The author of this article is @Snow of the Xiaowan family
The last snow is because of the movie
When talking about Hollywood legends, "old cowboy" Clint Eastwood is definitely a topic that cannot be avoided.
Although he is over ninety years old, he still strives for the film career at an advanced age and occupies his own place in the history of film.
From 2018's "Mule" to 2019's "Richard Jewell's Lament", and then to this year's "Crying Man", 3 new works in four years, the creative desire of "East Wood" is still strong.
In the 60 years of film, there are too many titles and praises that can be used to describe his achievements in the film industry.
From a dragon set actor to a Western superstar, and then from a popular young student to an Academy Award director, the works starring or directing by him have always been regulars on major film lists.
The Western classic "Three Golden Darts", the tough guy tender "A Good World", and the 4-oscar "Million Dollar Baby"...
It can be said that Eastwood is one of the few people who has achieved great success in both the fields of actor and director, and his artistic life is extremely long.
In order to make ordinary audiences better remember him, Chinese film fans also gave him a poetic nickname:
Splitting his surname (Eastwood), East is Oriental, and Wood is Wood — The Wood of the East, or "Eastwood" for short, a nickname that is gritty and aesthetically pleasing.
In addition to showing amazing talent in directing and acting, the talent shown by Mr. Toki in other fields is equally enviable.
He loves music, so he made a big splash in his own movies, not only arranging the music composition of movies such as "Mysterious River" and "Million Dollar Baby", but even showing his voice in the movie "Indomitable", and the interlude "Bar Room Buddies" directly rushed to the top of the country music charts that year.
He loves sports, especially golf, and although he can't compete with real professional athletes, there are only a few people in the film industry who can beat Mr. Toki.
At the same time, he owns his own golf course, Thamma Golf Club in California.
He advocated freedom, in addition to telling the current social thinking in the film, in 1986 and 1988, he also served as the mayor of carmel, a coastal town in California, and used practical actions to try to change the political landscape of the United States.
Steady personality, wide range of hobbies, passion for career, and sense of responsibility for life, all the good qualities that a person can have, as if Eastwood had them all.
It is no exaggeration to say that Eastwood may be the most perfect symbol of the American spirit.
As an actor, Clint Eastwood starred in a series of the most charismatic masculine roles: Western Cowboy, Detective, Boxing Coach, Astronaut, and more.
His incomparably broad shoulders and exquisite face not only reveal a faint sense of heroism, which makes the audience fascinated, but also interprets the spiritual creed of freedom and bravery in the United States.
In particular, the dashing chivalrous man wearing a hat, smoking a cigar and holding a revolver has achieved the most classic cowboy image in history.
As a director, Eastwood always likes to use small people as the protagonists of movies.
In the classic movie "The Dream of the Covered Bridge", the heroine is just an ordinary housewife, and in the daily repressed life, she has developed an "unusual" love;
In Million Dollar Baby, 30-year-old Maggie is still working as a waiter at a restaurant, eating leftover burgers from customers and eager to succeed in the ring;
Eastwood's small-character films mostly weaken the sense of technology and form, and pay more attention to the storytelling and social nature of the film.
When the old man breaks the inherent thinking of genre films and cruelly presents his characters to the audience, we will find that the original country on the other side of the ocean is not so high and unattainable, and there are many unspeakable secrets hidden under the brilliant appearance.
A Reflection on World War II Movie "Letters from Iwo Jima"
If Woody Allen's films are ruthlessly deconstructing American intellectuals, then Clint Eastwood's films are self-reflective on the national character and national spirit with the screen image of a small person.
People say that Mr. Toki has a young heart and seems to never be old, but looking at most of the films he directs, we will find that he has been transforming in recent years.
His self-directed "Unforgivable" ended his own Western era; "The Mule" focused more on the inner world of the protagonist Earl; and "The Lamentations of Richard Jewell" reflected on the current era through the "hero" downfall.
Perhaps even he himself realized that he was no longer the indomitable and enthusiastic young man, but also had to learn to accept himself in the present.
And this state of "dying old" is particularly evident in his new film "The Crying Man" that he directed and starred in this year.
Released on the North American cinema network last week, "The Crying Man" tells the story of an old tough guy who travels to another country and pursues his true self in a new adventure, but the audience can clearly see the director's "more than enough heart and insufficient strength".
First of all, there are only a few fight scenes in the whole work, and almost all the conflict scenes can see the protagonist Miko's "heroic twilight", especially the bridge section where the old man trembles and grabs the chicken is particularly painful.
Secondly, the film largely dilutes the dramatic conflict of previous road movies, mainly showing the process of reconciliation between the old and the young in the film during the journey, but the overly straightforward villains and slightly bland stories make the new work still too idealistic.
Although the charming Mexican landscape in the second half of the film gives the film a "fairy tale" color, it is also less realistic than the director's previous works.
It can be said that in "The Crying Man", the kind of hero twilight and unrestrained interplay, which makes people not only feel that the original Old Master Of Dongmu also has a day of "serving the old".
But it is worth thinking that when we watch this new work, we can still intuitively feel the continuation of Eastwood's film style.
Because the small characters in the film are always not willing to be oppressed by society, they will always present a romantic heroism at some point, which is the cowboy legacy presented by Eastwood in early Western films.
To this day, 91-year-old Clint Eastwood is still using the movies he loves to feel life.
Although he also knows that he is very old, he still wants to continue to make movies, because making movies is his life.
We can still feel the strength and courage of youth in his works.
Note: Some of the pictures in this article come from Douban and the Internet, if there is infringement, please take the initiative to contact us.