(Text: Catching the Wind and Catching Shadows)
Recently, a rare domestic cinema released a niche literary and artistic film "Roadside Picnic", although it did not cause any ripples in business, but the "40-minute sports long shot" in the film was widely discussed by filmmakers and fans, this kind of film charm that relies on the image itself rather than the internal logic to drive the charm of the film is almost invisible in the mainland film industry, "Roadside Picnic" The innovation of "Roadside Picnic" let me see, shooting movies here is not all living, and some people "dare" to make movies like this.
Of course, director Bi Gan's film aesthetics are not uncommon in Europe, and if you really talk about playing with "light and shadow" and playing with "skill", there is one person who cannot avoid it, that is, the Soviet director: Mikhail Karatozov.
Mikhail Karatozov for the first generation of Soviet filmmakers, is the entire 50s "poetry film" advocates and masters, his films in the author's view is very pioneer, in that era to pursue spiritual feelings, abandon the classic narrative of this "scattered" form, very rare, now fans mention Karatozov, the most said is his three films in the technical peak: "I am Cuba", "Unsent" and "Flying South", of which "I Am Cuba" Moreover, the film skills and aesthetic qualities of those who have not been able to come after the ancients have been worshipped by many masters.
The film "I Am Cuba" was filmed in 1964, and although 52 years have passed, it still seems shocking and incredible today.
Francis Ford Coppola exclaimed after watching the film: This is the greatest film of the last decade, this is a film that has forever changed people's perception of cinema.
Martin Scorsese commented on the film as: If this film had not been banned at that time and had the opportunity to be seen by audiences around the world, then the face of world cinema today would be a different story.
This is no longer a simple compliment, but to sublimate "I Am Cuba" to the highest praise that affects the inflection point of film history, and the greatness can be seen.
Because "I Am Cuba" involves related politically sensitive topics, the road to rediscovery is bumpy, and after the film was completed, both in Cuba and in the former Soviet Union, it was heavily criticized by critics, and was banned by many countries in the Western world, such a great film was quickly forgotten in the untimely era.
It was not until 1994, when a group of fanatical film believers contributed money to allow it to resume distribution, and then quickly received a large number of film masters to highly respect, so that this dusty "heavenly sword" finally came out.
After watching "I Am Cuba", I really understand what is the world of "light and shadow", because every frame of it is so different, Mikhail Karatozov's magic, amazing, he makes the rhythm of the whole film full of rhythm, rather than simple beauty and death, many people holding cameras up, under the reflection of the natural light, shocking, even if it is a dirty slum, a putrid down ditch, are very poetic, The true sensations of this pure sensory stimulation are directed at the human heart.
The film "I Am Cuba" is divided into three chapters and takes 141 minutes to explain.
The story begins with a long, meticulously crafted shot that presents the feng shui mountains and rivers of Cuba in a panoramic way, then depicts the humiliation and suffering that Cuba has endured in thick ink, and finally clings to these sufferings, and Cuba bravely resists and fully awakens.
If you only look at the story structure, an assembly line like a film with the main theme of the succession, nothing special, in some ways it is slightly tacky, when with these subjective prejudices disdainful after watching the film, only to suddenly find that the real art can break through the form that carries it, the story has never been vulgar and not vulgar, some are just the director chooses to present in what way, how high the kite can fly The matchmaker has always been the key, and the inherent thinking mode has been completely subverted in "I Am Cuba".
Take a look at the nearly two-and-a-half-minute long shot in the film that is astounding:
Video loading...
The camera first follows the people walking with the coffin in close-up, then slowly rises from the flat ground to the 4-story building to shoot the funeral procession, and then pans through the building, the camera turns to pass through the window of the national flag flying in people's hands, and follows the parade crowd in the air to shoot again, drift, and advance.
This position, scheduling and the number of participants is no longer a simple difficulty of this word can be measured, in that era of very harsh technical restrictions, there is no special effect or other tricks can be used, the creator completely with superb skills and that oath of death to achieve today's unbelievable, and the film such long shots as many as cattle hair (difficulty can not be compared with this shot), really can not imagine how this shot was completed at that time, put in today, I also asked which director could achieve such a great design, "I Am Cuba" is not a god work.
So whenever you mention the movie "I Am Cuba", there must be such a passage: it is the most beautiful film visually, the spectacular dizzying film, the dazzling suffocating film, the beautiful and elegant but tearful film, technically this can be a film that no one can surpass, artistically this is the highest state of poetic film, but more importantly, it is a revolutionary epic Communist battle song, although it is a product of the last century, but today He has given people a newer and clearer understanding of the world.
Will be the top, a panoramic view of the mountains, is undoubtedly the most ironic description of the achievements of "I Am Cuba" in the image technology, no matter when the time flows, no matter how far the film develops, it will still become the founder of the art shining, always worth learning from the late!