Chapter 1033

"Drunken folk", which is a very poetic name.

But in fact, this is a derivative interpretation of the Chinese translation. The original English name of the film is "inside llewyn Davis". As the Cohen brothers said, the title of the film comes from an album by Dave van punk.

Compared with the original English name, lanli prefers the Chinese translation, with a sense of sadness and randomness of the frustrated and homeless.

The story of the film takes place in New York in the 1960s. The hero is called Levine Davis. He is a little-known folk singer. He lives in poverty, homeless, and even has no regular job. He has to rely on his friends' help every night to settle down. Although he is in a dilemma, the stubborn Levine refuses to compromise in order to conform to the public's preferences, which makes his life more difficult. There is no end to his dream of chasing folk songs.

The film, directed by the Cohen brothers, received very different feedback after its official release.

Film critics have welcomed a wave of praise. They not only received 93% of the media's comprehensive evaluation, but also won the titles of "film review", "New York Times" and "voice of the village" and other three authoritative professional media in 2013. They also frequently appear on the annual Top 10 list of other professional chronicles.

Audiences generally don't buy it. They think it's hard to be brilliant. It's not only inferior to the classic works such as "ice blood storm" and "no country for old people". Even compared with the last work "earth thunder" of the Cohen brothers, it's quite different by several grades. It's average from the box office to the word-of-mouth. Even the score of IMDB is only 7.5.

In fact, this is not difficult to understand.

"Drunken ballad" is not a typical American film, but more like a European film. The work does not tell a complete story: there is no cause, no result, or even no plot advance. Instead, it tells a state, a wave and an era in a way of reincarnation.

The whole film just intercepts a fragment of Levine's life, tells the trivia he experiences in four or five days, and presents his present situation, that's all.

As like as two peas, the beginning and the end are almost the same picture. Levien's live performances in a small bar are connected in series, with almost the same lines and plots. The story has no transition, the character has no growth epiphany, and even the core idea has not been sublimated and refined, which vividly interprets the meaning of "shooting equals not shooting".

More importantly, Levine is a loser. This is not an inspirational story, nor is it a story of a dreamer, but a story of a loser who is still a loser. At the beginning of the story, there is no hope; At the end, it's still the same.

In Europe, this kind of film is very common. It tells a state of life, reflects the social environment, and leaves the space of philosophical speculation for the audience to savor; But in the United States, such art films are too few to win the audience's echo. On the two lands, the difference of artistic details and connotation can be seen.

Later, the Oscar also proved this point. With the help of "no country for old people", "serious man" and "earth thunder", the Cohen brothers, who nominated for best picture three times in four years, seem to have become the favorite of the Academy“ "Drunken ballad" only received two nominations for best photography and best sound effect, even the best original soundtrack and best original song, so it was completely ignored.

Of course, objectively speaking, compared with the deep meaning of social reality reflected by the other works of the Cohen brothers, this work is indeed too childish; But as far as Langley is concerned, this is his favorite Coen Brothers movie.

Greenwich Village in the 1960s has now become a legendary history. Countless music fans are talking about what happened here in those years, promoting the progress of history and laying the footnotes of history; But in those days, it was a hard journey for a whole generation to find, explore and strengthen themselves. There was no bright and beautiful, no dream bubble, everything was cold and gloomy.

Under the call of the tide of the whole era, countless people join in the flood of folk songs. As Ethan said just now, "it doesn't matter who you are, what matters is that you are a part of this wave of folk songs."; But the problem is that there may be only one winner among one million people, and all the rest are struggling on the poverty line, with no future or hope.

Everyone aspires to be Bob Dylan, but Bob Dylan has only one.

So, everyone is faced with the choice, insist, change, or give up? It is now, and it was before. As time goes by, the contradiction between dream and reality has never changed.

In the story of "drunken folk", there are several characters. Justin Timberlake as Jim, Kerry Mulligan as Jane, and Oscar Isaac as Levine.

