一个超写实的真实故事/A Surrealistic Real Story
'This is a true story. '
出现在片头的这句话从头到尾贯穿了整部片的中心思想。这是一个真实的故事，像是一个魔咒，困住了女主，也困住了我们。
讽刺的是，片中女主坚信是事实的电影《冰血暴》其实并不是一个真实的故事。是科恩兄弟的一场玩笑。
然而我觉得这并不是一个写实的电影。片中有太多不合理和夸大的地方，如果以一个surrealistic的角度去看或许会更享受一点。久美子就像我们所有人身上孤独这一面的结合体。Solitude，久美子本身就是一个solitude的化身。故事很简单，情绪很复杂。从头到尾就是一个寻宝的故事，但是久美子对于寻宝这件事的情绪变化，对我们来说，很熟悉，也很陌生。因为我们大多数人都有过这种感受，但是久美子的情绪，性格和行为被导演夸大，成为了一个超常的结合体。
如果以现实的角度去思考，去看待这部片，其实我是很讨厌久美子的。29岁，一事无成，是一个还在做着基层工作的Office Lady。交流障碍，被人孤立，没有朋友，天天只会在家里不断的重播这《冰血暴》的录像带，沉浸在自己想象的世界里，一味的相信着电影里的宝藏是真实存在着的，为了宝藏偷东西。这种人放在现实生活当中，我是绝对瞧不起的。菊地凛子的演技还是不错的，把久美子的天真，愚昧，阴郁都表现的很好，可以说是这部电影除了画面之外最大的闪光点。虽然我一直都不太喜欢菊地凛子的脸，看的时候其实有些镜头也让我产生了些许厌恶感，但是后来想想，或许这就是导演要表达给观众的吧。不年轻的脸做出的天真无邪的表情多少让人觉得有些弱智，久美子的各种行为也体现出了她不是正常人。看完我才觉得，我并不是讨厌这里面菊地凛子的脸，是讨厌久美子这个人物罢了。
有很多地方都是讲不通的，比如电影开头久美子在沙滩边找到的录像带到底是谁藏在那儿的？为什么久美子会开始寻找这个宝藏？找到了之后又怎样呢？为什么她到了美国之后，大巴爆胎，她不好好待在车上等待救援而要下车自己走路？在跟久美子周围的一个个正常人的对比之下，久美子的一切都不符合逻辑，像是她与其他人是完全处在两个不同的世界一样。一开始还有点纠结，觉得她怎么这样，这种人我一点都不喜欢。看到后面觉得算了吧，就当是一部超写实电影吧，不要以现实思维去思考。其实“寻宝”，“宝藏猎人”，久美子像是小红帽的着装，都像是童话里会出现的情节和字眼。沉浸与寻宝的主角，对周围平凡的生活充耳不闻，一心想要找到自己心中相信的那个宝藏，不顾周围人的反对的不解终于踏上了寻宝之路，到了新世界，历经千辛万苦终于寻到了宝藏。这样一看不就是一个完美的童话故事吗？寓意是教导孩子们要坚持自己的信念和挑战现实的勇气吧。
只是在这个童话的最后，这个勇者，宝藏猎人久美子，只在梦中寻到了宝藏，而现实中的她估计已经被埋葬在了皑皑白雪之下。
其实整部电影最让我印象深刻的地方是快结尾的时候，久美子包裹着毯子走在白雪森林中，一只狼跑过来咬住了她的毯子，然后抢走了她《冰血暴》的DVD。
在看到这个场景的时候，我立马就想到了Joseph Beuys的"I Like American and American Likes Me'。不知道导演是否有意参考Beuys，这个场景出现的挺突然的。虽然Beuys的这个作品的意义跟本片并无相似之处，但是有趣的是，Beuys曾经说自己参加空军，被敌方击落，战友惨死的情况下，幸运的被当地的鞑靼人救了回来，并靠动物油脂、奶制品和毛毯恢复了健康，从而有只，奶制品，和毛毯成了Beuys作品中重要的一部分。对这个事件的真实性，一直是富有争议的。所以也没人能够确定这到底是不是一个真实的故事，还是只是Beuys自己幻想出来的一个场景。
Whether it is a true story, it does not matter anymore.
因为作品本身都存在着幻想。
整部片的画面，特别是最后久美子找到宝藏的那个画面，让我感到了极大的满足。一片白茫茫的雪地中，久美子的小红帽的花毯显得额外突出，非常非常美。前半部分在东京的拍摄则显得十分压抑，人来人往的车站，久美子凌乱的小屋，整个画面都压抑到不行。到了新世界后，则变成另一种空旷的压抑感。公路，森林，雪地，久美子在东京是孤独的，到了美国之后，感觉这种孤独被物质化了，但是久美子的内心却不再像在东京时候那样阴郁，知道警察大叔告诉她，那是假的，没有宝藏，那只是电影。然后久美子开始爆发，逃离了好心警察，因为她坚持自己是对的，那箱子对她来说已经不仅仅是一个宝藏，而是她期盼已久的，寻找已久的，为了这个目标抛弃了太多东西，努力已久的一个信念罢了。
久美子死了。但是对她来说，或许死亡是美好的，因为在她死后的世界里，她终于找到了属于自己的宝藏。
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'This is a true story'.
