Monster Circus | Text
Note: This article is long.
Fujimoto has released a new comic, a 200-page medium and short story, which has caused a lot of discussion in the domestic animation circle.
The theme pays tribute to "Never Come Near"
Fujimoto is probably one of the most famous Japanese cartoonists of the new generation, and at present, his works have not been adapted into animation and released. Without the bonus of animation adaptation, being able to have such a high reputation in China is actually a very different thing, from which we can see the charm of his works.
Currently, Fujimoto has four well-known works, two long and two medium and short. " Chainsaw Man " is Fujimoto's representative work, telling the story of a wandering boy and hell demon fused together, fighting in a world ravaged by demons.
and "Flame Fist" is a post-apocalyptic revenge story. The male protagonist with self-healing ability witnesses his sister being killed, and himself is covered by a flame that never goes out. In pain and anger, the male protagonist begins his own journey of revenge.
"Looking Back" is about how two young manga lovers became creative partners and parted ways until one of them died in a terrorist attack.
's latest "Goodbye Painted Pears" tells the story of a teenager who made a bad movie about his mother's death. After being ridiculed by the whole class, he planned to jump off a building, but was accidentally rescued by a girl and made a movie with her. s story.
deliberately imitates the effect of mobile phone photography
Then, break the above four paragraphs of introduction: The story of Fujimoto will start from a common setting and lead the story in unexpected directions. At the end of reading, all the plots you see in the introduction will be broken, leaving only unspeakable feelings, pressing on the chest, tearing apart a certain scar, and releasing the indescribable.
Today, let's talk about why Fujimoto is so special. Since Fujimoto always adds elements of movies to his works, we will talk about him today in the way of talking about movies.
When it comes to Fujimoto, everyone will say two words: psychosis and freedom. because his works are too wild and full of unexpected twists, like a too free mentality.
But today, we can't start with these two hashtags, because they are funny memes, but when true, they are very misleading.
Then, we put on three other labels: Cult film, French new wave, and author film .
Fujimoto's works are always related to movies. Many people think that his feature is that his comics have a "movie sense". But this statement can't stand scrutiny, because there are too many Japanese cartoonists with a sense of film, Tezuka Osamu has used all kinds of movie storyboards for a long time, but Fujimoto's works are still special.
may be because Fujimoto is special because combines several movie styles that are not mainstream. is first and foremost a cult movie.
cult film: a film with an alternative style that is not accepted by the mainstream, but has a group of loyal fans (the picture shows Quentin " Killing the Dawn ")
Fujimoto's love for low-cost horror films is very obvious, in his In comics, there will always be someone who makes bad films, or who loves bad films, and a bunch of metaphors related to bad films. But the so-called bad films are actually just cult films. Some of them are monster films overloaded with ketchup, and some are movies like " room " because they are so bad that they are ridiculous.
In short, they are a group of interesting works because they are "bad". The entire "Chainsaw Man" is full of cult film elements. Its plot is extremely escapist, never following the routine of mainstream comics, and it is full of various heavy-tasting scenes, full of ketchup. The charm of
Cult films is that do not need to cater to the market and the public, but only wantonly express the creator's strange or illogical imagination. The male protagonist of "The Chainsaw Man" is a boy who seems to have no ambitions and fights just to touch his chest. The villain is the woman he falls in love with. This setting has a very cult feeling: it is ridiculous, but it is unique Walk alone.
Many well-known directors have made cult films when they debuted, such as Peter Jackson of " Lord of the Rings " and Sam Raimi of "Spiderman"; many image designs in "One Piece" come from The cult classic " Rocky Horror Show ". cult films are outside the mainstream and continue to influence mainstream culture.
"Rocky Horror Show"
So in Fujimoto's work, the chainsaw demon appeared full of bowels, just beat up the burger shop clerk who was bullying the girl one second, and the next second forced the girl to date him on the dance machine. This kind of temperament that combines R-rated movies and youth movies is the most standard cult.
But too many people have said about Fujimoto's cult feelings, so let's stop there. Two other labels that are relatively rarely mentioned: French New Wave and auteur cinema.
