Poster of the official CC version of the movie "Beehive Ghost"
In recent years, many fans have continuously lamented that in today's era of no longer needing or emerging film masters, fast food-style film culture continues to flourish, commercial creative trends and industrialized operation modes have become the mainstream, many filmmakers have lost their sober consciousness and judgment, can't resist the temptation of interests, are led by the nose, and gradually abandon their own personality and style, but under the trend of the times, there are still many directors who regard films as pure artistic displays and expressions, and still enjoy making tireless use of the plasticity of light and shadow. The exquisite shooting techniques and amazing ideas carry forward the profound connotations and thoughts, from which you can find an amazing and moving attitude, very paranoid and self-centered, always adhering to a pure and free world.
Of course, affected by practical factors, the lack of box office returns and the generosity of investors, so that many directors are in a more awkward and marginal position for niche image creation, which has also become a key reason for their slow work and even temporary departure from the film world. But at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Alejandro Jodorowsky, who has always scorned the industrial nature of film, appeared with his new work "Endless Poetry" with his new work "Endless Poetry", it was quite exciting and gratifying, paving the way for so many Spanish heavyweight directors who just wanted to bring out a Spanish heavyweight director who was on the same side as them.
Stills from the film Frankenstein (1931), shot by British director James Whale
Compared with the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who is prolific from time to time, Victor's work is really pitiful, one hand can be cleared, the former is far more popular in the fan circle and the international reputation of the latter, but Victor's works can be said to be a masterpiece that cannot be ignored, "The Ghost of the Hive" is one of the high-quality masterpieces, but also Victor's long debut, when the film immediately attracted the attention and praise of the industry inside and outside , and won the Golden Shell Award of the 21st Spanish San Sebastian International Film Festival, the lens language and shooting methods are very wonderful and exquisite, very artistic orientation and atmosphere, the whole film does not present a step-by-step or decent story line, there is no ups and downs of drama and ups and downs, and even a little obscure, vague, no specific explanation or explanation, just give a daily life and the state of activity of the characters, intention or connotation to the audience to experience and feel.
Many people spit bitterly after watching it and expressed that it was difficult to understand, there were too many unclear intentions, symbols and metaphors, the whole film revolved around a remote town in Spain located in the Castile Plateau, focusing on a family of four in the town, focusing on two of the little girls Isabella and Anna, who had very different personalities, a lively extrovert, a quiet introvert, a full of ghost ideas, a simple curiosity and illusion, a profound experience of the unexperienced, In the contact with the outside world and their own attempts to gradually form a sense of growth, but from the effective and clear information provided directly by the film, their father is a local beekeeper, the mother is concerned about the lover who was separated by the war, through the letter to express their sincerity, the whole film began with the screening of "Frankenstein" (1931), the film brought a very big shock and touch to the children sitting in the front rows, and was indoctrinated with a preliminary awareness of killing and death. This feeling was exacerbated by a series of phenomena that followed.
At first, the picture of a child was used as the opening of the film with a mysterious soundtrack, which was very attractive, and then through the thriller "Frankenstein", the face close-up of several times during the movie, you can see the child's childish and cute face with a scared expression, Anna's fascinated and open-eyed appearance is still circling in my mind, another well-known Spanish film director Carlos Saura in the 1976 film "Raising Crows", also based on the perspective of children, The little lead actor is also Anna in this movie, Anna Torrent, in both films she has excellent performance, angelic face, very eye, spiritual and talented little actor, looking at her round clear eyes, let people flood with love, interesting is that whether it is Isabella or Anna, the film uses their real names, although Victor uses some surreal techniques, there are fantasy parts, but the whole is still very realistic, The joy and innocence and carefree of childhood will inevitably gradually detach from the understanding of reality, and most people will be full of nostalgia and reluctance again and again.
The film's cinematography and soundtrack are incomparable enough to describe, creating a beautiful and far-reaching mood that can instantly remind people of the image style of Andrei Tarkovsky and Theodoros Angelopoulos, which are ethereal and illusory, and they have expressed very personal emotions and ideas through the film, and all kinds of esoteric symbols and metaphors are often unclear. But can be perfectly integrated audio-visual to gain a certain subjective resonance, "The Nest Ghost" is also a film that has spent a lot of thought, very ingenious, has a very introverted and self-expression, watch the title of the film, many people may think that it will be a horror film around children like "Grudge", on the contrary, although there are very bizarre and strange moods and plots, but most of them are interwoven by some ordinary daily bits, which is actually a movie about family life and child growth, Victor did not enlarge the special era background of the time, nor did he make too many points or highlights, but through a relatively objective position, he showed their living conditions and processes.