All three are folk singers and friends of each other. They are also small characters floating and sinking in the tide of Greenwich Village.

Jim is a warm-hearted and kind-hearted man. After struggling to pursue his dream, he chose to compromise and began to sing some vulgar commercial songs. He also began to conform to the social trend and create some saliva songs. This is not the original appearance of the dream, but let him gain a firm foothold in the society and have a relatively stable life.

Jane is a woman who grew up in a hippie culture. She has an open attitude towards sex and has no burden; For her, music is just an interest. When interest can't sustain her life, she makes her own choice to be with Jim and make her life more stable.

And Levine is the only one who's stubborn.

Jim chose to change, Jane chose to give up, Levine chose to insist. Different choices lead their destiny to different paths.

Hidden in these three roles are the reflection of the Cohen brothers on their dreams, art, and even the whole industry and the whole era; In these three roles, the Cohen brothers chose Levine as the protagonist, and all the attention focused on the persistent loser. In the form of a ring structure, the Cohen brothers showed a state of struggling between dream and reality, sad and lost.

This state is beyond the audience's comprehension and comprehension, but it is exactly what the Cohen brothers want to express and present.

One is that the dreamers are trapped in a lonely place where they can't move forward or retreat, just like being exiled. They are isolated and at a loss. They can't see the future, but they are not willing to give up. Relying on a deep passion in their heart, they run around in this lonely place persistently and foolishly, breaking their heads and bleeding.

Secondly, in the lost age of innocence, those talented and impulsive young artists are now gradually submerged in the era of interest first and entertainment to death, losing themselves and quietly giving up their favorite career; Greenwich Village, which is full of new people and art, is gradually submerged in the high-rise buildings and traffic in Manhattan.

For most of the audience, this seems to be a work that doesn't need to be shot. No one cares about the story of the loser, no one remembers the years of the ballad era, no one cares about the struggle of the dreamer, and the state that the Cohen brothers are struggling to capture. In the era of fast food culture and Internet, it has become superficial and boastful, and no one cares about it or understands it.

But not for blue.

"Drunken folk" Levine Davis, just like the old Frank in the nameless bar.

Next to the cemetery where Heather cross sleeps, in the nameless bar, the old Frank who sings "Cleopatra" in a low voice, the old Frank who enjoys even free performances, the old Frank who gives up his dream but insists on it in his own way under the pressure of reality.

From any angle of social reality, old Frank, like Levine, is a loser. He is a complete loser. He may even become the object of ridicule and ridicule. He may also become a negative teaching material for parents to educate their children; But in the dead of night, when they were alone, the flame of dream in their heart was still burning, but it lit up their lives.

It's a story about persistence, about dreams, about life. It's a story about George strand and Heather cross. It's also a story about chujiashu and Langley hall.

In the last life, when he was trapped in a hospital bed, it was so; When I came to New York alone to pursue my dream as an actor, it was like this“ This is true of the creation and production process of Don Quixote; The same is true when Heather cross stops before the threshold of his dream.

On the road of dream, it is not difficult to give up. Everyone can choose to give up. Just release their hands, the dream will fly to the sky like a hydrogen balloon and disappear in a twinkling of an eye; It's difficult to change, but as long as we get through the struggle of compromise and bowing, everything will become natural, and then comfort ourselves. This is true of most people in society.

It's always easy to choose the sunshine Avenue, the mainstream of society, and to go with the tide. It's hidden in the vast sea of people. There's no need to think, struggle or struggle. It's just enough to follow the context of predecessors and waves and move forward blindly. Under the huge social machine, everyone gradually grinds away the edges and corners and turns into a stereotype.

It takes courage and perseverance to choose to stick to yourself, to pursue freedom and to keep edges and corners. Because they have no reference object, they have to explore their own way, a unique way.

In the story of "drunken folk", in Levine Davis, Langley can see his own shadow and his own story.