In the late 1950s, Hollywood dominated the global film and television market, and movies were beautiful at the time: huge investment, gorgeous sets, meticulous actors and professional camerawork. But all these works are beautiful but artificial, like vases that cannot exist in reality.
So a group of French film critics couldn't watch it anymore, and they all spoke up, which can be summed up as: "You know a shit movie". After that, made a series of movies that completely broke the Hollywood rules at the time, subverting the entire movie industry, that is, new wave movies.
Godard
French New Wave was not a one-hit film movement, it revolutionized the expression of cinema. Before it, the filming was very dogmatic, like the camera could only move smoothly along the trajectory, but after the new wave, there was a lot of camera shake, and movies that imitated the human eye appeared.
"Goodbye Painted Pears"
The author's film is a concept that overlaps with the new wave, which can probably be understood as the opposite of industrial film: Comparing with those movies produced on the assembly line, it is impossible to tell who made the movie. The author of can know which director's style is this at a glance.
"The Chainsaw Man"
If you have read his two latest short stories, you will find that the biggest characteristic of Fujimoto comes from his temperament of the French new wave and author's films. So why so many Japanese cartoonists use the movie to split the mirror , Fujimoto tree still gives people a special look and feel.
For example, in "Looking Back", the most famous scene is when the heroine was unexpectedly praised by a rival who had been secretly jealous, and she walked silently on the road. Suddenly, her pace became light, and she gradually let go of her restraints and faced the heavy rain. , immersed in his own world, dancing lightly.
This storyboard has no lines, no exaggerated light and shadow processing, but its huge emotional power shocked millions of readers. Everyone lamented that this is " Song in the Rain " on the drawing paper.
But if you've watched "Singing in the Rain", you should be able to detect something wrong: "Singing in the Rain" is not like this at all. Because the processing method of is exactly the opposite of "Singing in the Rain", "Singing in the Rain" is a new wave resistance film. It is expensive and rigorously shot. To dance this dance, Gene Kelly The position of each step on the puddle is fixed, and it is said to be strict enough to make the heroine cry.
Note that the upper body of the protagonist is in the center of the composition, this is a classical way of dealing with it.
But in the new wave movies, they use amateur actors, portable cameras, break the conventional shooting methods, put aside the standard mirror movement and montage , and capture the most sincere side of people in reality.
New Wave represents " Four Hundred Blows ", which tells that a rebellious teenager is punished everywhere in the family and school, and has no place in the hypocritical and indifferent adult world. At the end of the film, the director used a 4-minute long shot to follow the escaped teenager running all the way through the forest and the wilderness, silent until the music sounded. Freezing on his confused face, the film ends.
This scene shocked the movie world back then, but now many people don't understand why a running shot can become a classic: it is because no one has ever made a movie in this way - It looks rough and amateur, but it has never been The power of the past shows the sadness, anger and confusion of a teenager; only the purest emotional outpouring directly hits the essence of human existence. The "Song in the Rain" in
"Looking Back" is exactly like this. There is no exaggerated light and shadow, no inner monologue. The heroine's movements are primitive and rough, with the clumsiness of being captured, but the true feelings of a new life are poured out. , embrace the rain curtain, break through paper and screen.
play it again, note that the heroine is not in the center of the composition, which is completely different from "Song in the Rain"
's original treatment is an all-round emotional confrontation. The heroine's silence and release are in confrontation, silent blank and rushing Emotions are fighting, dancing is fighting against the heavy rain. In the whole scene, multiple confrontations pile up the emotions to a climax, not just layer by layer., but keep colliding with the middle layer by layer.
It is like the concept of the new wave: it seems simple and rough without decoration, but it is actually a hundred times more delicate and real than industrial products.
"Looking Back"
Regardless of whether Fujimoto did it intentionally or not, uses the method of "Four Hundred Strikes" to reproduce "Song in the Rain"; This is also a common treatment method in his works.
