Will bionic people dream of electronic sheep? ...... This is, of course, a sci-fi question.
Think about it in reverse, will the sheep dream that one day, they will become the protagonists of horror movies?
The odds should be small. Because even ordinary people don't think so, after all, the sheep are so harmonious and kind, and the child is not deceived.
The "Sheep Demon King" came to visit
But in 2006's "Crazy Sheep Black Sheep," a debut novel by New Zealand director Jonathan King, sheep have completely "evolved" into bloodthirsty monsters, wolves in sheep's clothing.
It is the most beautiful cub in the whole flock
In this year's Icelandic film "The Sheep Cub", although the subversive nature of the sheep itself is not so drastic, the "ethical" relationship between people and sheep, in an atmosphere of restraint and grotesqueness, will inadvertently give the audience a head-on attack.
The film won the Original Award in a Kind of Attention section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival, A24 was responsible for its distribution in North America, and the actress was played by Laumi Lapez, who starred in the Swedish version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "Prometheus".
The heroine, Laumi, is not the first time she has dealt with anomalous creatures
The character of Laumi in Prometheus was three months pregnant after 10 hours of sex, and through an automated medical machine, he produced an octopus-like BB;
In "The Sheep Cub", although she is not the physical mother of the lamb, the spiritual connection may be much stronger than blood, and even cross the boundaries of "race".
If divided by genre, in addition to literary films, "Sheep Cubs" will naturally be classified as thrillers or horror films, but it is both different from the general plasma violence style and "monster" movies like "Mad Sheep".
But to say that it is a psychological horror film, it seems that it is not too appropriate, and I personally prefer to call this kind of "home thriller movie".
The realist-losing film "Rabbit Hole"
As parents whose children die prematurely, of course, it is extremely painful, and even each other's marriages will undergo great tests. There are many movies of this genre, such as Nicole Keyman's 2010 starring "Rabbit Hole".
And in 2001, Spielberg's "Artificial Intelligence" can barely be counted in this list, although the human child in the film is only seriously ill, and eventually not only did not die, but regained health, but the protagonist of the machine boy from the beginning, is launched as a substitute for human children.
The "lost orphan" movie "Artificial Intelligence" that takes the science fiction route
Using robots to compensate for the pain of losing loved ones is very sci-fi, but it gives people a very normal feeling both psychologically and technically.
But the 2004 film "Rebirth", which also starred Nicole, was not the usual way.
Although the role of Nicole in "Rebirth" is not the loss of a child, but the loss of her fiancé, I did not expect that ten years later, a child suddenly appeared, claiming to be the reincarnation of Nicole's fiancé, and it was justified, there was no joke...
Such an emotional compensation drama is suddenly grotesque and out of order.
The twisted and grotesque "parent-child" relationship in Rebirth
Also mentioned, The director of Rebirth, Jonathan Glazer, is better known for his 2013 sci-fi thriller Under the Skin with Scarlett Jonathan, in which A24 is said to have been involved in its distribution.
Another heterogeneous work directed by "Rebirth" "Under the Skin Bag"
In "The Sheep Cub", although the atmosphere is not so "mysterious", in terms of grotesqueness, it is even worse.
In addition to the above-mentioned compensation for the bereavement, there is also a "echo" of the mundane, that is, the love for pets that is so strong that many people have even loved it as her or him, completely part of the family, and no longer just an embellishment or tool.
"The Cub" magnifies this realistic emotion to the extreme, and the other.
The Sheephead shines
The story and scene of this film are very minimal, the identity of the male and female protagonists is a contemporary shepherd, and it is more like the male protagonist in "Brokeback Mountain", using the "convenience of position" to live in seclusion and love.
But unlike the more taboo and intense love of the latter, "Sheep Cub" pays more attention to family affection, and the same "secluded" life also makes this repair of injured emotions more and more unscrupulous, even "unscrupulous", anyway, no one cares.
"Everyone" loves my cubs
To put it simply, no matter how the mother played by Laumi dresses up a lamb as if it were her own child, sleeps, and takes care of it.
Not to mention that this little lamb boy is still very contentious, not to say how high the IQ is, how to talk, but neither like a sheep, nor like a man, half a sheep and half a person, more accurately, a sheep-headed man, not a human head sheep.
In this way, no outsider will take care of this matter, and her husband will not care, just because of understanding and love.
But then, two characters who can neither be said to be outsiders, let alone "insiders", appear, one is the brother of the husband, and the other is the mother of the lamb, that is, the ewe.
When is the "man and sheep" to report
Laura's character is ashamed and angry, killing the ewe with one shot, but for her husband's brother, for humanitarian reasons, it is not so easy to deal with, not to mention that between Laura's role and her husband's brother, there seems to be a period of unbearable past...
Because of the rhythm, the relationship between the scene and the performance, the story of "The Sheep Cub" is not very informative, but the metaphor is extremely broad and deep, of course, the premise is that you are willing to think deeply. The result is retribution, entanglement between man and sheep into a strange circle of fate, completely out of the previous evolutionary linear development.
Going back to the "home-style horror film" I said before, of course, it does not mean that because of family conflicts, there was a premeditated or passionate killing, but that the causes of things are some very common emotions, and they are exposed at the beginning, rather than putting the twisted motives at the end, as many reasoning stories do, and putting the twisted motives to the end, together with the murderer and the interrogation.
This kind of homely emotion is normal and universal from the source, but then naturally it is not a simple realist display, but the emotion and motivation are "alienated" by the artist, from calm heart, to the atmosphere is not breathless, to goosebumps, to scare no...
Nagging is a common way to kill witches
Another masterpiece of A24, 2015's Witch: Legends of New England, also roughly fits the above "home horror film" setting.
