How many oceans have disappeared in the sand
How many sands have prayed hard in the stones
How much time have weeped in the shells in the
singing horns How many fishes in the
pearly eyes How many
gave up life
How many horns in the morning corals
how many stars in the crystal Shadows
How many seeds of laughter in the throats of gulls
How many homesick hairsprings in the orbit of the stars at night
How many fertile soils
For the root of the word:
you—— behind the veil of secrets that
all slammed you—— --------Nellie Sachs My memory is hazy. For example, when was the first time I stood on the stool at home , tiptoed , and secretly rummaged through the cabinet where the tapes were kept? For example, when When was the first time I learned to fiddle with a Panasonic L15 VCR? Another example, when my father pointed to a tape with a <> tag and said, "The whole life is in it", when was that? More than memory , Even my eyes began to blur. The video tape is still there, but the L15 has no sound. Everyone in the tape speaks foreign languages, but occasionally an aunt who can't tell the age suddenly comes out to explain the plot , said "noodles" or something, and later I learned that this thing is called "Neijian". I took what I saw inside as my childhood, which is strange just like when I was in high school when I took <> as my teenager. The difference is that , I was only a few years old when I saw the past in America, and I felt that I was old.
===================================================== =========================== Friendship
"You see, I have a story too, Mr. Bailey. I had a friend once. A dear friend . I turned him in to save his life. He died. But he wanted it that way. Things went bad for my friend, and they went bad for me too."------Noodles
doesn't have a movie that takes friendship Loyalty and betrayal are written in such vicissitudes of life.
Nothing can be said.
Except for the two white-haired old men, they looked at the past in silence, as if facing the ancient ocean, where the deepest human emotions are buried.
Redemption
"Now the time has come, The natural repentance that you have restored, the repentance of your nature that has been boiled down with tears, the repentance of your nature that has been awakened by the thunder of mourning, silent repentance, long repentance, deep repentance, like the cold starlight falling on A lonely valley, like a black-clothed nun crouching before a gold-painted shrine."
Noodles: Self- Escape Chased by the past, entangled by shadows.
The unanswered ringing of the phone in the opium den reminded him of the whistleblower to the police house, which sent three friends to death; the pursuit of the enemy, put him on the train away from his hometown, which sent him to 35 years on the run; Minister "Bailey"'s invitations let him see the veil covering the past, which has almost deceived his life; even if the appearance of Max makes the real glue line, hanging yesterday, he still does not Willing to admit that the scene 35 years ago was a scene, and still reluctant to admit that he was in front of the former best friend who took everything from him, he was so sad that he deceived himself.
Finally, the old Noodles seemed to return to the opium den of 35 years ago, and he lay in bed On the bed, he quietly waited for the unanswered phone to ring, but the phone didn't ring. So he faced the camera and smiled. All the regrets and pains were washed away by the dream
. The tragedy... In an instant, perhaps, the last flame of flame has been subdued, leaving only a limited number of embers and ashes, self-injury and self-washing powder in the unextinguished warmth. "
Max: Self-
destruction He is like a sun that burns with faith, surrounded by planets illuminated by his brilliance. He is destined to be earth-shattering, but if destruction is inevitable, he will choose a dazzling explosion, and let the whole galaxy accompany him to its demise .His
ambition makes him desperate, robbing the Federal Reserve Bank is his dream; he won't die in a lunatic asylum like his father, he yearns for a glorious ending. When Noodles said to him "You're really crazy" he was so angry , then pacing back and forth on the gleaming beach, the fateful pace pouring out endless loneliness.
He violently avenged Noodles' betrayal. "When you've been betrayed by a friend you hit back."
But when the "doomsday" comes, he can only count on Noodles to take his own life. That will prove that he has paid a friend's debt for life. He even took out the pocket watch (that token and testimony of friendship!), cloth Wrinkled eyes begging "Let my mind die in peace", but when Noodles replied "I haven't had a gun in my hands for many, many years. My eyes aren't what they used to be, even with the glasses. My hands shake. And I wouldn't want to miss.", he knew he wouldn't get redemption.
So desperate, he disappeared into the garbage truck.