And in the latest short story "Goodbye to Painted Pears", the creative concept of the French New Wave is more obvious. The protagonist uses amateur actors to capture sincere feelings and shoots with handheld cameras, even has a bit of the color of the Dogma95 movement in the 90s film industry. Therefore, the temperament of comics is rough and primitive, but it is like an emotional wave rolling in the sun.
Semi-autobiography: common themes of the author's films That's exactly what New Wave cinema is about: it breaks the dogmatism of filmmaking so it feels different - more cinematic than commodity.
"Goodbye Painted Pears" seems random, like an amateur documentary, but in fact, the storytelling is complicated. In the short 200 pages of , there are many contrasting designs in composition and plot, a large number of subjective shots imitated by the camera's perspective, and narrative empty shots .
and
and they do not appear randomly, the subjective shot is expressing the inner world of the protagonist; the corresponding composition string together the common points of the two characters, Huli and the protagonist's mother; the narrative empty shots are originally ordinary The kissing scene adds a poetic romance.
Shoot a kiss scene with an empty lens
In traditional movies, the camera must strictly follow the law of the axis. To put it simply, for example, when two people look at each other and talk, their eyes are connected to form an axis, which divides the space into two halves, and the camera moves in half of the space according to the speaking object, moving more than 30 degrees each time.
But "Goodbye Pear" did not do this. It first used a subjective lens to stare at a character, and did not switch according to the speaker at all, and completely focused on the emotional development of the character.
Later, directly switch to to shoot off-axis, and move the camera to the other half of the space at will. So you see in the last scene, Eri is on the left for a while and on the right for a while. cross-axis shooting has been carried forward by the new wave movement, which can highlight strange or nervous inner feelings, so in the left shot, you can see that the male protagonist's expression is different from her in the right shot; On the left side, it looks more casual, and on the right side, it obviously has a mysterious and indifferent temperament.
is off the axis, the atmosphere suddenly changesThere's a lot of this kind of shot processing, so I think Fujimoto really knows what he's doing, and I don't really believe he's just a casual "bad movie" guy.
There are too many masters in Japanese comics, and there are far more than one Fujimoto who plays new wave and cult, but he combines the two in a unique way. He has both the cult feeling of a chainsaw man and the creation of artistic short stories. Very rare. After
removed the "mental" tag, he still has a second tag on him: freedom.
I don't think Fujimoto is really "free" either. His freedom comes from daring anti-routines and unrestrained imagination, rather than thinking about drawing anything. You can see that 's storyboards have been carefully choreographed. In fact, his plots also have a very strict framework.
is a bit like jazz : improvisation is the soul of jazz , but your general framework can't be messed up, and you have to master those complicated seventh chords and compound beats thoroughly first.
Spoiler warning
For example, in "Flame Fist", the male protagonist's sister is called Luna, and the younger brother he meets is called Sang, which is the transliteration of luna and sun. After a series of complicated plots, these two names have been changed after the two Nirvana plots.
The heroine who killed her sister became the new Luna after being reborn; the hero who killed Sang became the new Sang after her rebirth. In the end, the two represent the sun and the moon respectively and reunite in the universe.
Two victims swallowed by obsession, reborn from the two murderers who killed them, both murderers in the rebirth of their own sins - such a delicate correspondence, in a revenge-themed story , it's really hard to believe that it was created without a precise outline.
In addition, the magazine cover of the first episode of "Chainsaw Man" corresponds to the important scene of Denji's battle with Machima in the last volume. In
"Goodbye to Huili", Huili reshaped the male protagonist with the request to help him make a movie; finally, the male protagonist used the movie to reshape the newly born Huili. It's a mutual remodeling correspondence. In
"Look Back", Don't in the first painting and in anger in the last painting, with the same title, form the famous song "Don't look back in anger (Don't look back in anger)" by oasis. Looking back)". The manga alludes to the KyoAni arson incident. The title of this song is pointing to its theme; even its lyrics have a bit of Fujimoto's temperament.
"I'm going to start a revolution in bed and you can never put out the fire inside me." But you should see that Fujimoto's works only seem to be detached and free, but in fact, they may have always been in his plan. This is of course also a kind of freedom, but it is much more advanced than freelance creation.
