"Narayama Festival Exam" movie notes
This article contains two chapters.
1. The establishment and expression of emotional clues in "Narayama Festival Kao"
2. Use the humorous attitude of straight steel men to shape cruel reality
So far, I have watched three films directed by Shohei Imamura, namely "Pig and Warship", "Vengeance Is Me" and "Narayama Festival Exam". The works of director Shohei Imamura always make me feel like a straight steel man, and the message conveyed is probably "It doesn't matter what you like, I want to shoot like this, you watch it carefully." This led the audience here to have no choice but to They all become "younger brothers" and watch them obediently. The most important thing is that after reading them, they will feel "Fuck, so fragrant~". As for the director's attitude towards the film, he is more like a butcher, and the audience wants to eat pork. Director Shohei Imamura will say "Okay~" and then pull the pig out of the pigpen, tie it to a stool, sharpen the knife...until the pork is handed to you. If you want to eat pork, it will also show you the most real pork production process, without the slightest disguise or pretentiousness, but to present the objective realization in an artistic way. You said that you can't accept such "real" things, but director Imamura, who is a straight man of steel, will say that there is no way that reality is so bloody and naked. And this is what I want to show you, this is my work and my concept.
"Narayama Festival Exam" is such a work that can fully demonstrate the director's concept. In fact, the whole film has always been talking about only one thing, under the deficient material conditions, the most primitive appetite and sexual desire of human beings cannot be satisfied. In such an environment, what will happen to the emotions and morals that human beings are proud of. And the director's first three-quarters of the content is showing the life in the mountain village where materials are scarce in the film with a slightly relaxed attitude. The funny but reasonable behavior of the villagers made the originally depressing mountain village life unexpectedly lively. In the lively, director Imamura squatted next to everyone with the freshly cut pork belly, ready to slap everyone in the face with the pork belly. The film begins with the end of winter and the flowers bloom in spring. When the audience sees Lizhi who eats the fat worms in the tree as protein, he still thinks, "Shit, is it too direct?" Then they see a close-up of the dead baby in the field. , and then borrowed the actor's mouth to tell you that it was used to fatten the fields. The director shouted and counted "one, two, three". He used the pork belly in his hands to smear everyone's faces with oil and blood, and then everyone wiped their faces and felt that the lard was still a little fragrant. This is an admirable ability. . Some directors try their best to make the audience cry in one plot, and use their skills to make the audience laugh in another. When the audience sees it as a "rubbish" that is too hard and greasy, the director also thinks that he is talented and familiar. I don't know if I was kneeling in the film. Director Imamura stood beside the audience with a grin and whipped them with a whip from time to time. Every whipping would make the audience collectively orgasm. In front of Director Imamura, the audience has become a trembling M who loves being abused. (It comes from the author's grievances about domestic movies in the bottom of his heart, please don't take it seriously as a whole)
Returning to the film itself, it is still the director's usual use of animal metaphors. The color metaphor is only used when the Rain House is about to be destroyed. The fiery sky, the weasels (which look like little raccoons) steal chickens, and the falcons looking for their prey naked hints that some people are going to be hunters and others are going to be prey. There is also the director's life presentation of the environment of material scarcity and how people face their original desires in this environment. The whole film starts with winter and proceeds according to the time series of the four seasons of the year, and finally the story returns to winter. There are a lot of friends who have analyzed the vitality and human desires presented by the comparison of the three dimensions of animal metaphors in this film and the experiences of the characters in the story and the time series, so I won't repeat them here. What I am interested in here is Director Imamura Shohei's expression of emotional clues and his sense of humor.
1. The establishment and expression of emotional clues in "Narayama Festival Kao"
If you don't read "Narayama Festival Examination" carefully, it is easy to miss the emotional clues arranged by the director in the film (for this point, the director may feel that "Steel Straight Man" never abuses emotions, and restraint is the right way to vicissitudes.) But again In the end, the mother came to the bone-strewn valley of Mt. Nara, and the moment when Chenpei and his mother embraced, the emotion burst out like a dam bursting. What kind of magic can allow the director to control the emotions of the film so skillfully and emotionally penetrate the hearts of the audience? This is a task that requires careful analysis.
