Birth of an actor

After Paramount's stars surround the snow-capped mountains, the movie points out all the backstory from the beginning: Truman is the protagonist of a large-scale reality show, and he was adopted by the "Truman Show" program group shortly after he was born , In this program, everyone and everything else is false, only Truman himself is real, and "The Truman Show" is a true record of a person's life.

In this world that is used to falsehoods, truth is of course very flattering, so the reality show "The Truman Show" is also very popular in the world described in the movie:

17 billion people witnessed Truman's birth, 220 countries watched him learn to walk, and audiences all over the world watched his first kiss with bated breath. A person's life was recorded with a secret camera and broadcast live 24 hours a day for a full 30 years .Truman not only has hundreds of millions of fans around the world, but also revitalizes countless companies. Everything he eats and uses will become popular, and his avatar has made countless peripherals. ” talk show talk show.

Truman undoubtedly has two lives. In a world he doesn't know, he is a world-renowned reality show star, and his every move is sought after by people. Any product praised by him can be sold immediately, but in his own In real life, he is not only an ordinary insurance salesman, but also a tragic figure who is manipulated by the director of the production department, Christian, and everyone around him.

Whether it is parents, wives, close friends, colleagues or passers-by, everyone wants to gain fame and fortune from Truman, especially Truman's wife Meilu, who uses this rare identity to often advertise in the name of Truman. The person who was unwilling to deceive Truman, his first love Sylvia, was kicked out of Taoyuan Island because he tried to tell Truman the truth, and the two could never meet again.

And the behind-the-scenes director of the entire Taoyuan Island, Christ, who created Truman's life, drowned the actor who played his father in the sea when Truman was young, which made Truman fear of water. He arranged for a beautiful woman to throw him in his arms, and in the past 30 years, Truman has never stepped out of Taoyuan Island.

Seeing this, some movie fans in the theater couldn't help grunting angrily and protesting. Listen carefully, and maybe you can hear a few unclear words: "It's so pitiful, so terrible." The poor man is naturally Truman What is terrible is the Taoyuan Island where Truman lives, and all the people around him who use him.

If someone interviewed them after the movie screening, these fans would chatter like a chatterbox: "Truman is manipulated by Christ like a puppet, and he is voyeured by the whole world openly, without any privacy. It's pathetic, and Christ is terrible, he played the role of father and God in Truman's life, he may love Truman, but that kind of love is too sick, not normal at all."

For Truman, no matter how happy and smooth the false life is, it is all at the cost of sacrificing freedom. Therefore, when his "father" who had been dead for many years suddenly appeared in front of him, Truman had doubts about his own life. Began to do everything possible to leave Taoyuan Island.

In order to let Truman stay in Taoyuan Island and let "The Truman Show" continue to be broadcast, the chief director of Taoyuan Island, Christo, also tried every means to thwart Truman's travel plan: Truman wanted to fly, and the program team let everyone The sale of air tickets was stopped; Truman wanted to take a bus, but the show crew stopped the bus; Scenes such as wildfire outbreaks and nuclear leaks threatened Truman, and even filmed a large number of people to catch them in the end!

But none of this has dispelled Truman's fighting spirit. Christ thought he could completely control Truman, but he forgot that Truman is a person, a living thinking person, not a machine, and human potential is unlimited. Men saw the flaws in the performance of his wife Meilu and his friend Ma Long. After knowing the truth, he first pretended to be submissive, pretending that he no longer wanted to escape, and after deceiving everyone, he successfully disappeared in front of the camera! ,

"The Truman Show" stopped broadcasting, and the entire Taoyuan Island was still. All the actors on the island, in front of and behind the scenes, went out together to find Truman. The actors stood in rows and swept the street with flashlights, even the moon in the sky. It was dispatched—it wasn't really the moon, but a huge searchlight—but there was no Truman on every inch of the island, so at the command of Christ, the "sun" jumped from the sea level. Come out, Taoyuan Island will rise early.

"Oh my God!" Many viewers in the theater exclaimed. Even though they knew that there was only one Truman on Taoyuan Island through countless foreshadowings of the movie, they still didn't expect that even the sun and the moon were fake. of!

"The Truman Show" is a film with a very traditional shooting method. Although it has a sci-fi and surreal setting, it has no gorgeous special effects or exaggerated unnatural substances. Since the opening, fans have always regarded it as I watched a realistic movie set in the future, but now, after seeing that even the lightning, thunder, and stars, sun, and moon are all false, movie fans have never been more interested in the "except for Truman" in the film's setting. Nowhere is true" with a deep perception.