But in the end, you need to put aside all of our analysis above, forget all the analysis, and use the most primitiveWay to feel Fujimoto's manga.
Fujimoto tree is not alone, there are many creators like him
who like these comics a lot, in fact, not many will study their imagery and creative skills, but this does not prevent them from being impressed.
The famous Soviet director Tarkovsky once said: People's lives and memories are scattered and vague, without plans, but these trivial and disordered impressions are the normal state of life. He reminded the audience time and time again not to explore the symbolic meaning of the scenes in his films, but to capture the beauty and poetry of the pictures.
Tarkovsky " stalker "
was sent to the altar of the author of the film " eight and a half " opened the door to depicting fantasy in movies, it said that a director made a movie in a movie The story is magical and jumping. Memories, fantasy and reality merge into one, and people have spent 60 years without understanding its storyline. But those who look at it seriously are aware of its theme: how the constraints and desires of human existence cast confusion and anxiety in its spiritual world.
"La La Land" and "Pulp Fiction" have paid tribute to "Eight and a Half"
Many movies are not for reasoning and interpretation, they are born to be appreciated and felt. As long as you have a love for movies, even art and life itself, then you can naturally reach the level of understanding them without professional analysis and knowledge.
is like the end of "Looking Back", the whole of "Goodbye Drawing Pears", in which false and real alternate, you can't tell where the logic of the story is, However, the meaning is not in the logic.
Since the emergence of new wave movies, the story on the screen is no longer rigid; business imprisoned people, but art helped people break out of the cage.
in Fujimoto's work, omits all those cult demonic orgies, escapist plots, and passages that blend between reality and reality, ruined earth and numb slaughter. You can still clearly feel the power he wants to describe about life, about passion, about love and memories.
So above the end of the world, before death, in the tragedy, the director of "Flame Fist" exhausted his life to embrace Agni, who was wrapped in flames; Pava of "Chainsaw Man" dedicated his true feelings in the trash to In "Looking Back Suddenly", the heroine abandoned her life achieved by comics in her fantasy in exchange for a fleeting kick to save her friend.
So in Goodbye, the bereaved male protagonist blows up the building.
Huili really loves movies, so she immediately saw the charm of the male protagonist's movies. What she saw was not a rotten stalk that "blows up mom", but a cruel tragedy. On the screen, the hospital exploded, and the only thing that remained intact was the boy who was reprimanded for his moral values; in reality, the world was safe, the sun rose as usual, the mother continued to die, and the only thing that blew up was the boy's heart.
"your movie is so beautiful", and destruction; not logic, murderer, or truth.
Like at the end of Fight Club, those collapsed buildings, in Tarkovsky's movies, those burning houses. They have their own meaning, but they don't need to be said, or even thought about, to unleash the power of that meaning.
movie is a magic of light and shadow, a dream machine, but at its deepest core, is a tool that can bypass the logic of reality and depict our deepest emotions.
In the era we live in, in order to spread, music is simplified into the most catchy triads and four or four beats; for the sake of sales, the plot of the comics is infinitely stretched, and the characters are all templates, bluntly stirring the emotions of the viewers; for the box office , the movie only has a thin plot, and the light and shadow of the assembly line. So I am very grateful to creators like Fujimoto. After being recognized by the mainstream, is willing to break through the mainstream customs again and again to tell the stories they want to tell.
In this way, we will remember that we have the privilege to sit in the dark movie theater, watch the heroine of "Millennium Actress", and run through the ages in that 6-minute montage; Exploring what is inside and outside the drama, and whether the mainstream approves such a narrative, is simply moved by the thousand-year pursuit. For example, in "Paradise Cinema", a man sees his whole life through the film he put together in his childhood, smiles sadly, and sheds tears.
Like Fujimoto's work, these two movies are also love letters to movies
Fortunately, we still have comics, and fortunately there are movies, and fortunately there are arts that will never be imprisoned by commercial planning and assembly line production.
-END-