Author | Yusheng Gu, School of Arts, Southwest University
In the selection of best actor at this year's 95th Academy Awards, the academy awarded the honor to Brandon Fisher, the male lead of the film "Whale", which met the expectations of the media. In fact, it has become more and more common to "play ugly and win an Oscar" in acting awards, especially since the new century.
Some actors who have long had the level of actor and queen in the performance of the big screen often have a better chance of winning awards with the help of deliberately "ugly" or extremely strange characters - compared to non-deformed, everyday character images - such as "Dog Daddy" Gary Oldman in "Darkest Hour", Leonardo DiCaprio "Little Plum" in "The Revenant", and even Charlize Theron in "Devil".
Not to mention in a series of works from "The Mechanic" to "Vice President", Christian Bale, who has gained weight or lost weight for the drama, even if he has been nominated for four times, he still missed all four nominations.
Of course, it is one thing for the actor to perform well at the performance level, and it is another thing for the interpretation of the role to be harmonious with the overall drama conception and image texture requirements of the film.
In the author's opinion, Bill Nairly, another actor nominated for Best Actor at this year's Academy Awards, and the film "Lust for Life" starring him really did this.
This new work, based on the original version of the same name by Akira Kurosawa in 1952 and adapted by Nobel Prize winner and novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, is actually the jewel of the annual awards season.
It changes the classic story into a time-space coordinate, while retaining the spiritual care with negative aesthetics as the core, it turns the Japanese style into a British charm, which is a good way to adapt.
Rheology between old and new
The new version of "Lust for Life" has undergone a lot of rewrites in the narrative and character settings, and has almost completed the style reshaping from "Kurosawa Akira" to "Kazuo Ishiguro".
First of all, in terms of narrative perspective, compared to the old version of "Lust for Life", which single-handedly pointed the camera at the protagonist Watanabe (Joe Shimura) at the beginning, and used a voiceover character who did not always appear to connect the plot development of the entire film, the new version did not let the protagonist Mr. Williams (Bill Nairly) appear in the first picture, but intervened in the story from the perspective of workplace rookie Wekelin (Alex Sharp) - this through-through setting continued until the end of the film, The choreographer even arranged the emotional line between Weckering and Margaret (Amy Lou Wood) in a small length scale.
Secondly, in the shaping of the characters, Bill Nairi portrays the image of an old British gentleman into three points, and there is a clear difference between this and the old Nakashi Murajo's performance (or the presentation required by Kurosawa).
Mr. Watanabe, the protagonist of the old version of "Lust for Life", grabbed the audience's attention at the beginning of the film with his exaggerated, completely different demeanor and body details; In the new version, the image of Mr. Williams gradually emerges and becomes clear in the discussions and attitudes of others, including the new employee Weckerin.
For example, the first rule Wekelin learned from the first day in the office, "Keep the documents high", echoes the principle that Mr. Williams once believed, "It's okay, just put it here first, it doesn't hurt." This way of tuning the master creates a special sense of mystery. In terms of performance, Bill Nairy's handling is restrained and restrained, with almost no agitated and hideous expression.
Third, in terms of image expression and scene scheduling, compared with the old version of "play in characters", the new version after adaptation takes the road of "play in the whole", often through the interactive relationship between characters and space, with special symbolic tones, Mr. Williams' story is laid out in detail.
Take, for example, the passage where Mr. Williams leaves work early for the first time in decades to see a doctor: Williams walks out of the Houses of Parliament under a marble plaque erected to commemorate people who contributed to London City Hall and even gave their lives;
As Williams waited before meeting the doctor, the secretaries discussed beaches and vacations; From the son's wife to his deceased wife, countless memories are drawn by the people in the frame;
Hearing his son's call, he suddenly rejoiced, and in a blink of an eye, he was wrapped in disappointment, powerlessness and loneliness again, and in an instant the old Williams sat back in the darkness again...
In addition, in the narrative process of "Lust for Life", the change of the protagonist's attitude towards "life", "life" and "life" is one of the most important plot points in the film. In the old version, this transition came relatively late, and Mr. Watanabe's real acceptance of this fact was extremely difficult, and Watanabe's acquaintance with the novelist (Minoru Chiaki) in the night tavern can be seen as the beginning of this process.
The advancement of the relationship between the characters is like Dante's "Divine Comedy" - the soulless Watanabe "travels" the world under the guidance of "Virgil", and is always in a passive state of acceptance.