There was no trace of Truman on land, because he had already boarded a boat and was looking for the border of Taoyuan Island.

Truman was wearing a white captain's hat, sitting on the bow of the boat with a smile on his face, which was his longing for the future.

When Truman looked at the sea and the sky, he suddenly took out of his pocket the Sylvia that he had pieced together from the facial features of different women in magazines—the only woman on Taoyuan Island who did not deceive him, but tried to tell him the truth— - In the photo, when he smiled, the affection moved all the audience.Whether it's on-screen or off-screen.

Christ discovered Truman, and he ordered the program crew to turn on the wind and wave mode on the sea, trying to intercept Truman with violent storms and huge waves: "If you are afraid, he (Truman) will come back."

Strong winds, torrential rain, and huge waves that almost overturned the entire ship. The entire boat was on the verge of falling, and Truman had to desperately hold on to the rope on the mast so as not to fall into the sea.

"lightning!"

A bolt of lightning pierced the sky!It illuminates the swaying boat in the storm, and also illuminates Truman's unyielding face!

Seeing that Truman still refused to admit defeat, Christ ordered: "Flash again! Dodge again!"

A bolt of lightning struck the mast!Burned the rope!Truman fell into the sea!

In the movie, since Truman was born, he has been watching "The Truman Show". The audience who witnessed his growth are all clenched their fists and loudly blessed Truman. They all support Truman to fight against fate and gain freedom.

In the waves, Truman's body rose and fell with the sea water. Finally, his hands grasped the hull of the boat again, and he saved himself!

"What magic weapon do you have?"

In the wind and waves, under the heavy rain, Truman stood on the bow of the ship, and with the attitude of a warrior, he asked loudly to the sky. Every word he uttered seemed to be shouting with his soul: "If you want to stop me, you can't stop me unless you kill me!" Kill me!" Then he sang the sailor's song loudly!

Christ angrily ordered his subordinates to continue to increase the wind until Truman and the boat were completely overturned. Truman was soaked in the water and almost died!But during the whole process, Truman didn't say a single word of begging for mercy!

In the end, Truman infected everyone with his fighting spirit, and he defeated Christ. When the artificial sunlight fell on the sea again, Truman, who was lying upside down on the bow, struggled to wake up, turned and vomited seawater When everyone was moved, they also clearly understood a fact - Truman won!He conquered his fear!He defeated Christ!He is about to get rid of the fate of being manipulated!

Only then did the audience in the movie theater stop worrying and relax their tense nerves. There were sounds of exhalation everywhere. At that moment of Christianity, there was finally an outlet for catharsis.

"The tension in Will's performance is getting stronger and stronger. In the scene at sea just now, I can hardly breathe." A reporter murmured to his colleagues.

Another reporter nodded: "He's a good actor, and maybe he'll be a great one in the future. Well, I don't want to write about his affair with Natalie Portman all of a sudden, and we're here again. There is no real evidence, just a few more ambiguous stills, and it is a bit too boring to always use this kind of gossip to tease Will and his agent."

"Agreed. Will is not the kind of celebrity who makes a living by being on the page. He is a real actor. Such young people are becoming rarer and rarer in Hollywood, especially now that foreign actors are flocking to Hollywood more and more. Excellent The young native American acting actors are almost broken... Well, we can't kill them too much, this kind of page should be reserved for those reality TV stars who will die if they don't make a scandal."

……

"The ending of "The Truman Show" is perfect at first glance. Truman finally defeated the cage that Christ set up for him, and also persuaded Christ to walk out of the huge studio of Taoyuan Island and come to the real world. All over the world, countless viewers in front of the TV are crying with joy and tears for his success, as if they are also Trumans and feel the joy of being truly free for the first time in their lives."

"But, is this the real end? No. A second ago, the whole world was cheering for Truman's freedom, "Let's go, Truman!" " "He really did it!" "But one second later, after "The Truman Show" was completely off the air, the conversation between the two security guards was, 'What else is there to watch next?' 'Look what's on the list.' And then All in darkness."

