As early as 2000, Norton intended to adapt the detective novel "Orphans of Brooklyn" published by Johnson Leser in 1999 into a movie. After 20 years of twists and turns, the audience can finally see this ambitious and retro-style "The Brooklyn Secret Case" directed and acted by Norton. The story takes place in New York in the 1950s. After witnessing the murder of his mentor and boss Frank in the process of pursuing the truth, he gradually tore open the fig leaf of the "demolition case" that shocked the whole United States in the process of pursuing the truth.
The movie begins with the famous quote from Shakespeare's "One Receive Again" :
"It is good to have the power of a giant, but it is a cruel act of abuse of power like a giant."
O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.
So the audience is naturally told that the whole story of tells the story of small people, evil forces and even meta-social struggles. , coincidentally, the premiere of the movie is only one day away from "The Joker". According to the screening schedule, the two of them first passed by at the Venice Film Festival, and then "joined successfully" in Toronto. What is even more coincidental is that both movies use small characters with special diseases as the protagonists, and what they have to face is the collapse of the image of the upper class who has "illegal children" and their fathers and mothers. But excluding these "inherited" story lines, the spiritual core of "Brooklyn Secret" and "The Joker" are extremely different - the former pursues objective truth, while the latter persists in self-identity.
Let’s talk about the main theme and shooting techniques and storyline development of the movie. Judging from the overlap between the identity of detectives, falling in love with the investigator, and deconstructing the American dream of , "The Brooklyn Secret Case" is like a modern version of "Chinatown". Norton himself has also mentioned this Polansky's peak masterpiece many times in public.
Next, we start from three aspects: time and space conversion, element reorganization and ending processing, and analyze the uniqueness of "Brooklyn Secret Case" and the pros and cons brought by "change".
Time and Space Transformation: New York in the 1950s was originally "planned for a long time"
The time background of the original novel was set in the 1990s, but once the movie was broadcast, the primary reason for its era transformation was pointed out by audiences familiar with New York's history - Robert Moses and Paul Rudolph, who are also architects. One of these two people is the ideological prototype of the big villain Moses Randolph in the movie, and the other is his behavioral prototype.
The former built a national park with a total area of up to 12.5 million acres, more than 400 miles of park avenue, 12 bridges, 568 playgrounds and countless other public buildings throughout his life. The more famous United Nations Building and Lincoln Center are Moses’ key strategic goals of “save New York”. The latter, in the 1970s, optimized the " Manhattan Expressway Plan " proposed by the former in the 4th and 50s. The involved in the plan expelled indigenous people, reselling demolition houses at low prices, and bribing the authorities were also presented one by one in the movie.
is closer to the real character. Another very important reason for Norton to modify the original work is to restore the tone of "movie noir".
The key elements of shown in the movie — clothing style, old cars, central station, messy street corner back alleys, and wide-brimmed hats that easily block the entire face in proper light... all of these bring the audience back to the era when detectives holding Lycras everywhere. Even the way of shooting characters in movies — people in the mirror, reflections in the water, and gradually showing from the dark, etc., have improved the retro texture of the movie one by one.
It can be said that "The Brooklyn Secret Case" basically restores the important element of old-school noir movie - is set against the background of the surface harmonious and undercurrent city, with detectives (atypical) as the protagonist. is just this time, Norton chose to use uncontrollable neurological diseases similar to the Joker to intuitively present the characters' uneasiness and anxiety.
The scenes in "The Brooklyn Secret" basically wander between the jazz bar, the detective agency, the protagonist's home, and several important gathering places. The more good people there are, the stronger the light is; the more confusing the situation, the more flicker the light is. The scene where the powerful villain made a passionate remark, the high contrast light distribution and the small angle tilted mirror position successfully created a tense atmosphere.
So, driven by the story background, plot needs and personal complex, Norton communicated with the original author and decisively took the time background of "The Brooklyn Secret Case" back to the 1950s, an era of hidden contradictions such as race, government, and systems in housing issues.
Element Reorganization: While the information is concrete, it no longer relies on "femme fatale" to promote the development of the plot
The protagonist's character itself is a relatively innovative breakthrough point - suffers from Tourette's syndrome (convulsion, nonsense), and also has a strong memory. Under the funny and embarrassing symptoms of , the existence of "not forgetting after hearing" that is as powerful as a bug, has also been accepted by the audience invisibly. What are the two points of
?
