I have mentioned the importance of Lao Ma's films to myself more than once, and it was his "Taxi Driver" that led me to the door of the seventh art. Although he is tired of aesthetics, he still cannot change his position in his heart. And the large number of elements and topics he pays attention to, as well as the styles he has learned, can be seen from his early film "Poor Streets".
Lao Ma is a film sociologist, which is probably recognized by everyone. But how does he tightly integrate society and characters? In my opinion, while creating a convincing film environment, it also highlights the atmosphere and reality outside the plot. This combination of two makes his films uniquely attractive.
In this film, we can find that the traces of Italian neorealism are very heavy. Among other things, the dangling material shot on the street, the outstanding description of personal experience, and even the rambling created in the middle part of the play itself are all reminiscent of Desica, Rossellini and the others. Another example is the best example, about the dialogue at the beginning of 15 minutes. The space created by the dark house is different and has a classic Hollywood feel, but after a while it switched to an outside fight. In this way, our focus has changed from "the handover of the two" to "what did they say". Although it separates the characters, it also allows us to adapt to that kind of life. Later, the exaggerated mirroring of the elders during the conversation gave too much excitement to the environment and plot, and explained to the audience an element of this region.
The most meaningful part of this film, the "boring" scene from 28 minutes, was scheduled to become "observation of the living environment", like Rossellini's travel film, the difference is that this life brings about Despair is more shocking. The long shots of the release of violence are full of wildness and true records of the soaring hormones. The image of the lion in the cage symbolizes the compromise with his own "wildness", not to mention the scheduling of the scene where the waiter was killed, the protagonist and the supporting role. The position was changed in an instant. After the suspense like Hitchcock was released on a supporting role, it was abandoned by the advancing plot, suggesting that when Johnny was killed later, he also told the audience through parallel editing that death and immortality were fierce. And not fierce, this society is still just as bad.
Of course, in addition to this, the innovation that Lao Ma still has is constant pressure. The deliberately surreal lighting of bars and billiards, unbalanced hand-held shots in restaurants and homes (here is Casavets), and the protagonist’s words about religions like dreams (this, because I don’t know much about Christianity) , So ignore it for now), and even fast editing in ubiquitous, stress-free scenes. The editing of these two dialogues of about 27 minutes and 56 minutes is extremely delicate. It is everywhere, but the environmental pressure that does not release to anyone makes everyone adapt to the pressure. After getting used to the sense of oppression, I can accept the bloody ending stupidly, because this is the environment.
In the plotting of the plot, I really like the character Johnny Kid (thanks to De Niro's interpretation of course). The absolute rogue poppy and the seemingly seeing through the world afterwards do whatever he wants, and even simple emotions towards brothers. It is quite unconventional, reminiscent of Li Kui in "Water Margin", the old man in "Brothers Karamazov", or more recently, the Jitt in "Poor Mountains and Bad Waters" is extremely pure, without any cause of evil. The element of "is present in them, which symbolizes the stubborn illness and sin of society that cannot be alleviated.
Of course, although I like old horses, but now I watch it again, it’s hard to insist on watching this manic and depressed movie. I can only say that its artistic expression is too good, haha. When you are in a bad mood, please watch this film carefully.
View more about Mean Streets reviews
