The author of this article is a contributor @ Fat to Laugh
It's better to watch a movie than to cook
With its short and concise mini-size and the texture of a blockbuster that burns funds, the BBC, which has been at the top of the "chain of drama scorn" for many years, has recently released a stunning work "North Sea Whale Dream".
Adapted from the award-winning novel of the same name by British writer Ian McGuire, the new drama sounds inherently cold and mysterious, and the theme of whaling is reminiscent of environmental themes such as Dolphin Bay.
But these are only half right, before the start of the "North Sea Whale Dream" with little information, it is actually a fierce style of all evil people and a black end, waiting for the veil to be unveiled, and many fans of the drama have expressed surprises.
The original novel of "Whale Dream of the North Sea" was once listed as a nineteenth-century remake of the "Lu Rongyu 2682" ocean killing incident (2010).
Ten years ago, in the real-life version of the battle royale at sea, two-thirds of the ship's crew accidentally broke the Pacific Ocean, and well-known directors in the mainland and Hong Kong wanted to bring this tragedy to the big screen, but they were slow to move because the original appearance of the case was too appalling.
The lonely sea, the unpredictable voyage, the hard and monotonous labor, even people with normal minds are easily forced to act excessively in this environment.
The small fishing boat in the vast sea is equivalent to a closed small society, and once the original social morality collapses, the animal nature in human nature will be released.
The "Lu Rongyu No. 2682" tragedy is a tragedy caused by the accumulation of various factors.
The background of the story of the "Volunteer" whaling in "North Sea Whale Dream" is more complex and darker.
As more manpower turned to oil extraction, the whaling industry in the 19th century was already at the end of the crossbow, the reef-ridden Greenland sea was a dangerous area of countless shipwrecks, coupled with the lack of materials, medical backwardness and other unfavorable conditions, whaling ships had not yet set sail, which had cast an ominous shadow on the adventure.
People who can navigate such a dangerous environment are not good.
Samner, the ship's doctor, had a background in the conquest of India as a military doctor, and his intellectual, British gentleman temperament made him incompatible with rude sailors.
But Sumner's flawed and flashy lies and excuses, the deliberately hidden severance books and jewelry in the medicine box, the sleep that relies on opium tincture to barely survive, the bullet-ridden Indian boy who appears repeatedly in his dreams... All point to the unbearable past under the glossy exterior.
Compared to Sarnum's oscillation on the line of good and evil, the other protagonist, Darax (Colin Farrell), is much simpler and purer, directly describing him as a "violent, evil demon" in the original book.
Darax is the pillar of the "Volunteer" whaling cause, killing seals, hunting whales, all rushing to the front, and the blood of animals makes him particularly excited. But the terrible thing is that human blood is the same.
Before boarding the ship, Dalax killed strangers in the dark alley because of trivial fights in the tavern, and because of coveting Sumner's jewels, Dalax could not save the latter who fell off the ice.
In addition, the scandals of sexual assault and murder on board seem to be inseparable from him. Successive accidents make the whaling journey more sinister, and Dalax will completely expose his fangs.
In addition, the seemingly decent captain is also planning a more sinister conspiracy, the first mate is deceitful, instigating the wind, and protecting the evil, and the "Volunteer" is full of ghosts, and the evil of human nature is only a little bit to ignite the fuse of Mars.
The original novel takes the hard-core narrative route, the depiction of various details is to the point, the words are filled with a strong steel straight male atmosphere, and the transformation from words to images also tests the level of the creator.
Objectively speaking, there is actually a contrast between the resume of British director Andrew Hagrid and the dark and cold story style of "North Sea Whale Dream".
With the autobiographical same-sex romance film Weekend Time, Andrew Hagrid shined at the South by Southwest Film Festival and began his career as a film and television amphibian director.
For the first time, Andrew Hagrid still experimented with the familiar gay theme, and HBO's "Seeking" told the story of the life of three gay friends in San Francisco.
As a British director, how to shoot the original West Coast American life was a big challenge for Hagrid at that time.
The two seasons of "Seeking" were all filmed in San Francisco, and the Douban score was maintained at 8.7 points and 8.8 points, which was also regarded by many viewers as a masterpiece that could benchmark the same theme of the divine drama "Comrades and Mortals".
Andrew Hagrid's second feature film, 45 years old, shifts the focus from a focus on same-sex themes to a discussion of marriage and love.
The film took him straight into the main competition section of the Berlin Film Festival and won an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Charlotte Ramplin gave post-film acting in "45th Anniversary"
The story is about an elderly couple, on the eve of their forty-fifth wedding anniversary, the news of their husband's first love has disrupted a peaceful life, and this first love is a deceased person who has been buried under the snow and ice because of an avalanche.
The husband's heart is completely drawn into the snowy mountains where his first love has passed, and he is only prevaricating and perfunctory in the face of his wife who has been with him for many years. While the wife has to patiently comfort her sad husband and manage the daily operation of the family, she also has to face the cruel reality that the man who accompanies him all his life loves most is not himself.
A dead first love, but can take the husband away from years of marriage and family, this British sunset red version of the "Pure Yuan Queen" story, full of breathless despair and powerlessness.
Hagrid's presentation of this highly dramatic story returns to the most concise and simple approach, and most of the plot takes place in ordinary family scenes, portraying the undercurrents of character emotions through extremely realistic shots.
"45th Anniversary" shines in the international film industry, and basically establishes Andrew Hagrid's focus on people's hearts and emotions, restrained and delicate "gentle knife" directing style, and his third feature film "Saima Pitt" basically continues this texture.
The sudden shift to dark hardcore style of "North Sea Whale Dream" is indeed a challenge for Andrew Hagrid.
However, the dangerous whaling journey in the story is only a shell, a container, and the core is the portrayal of individuals in extreme environments.
Brushing aside the plot of suppressing darkness and constant reversals, the evil of human nature is dissected to the point, and the cold and hard are thicker and finer, which also highlights Hagrid's specialty.
In addition, Hagrid's control over the details of the images is enough to support the BBC's obsessive-compulsive pursuit of the cinematic sense of the series.
From the details of Fu hua dao to the scene restoration of the 19th century whaling ship, "The Whale Dream of the North Sea" also perfectly achieves a balance between historical texture and aesthetic taste. In particular, the panoramic display of the magnificent Nordic scenery highlights the thrill of the plot direction.
It is worth mentioning the director's breakthrough on himself. In order to reflect the cold-bloodedness of Darax, the scene of whale hunting and seal hunting in the play is unexpectedly very bloody.
A touch of red in the lonely ice and snow, from the original "small freshness", one hundred and eighty degrees to the aesthetics of violence, "North Sea Whale Dream" also let Andrew Hagrid out of his comfort zone.
"North Sea Whale Dream" has produced a total of four episodes, three episodes of one hour + the configuration of the finale of ninety minutes.
In the first two episodes that have been broadcast so far, although there are occasional friction accidents, the "Volunteer" as a whole has maintained stability and order.
This is like the silence before the war starts, and it also makes people look forward to what kind of chaos and madness will be staged in the subsequent plot.
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.