Love
"Though the years are in this The vast world is constantly destroying everything, and in any personnel affairs there is an alternation of the new and the old, but there are occasional exceptions, that is, the resident youth and beauty that belong to the individual... Those unfamiliar and familiar are far and near. A bit of madness, a bit of recklessness, a bit of melancholy or silence from a paltry friendship, a bit of new love from a smile or a glimpse of a man from her youth, all well preserved, without loss."
35 years After that, Noodles met Deborah in the dressing room backstage at the theater. She undressed little by little, and we were surprised to see that her appearance was still young and beautiful, and the wind erosion of the years did not leave any marks on her body. Maybe we see It's just another vision in Noodles' eyes, a goddess who never grows old in his heart. Like Cleopatra played by Deborah on stage, "age cannot wither her".
Like Max, Deborah always pursues dreams passionately. She clearly perceives everything she wants and paradoxically foresees the outcome of this choice. When they were teenagers, she read a poem to him: "My beloved. .. will always be a two-bit punk, so he'll never be my beloved. What a shame."; when they were all grown ups, she said to him tenderly "you're the only person I ever cared about, ""but tomorrow i'll go to Hollywood".
This dilemma made her always turn her back on Noodles and finally let reason prevail over emotion. When he peeked at her dancing through the toilet wall, she would She turned her back and took off her clothes, and only reminded her brother that there were "cockroaches" in the toilet when he went out; when he followed her home while the people in the community were praying, she would deliberately leave the door open, but she said, "Someone needs to stay there." Come down to see the shop to prevent thieves"; when he saw her away in the car without saying a word, she would kiss her tenderly but refuse to have further sex; After that, she only half-drawn the train curtain and slowly closed it when she saw him appearing.
Here, Noodles' character tragedy ruined his love again. He was always swaying between friends and women Uncertain (Deborah: "Run, Noodles, your mom's calling you."); and when he realized at the last moment before parting that Deborah would be gone forever, the anguish and desire that had been accumulated in his heart for a long time could only erupt like a beast. , possessing Deborah's beauty and youth in a way of strong light green thin straight lines and short bursts.
35 years later, Noodles met Deborah in the dressing room backstage at the theater. She undressed little by little and asked him why he still came to see her . He said the first reason was to see if it was wise for her to refuse to be an actress, he said "Yes, you did,you're terrific."
But everything has changed and she has become Max's woman.
Time
Leone, the director of the film, once pointed out the core position of the flashback structure in < >: "because time is one of the leading characters in the film - this film is about memory, nostalgia and death."
It can be seen that it is not so much that < > is < >'s brother, it is better to say that it is the grandson of < >.
For example, the pocket watch stolen from the drunk not only witnessed the life and death of friendship, but also implied that Noodles and Max lived in different lifespans. In their own time.
Such as the dialogue between Fat Man and Noodles in 1968. Moe: "What have you done all this time?" Noodles : "Going to bed earlier". The same lost time, and it shows that his present is the constant awakening of the past.
Another example is an epic detail in the film: the rise of the Brooklyn Bridge in the background picture symbolizes the growth of Noodles. When the bridge is still piling, he A teenager; when the bridge was completed, he became the leader of a gang; when 35 years later the bridge was full of highways, he was as old as the bridge, and the world abandoned them.
"The film made us There is an opportunity to work hard to shape in a world that cannot be seen, and the narrative itself is also re-structuring time, the beauty of those times that seems indescribable... In everyday life, time makes people connect with each other. The interspersed relationship is formed between things, and the interspersed relationship is formed between things. The director wants to show his talent in arranging such an arrangement... He leaned over to check a bunch of firewood, but after a long time, he again Tell us it's just a match. We feel the presence of time in the process."
dream
Noodles has his dreams, Max has his dreams, and Deborah has hers.
But when everyone's dreams fall to pieces, we know it's the loss of the American dream. There's
a lot going on in this film . Characteristics of the times---1920s: eye-catching dark brown, Jewish shops, residents, horses, caravans, cakes, clothes, clothes with rotten laundry detergent that the police washed last night; Prohibition; mixed with Moderate and violent society; abandoned harbours, warehouses, faded signboards; speakeasies and opium dens, huge Art Deco restaurants; 1960s: Beatles on background music, eccentric hippies, revealing rotting laundry detergent on TV shows of defeat and scandal...
