The Online Film Festival of the Beijing International Film Festival has all ended, and "Marriage Story" as the premiere film has received a lot of praise. This Douban 8.6 point of word-of-mouth work has received 222 nominations including the 92nd Academy Awards and the 76th Venice Film Festival, and won 114 awards.
Written and directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Adam Dreifer and Scarlett Johansson, the film follows the divorce paths of long-married theater director Charlie (Adam Dreifer) and actress Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), as well as the minutiae of love, marriage and family.
Is it a "marriage story" or a "divorce guide"?
The film begins with a monologue by the husband and wife, who tell the characteristics of each other, revealing their love for each other and the happiness of this past marriage.
It was all just "homework" that Charlie and Nicole had done at the request of the marriage coordinator, and they hadn't even been able to read the letter in front of each other.
Compared to Charlie, Nicole realized early on that her marriage was on the brink of crisis. She gives up every opportunity to fall in love with Charlie, but at the same time slowly loses herself, and the deviation of personal values gradually throws the marriage out of balance.
Nicole began to take her son between law firms, and then left New York for new job opportunities and returned to Los Angeles. Charlie did not realize the seriousness of the problem and immersed himself in the troupe.
Unable to mediate privately, the couple eventually fought a divorce battle and began to compete with each other in court for custody of their children.
In the film, the two have a fierce 10-minute argument, all the grievances, anger and helplessness fill every corner of the room, and when Charlie cries bitterly, he finally understands what Nicole has been thinking and realizes that this marriage is a thing of the past.
Charlie eventually got a letter from Nicole at the beginning of the film in the hands of his son Henry, the sentence "I will never stop loving him, although it has no meaning anymore." Let him choke for a long time, and draw a regretful and warm end to this marriage.
As Adam Dreifer, who plays the role of Charlie, puts it, "You may have gotten used to the pace and rhythm of being with someone all the time, but you don't really know that you've been hurting each other in the process." ”
Probably because of his childhood experiences, Dreifer has many of his own understandings of the character of Charlie. In an interview with The Guardian, he said: "The performance in Marriage Story borrows from the experience of my parents' divorce. ”
It is precisely in this way that he was able to break through himself in this film, play the role of Charlie delicately, and was nominated for a second Academy Award, and was named "The Guardian" as "2019 Top Ten Actors".
Hollywood's "Invisible Man"
Because of his surname driver, Dreifer is often called "old driver" by Chinese film fans. But he and the word "old driver" are very different, when faced with his own performance pictures, Dreifer always "fled into the wilderness", he could not watch his own performances.
He explained in a previous interview: "I've seen my own movies, I've heard my own movies, and I always feel really annoying. Then I hope to make some changes, but you can't. This sense of substitution and attention to the role is destined to make him a good actor.
Unlike most Hollywood movie stars, Dreifer has always lived a low-key star life, and in his view, the profession of actor is much more important to observe others than to be observed by others. Such a special temperament also makes his star path shine with a different light.
In 2010, Dreifer officially entered the film and television industry, and in the next two or three years, he successively participated in HBO's comedy "Sisters of Decline", Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln", Coen Brothers' "Drunken Folk" and Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha", becoming the common choice of various famous directors.
(Stills from "Frances Ha")
Despite starring in many works, Dreifer remained "obscure" until a "lightsaber" thrust him into the audience's field of vision. In the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy, Dreifer played the role of villain Kylo Ren, and 5 years opened up his popularity.
But instead of enjoying the sudden attention, Dreifer argued: "Losing anonymity is also a problem, but I don't get sympathy, and I don't seek sympathy." When it comes to actors, it's natural to think of me walking the red carpet in expensive suits, but that's not what I want to pursue as an actor, believe it or not. ”
When "driver" meets "driver"
Among all the works that Dreifer starred in, Bajie believes that the driver Patterson in "Patterson" is the closest character to himself, and this film also happens to be another screening of this film festival.
In the film, Dreifer plays a bus driver named Patterson, who lives a mundane, comfortable life with his wife Laura and a bulldog, Marvin, in the small town of Patterson, New Jersey.
Patterson was not only a driver but also a poet. Every day he drives the No. 23 bus through the town, observing the subtle sporadicities of life and recording them as verses, and his only audience is Laura. In contrast, Laura has too many dreams, is full of enthusiasm and infinite imagination for life, and she always encourages Patterson to publish her poetry collection.
Their lives did not have a ripple until Marvin tore up the poetry collection, which gave Patterson a deeper sense of self. The story itself seems bland, but in fact the answer is all hidden in the details, and only by understanding those clues can you feel the problems that the film wants to explore more deeply.
Dreifer shows Patterson's daily life and inner multi-faceted world, gentle and delicate. "Adam Dreifer is very good at playing this kind of introverted character, he may not be very active, but he can accurately interpret his reaction to his surroundings, as he says in an interview. And Dreifer thinks of himself as an observer, a listener, like Patterson.
In Married Life, Charlie sings "being alive" in the tavern, either funny, affectionate, sentimental, or helpless, as if to inform the official end of the previous stage of life; and at the end of "Patterson", after receiving the Japanese poet's book, Patterson begins to create again.
Dreifer also has a new story, and at the end of last year, Dreifer confirmed to star in the song and dance film "Annette" directed by Leo Carax, which will be on the same stage as Marion Cotillard. Bajie heard that in this movie, 95% of Dreifer's lines will be presented in a singing way, and she is looking forward to it!
Of all the "Old Driver" Dreifer movies, which one is your favorite? Tell Bajie at the message office!
Editor-in-Charge: Timmy
Written by: Rena