As one of the most high-profile films of this year's Berlin Film Festival, the premiere of "Detachment" came to an end, with nearly four minutes of standing ovation, 90 minutes of audience questions and media interviews, bustling, lively and boiling, undoubtedly pushing the atmosphere of this year's film festival to the peak.

But does this mean that "detachment" has succeeded?

Apparently not. Applause means the audience's recognition of artistry, and noise means the reporter's affirmation of the topic. However, this does not mean that critics will praise the film, and it does not mean that audiences will love it. Controversy and hilarity, praise and frenzy, these repercussions are all closely linked.

James Bernard didn't like the movie.

This time, James came to the Berlin Film Festival as a film critic representative of the "Voice of the Village". Before the festival, James's most anticipated work was undoubtedly "detachment". Not because of Tony Kaye, but because of Ranley Hall.

James has always admired Lan Li very much, not only those independent works, but even "Fast and Exciting / Love 5", he also appreciates it, among the new generation of actors, James has always been impressed by Lan Li, not only because of his acting skills, but also because of his vision for film selection.

However, this time, Lan Li's choice made James begin to question it.

"There is no doubt that Tony Kaye is a special director, his camera is always focused on a real problem, dissecting it from a plain but sharp perspective, and showing the dark side and corruption of society in a bloody way for the audience to escape. There is no tolerance.

This time, Kaye takes aim at the education system, and the film sees teachers as a pile of mercenary, profit-oriented, complaining flycatchers. This is a bold and bold attempt to settle on the essence of education, and to raise a question that is gradually neglected in contemporary society: what is the ultimate goal of education, employment, degrees, ideas, wealth, and even ...... Politics/Governance.

However, the perspective, which is full of criticism and scrutiny, is too extreme and arbitrary.

After one-sidedly raising the problem, there was no in-depth discussion, no dialectical thinking, let alone a solution, and what is worse is that the second half of the story loses its edge and takes a sharp turn, and all the weight falls back on the personal problems of the male protagonist, which directly leads to the discussion of the problem derailed, leaving a really limited room for reflection.

So sharp, so sharp, so bloody, so brutal that it raises a problem that cannot be solved and is not discussed, in my opinion, it is too aggressive, more like criticism for criticism's sake, but lacks the humanistic care of the real essence of the core.

The sharpness and tenderness that Kaye once displayed in 'The American X-Files' are only a vague concept in 'detachment', which is not only disappointing, but also repulsive. ”

James expressed his position sharply but coherently, according to the scoring standards of the three major European film festivals, out of four points, and in the end James only gave one point. If you calculate it according to the 100-point system, this is 25 points, which can be said to be an ultra-low rating, and it is completely into hell.

James's disappointment and chokeness can be seen between the lines, but then the conversation turns, and James expresses a diametrically opposed position.

Throughout the film, Kaye makes a bold attempt: to bring close-ups closer and reduce film grains to present the texture of a pseudo-documentary, and to amplify and magnify the actors' performances, so that the emotional surge is exalted to the extreme, and then brings a spiritual response and a shock to the soul.

With such an almost experimental shooting technique, the advantages and disadvantages are very obvious -

The shortcomings of the acting skills of the two newcomers have been put under the microscope, the performance of Sammy Gale and Betty Kaye is really rare for newcomers, and the emotional expression of most scenes is real and natural, simple and pure, but the delicate and insufficient layers are also revealed, especially in the emotional expression of key nodes, they all failed, did not really show the hearts of the characters, and even exposed the jerky to embarrassing performance processing.

This can be said to be the goal that pseudo-documentaries hope to achieve, but it can also be said to be the source of the film's reflection and resonance.

Corresponding to this is the excellence of Lanli-Hall. The leader of the Generation Y actor once again showed his excellence to the audience. Even in the face of a group of well-known veteran actors, Hall still gave the best performance that deservedly deserved. The almost stage-style lens presentation gives Hall enough space to play heartily, and his solid performance skills are fully exploded in various details such as eyes, mouth corners, expressions, movements, demeanor, and limbs.

