Movie Perception (7): "Heaven and Earth"
This is a youth ethics film co-directed by American directors Larry ▪ Clark and Edward ▪ Lachman, and a drama film that reflects the "cruelty of youth" of teenagers, documenting the growing years of American teenagers in the 1990s: they lived indulgently and sadly. This film caused a sensation at the time. The film was released in the United States on August 31, 2002, and later screened in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. However, it has never been screened in public on the mainland. As for the reason, I am afraid that it is the real gun of the film. If you look at the unobstructed version, it is really a little too erotic.
Several of the teenagers in the film have psychological problems, which may be puberty syndrome; the families in the film also have problems, the father is not like the father, and the mother is not like the mother. The reason why it is called "Heaven and Earth Are Unruly", that is, the whole film shows that the program is often chaotic, no matter the order of people, and even the world is discolored. The film expresses the American teenagers' fascination with the flesh and their confusion about life. In fact, in today's country, the life of some teenagers is not like this. The Heilongjiang University of Science and Technology incident some time ago, the world of Wu Moufan at this stage, etc., is not it also such a chaos? It can only be said that it is too much.
In the film, Asan, who is in middle school, falls in love with the female classmates in this class, after molesting his brother, he cheats on his girlfriend's mother; Teddy's relationship with his grandparents living together deteriorates, and he can't vent his unhappiness in his heart, and he even kills his grandparents to get pleasure; Godie's father disciplines harshly, once taking advantage of drunkenness and insulting Godi to force Godi to run away from home; Peach was bumped into by her father when she was in love with her boyfriend, and was put under house arrest by her father, and then forced to hold a wedding with her father; ... A farce, staged in an American society that is considered highly civilized, is simply "unbearable to watch."
The film is not very artistic, but it is very ornamental. Human sin, ugliness, violence, lust, and death are vividly expressed in the film. I have to say that "Heaven and Earth" is not a blockbuster, but it is better than a blockbuster. In the United States, only American directors can make such a film that shows the theme of adolescent rebellion. The film of "adolescent rebellion" has failed to surprise us by the big directors of our country, and it is difficult for us to see the best films that show the theme of teenagers in our country. Of course, China's national conditions do not allow such films to be made. Especially near the end of "Heaven and Earth", the erotic performances of Godi, Asan and Peach are pornographic in our country.
Because of the editing reasons, the film is not connected in some places, which gives people a feeling of being a bit abrupt. For example, at the end of the film, how Godie, Asan, and Peach came together, we don't know. As for the beginning of the film, why the teenagers in the skateboard park shot themselves in the head (suicide), maybe after watching the movie, the audience will understand. The film begins at the skate park and ends at the skate park. So the film was translated as "Skate Park" or "Sex ▪ Skateboarding ▪ Seventh Grade".