Written by Katherine McLaughlin
Translator: Qin Tian
Proofreading: Easy two three
Source: Sight & Sound (August 16, 2021)
The difficulty of entering the world of Villeneuve films
Violence takes many forms, and it brutally leaves indelible psychological trauma on the victims. In Canadian director Dennis Villeneuve's films, the threat of violence and its aftermath often leads to a more complex examination and exploration of deeper social issues, power, identity, and human existence.
Aside from Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and the upcoming Dune — these sci-fi films— Villeneuve hasn't insisted on a particular genre in his nine films so far. But he always uses grand ideas to reveal reflections on reality.
Advent (2016)
He has mentioned that Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) had a huge influence on his visual style, while Spielberg's Contact of the Third Kind (1977) fascinated him with film, and Truffaut made Villeneuve fascinated French New Wave films as well.
New Wave cinema and Spielberg's film thus collided in Villeneuve's feature film debut, August 32 (1998). In the film, two French-Canadians spontaneously make a road trip to salt flats in Utah. Not only are they foreigners in a foreign country, but their lives are disrupted due to failed communication.
August 32 (1998)
As shown in his debut, spectacular landscapes often appear in Villeneuve's films, interspersed with aerial shots of the vast landscape. In these shots, humans look like dots on the horizon. Deliberately rhythm-controlled shots, silent close-ups, and dynamic wide-angle shots also dominate the film.
In Villeneuve's suspenseful, haunting story, we often think of how insignificant human power is in nature. These powerful panoramic images also convey the deep and tense relationship between individual freedom and powerful government institutions.
Recommended Entry: Scorched Earth City
After being screened at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Scorched Earth (2010) is a film that truly brings Villeneuve an international reputation. After filming the romantic and grotesque film Vortex (2000) with the style of Jean-Pierre Genet, Villeneuve experienced nearly a decade of calm. Subsequently, he resumed the shooting of feature films with two violent films about women, "Polytechnic" (2009) and "Scorched Earth".
Scorched Earth (2010)
The Scorched Earth Is based on Vaji Muawad's novel set in the Middle East's civil war, and the subtitles read: "Dedicated to Our Grandmothers." It is an Oedipal tragedy and examines the war from a female perspective and reveals devastating results through flashback scenes and discusses the trauma between the two generations.
Two stories unfold before the viewer: one from the perspective of a woman who experienced torture and witnessed unspeakable violence, and the other through the perspective of her adult twin children. The twins are tasked with unlocking the mysteries of their lives and finding an absent father to fulfill their mother's last wish before her death.
Scorched Earth confronts the scars of conflict and atrocities and interrogates the truth afterwards. This is not only a requiem for the dead, but also a requiem dedicated to those whose fate has been changed by the cruel plots of war.
In a 2020 podcast with the team of veteran partner Roger Deakins, Villeneuve drew a line between Scorched Earth and most of his later works, such as communication and the extinction of humanity, dual identities and institutions, the weaponization of man and the duality of human nature.
If you start with Villeneuve's work in Scorched Earth, you'll notice the development of these themes and Villeneuve's growing, technological advances. His captivating and provocative images progress through layers, filled with hidden thoughts and profound meanings.
Next, what to see?
The relentless pursuit of truth is at the heart of Villeneuve's first Hollywood films, The Prisoner (2013) and Border Killer (2015). In both films, he worked with two industry giants— cinematographer Roger Deakins and late composer John Johnson. In the film, Villeneuve creates an atmosphere of doom, with violence lurking ominously and could erupt at any moment.
The Prisoner (2013)
Old Enemies (2013), shot in Toronto, Canada, is a low-key, surrealist suspense thriller starring Jack Gyllenhaal, an associate professor of history at a university, in which Gyllenhaal plays two roles. Adapted from José Zaramago's novel Twins, The Nemesis's intense focus on the inner conflict between the male self and the ego opens up a broader discussion of topics such as destructive male instincts and historical reenactment.
Old Enemies (2013)
The discussion of these themes also extends to Blade Runner 2049 and the poetic, visually distinct Advent, based on Ted Ginger's novel The Story of Your Life.
In Advent, Amy Adams plays a linguist whose mission is to translate mysterious symbols of aliens landing from around the world. When the world powers cut off all forms of communication and decide to go to war, the fate of the world is in the hands of the staunch peacemakers represented by Adams.
In Blade Runner 2049, Ryan Gosling sheds tears on his journey from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in search of the missing Rick Dicka (Harrison Ford), the hero of 1982 Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
The eye-opening mission transformed him from a ruthless killer into a kind and transformative character. The film is set in a not-too-distant future and tells the terrible themes of environmental degradation and humanity in the digital age.
Not suitable for beginners
While filming Scorched Earth, Villeneuve was also working on Polytechnic, but although the film's theme was about violence against women, it was an anomaly in Villeneuve's resume, as Polytechnic was the only work in which he dramatized real-life events directly — and it turned out to be controversial.
Polytechnic Institute (2009)
In December 1989, a mass shooting at an engineering school in Montreal involved a man who called himself "anti-feminist" eventually resulted in the murder of 14 women, including 10 women and 4 men. Nearly 20 years after the shooting, actor Karin Vanas proposed that Villeneuve make the film to commemorate those who lost their lives in the tragedy.
After spending a year talking to survivors and their families, Villeneuve and the crew made the film, which witnessed extremist attacks on democracy, feminism and education. For the director, after nearly a decade of calm, the film is a "divisive return," but it shows that violence can ultimately change a person's destiny.