Just in the last scene of the movie, Hall easily once again proved his absolute status as a leading actor in acting. After the amazing performances of "Buried Alive", "Love is Crazy", and "Me Fighting Cancer", I can still say with confidence: this is the best performance of Hall's career.

Or so far.

Hall's performance gives the whole film a deep weight and rich reflection, the connection between the individual and society, the relationship between the individual and the family, and then the influence of the individual and education. If there is one reason to watch 'detachment', then Lanley-Hall is the answer. ”

After writing this film review, a reporter curiously asked James' thoughts: Why did Lan Li give such a high evaluation, but the movie only had one point?

In this regard, James said, "As a whole, the film is undoubtedly a failure, even embarrassing. It misses the most important soul of a work of art. Just because of Lan Li's performance, I'm willing to give four points. Give as many points as you want. But for the whole work, one point is the limit. ”

In fact, James isn't the only film critic who doesn't like "detachment." After the premiere, there was also a huge disagreement among the critics, but they also agreed that this was an auteur film and could not be measured by common sense.

The so-called auteur cinema was first formed in France in the fifties of the twentieth century, and the theory is that cinema has formed a special language, becoming a work of free expression of thoughts and emotions, just as a writer writes with a pen, and a director writes with a camera on the screen. Over time, this also formed a wave, which gradually developed into a "author" theory that highly affirmed the personality of directors and devalued the phenomenon of vulgar creation, which later directly promoted the birth of French New Wave cinema and began to influence the world.

The author's film can be simply understood as: the director gets rid of the interference of the producer and the producer, and completes the film with personal style characteristics completely according to his own ideas and concepts.

In terms of expression, he widely uses long shots, mobile photography, voice-overs, inner monologues, natural sounds, and even shaking shots that violate the convention, and "jump editing" that breaks the unity of time and space.

This kind of film can even be further understood as the director's own work for himself, not for the public, but more for real professionals to study, discuss, criticize, and research.

"Detachment" is the quintessential auteur film.

It is precisely because of this that the author's films are often cold and esoteric. Even professionals can cause strong disgust and even boycott, let alone ordinary viewers.

On top of the premiere, the audience applauded for four minutes, in a sense, it was an affirmation of Tony Kaye's boldness and persistence, which is a pursuit of art. Of course, this is only limited to the Berlin Film Festival, and any other film festival, even the New York Film Festival, I am afraid that the audience will leave the venue in anger.

In addition to James, another senior film critic also expressed his discomfort.

Time's Amy Nicholson said in a film review, "I love Tony Kaye, I love Ranley Hall — more precisely, I'm crazy about the latter, but I hate this movie, I hate it." ”

Amy is also a staunch supporter of Lan Li's previous works, she did not hesitate to give a high score of "Fast and Thrill/Emotional 5", and called on the audience to go to the cinema and watch "what is called a commercial film performance", which is her exact words, and in this year's awards season, she is also the biggest supporter of "Love Crazy", firmly believing that Lan Li is not just worthy of a nomination.

However, this time in Berlin, Amy still gave a bad review with a heartache.

"The whole film is full of self-talk, self-justification, there is no spark between the characters, and the plot of the three female characters that revolve around the male protagonist is not convincing in the slightest, coldly and arrogantly severing the emotional connection of the story, and then all the confessions and narration are reduced to self-talk.

Sadness, pain, bitterness, hardship, loneliness?

I don't believe in any of the emotions in the film, and while watching the whole movie, I didn't feel anything, I just felt like — I believe that wasn't Tony Kaye's intention — to be detached. My soul was completely detached from the atmosphere created by the film, coldly rejecting any point of view that Kayer was trying to force indoctrination.

For me, it's a work that doesn't have to be watched. ”

Of course, as one of Lan Li's supporters, Amy still mentioned him in the comments.

"As for Lan Li Hall, one of the leading actors I personally admire the most in the last two years, rest assured, you are still the best actor in my mind for Generation Y, but, sorry, your performance in this movie has not been able to keep me in the movie. We can only wait for the next time.

Also, this is a movie made by Tony Kaye for Tony Kaye to watch, so there is no need for us to mix it up. ”