First of all, the disease itself can intuitively show the protagonist's psychological state to the audience through uncontrollable symptoms . In addition, it is unshirkable to shout like a "second personality", and also a part of the hidden text is published to the public. Through this way of handling, embellishes the protagonist's psychological changes—whether it is a short-term impact or a long-term change.
The second point is that the talent of "not forgetting after hearing" seems to be matched with the protagonist's own rare disease and professional identity, and everything comes so naturally. In addition, when the protagonist of first appeared, this talent was only used to "obey orders" and "obey", which effectively greatly weakened the audience's rejection. The offensiveness of the accessories of can often be ignored - this law has been used many times in various works.
Combined with the plot of the movie, the protagonist of blurts out that itself also has a certain explanatory and ironic . This is also a kind of concreteization - the intuitive feeling of embodying the objective nature of the event into an object. In other words, another person in his mind will not hide, do not understand the worldly style, and do not need to think. His expression is often more authoritative in respecting objective facts. can understand the "crazy words" that the protagonist blurts out as a narration, and sometimes what the voice says is exactly what the audience itself wants to say.
It was Norton who boldly changed the protagonist to "atypical detective" - although has both a "moral ambiguity zone" and a complex background and human nature, it also has obvious physiological and psychological "defects". is more inclined to call it "freak" than genius. The "contradictory compatibility" of , one high and one low successfully brought the distance between this character and the audience.
The most obvious change in the entire movie is the heroine. She is no longer the femme fatale used in traditional film noir, nor even half guilty like the heroine in Chinatown. The mixed-race beauty in "The Brooklyn Secret Cases" plunged into this muddy water with an unconscious complex background. In this way, her beauty is no longer limited to appearance, but focuses on a distinct personality and the "greatness" of speaking out for the disadvantaged groups.
As the plot of the movie progresses, the audience will be surprised to find that this "people's warrior" who has been rushing to the forefront is actually the answer to all conspiracies of . Going back to the beginning, she is also the subject of the protagonist 's investigation and tear open the hole of the fig leaf .The existence of this person not only affects the protagonist's choice, the direction of the story, and the changes in the core of the movie's story (from investigating the truth and revenge to making more people stand out), but also the junction of sin and light - just like her skin color, between black and white.
And "The Brooklyn Secret Case" has also carried out a certain degree of "change" in the emotional handling of the male and female protagonists. The only "bed scene" is just the two sleeping in a pair of clothes and embracing each other. There is not much physical communication, nor continuous intimate contact, but more about sharing experiences, communicating ideas, expressing respect, saving and being saved. The male protagonist saved the heroine's life, and the female protagonist saved the hero's soul.
Norton once did not hide his contempt for the "erotic romance" Hollywood has long been committed to creating and the illusion of racial reconciliation. Therefore, in "The Brooklyn Secret Case", avoiding the excessive "romanticization" of the male and female protagonists' behavior, it can also be understood from the perspective of the skin color of the two - barriers are not established in one day, nor are they that can be eliminated in an instant.
ending processing: semi-open ending + changes in light, giving "movie noir" a bright outlet
Looking at the history of the movie, it is not difficult to find that the classic "movie noir" has relatively few endings. The most controversial thing in the textbook-level ending is " sins at large", and everything is still going on ". With the same ambiguous ending, "Brookly Secret" did not choose the "Black Water"-the opposite of victory was not a failure, but economic loss. instead chose the semi-open ending of "only give the beginning, not the development, not the ending".
- What choices will the villain choose after the protagonist leaves the swimming pool?
- snatched the evil lackey of the former boss woman, and was beaten up in the bar and "nothing"? All the information of
- is given to the newspaper. Will the reports be successfully presented to the world? What is the result of
- voting?
- Even if this "demolition case" is successfully blocked, what about the future? What about the past?
No clear answer was given to the movie, and it was left to the audience to imagine and guess. Such an ending treatment will give people hope, but it also reflects the powerlessness of the little person from the side - too many things cannot be controlled. But at least, while the protagonist's belief collapsed, he did not drag the audience into despair and darkness like "Chinatown".
Just like the protagonist realizes that The person he respects the most is doing all this for money , how much can we ask the protagonist? The reality continues, and the answer to is self-evident . But like one or two good people who can't stop the war, they have at least existed. And we also know that there have been countless strangers in this world who have fought and fought for us, and that is enough.