The director never let the protagonist express his love for his mother clearly, but he shows the audience Chen Ping's "love" for his mother all the time in the movie. It is the hints of these plots that build up the emotional chain between Chenping and his mother Aling in the audience's heart like a puzzle. This kind of expression is a skill, but also a restraint ability. Through the performances and plots in the time series, the audience can subtly establish emotional clues, and at the same time avoid the direct expression of emotions and the emotional abuse of excessive emotional catharsis. Tatsupei's father Liping became the laughing stock of the village and disappeared after he did not follow the village's rules and sent his 70-year-old mother to Narayama. This incident became an insurmountable hurdle in Liping's heart, and it was also the reason why Liping resolutely defended the village rules. But when his mother decided to go to Narayama this year, Li Chenping became more and more like his father Liping. In the film, through the mouths of the villagers and the mother, it is said that Chen Ping has become like Liping, and every time Chen Ping will refute it fiercely. Chen Ping's rebuttal is a kind of defense of dignity and a hint of self-stubbornness, and it is also a disguise for the deepest desire in the heart. Chen Ping, who was a little numb in the face of most things, reacted fiercely to this matter every time, which fully demonstrated that when Chen Ping was the toughest, he was the most vulnerable, because he couldn't let go of his mother. He loves his mother deeply, but in front of the village regulations and in the face of the harsh living environment, love means sin. When the autumn is coming to an end, Chenpei and his mother come to Nishiyama where his father's soul appears. Chen Ping told his mother the cause of his father's death, and the mother just said: "Your father was not killed by you, but was taken away by the god of Narayama." This is undoubtedly the mother A Ling is suggesting that Chen Ping, who is more and more like his father, has made up his mind to go up the mountain, You must never be like your father. As Chenping's heart has been split due to his love for his mother and the fetters of his father's incident, he can only pick up a shotgun and shoot at the tree where his father was buried to kill his father again and return to unity. When this powerful thread was established, the depth of the relationship between Chenpei and his mother had already been established. The director also arranged 1. Chen Ping heard the neighbor sing a song that humiliated his mother to find the neighbor theory 2. Chen Ping's son who sang a song that humiliated his mother was furious 3. When the mother proposed to go up the mountain, the handkerchief on Chen Ping's face was lifted and Chen Ping's tears overflowed 4. Leesuke (Chen Ping) When the younger brother) was beaten by Chenping, Lizhu asked his mother for mercy, and Chenping stopped 5. Chenping was furious in the field when his mother knocked his teeth and beat the scarecrow. The irritability shown by the courage to send the mother up the mountain) 7. The joy of finding my mother gone on the way to Narayama. This all-round three-dimensional supplement has successfully established a strong emotion of forbearance. And in the final embrace all unleashed. Here, since Chen Ping took his mother into the valley, I had to kneel to read it. What kind of director can show the most tender picture in the most desperate environment, and at the same time really use the image to show the despair that people can empathize with. A pile of white bones appeared on the mountain road, and crows built their nests in the bones. I was shocked and thought that it would be more cruel after that, but I asked myself, is there anything more cruel than this? Turning a corner, the white bones are stacked on the platform, the white feces of the crows after eating human flesh are densely packed, and the man-eating crows are wandering on the mountain, waiting for new food... This picture directly leads to a physiological response. Naihe's emotional rope has bound the audience to the point where the fish on the chopping block cannot escape, and the director has also drawn out the big knife that has been prepared. The point is the surging power created by the combination of the director's image and narrative. This ability is a criterion, an artistic expression of sincere affection. (This is the world's biggest difference from the advertised school who keeps shouting about art all day long. I can't help but complain again... ) So far, I have benefited a lot from the director.
2. The humorous attitude of the straight man of steel shapes the cruel reality
The viewing of movies is an unavoidable topic, and the discussion of serious themes is a must for every good director, and the humorous plot in the discussion is the embodiment of a director's taste and attitude towards humor. It does not mean that it is a compromise for business. Humor is more like an indispensable mood in a movie, and it is the fun that all excellent directors have in their bones. For example, "Kicking people" in Bong Joon-ho's movies, "Knocking on the head" in Park Chan-wook's movies, and even a stern director like Nolan will act as Ah Fu putting a young woman in the back seat of the car in "Batman". The servant will give A Fu a meaningful nod to this kind of bridge. In "Narayama Festival Exam", the humorous attitude was arranged by the director as an indispensable element to form the tone of the film. Why does a film with such a serious subject matter include humorous elements? Moreover, the use of comedy to interpret tragedy and the use of jokes to express cruelty are the favorite methods of many directors. It may be more because of this contrast of sadness and joy, seriousness and relaxation, which can make the audience produce relatively complex emotions and a deeper impression. Just think about the effect of the film "Narayama Festival Exam", which has been seriously exaggerating the suffering of the villagers from the very beginning. The villagers do not have enough food and clothing, and their children die in the fertile fields. The audience watching the villagers' straightforward bitterness will only provide the audience with a monotonous feeling, and will seriously cause the audience to lose their interest in watching movies. At the same time, this monotonous performance cannot stand out the complex feelings between the protagonist and his mother on Narayama. According to the current rhythm, the film more shows that the villagers are in a world of material scarcity in the film. This is their real world. It is very hard, but they are used to this kind of hardship and even face everything here with optimism. When everything in this world is for survival, when the director seriously expresses that the love between Chen Ping and his mother Reiko has become beyond reality but lost to reality, at this time, the audience will understand the director in this conflicting expression. The complex feelings you want to convey.