Victor on the composition is extremely rigorous and meticulous, casually cut a picture like a skilled oil painting, very textured, very wonderful, the intersection of light and shadow in this piece has been played to the extreme, there are several pictures that left a deep impression on me, one is a section of the two sisters washing, the camera silently records behind them, concise and elegant, one is a section of the two sisters playing on the bed in the room, the picture is symmetrical and exquisite, and there is a three open doors that show a perspective effect superimposed on top of each other. It forms a delicate sense of extension, and the two chairs with different shapes on the left and right are very beautiful. The embodiment of scheduling and the use of the lens are also first-class, especially the display of the rough wilderness in the suburbs in the long mirror, the quaint and quiet environment makes people completely fall and indulge, Victor shows it in the unhurried rhythm, it will not make people feel dull or bored at all, and there is no sense of heaviness that has always been difficult to breathe and indigestion, just like visiting the art exhibition with the nature of activities + seamless, every time you see a picture, you will involuntarily stop and stare, Deeply immersed in a dreamlike mood, it is difficult to extricate yourself.
It can be found that the camera is mostly in a horizontal position with children, only a long-term difference, there is no high and low distinction, weakening the subjective existence of the camera condescending, I believe that many people have fresh memories of the indoor scene, especially the ingenious window design, composed of hexagonal glass shaped like a honeycomb, this home is actually like a honeycomb, can be associated with the text of the father observing the bees in the film, through the debugging of color, sunlight and light illumination presents a golden warm color light, very charming, At the beginning, the part where the father entered the house was deeply attracted by the dazzling light, and later whether it was the quiet stay in front of the window by Isabella's prank Anna, or the last paragraph where Anna summoned a ghost in front of the window, it was strange and wonderful, Victor really had two brushes in creating the atmosphere and creating the scene, the details were more exquisite, the echo of the painting, the clue of the footprints, the connection of the pocket watch, the old well, the shadow (the film appears in different forms and forms, reflecting the relationship between husband and wife, The hand shadow game [brave and active dog and docile passive bird], etc.), which embodies the personality of the two sisters, can find a lot of interesting settings, the soundtrack is sometimes long and sometimes eerie and mysterious, and the melody (original music→ Luis de Pablo) is intertwined with the picture (photography → Luís Cuadrado, the ending of life is painful), which is simply impeccable.
In the film's explicit or dark performance and direction, the two sisters are also constantly establishing contact with the outside world through practical actions and sensory experiences, first of all, the audiovisual impact brought by the movie "Frankenstein", and then listening to the track staring at the speeding train, helping the template uncle to put his eyes on, listening to his father teach about mushrooms in the suburbs, and so on. In the film, the two sisters have actions that make it difficult to understand their exact intentions, strange and bizarre, which may be naughty and foolish of children, but also mixed with some of the growth explorations they will eventually have to face, Isabella squeezes the black cat hard, the suffocating cat scratches her because of instinctive reactions, she smears the blood on her fingers as lipstick on her mouth; the scene is set up to scare Anna; Isabella who constantly jumps into the fire; Anna who discovers her mother's secret Anna, who listened to Isabella, often ran to the abandoned house to look for the existence of ghosts, met a man who escaped from the train, Anna helped him, but in the end the man still could not escape the result of being shot by random shooting, the next day with her father's temptation, Anna who ran to the old house after understanding saw the blood stains and the harsh attitude of her father, which gave her a great psychological touch.
Recall the scene at the dinner table when a family of four eats, the stark contrast between the expressionless parents and the daughter of the hip-hop, this movie can actually be simply divided into two worlds of adults and children, when we are children, it is particularly easy to satisfy, with curiosity and exploration psychology, can not understand the boundaries of the virtual and real, the heart of the outside world a thousand question marks of the unknown, while carefree enjoyment of freedom and happiness, without too much trouble and pressure, indulging in their own simple and innocent fantasy small world, While gradually growing, understanding and understanding through the early-tasting sensory experience and learning, it is worth mentioning that the final frightened Anna came to the window alone and began to sincerely summon the ghost, the color of the light changed from yellow to a sacred and fantastic white, and she was particularly envious at that moment, although Anna was in the contradiction between the ignorant consciousness she held at this age and the reality of the truth (the adult world) (this is like her father in the film telling them to pay attention to poisonous mushrooms, and her appearance is full of fragrance [simple appearance], But the essence is rich in poison [profound essence]), the contrast between the inside and outside is huge, and the complex reality is often so,) she is hurt, but she is still in her childhood, not further infected by the unbearable, cruel and murderous world of adults.
Looking at their parents, their father's mastery and leading the way, it is easy to think of the Spanish Franco dictatorship, many Spanish directors who are in or have experienced this stage will add certain relevant political elements to the film, so that people naturally enter the seat; and the mother Teresa also has expectations and fantasies, but in the end it is ruthlessly broken by reality, her attitude towards her husband from avoiding indifference to active care, from writing letters to burning letters, when people really have a certain self-judgment, After sober and profound cognition and mature thinking, all kinds of people and things that need to be faced, worried, handled, pursued, and responsible will come to the scene, interfered with and affected by the outside world and their own complex factors, and then feel discouraged by society, numb to the ordinary, and no longer easily feel happy What adults have to learn is to be patient, bear and relieved, dominated by fate, embedded in the huge mechanical operation of life to play their role. In the film, the text written by the father about observing honey has a very deep metaphor, sadness and helplessness and profound meaning. "The Ghost of the Hive" is a movie worth watching repeatedly, and Victor has written a moving chapter in the history of film that is worth savoring and reminiscing with a beautiful and timeless tone.