.
This reminds me of Ozu Yasujiro's film soundtrack. The same pursuit of simplicity, music does not interfere with the main part of the movie, but the two are different. The music of Ozu’s movie is like a watermark on the curtain looming, he tried his best to make it into air, indispensable but invisible. This kind of music is not external, but a person’s ears that make endless waves of electricity. . Its existence is actually to "hidden": "hidden" goes to narration, and makes the narrated person "appears"; "hidden" goes to the stage, and makes the scenery on the stage "show"; "hidden" goes to photography Frame, so that the real existence "appears"-life is inherently stretched, frameless, and flowing like air. In the end, it hides the music itself, and makes the "music" appear-it is not music that can be heard by ears, but the truth and beauty that Ozu believes and is fascinated by.
In contrast, the music of "Cutting the Abdomen" is for "presentation." It highlights the stage and stage effects. After a long period of blankness, there will be music suddenly, it should show the turns and joints. Similar to the use of close-ups. Similar to applying strong light to important parts. There are so few places where music appears, but it is precisely through this that it gains its own existence-at the same time, it also makes itself a real supporting role, just like on the stage, only the soul (lines) and the body (actor) are the main body , And everything else is auxiliary. The musical paraphrase in "Abdomen" is: "Shoot when it's time to do it". It's not much, but it's deadly.
It turns out that there are two types of minimalism: one is to hide, like Josef Albers' flat-painted paintings, "less is more", they believe that "there is a mantra", so they want to minimize endorsements; the other is This is for the sake of reality, the meaning I want to express is too clear, the desire to speak is too strong, and the beauty is too prominent to hide-so I use the strong light. All places are dark, and the subject emerges from it.
The last association is: Tarkovsky's music takes up less in the film in the later stage. I don't know what his reason is, I haven't studied it yet. Staging.
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