Black and white, two opposing and interdependent character relationships and existences.
Based on the manga of the same name by Japanese manga master Daiu Matsumoto, director Michael Elias combines two-dimensional animation and three-dimensional animation to present aesthetic images with a visual spectacle in the film.
The manga "Bad Boy" was created in 1993 and sold more than 1 million copies, and the director of the film version is the former production director of the animated version of "The Matrix", who was attracted by the unique charm of "Bad Boy" during his work in Japan, and came up with the idea of working with the author.
The film tells the story of a city and then tells a story about human civilization.
Although the animation tells the story of two children, the age distribution of this animation work is not in the range of children, but belongs to adults... A fairy tale about brutal youth unfolds.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the story of a city , Takaracho</h1>
In the movie, Homacho is a medium-sized industrial city that is densely populated and out of touch with the development of the times.
The elevated light rail coexists with dirty rivers, the streets are noisy with trams, and the streets are greeted by acquaintances, and the near-stagnant pace of development makes people feel as if this is a city with no future. But the city maintains its balance with a delicate check.
Black and White: The two move freely through the cracks of the city every day, wantonly destroying the underworld headed by "rats".
As the code name directly presents, although cats and mice are natural enemies, playing out the drama of chasing after each other in the city every day, they are more like a pair of partners who cannot be separated than a cruel survival competition.
The gentle and kind police in the city have a good friendship with the cat party and the underworld, and occasionally come out to stop and mediate because the fight between the two sides is too fierce, so that the three parties restrict each other, as strong as a "triangle".
In a sense, the characters who appear in the film are all marginalized groups: whether it is a scavenger, a frigid policeman, a gangster, or even a killer who speaks bird language... They are all unable to spread out in the sun, and can only snuggle up with the city.
The protagonists of the movie are two children, Little Black and Little White
At the beginning of the movie, Xiao Hei showed his extraordinary "violent talent". He was free to shuttle between tall buildings, like a cat, always accompanied by crows when he appeared, and even the who could beat the whole street did not dare to trouble him. Xiao Hei is very precocious, and at a young age, he has insight into the darkness of the world and is desperate for survival. In the film, through the mouth of grandpa, he said: "Hei is already desperate for survival at such a young age..."
Xiao Bai is a child who lacks front teeth and lacks heart and eyes, if Xiao Black represents "evil", then Xiao Bai is "good"
Xiao Bai was nagging and carefree all day, and when he appeared, he was an innocent image, wearing a small tiger hat on his head, and a toilet paper roll hanging behind his ass, and his speech was not only leaky but also always half a beat slower. Xiao Bai lives a spotless life in the stinky ditch-like town of Takashi, repeatedly dreaming about the sky and the forest. This image represents the little innocence of human beings in the process of civilization development.
The constant violence, bloodshed, coldness, ugliness and dirtiness in the film all contrast strongly with Xiao Bai's warm and beautiful dreams.
The most obvious label of violence in the movie is the sopranos, the leader of the underworld, Suzuki.
He is a serious and nostalgic old-school underworld boss who represents the order of the old world = inefficiency.
But because of his sense of nostalgia, he is also full of humanity. He grew up in Takaracho, where he learned everything — gambling, alcohol, tobacco, women, making money , opening a strip show , and becoming a gang boss. He was fascinated by the city of Takamachi, so he would teach his subordinates: "Believe in love." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > "This city is changing recklessly, regardless of my thoughts"</h1>
With the arrival of a company called KIDDY KASTLE, the tranquility of Takaramachi was completely broken.
It is ambitious to transform Takashi town, the city is facing a transformation that is bound to break the harmony of the old city period, the intervention of the opener damages the interests of the gangsters, but also destroys the memories of many people, in this case, the story has changed.
In the book "History of Urban Development", it is written: "The ultimate character of the city is to promote people's conscious participation in the process of the universe and history. ”
Noteworthy in the film is the land developer, codenamed "Snake".
