After listening to the praise of this domestic art film for a whole year, I can finally see it and believe it!

Text | Yu Nianci

Film media editor, a stalker in the film world

In the next two days, a very pure domestic art film will be released On the big screen. It uses its own existence, lonely but strong and powerful, to resist the vulgarity and impetuousness of the outside world, including the Chinese film industry, which it cannot rely on outside.

"Talow" is the sixth feature film by Tibetan director Wanma Tseden. It was nominated for Best Feature Film at the Golden Horse Awards last year. What is this concept? For example, among the hundreds of Chinese-language movies released in a year, it is probably one of the five best.

Wanma Tseden

But we have no chance to see such a movie except at sporadic film festivals. Now the chance has finally arrived, albeit a year after we first heard about it.

"Tarot" tells the story of a shepherd who applies for an identity card for himself in order to obtain the "identity" defined by modern society. The process of applying for an ID card is not only a small person experiencing his joys and sorrows, but also the collision and integration between the original Tibetan civilization and the urban civilization of the new era.

In the film, the herdsman Talo successively entered places such as a photo studio, a hair salon, and a karaoke OK. In these places, he established various communication relationships with the outside world.

For example, the photo studio is Tarlow's first step towards the outside world. Here he has a little experience of the decency he needs to be a "normal person", which is "face".

In the hair salon, he met Yang Cuo, a woman who could change his life, and also encountered beautiful love for the first time. Taro's slightly shy expression exposed his inner sensitive weakness. This is "Lizi".

There is an overlap between lizi and face, and this overlap is reflected in the braid that Taro finally spent "160,000" to cut off. The braid is undoubtedly his status symbol in the film, as it is a physical object that has always been with Tarlow and represents the years that have passed.

When the braid was cut off, it was also the moment of his "rebellion". He thought he had found his true self. When he sold the sheep, he thought he had gained love. At that moment, he became a complete person, feeling the seven emotions and six desires.

So Tarlow tried to integrate into modern civilization. He entered the karaoke hall, but suffered a heavy failure. He lost himself and felt the loneliness of being at a loss.

But what I especially want to say a few more words is that "Tallo" is an excellent black and white film!

Wanma Tseden's choice to shoot the film in black and white is the most important significance of "Talow" to the current film aesthetics.

Black and white film has no color, only black, white and gray levels, so it relies more on tone and composition.

"Tarot" has highly stylized composition methods, which mainly include the following three types:

1. Place the characters at the bottom of the picture and present them in a passive form. This is very similar to "Sister Ida", but different.

"Sister Ida" (2013)

"Sister Ida" is more like a round and decent girl. All the squares and circles in the film have echoes, such as arcs. The contrast between the house and the square floor; the rhythm formed by the circular stair corners and vertical stair handrails is like playing a classical movement.

In comparison, "Tarot" appears rougher and more resilient. Especially the series of close-ups are wonderful, such as the folds of Tarlow's clothes, the cracks in the bucket caused by the dual damage of time and weather, etc., which make the lens itself glow with vitality.

2. The blocky volume of the original landforms in Tibetan areas is like the cracking effect extended by the earth, which seems to allow the audience to appreciate the fragrance of earth.

The photographer Lu Songye of this film has a sensitive visual nerve. When shooting Tibetan areas, he mostly uses natural light, and when it comes to urban areas, it is filled with neon beams. An almost sculptural visual tension was created during the filming of Tarlow's photographic scenes. The camera is slightly raised, and Tarlow's dullness and simplicity are clearly visible.

3. The oppressive one-line composition of heaven and earth occasionally has a sense of isolation like "Yellow Earth" and "King of Children". This separation refers to the unequal relationship between man, heaven, and earth.

The photographer arranged the characters in the least conspicuous area of ??the picture. The area of ??the earth is far larger than that of man and sky, which is quite a bold move that subverts the convention. But returning to the theme of the movie, this shaping technique seems to hint to the audience that Tarlow in "Tallo", like Cui Qiao in "Yellow Earth" and Lao Gan in "King of Children", are all people who have lost their identity. This Composition is one of the means of constructing a riddle.

Cuiqiao

Laogang

Secondly, the strong contrast between light and dark clearly hints to the audience the change of time, the transition between day and night. The density of lines in shaping expresses the difference between the production environment of primitive society and civilized society. The Tibetan area is loose, with a large number of knife-carved ridges appearing in the film; endless wilderness; and sheep crawling on the side peaks.

But the city is compact, with densely packed shops on the streets and various daily necessities in the houses.

Finally, I still have to lament why "Tallow" chose the aesthetic tone of black and white photography?

There may be two reasons. The so-called black represents Tarlow's mixture of worldly complexity and conflict; the so-called white represents Tarlow's inner yearning for pure emotions.

Unfortunately, black and white are always unpredictable, and the ultimate way out for Tarlow's life is a sudden flash of fireworks that illuminates the night sky but then dies.