Author: Hxh42
Clint Eastwood – Speaking of this name, no one in Hollywood knows it.
As an actor, Eastwood starred in Leone's "Dart Trilogy": "Red Dead Redemption", "Twilight Double Dart", "Golden Triad", and a number of classic Western films, creating a cowboy image that has left a name in film history;
And as a director, Eastwood became a late bloomer. In the 1970s, Eastwood, who was in his prime, began to transform into a director. In the 1990s, after the tempering of many film works, Eastwood's directing ability and acting skills have greatly improved, and finally made three masterpieces that have made a name for themselves in the history of film: "Unforgivable", "Perfect World" and "The Dream of the Covered Bridge".
All three films were self-directed and self-starred by Eastwood. This time, Eastwood is no longer the ever-ever screen cowboy, but has adapted to a variety of roles, genres and themes, and has played an excellent role and directing technique in each work.
After entering the new century, Eastwood did not stop the pace of creation, but became old and strong, and the more fierce the war. With works such as "Doubts about changing sons", "The Banner of the Fathers", "Letter from Iwo Jima", "Classic Car" and so on, Eastwood has become the backbone of Hollywood. In 2004, his work "Million Dollar Baby" won the Oscar for Best Picture.
It was also during this period that Eastwood entered the field of vision of mainland film fans together with his works. Because the name "Eastwood" was so long, Chinese gave him a nickname: "East Wood".
In the 1910s, Toki continued his creative path, successively handing over works such as "Captain Sully", "The Mule", "The Lamentations of Richard Jewell", etc., of which "The Mule" was again written and directed by him after many years. In this film, Toki continues the autobiographical spirit of "Classic Car", does not shy away from showing his aging, twilight image, erects a vivid and plump male protagonist, and uses this role to talk about his understanding of aging and death.
These excellent works have successively landed in mainland theaters in the past few years, making the fame of Dongmu, an old cowboy, more and more popular among mainland film fans. His exuberant desire to create makes us often forget that he is already an old man in his nineties. Dongmu, and Godard, a new wave veteran on the other side of the ocean, can both be described as "living fossils" of film history, one leftist and one right, echoing each other.
Recently, Eastwood released his latest work, The Crying Man, in which he once again starred in the lead role of Texas-based rodeo star Mike Milo. We're going to focus on this work today.
The Crying Man
Cry Macho
The story begins at a beautiful moment when the sun sets, accompanied by relaxing music, and a car slowly drives on a road in the woods.
Needless to say, it was Mike who was driving the car. On this day, Mike's former boss, Howard Polk, approached Mike with a tempting suggestion: Hire Mike to go to Mexico and bring Howard's 13-year-old son, Laffer, back to the United States.
It turns out that Laffer is the child of Howard and his ex-wife Leta. The two were entangled, and their son was snatched away by his ex-wife and left in Mexico. Howard heard that his son had been abused in his ex-wife's house, so he wanted to take Laffer to live with him, but he was unable to go in person for various reasons, so he had to ask Mike to go and take Laffer on his behalf.
Mike didn't want to say yes, but Howard was gracious to him and still generously gave him financial support after he retired from the army with a serious back injury. In order to repay the favor, Mike finally agreed.
After entering Mexico, Mike discovered that the situation was far more complicated than he had imagined. Howard's ex-wife, Laffer's mother, was a powerful local family with a huge fortune that was black and white. Leta threatens Mike not to take Laffer or leave him alone in a Mexican prison for the rest of his life.
Mike was frightened and drove away from Mexico alone. But halfway through, he suddenly found that Laffer had sneaked into his car and wanted to take the opportunity to escape Mexico, escape his mother's control, and return to his father. Sympathizing with the little boy's plight, Mike softens and agrees to flee Mexico with him.
On the other side, Leta sent his men to search around to recover Laffer...
What do you think? Seeing the synopsis of this story, do you think of the "Perfect World" directed by Toki in the last century? Also an old and a young character, the plot setting of the escape, and the overall structure of the road movie, "The Crying Man" is indeed like an old remake of "Perfect World".
And what does the title "cry macho" mean? It turns out that the "macho" is a rooster raised by the little boy Laffer.
In Spanish, macho means "strong". The little boy gave the rooster this name because he wanted the rooster to win every battle on the cockfighting floor. In the movie, the rooster is a metaphor for the old cowboy Mike, who is not as good as before, but his spirit is still very tough; from an off-screen point of view, Macho is also Toki himself who is not afraid of aging and insists on self-directing and self-acting. "The Crying Man" dialectically discusses the value of "machismo", which fits the theme implied by "macho".
At the end of the film, Before his father is reunited, Laffer generously entrusts Macho's beloved rooster to Mike to raise, completing a vivid and moving point.