Obviously, the intervention of the "snake" will break the original balance relationship between the "cat" and the "rat", and when the "mouse" is ruthlessly hunted by the "snake", the "cat" will face the dilemma of staying in place and waiting for death or quietly leaving the guest to die.
This film fully shows all the characters and the "baptism of time" faced by the city, and the various things reflected by people and things in the face of the drift of time, all confirm the spirit of the times, there are many hopes, and at the same time, powerlessness is also breeding...
Enterprises forced the demolition of old buildings, the elimination of the original life form of the city, the dream-filled gang leaders will also age, the efforts will gradually lose, this is the reality, helpless reality. In fact, XiaoBai and Xiao black are two different people, Xiao Black reality, in order to survive, constantly changing their goals and morals, and Xiao Bai alone guards the dreams in his heart, not to be interfered with by the outside world, put into modern society These two kinds of people are extreme marginal people, but Xiao Black and Xiao Bai can make up for each other, just like Xiao Bai said: "I have the screws that Xiao Black lacks, and he has the screws that I lack." ”
In the film, there is a fish-eye shot that fully shows this grotesque and beautiful yin and yang clock. It also fully hints at the fate of the protagonists "black" and "white" in the film. In the Chinese tradition, we understand the yin-yang array as balance, the ultimate balance, which illustrates the relationship between black and white.
We can't stop cities from growing and changing, just as we did in our childhood.
Whether it is justice or sin, innocence or filth, it will eventually become a memory, swallowed up by time little by little. A city does not belong to any one person, and if you cling to it too deeply, it is you who hurt. The development of science and technology is very fast, but human beings and society themselves have not grown accordingly. So all sorts of problems arise: environmental pollution, bioethics, urban expansion, forest reduction...
In fact, black and white are like two sides of a city, having experienced the changes of an era, confused, painful, hurt, but in the end everything will be fine.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Japan likes to make movies that kids can't watch? </h1>
As a leader in the production of animated films, Japan's animated films have gradually acquired their own characteristics in the course of development.
With fresh and bright hand-drawn colors, highly realistic narrative texts and delicate character emotions, Japanese animation films have shaped an aesthetic animation style that is close to their own national cultural characteristics. Since the beginning of the new century, Japanese animation films have shown a highly prosperous scene and trend, and a series of excellent films have been produced in image technology, mainly based on two-dimensional animation technology, supplemented by three-dimensional animation technology, and combined with two-dimensional and three-dimensional animation technology.
As the first Japanese animation to be supervised by foreigners, "Bad Boy" is mixed with a lot of Western things, such as supervision, script, music, and technology, all of which are provided by the West, and then the Japanese are responsible for the human design, art, CGI, and original painting. The product of this East-West collaboration makes Bad Boy not a pure Japanese commercial animation.
Director Mike Arias is from the United States, art supervisor Shinji Kimura, and original manga author Daiyo Matsumoto is from Japan. After a long period of running-in, the creative team of the multi-ethnic cultural background has created an audiovisual language that is not limited to a single cultural background, which is one of the magic weapons for the success of the film.
For the audience, the film contains too many elements, mainly asian countries, such as Thailand, China, South Korea, etc., but there are also cultural presences in other regions. Homachi has a Hong Kong atmosphere, which first makes people feel oppressed and crowded, and the Hong Kong-style density seems to directly remind people of the underworld characters, who in many Hong Kong-style films will shuttle around the people at the bottom; on the other hand, there are many graffiti styles in the film, and the city of Homachi is to some extent a microcosm of old Japan.
There are many details in the city that do not look rich, colorful but dilapidated toilets, houses crowded together without a single gap, etc., all kinds of nostalgic atmospheres, graffiti existing on the walls, on the floor, in the passages, these interesting pictures and the city have a series of collisions, so that it has a distinct image, in the city people feel not only crowded, but also the yearning for freedom, this place seems to be very close to us, and far away...
The film shows a group of "evil people", obviously this is not an animation for children, this animation shows us the marginalized groups of society, when we see the "evil" they release, they show us the real "good".
I have to say that the character painting style of this animation is the only one that affects the mood of my watching...
Original text, figure network