"These two lines of dialogue were like pouring a basin of cold water on my head, which made me feel icy all over. "The Truman Show" used the last five seconds of dialogue to subvert a seemingly perfect ending. Director Peter Will satirizes from the first second to the last second of the film, satirizing commercialism, consumerism and entertainment to death in today's media world through Christ, the incarnation of the new media society, and Through those audiences who have been paying attention to Truman in the movie, it satirizes the dark voyeuristic desire in the human heart. Those audiences in "The Truman Show" seemed to care about and support Truman, but when Truman left Taoyuan Island, the show stopped. After the broadcast, the most concerned thing is: what to watch next? Concern is a disguise, an assumption made to satisfy one’s voyeuristic desire.”

"It makes people think deeply, is Christ really the culprit of everything? Or is it because of the audience's strong voyeurism, their strong desire to observe Truman's every move, that gave birth to "The Truman Show" Such a commercial reality show freak? Thinking that people all over the world know the truth, but only Sylvia bravely told Truman the truth, you know how sick the world portrayed in the movie is.”

"Washington Daily" film critic, Stephen Hunter, who has been shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for many times, interpreted the film extremely deeply and gave it a very high praise.

"The New Yorker" film critic Anthony Lane also said in his column: "I heard that after the premiere, the applause in the cinema lasted for 3 minutes. The director Peter Weir and the leading actors smiled and waved their hands many times. Only after the audience was quieted down, I have to say that they deserved the 3 minutes of applause, if I was there at the time, I would definitely applaud desperately and shout Bravo!"

Because of the fast pace of the movie, the ups and downs of the plot are very exciting, and the theme of pursuing freedom can also be called the main theme of the United States, "The Truman Show" generally gets high scores from major media, and "Hollywood Reporter" is even more so. Said: "There is hardly a minute in the movie that makes people feel bored."

Of course, there are also discordant voices. For example, Manola Daggis, a film critic of the "New Yorker", commented in her column: "The Truman Show should not have received so many praises. In my opinion, Come on, this is a movie full of loopholes. First of all, it is impossible for a studio to exist like a real island with land and sea, and even sunrise and moonset. There are actors who can keep performing 24 hours a day, all year round, and never show any flaws, but why did the cast and crew on Taoyuan Island suddenly start making frequent mistakes when Truman was 30 years old, which made Chumen In the end, Taoyuan Island was obviously built in the United States, but where is the government? Where is the human rights organization? Where is the Society for the Protection of Children's Rights? How did the unethical and illegal reality TV show succeed?"

Manola Daggis's film review did affect some fans' views on the film, but many fans also said: ""The Truman Show" was originally a satirical film with a sci-fi theme, which required a surrealist theme. Movies are 100% logical and authentic, which is simply a challenge, and probably only documentaries can meet this requirement.”

In short, except for a few, "The Truman Show" has not received low ratings from most media. Most of the scores are above [-] on the [-]-point scale, and the most [-] points are given on the [-]-point scale. In terms of actor performance , William who played Truman and Ed Harris who played Christ got the highest score, the waiters in the bar and the middle-aged man who is always in the bath, the two security guards in the parking lot and other small supporting roles They also received high evaluations, thinking that their short but brilliant appearances added points to the movie, and the performances of the other main supporting actors were a bit quite satisfactory.

Of all the actors, William is of course the most interested in the media. The San Francisco Chronicle praised: "'You can't put a camera in my head.''What else do you have?''You want to stop me unless you kill him Kill me!" Truman's three dialogues with Christ, each sentence is deafening, and William Bradley's acting skills have exploded in this movie. No, or that Will has contributed so far His best acting skills so far, Truman's optimism, Truman's strength, Truman's anger, Truman's desire for freedom and unyielding pursuit, every point has been expressed almost perfectly. Four and a half stars If the full score is five stars, the reason for deducting half a star is that Will is too handsome, and it is easy for the audience to just stare at his face and ignore the phenomenon of the development of the plot.”

In addition to receiving more praise in word-of-mouth, the film's box office performance is also very eye-catching, even exceeding Paramount's expectations-Paramount estimated that the first film will be between $500 million and $3000 million. However, when the premiere box office figures were finally announced, they greatly exceeded Paramount's expectations!

$20 million!

In 1998, among all the films released in North America so far, the opening weekend box office performance was second only to "Godzilla" with US$400 million and "Clash of Heaven and Earth" with US$100 million!

It was almost half as high as Paramount's expected box office results!

Although it is only 4000 more than 20 million, but at the tens of millions level, the shocking effect brought by the different beginnings of three and four is also different!