This sentence, which appeared at the start of the movie, is the main idea the through out the whole story. It traps the girl, as well as us, the audience. Ironically, the ‘true’ story that Kumiko believe in is actually a fiction, it was a joke by Coen brothers.
I think it is not a realistic movie. There are too many illogical and exaggerated elements inside the film. It will be more enjoyable if you watched it in the way of surrealistic. Kumiko is like a combination of our lonely personalities. She is the representation of solitude. There is a slightly difference between loneliness and solitude, but I believe what Kumiko was experiencing are both loneliness and solitude. The story is simple, but the emotions are complicated. It is just a story about a girl wants to search for a fictional treasure that she found in the movie, ‘Frago’. During the process of searching for the treasure, Kumiko experienced different kind of emotions, but her believe never changed. Almost each of us has the similar experience as Kumiko in our life. However, Kumiko’s behaviour and emotional expression are exaggerated by the director. I think some parts in the movie Kumiko’s characteristic became too extreme and it makes the audience har to related it to themselves. But at the same time, I believe that was what the director want to show to the audience as well.
If I saw this movie as a real story, I will not like Kumiko at all. She is 29 years old, still working as the Office Lady that did the most basic work in the company. She has no friends, refused to talk and get along with others, the only thing she cares about is the fictional treasure in the movie. Playing and replaying ‘Frago’ day and night, she traps herself in her imaging world. Moreover, she stole the map, spitting in her boss’s tea, ran away from the lady who treated her as a friend, everything she did is just weird, and abnormal. Rinko Kikuchi is a good actress, she totally showed a native, foolish, depressed girl in front of us. Although Kikuchi’s face is always not my type, I have to say she really shaped the character well. When you see a childish, native expression showed on a adult’s face who is no longer young, you might feel this person is either intellectual disability or this person is weird. It is obvious that Kumiko is abnormal. And the director is not going to show us a girl that everybody will like. Hence, in the end, I realised it is not I do not like Kikuchi’s face, is I just do not like Kumiko, this person, in the way of realistic.
There are too many illogical scenes, such as the first scene at the beach, who put the videotape there? How Kumiko first found out about ‘Frago’? What does she want to do after she found the treasure? Everybody else in the movie is just too normal compared to Kumiko, they tried to stop her, but failed, and even makes she became more insisted on her believe. She is like live in a world that totally different from us. They are not in the same channel at all. They could not communicate, they do not listen to each other. Well, after all I told myself, let it go, just saw this as a surrealistic movie. Nothing is impossible. In fact, the idea of ‘looking for a treasure’, ‘treasure hunter’, and the costume of Kumiko which looks like the Little Red Riding Hood, all of these sounds like the elements will appeared in the fairy tales. ‘A girl wants to look for a treasure that only appeared in the legend and pay no attention to her normal life, finally went through numerous difficulties and found the treasures.’ Isn’t that a perfect fairy tale story? And I guess the meaning is to teach children be brave and insisted on their faith.
Well, although the girl was died in the snow forest in the end.
One of the most impressive parts of the movie for me, is the scene when Kumiko walked into the forest, and the wolf came over, and wanted to shred the blanket that Kumiko wore. I immediately related to Joseph Beuys’ ‘I Like America and America Likes Me’ when I saw that scene. I have no idea whether the director has referred to Beuys, but the scene appeared quire sudden. Although the idea of Beuys’ work is no related to the movie, it is interesting because Beuys used to fashion the myth that he was rescued from the crash by nomadic Tatar tribesmen, who had wrapped his broken body in animal fat and felt and nursed him back to health, which nobody knows whether it was a truth or not.
Whether it is a true story, it does not matter anymore. Because every single work contained imagination.
I was so satisfied by the aesthetic of the whole movie, especially the last few scenes that when Kumiko finally found her treasure. Her red hood was so obvious in the white snow, and it makes the picture looks so pretty. The first half part of the movie which shoot in Tokyo is depressing deep in, Kumiko is lonely. But when she came to the new world, the scenes changed from the crowded city life to the empty American highway, which I feel like it physicallized the solitude, but Kumiko does not look as depress as what she showed in Tokyo. All the way until the nice policeman told her everything she believed in is fake, there is no treasure, it is just a fictional movie. Kumiko could not accept, because that treasure she believe in is no longer a box of money. She had to insisted on her believe, as it already became her faith.
Kumiko died in the end. However, I think it might be the best ending for her, because she finally found her treasure after her death.