The appearance of the character of the coquettish and lively female subordinate (played by Miki Oda) played an important role in promoting it, but it should be noted that Kurosawa's emotional circle for Watanabe is a pattern close to infatuation and worship, and it is the girl's vitality that invisibly infects Watanabe, prompting Watanabe to start thinking.
Speaking of the new version, Mr. Williams apparently entered the state of "traveling the world" earlier, and this change in attitude is smoother and less colorful, and to some extent, the calmly facing Williams is in turn infecting novelists and female subordinates.
For example, in the last part of the amusement field paragraph, accompanied by the strong sound of the violin in the set of dubs completed between Williams and the novelist, Mr. Williams walks out of the darkness with his head held high, and the whole picture space is full of tragedy. It is a taste of tenacious greetings knowing that life is about to be lost and the age is gone, which is quite similar to the interpretation method of Stevens in Kazuo Ishiguro's long work "The Long Day Will End".
New changes in the process of cultural context migration
The new version of "Lust for Life" switches time and space to the British mainland after World War II in 1952, and the biggest innovation brought by the switch of social and cultural context lies in the introduction of religious elements, which is specifically reflected in the use of light in the film.
From Mr. Williams' first appearance in the film, the silhouette of the entire character's upper body is wrapped in soft light in the background. This is when the new employee Weckling first meets the elder, the Williams in his eyes - the soft light blurs the outline of the figure, Williams is like a god, and the whole body exudes a false light, giving people an extremely unreal feeling.
In the 41st minute, a second special point of light appeared, and the "holy light" that was originally on Williams' head disappeared, and it was transferred to Margaret, a girl in the restaurant. In the process of the girl's narration, Williams discovers that the girl's "desire for life" is shining, and the aura here serves as a symbol of real vitality.
It is worth mentioning that Williams' emotional model for girls in the new version of "Lust for Life" has changed from the old version of infatuation to the mode of appreciating the main part. "Lust for Life" can also be seen as a story of "knowing yourself" in essence, from the old version to the new version, the protagonist of Lust for Life actually goes through the process from his consciousness to self-realization.
When Williams returns to the county house to hurry up and start doing something again, the audience will find that the "holy light" has returned to his head, which is the third special use of light in the film, as a symbol of the so-called "desire for life".
In the film, the first three uses of "holy light" appear in a relatively obscure form, but Kazuo Ishiguro obviously did not give up the excavation of this deep meaning, and the new version of "Lust for Life" uses religious elements exquisitely.
In the last half hour of the film, the aforementioned invisible "holy light" finally appears in the church space in a visible and conclusive state, death is no longer a threat, but more like a reception and giving, and Williams died without regret in the snowy night to gain satisfaction and happiness that he has never experienced.
Discussion of existence and death
Kurosawa's "Lust for Life" in 1952 is undoubtedly a classic of film history, but few people pay attention to the fact that this film is not Kurosawa's original, but is adapted from Tolstoy's novel "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" written at the end of Tolstoy's career in 1886, which has always been regarded as an immortal masterpiece of "death literature" in the history of world literature and a prophetic text of existential philosophy in the field of literature and art in the twentieth century.
Kazuo Ishiguro's adaptation brings this discussion of the "philosophy of life and death" back to the foreground, and the protagonist Williams does not want to sit alone in the corner and do nothing, just wait for the call of death - the call of God.
But Nietzsche's proclamation has long since become the verdict of the twentieth century: God is dead. After death there is no place for refuge, but only absolute negation, and compared to meaningless return, it can only be held in the hands of modern man in the here and now.
Therefore, the new version of "Lust for Life" is practicing this aesthetic purpose: to live to death. Through unusual vibrations of the mind that are difficult to obtain in daily life, we become aware of our own limitations and limitations, and reach a true description of aesthetic experience. The "desire to live" is ultimately not only in Mr. Williams, but also in Wecklin, Margaret, and there may be many more in the future.
As Gadamer said, "A work of art forces us to acknowledge its existence." In front of art, you are constantly watched and have nowhere to hide. You have to change your life... Every time we have an artistic experience, we are confronted. ”
The theme of the film "Lust for Life" is rich, including criticism of modern bureaucracy and projection of modern people's unsupported life, but in the end, it pulls the audience back under the peppercorn tree, returning to the source of true life force and true love——
On that snowy night, there were few people and everything was silent, but we could clearly find the breadth and fullness of life from facing the darkness.