Seven and a half directors: documenting history and the passage of time

Author: Liu Yanliang

The film has experienced more than a century of development since its birth. It is a special art brought to mankind by modern technology. "In the art category, only movies are completed by the intermediary of 'mechanical eyes'; in the communication between humans and nature, non-human machines appear in the middle. It is most likely to be capitalized, copied, and industrialized. It has the weakest individuality and the strongest sociality. Among all art categories, film is the most modern." Zhao Lihong said in the postscript to "Seven and a Half Directors" .

"Seven and a Half Directors" Author: Zhao Lihong Version: Guangxi Normal University Press Time: June 2022

author Zhao Lihong's new book "Seven and a Half Directors", a comprehensive review of the film works of eight famous directors in the 20th century The in-depth analysis and reading of this book gave me a new understanding of the art of film.

Any art, in order to become a unique master, must have its own characteristics, must be ideological, without thinking, only with skills, you can only be a technician. Chaplin , Tarkovsky , Yasujiro Ozu , Bergman , Bresson , Rohmer , Rossellini, in "Seven and a Half Directors" Hitchcock , every director is a well-deserved master. They are like stars twinkling in the history of 20th century film, and their unique style will always be fixed in the hearts of the audience.

Zhao Lihong captures the unique style of each director in this book: she presents the complex and rich human nature in Chaplin's films, analyzes and compares the images of " Charlot " and "Verdue" and their relationship , she wrote: "All Chaplin's techniques and film language are all rooted in the soil of life. People in the life world, people walking in the street market, people full of fireworks are the source of all his creations. , the intricate relationship between people, the subtle, profound and simple human nature, only the world of people can make Chaplin feel new and deeply fascinated forever." Tarkovsky's film, is "unexplainable and true Wan True", she presents the unique elements of her film, such as fire, rain, poetry, painting, the trinity, and analyzes the nostalgia, fear and sacrifice that the film wants to convey; about Ozu Yasujiro's film, she summarizes its characteristics with ten key words : style, flow, blank space, clarity, human affection, material affection, marriage, disintegration, loneliness, emptiness; she deeply analyzes "Bergman's fear and love", showing modern people's anxiety, loneliness and isolation, and Homeland's extreme desire for love; Bresson is the director of directors, she analyzes the artistic characteristics and unique style of her films through her works, and her insights into modern society; she describes the psychological world and spiritual life of middle-class women in Rohmer's films. She compares and analyzes Rossellini's " Deutsches " and "Rome, the Undefended City"; she presents some of Hitchcock's film techniques, such as McGuffin, Ominous Staircase, etc. The illusions presented on the

screen are sometimes closer to reality, can deeply express the complexity of human nature, can present various social realities, can record the passage of history and time, and can convey the director and the audience's perception of the world, as well as human beings' perception of truth. Diligently seek. "Seven and a Half Directors" is a film review. By narrating the director and his works, it presents the development of films in different periods; it is also a literary work, Zhao Lihong said: "My film writing is also a kind of reconstruction." Her writing is delicate and vivid, yet precise and profound. She tries to think about the human condition in the modern world through the analysis of director and film works.

Zhao Lihong said: "In the film, I traveled through time and space, experienced major events, and burst into tears because of love. I have a thousand identities, died a thousand times, and was resurrected a thousand times." The so-called one thousand audiences , there are a thousand Hamlets, reading Zhao Lihong's book, I also try to be one of the thousand audience, experience her death and resurrection thousands of times. Zhao Lihong quoted Brecht and : "The important thing is to learn how to think simply. Simple thinking is thinking about major issues." Feel the secret ups and downs of her heart. (Liu Yanliang)

Source: Hainan Daily