There is a type of suspense film that does not win with gorgeous tricks, but focuses more on the calm analysis of human nature and reality. [Cold-blooded].It is precisely so, carrying the label of feature film ** and Netflix, it shows a surprising neatness and calmness.
The epochality and stylization that Netflix represents have put pressure on director Grant Singh. But he wants to start with a small slice but a world of characters, and make this traditional but genre suspense movie nuanced.
When the story is finished, he looks back at the audience and finds that the emotions and meanings have quietly expanded.
Cold-Blooded Animal] is based on a gloomy reality, changing Netflix's gorgeous and dazzling modern style, and looks neat and calm. Singer values form, but the presentation of this form is more classic and retro, and there is no lack of deliberate imitation of David Lynch in the audio-visual style, pursuing a pervasive psychological horror.
The film brings the viewer into the story with a tidal and clammy touch, and the suspense that lasts for nearly two and a half hours is maintained throughout, maintaining a sense of oppressive tension.
When the case occurred, the rapid jump cut of time and space pushed the uneasiness to the top. Young real estate agent Summerer and her boyfriend Will have just started a glamorous middle-class new life, but Joss Newton's classic song "Angel of the Morning" heralds the ominous coming.
Accompanied by the shocking, stab-wounded, slightly moving female corpse, the title [Cold-Blooded Animal] is played, representing the wicked secretly hibernating.
At this time, the game is announced, and the goal of finding the "cold-blooded animal" comes to you.
As with all suspense movies, the case itself has several suspects used to blur vision, Somer's ex-husband, Will's enemies, and even the priest who guards the warehouse.
These characters are called "red fish" characters and seem suspicious, but most viewers who are familiar with this know that these are just bait.
Singh doesn't intend to use too much narrative trickery on this issue, and boyfriend Will (Justin Timberlake)'s perfect grief is revealed early on.
It is different from the suspenseful gameplay of [Tuner] that pursues reversal excitement.
The film did not choose to complete the suspense reversal of the real murderer in the second half, and the linear narrative of flat and direct narration even made people feel that there was a break point in the progress of the case.
But the underexposed lighting, the cold tones, the large close-ups of the characters, and the terrifying sound effects constantly intensify the tension in the broken scenes. This is largely due to the cinematographer's extensive experience with horror films, pushing the atmosphere to the extreme, tightening the audience's nerves and signaling the cold-blooded animals to approach in the dark night.
In addition to exaggerating the mysteries related to the case, Tom (played by Benicio del Toro) gradually fell into a dilemma.
Originally, he had an enviable happy life, and his intimate wife and close friends were in stark contrast to Will and Summer's good looks.
Compared to the glamorous but extremely cold relationship, Tom's life is too humane. When Tom is with his family and friends, the picture and lighting are always warm yellow colors.
Obviously, Singer also deliberately contrasts everything around Tom with the dark and cruel nature of the case, and then shows us how the case invades Tom's life, and how this warmth is gradually submerged.
As the case progresses, the reference to the cold-blooded animal has also changed, and the ** who killed Summer, the person who stabbed her thirty-three times, is no longer that important, and even did not explain in the end.
Will is **, but what's really scary is that Tom's police friends around him are**. The truth penetrates Tom's life, and the cold-blooded animals have been lurking around him all along.
At this time, what occupies the audience's psychology is not the pleasure of the truth being revealed, but the mental depression brought about by the cruel reality.
At the party, Tom's family and friends looked at him as friendly as usual, sitting around the table and asking him if he wanted to come and play
They called him the king of dances, "Oklahoma, are you going to join in?".”
This no longer seems to be asking about the game, but about what he wants to do in the face of this dark and huge interest group.
Tom felt dizzy as he walked out of the house where the party was gathering and had warm yellow lighting, and the whole person was immersed in shadow.
The contrast between light and dark originally symbolizes the opposition between good and evil, but in the end, Tom disappears into the night, and he needs to go through the nightmare that has plagued him for years, stand out from the original proud life, and hold the courage to pull the trigger.
This kind of human nature in the struggle between good and evil, and the pure contemplation of realism, also make the film imbued with a retro and traditional charm.
Such a suspense genre that digs deep into the subtleties of human nature and contains philosophical thoughts and emotional struggles seems to appear more in dramas. For example, previous works such as "Nightmare in the East City" and "True Detective" have enough space to lay out the past of the characters and give space for emotional penetration.
In film, to achieve the same effect, a more concise treatment and a deeper experience of reality are required.
The story takes place in Scarborough, Maine, USA, where the political climate is conservative and middle-aged propertied people occupy high ecological positions, which provides a suitable soil for the *** knot in the movie plot and the business conspiracy of real estate developer Will.
The sheer criminal system that Tom faces also has its ironic implications. Against this backdrop, [Cold-Blooded] doesn't choose to tell a suspenseful story in which a detective character is left alone, but rather a Raymond Chandler-esque literary character who portrays the moral dilemmas of the characters.
As the camera closes to the tough guy face of Benicio del Toro, the audience is also entering the heart of police officer Tom Tom.
Cold-blooded animals] This skill from small to large also shows a surprising aging.
Director Singh said in an interview that he initially just wanted to tell a very micro story.
While he was focusing on a house, a dinner, and a policeman's life, a human encirclement and suppression had slowly unfolded.
The script has put a lot of effort into the shaping of group portrait characters, from social status to psychological dilemmas, all of which form a three-dimensional distinction.
Tom and his friends often get together and tacitly work together on cases, and they have been in a relationship for decades. Tell familiar black jokes at the dinner table, and confide in the most secret and heavy hearts in the night train.
This emotion is a hot current in life, but it is suddenly cold because of interests.
Tom's friend is willing to give him a Rolex watch, but when the crime is about to be revealed, he draws a gun at him.
They celebrate the award of Tom's Medal of Honor, but they also try to stop him from tracking.
In the end, this group of friends drew their guns in the hut, which was the most embarrassing.
Tom is not a hot-blooded young man, he has been isolated in the past, his companions have been investigated, and he is suspected of being an informant.
For years, he had nightmares in which he was at a party and the bad guys came in and shot, and he pulled out the gun but couldn't pull the trigger. It can be seen that cold-bloodedness has always been a requirement for his police identity.
And after the incident of manslaughter of the suspect while he was in defense, he gained the ability to pull the trigger in the same dream.
This dream is both a psychological obstacle for Tom as a police officer and a commentary on his characters. The contradiction between righteousness and love has been suffering him for a long time, but the hearts of his friends have turned to interests, and Tom's heart has also crossed emotions and become another cold-blooded animal.
In the cruel reality of cold-blooded animals dormant everywhere, the righteous morality he adheres to has become a bullet that pierces the subtle humanity, and the call for this ideal is the only hot current in this cold and damp movie.