In the 60's, there was the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, there was the rising civil rights movement, there was a wave after wave of anti-war cries, and all the false American mythology for a while. Broken, only bloody and dirty real glue lines surfaced, hanging from the past. In <>, we see how associations, laws, policies and even religious groups quickly change their faces in order to survive the fittest. As Conway According to Max, the gangster now does more business overnight than he has negotiated in the past two years.
In 1968, Leone filmed <>('Once Upon A Time In The West'), which profoundly revealed The driving force behind American history: "make believe it didn't happen"
<> is the finale of Leone's review of America's trilogy. The first two are <> and <> (the French title means Once Upon A Time The Revolution). The trilogy expounds the director's reflection on the United States from the perspectives of Westworld, Mexican Revolution, Black Lives Matter, and foreign immigrants. The real theme of <> is the shattering of dreams. Similar to Kraft Card in the novel <> (Amerika) also reflects the inversion/distortion and loss of ideals from the perspective of European immigrants (Karl Rossman). The difference is that Leone seems to have no hope for the recovery and recovery of dreams.
Noodles, a character who is sensitive to the past in reality, is a typical representative of the romantic ideal. Similarly, we can refer to Isaac Davis played by Woody Allen in 1979's <>. Both stories not only take place in Manhattan, And both present the characters' confrontation with the established superficial things. Therefore, both can be understood as the author's rejection of the contemporary culture, an attempt by the protagonist to impose his own perception on the "ideal Manhattan". At the same time, The two films also present their own charming Brooklyn Bridge: one is black and white under the smoke, and the other is a lost childhood reflected in the ups and downs. Finally, both films are shown in decadence Preservation of values - even as America's transformation makes this moral insistence increasingly worthless to the point that others have asserted its severance.
================ ===================================================== ==========
The self-image
"mirror" plays a very important role in this film, namely: revealing the essence of the characters.
The first place: the station. The fleeing Noodles stood in front of the mirror, and then , become the self 35 years later. The background music at this time is Lennon and McCartney's <>, but the lyrics are erased, only the vague "yesterday" and "suddenly" remind us of the blurred memory, the change of face, the passing away The youth, and endless nostalgia. In staring, he seemed to remember Deborah's words 50 years ago: "Look at yourself in the mirror, Noodles."
The second place: the mirror that Noodles saw in the street 50 years ago, at that time He's sad but hopeful. Beyond that, young and old Noodles suffer the same blow - facing the harsh reality of Deborah's unreachable/high beauty.
The third place: the dressing room. Noodles and Deborah had an unfinished conversation 35 years ago. She was sitting in front of the big vanity mirror, he was standing far away, and there were two faces in the mirror. She was still young and beautiful , he was old and tired. She forgave him in her heart. But they couldn't say a word.
To understand the role of Noodles, we must always remember the "mirror" reminder: Noodles are always burdened with a heavy self-image. A The disgusting body image that Deborah's words and deeds have hurt since he was a child, a kind of mental anxiety and trouble that has not changed for a long time. Although his relationship with Eve (an innocent woman) later gave him some relief, but in the end his relationship with Deborah Meeting once again deepened this deep inferiority caused by the unattainable distance.
But the "mirror" in the dressing room also made Deborah re-examine herself. Her seemingly eternal beauty was covered by a mask of makeup .As she unloads little by little, an ordinary person as vulnerable and painful as Noodles takes the place of the "goddess". This implies that the so-called winner and loser are just one step away (as in Max's ending).
== ===================================================== =========================
Music
OST List:
Total Time 74:20
Tracklisting 19
Restless 74321619762
Once Upon a Time in America (2:11)
Poverty ( 3:37)
Deborah's Theme (4:23)
Childhood Memories (3:21)
Amapola ( 5:23)twenty one)
Friends (1:33)
Prohibition Dirge (4:18)
Cockeye's Song (4:19)
Amapola, Part II (3:06)
Childhood Poverty (1:43)
Photographic Memories (1:00)
Friends (1:22)
Friendship and Love (4:13)
Speakeasy (2:21)
Deborah's Theme / Amapola (6:13)
Suite from Once Upon a Time in America (13:32)
Poverty (demo version) (3:26)
Unused Theme (4: 46)
Unused Theme (version two) (3:38)
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