Gangster films have always been one of the types that are deeply loved by the audience, and the ones we are most familiar with are Hong Kong gangster films and American gangster films.
Hong Kong gangster films focus on expounding themes such as brotherhood and the confrontation between good and evil. They are very passionate and ideal, such as "The True Color of Heroes" and " Bloody Two Heroes " and other films.
When it comes to American gangster films, the first thing that comes to mind is the "Godfather" trilogy. The film's style is more realistic, and it is more about narrating the rise and fall of the family, the cruelty of the gangster, and the ugliness of human nature.
What we are going to talk about today is an American gangster film that can be compared with "The Godfather", "One of the Past Trilogy"
—" American past "
"The Past of America" is a drama directed by Sergio Leon and starring Robert De Niro , James Woods , Elizabeth McGovern , Tasted Weld and others. The film is set in the Jewish community in New York, telling the story of the protagonist "Noodles" growing from an ignorant teenager to a gangster boss, and also showing the gang history of the United States from the 1920s to the 1960s. In February 1984, the film was released in the United States. In 1985, the film won the 8th Japanese Film Academy Awards and the Best Foreign Language Film Awards.
"The Past of America" is a classic gangster crime film directed and released by director Sergio Leon in 1984.
Although the film focuses on legendary stories with gangsters, it is contrary to the landline mode of traditional gangster films, and expresses the humanity and emotions behind the story with rich lens language. It can be said that "The Past of America" is another pioneering breakthrough in gangster films.
video is set in the Jewish community in New York. It tells the story of the protagonist "Noodles" growing from an ignorant teenager to a gangster boss, and also shows the gang history of the United States from the 1920s to the 1960s.
In February 11984, the film was released in the United States. In 1985, the film won the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the 8th Japan Film Academy Awards.
The title of "The Past of America" may not be familiar to some viewers, but there is one scene in this movie that most viewers are familiar with, that is the clip of 14-year-old Jennifer Connery dancing in the warehouse.
The movie did not have realistic special effects at that time, and the main creators were creative and used flour and lighting effects to create such a beautiful scene that was as dreamy as dreamy.
As for actors, in addition to Jennifer Connery, the actor who plays the male protagonist "Noodles", Robert De Niro , can be called the leader of Hollywood acting school, talented and extremely hardworking, gangster films, action films, comedy films, art films... proficient in everything.
Moreover, he is the actor who plays the young old godfather in Godfather 2. Are you a little familiar with it?
Jiang Wen also has a relationship with de Niro . When Robert De Niro arrived in China, Jiang Wen once celebrated his birthday at the beacon tower of the Great Wall. Along with the classic music of "The Godfather", he presented a scroll with the word "unparalleled".
Although it is an "old film" from more than 30 years ago, it adopts a very special narrative technique, which is to cross-editing it through three periods of time when I was a child / 10 years later / 35 years later.
allows the audience and the noodles to slowly recall the truth of the incident, creating a unique puzzle feeling in suspense dramas. There are many paragraphs that are not very clear at first glance in the early stage, which are all paving the way for the subsequent suspense unraveling.
Such as the three corpses at the beginning of the video, the boxes in the safe, etc.
These suspense creation and distraction and the interweaving of clues are arranged so exquisitely that although the film is 4 hours long, nothing is redundant.
However, unlike the general suspense structure movie, the film's empathizes very high, allowing the audience to unconsciously devote their feelings to the characters in the play. In the words of Robert McGee , is a film that allows viewers to gain both insight and emotions.
Although the theme of the video is limited to the framework of gangster fighting, killing and love, when the video ends, it gives the audience an endless feeling like experiencing life. Maybe it's a good movie.
"The Past of America" is a classic work worthy of repeated viewing by the audience. The film has a very high artistic achievement: the characters in the play are vivid, the plot of the movie is meticulously engraved, the movie picture is very particular, and even each clip is very ingenious from the transformation and transformation of
.
For example, the sexy woman Carol colluded with a gangster to rob her husband's jewelry store. In order to cover up, she took the initiative to rob the robber rape herself and made a harsh and enjoyable cry; then the picture turned into the empty shot of the sea, accompanied by the voice-over of the seagull, which matched and lyrical, and had a sense of humor. I have to admire the director's good intentions.
The film "The Past of America" has a closed structure that connects the beginning and end. The first combination of the film begins on the 1933 rainy night when the ban on was abolished and the day after survivor Nudeles.
From the first shot, a sharp and harsh phone ringtone that seemed to be unreasonable was always penetrated through the plot passages of time and space. It was not until Scene 6 that the source of the sound was revealed: an unknown office, a phone on the desk rang, and the identity sign on the table read: Sheriff Haroin. Then, the phone ringtone turned into a scream in scene 7, and Nudeles in " Chinese Theater " turned over and sat up in frantically and frightened.
And when the film ended, the scene returned to the "Chinese Theater" again, back to the next morning of the heavy rain and violent night in 1933. The difference is that the harsh phone ringtone has quietly disappeared, and at the same time, it has washed away the noise and threats that were once everywhere in this scene. In the soothing and sad music, everything seems quiet, calm, and even a little lonely. So, the prologue and ending became the confession of Nudeles's heart: in the prologue, the harsh ringtones that run through different scenes were undoubtedly the phone number Nudeles informed the police.
Leone used "The Past of America" to create a peak in his film sequence, an American story rewritten for the meaning of "mourning" in European culture.
A good story: "Once in the United States..." A "adult fable", about friendship and betrayal, about success and failure, about men and women. While revealing its front and back, the "American Dream" reveals the cruelty and ruthlessness, pathological and decadentness of this particular civilization.
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