Although from the introduction point of view, this film is close to the theme of "hunting witches", in fact, there is no hot-headed, menacing crowd in the film, only one family.
In the beginning, this particular family refused to bow its head because it was dissatisfied with some of the church's practices, so it was banished to a wilderness, the environment and people were almost the same as in "The Cub", and the family was "living in seclusion", but there were a few more children than the latter.
Although the following films are closely related to the themes of faith and witchcraft, in the end it is a family "house fight" drama. Just the hats that each other wears are not related to the amount of land ownership and left and right factions, but the "palm of the hand" of the female demon head who can do witchcraft.
"Sheep Witch" to visit again, please pay more attention
What is even more "coincidental" is that it is the sheep that finally come out to commit the murder, and the difference between the goat and the sheep is only between the goat and the sheep.
In such a new thriller movie, you will not see a large exorcism scene, and there will be no fighting between the mage and the wizard, because the most important thing is the usual emotion, the contradiction between family members, and then use the "fantasy" packaging to properly reflect the "love and killing" in the family door.
And this type of genre film, instead of going back to Kubrick's "The Shining", it is better to look to Japan, especially Kurosawa Kiyoshi's works.
Because "The Shining" takes place in an isolated place, with a family of three as the center of time and geography, twisting and spreading out the love-hate relationship, but Kubrick's handling of this single scene scene, regardless of the cost, not only has the display of a wave of terror and blood, but also the chase in the snow maze, all of which are doing everything possible to create visual spectacles.
Daxing terror of the local "Shining"
But Kurosawa's films are different, more like the effects that a sixth-generation Chinese director might have if he made a thriller. Of course, Kurosawa Kiyoshi's respect for the genre and the use of film language should be much more religious and skilled than the sixth generation.
For example, his famous work "X Shengzhi" in 1997, although it is a serial bizarre murder story in an urban environment, sensory stimulation is not the goal pursued by the director, and the individual emotions of indifference and alienation are not equal to the number of people around them.
The hypnotic brainwashing method of killing is more focused on the spiritual level, rather than the horror rendering of the killing method.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's famous work X-Shoji may have been the originator of this minimalist home-style thriller
The same is true of the 2016 South Korean "Cry", which is easy to deal with in Europe as an isolated persona, and it is difficult to get rid of the collective atmosphere in East Asia, "Cry" is like a "family evil" story that takes place in the countryside of Northeast China, and the major object of suspicion is the Japanese freak played by Japanese actor Hayabusa Kunimura.
This brings us to the problem that we can now see the latest or most classic movies in the world through various means, and if we are proficient in multiple languages, we can understand more.
However, watching more movies, in addition to improving their own insight and artistic accomplishment, what they should do more is to contribute to China's local, especially genre films. So what real inspiration can we get from these "home-style thriller" movies that have a vein to follow?
"Crying"
I think in the process of the so-called localization of this kind of film, there are two major problems, one is the family's seclusion, and the other is the fantasy ending.
In the above-mentioned A24", "Sheep Cubs" and "Witches", the protagonist's family is living in seclusion, which may not be too easy to deal with in China, unless it is a special group such as beekeepers.
And if it is placed in the countryside like "Crying", it needs to work hard at the human setting, so that the protagonist presents a state that is incompatible with the rural environment, otherwise it will be accidentally made into a thriller movie version of "Country Love".
A thriller movie version of Country Love
As for the second point, it is still suspicious at the beginning, and finally there are surreal elements, almost all of the above mentioned works.
This is a big problem, on the one hand, the above films are very calm, for the treatment of the fantasy elements, always careful, like gold, only in this way, the final fantasy ending, will make people feel shocked.
Especially when computer special effects are more and more able to fake the real world, the audience has long been surprised by the direct presentation of various surreal elements.
On the other hand, the presentation of domestic films in the process may be habitually careless, but the ending is very important, and most of them need to add subtitles to correct the audiovisual. So ending with fantasy, especially on contemporary themes, is almost impossible.
At least I personally feel that as long as the process is in place, using fantasy to put down the smoke bomb near the end, and finally using "all this is a dream" to finalize, it is not too much of a problem.
For a long time, the audience and critics have been deeply disgusted by the practice of domestic thriller horror films, and finally using dreams to explain (throwing pots). But calm down, it is not difficult to find that what everyone hates most is that the process does not pay attention to details, thick branches, and startles and scares people, not just the end.
Scary people must also be calm, not always startled
If the process is handled in a very meticulous, logical way, and at the same time can still hold its breath, then even if you add an extra layer of dream interpretation at the end, it should be insignificant.
In addition, although films such as "Sheep Cub" are already very different and wonderful, but similar themes and styles of movies, I appreciate a non-A24 movie, that is, 2020's "Forsaken Family", which looks a little similar to "Genetic Doom", but more pure, more "homely".
"The Forsaken Family" looks like a strange story, but it is actually about how to deal with the relationship with the elderly in the family, which is equivalent to the upgraded thriller version of "Father Trapped in Time".
The story focuses on the three generations of "same house" of grandma's mother's daughter, but the key lies in grandma, whose memory is getting worse and worse, she will forget to turn off the water, her temper is getting more and more strange, and even like she is caught in the evil...
The "mother" trapped in time
The end of the film is the best, and there is a difference of 108,000 miles from the forced elevation and sensationalism of the Spring Festival Gala sketch.
Because, on the other hand, human desperation essentially regards others as non-self, "non-human", so that they can do whatever they want with peace of mind.
The end of "Testament" is at least a delicate use of genre film language to correct this misconception, but the technique is still homely, rather than paying attention to exoticism and special folklore like "The Examination of the Mountain Festival".