There are a total of 9 humorous plots in "Narayama Festival Examination", which I think the director deliberately arranged. Through analysis, we can learn the way the director creates humorous plots. 1. Reiko said that she had 33 teeth and was worried about Kasakaji, so she picked up a stone and knocked on her front teeth in a place where no one was there, but she didn’t knock it off. . This just right humor makes Reiko's image of an old lady who is fond of her children and grandchildren's jokes very vividly established. The joke here is more conveyed by the actors who play Reiko through performances. The clear goal in the panorama, and the numb hands and feet made the audience confused at first and then smiled knowingly. At the same time, it is shown that Reiko's decision to go up the mountain is caused by her acceptance of external factors. 2. The son of Ah Jin (the old lady who was sick and wanted to eat white rice) confirmed that Ah Jin was dead and Chenping came to the door with the coffin by coincidence. I bumped into Ah Jin coming out to splash water. The coffin fell to the ground, and the three strong men stepped back at the same time. Ah Jin's son hid behind Risuke. Ah Jin only said that he would be cured after eating white rice. Here, too, through the performance of three male actors, the three men's fear of not being in line with their own status and their wretched embarrassing reactions are subtle and slightly warped, and at the same time show the farmers' belief in gods and ghosts. 3. Xinwu explained his last words to Aying before his death, and at the same time used his only strength to explore Aying's lower body. The humor here comes from the absurd behavior of people, and the desire for reproduction is not weakened when it is about to die. At the same time, the director also conveys the film's worship of reproduction. 4. When Risuke was questioned by Chenping, Risuke spit out Reiko's teeth and peeking at Chenping's sex in one breath. The humor here is a joke made by Risuke's stupidity and Tatsupei's convoluted reaction. This plot carries more functions, which have the function of expressing feelings and linking the previous and the next. 5. Ah Ying fulfilled Xinwu's will and had sex with Ah Yuan, and Ah Yuan felt the taste of sex and made a humming and singing voice in his mouth. The sense of humour here is interesting, and comes from the innate shame and desire for sex. A Yuan's sexual experience and joy, while the audience is amused by his reaction, also shows that sex is also a scarce resource in the village. 6. Risuke vented in the rice field because Aying didn't look for him, but was laughed at by Kasakaji. The editing method used here puts Risuke's embarrassing situation in the front, and Chunsong (Ma)'s laughing reaction to the back seems like Ma is also laughing at Risuke, rendering Risuke's embarrassing situation adequately. 7. Chenping negotiates to lend his body to help when Ayu (the continuation of Liping) is doing farm work. Here, Chenping's pleading tone to Ayu and Ayu's fiery feedback to Chenping while he was busy whipping the bean branches were still performed through the performance, as if Chenping was treated by Ayu as a bean that was beaten in his hand. 8. Ah Ying found herself in Reiko and asked why she was the only one who didn't ask for help. Ah Ying's open-eyed and nonsense demeanor and the performance of this kind of lie that even deceived herself were very interesting. 9. Reiko asked Ajin to lend her body to Lisuke. Granny Ajin said it was fine, but she didn't use it for a long time. She didn't know if it could be used there. Here is another serious discussion about a strange thing, giving a kind of absurd humor. For the audience, this kind of old woman borrowing her body to experience sex life for young people is nothing but a funny thing, but in the movie, it is reasonable and reasonable to help the concubine to have the right to have children without marriage. These plots serve multiple functions, and humor is just one of them. The ability to combine multiple pieces of information and functions into a single plot is a powerful ability. The performance of the above-mentioned plots mostly uses panoramic scenes, which also confirms that panoramic scenes are more advantageous for the display of physical performances. After watching "The Warship and the Pig", I felt that the director was very masculine. This time, the director of "Narayama Festival Examination" used fierce means to create these humorous elements of sexual death and reproduction, which became an indispensable part of the film.
The whole article has no literary accomplishment. I am very sorry for the students who have read the article and feel the same. I will improve a lot and keep trying.
on July 30, 2020
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