Two Brothers (Two Brothers)
Bringing the king of the jungle to the screen? Surely it is one of the biggest dreams and challenges of filmmakers. AndTwo Brothersis one of the rare films that has done that.
In 2004, the famous French director Jean-Jacques Annaud decided to return to the theme of wild animals, which he had so successfully portrayed in the film The Bear (1988). A man who is very passionate about the power and might of the king of the jungle, Annaud, together with his longtime screenwriter - Alain Godard - focused on writing a children's film script, with the main characters being two tiger cubs. He did not let them talk, and did not use CGI technology.
It is the story of two tiger cubs, Kumal, who is strong and brave, and Sangha, who is more timid and shy. They live happily with their parents in the massive ruins of Angkor (Cambodia). But that peace is broken by the raid of Angkor by adventurer Aidan McRory, causing a chain of events that separates the two tigers. After killing the father tiger, Aidan takes Kumal as a pet, then traps Sangha and his mother and gives Sangha to the young son of a French official. Viewers follow each tiger as they meet all kinds of people, and eventually understand director Annaud's message: Tigers who seem fierce and have a murderous nature turn out to be caring and sympathetic, while humans are the real beasts.
The beauty of the exotic wildlife in each shot is so captivating that we almost forget that the film has both live actors and a complete plot. With close-up shots of two tigers frolicking around the forest playing ball, the humanistic message is full of allegory and contains an educational lesson that tigers in real life are also in danger like in the film,Two Brothersvery appealing to young audiences. This is a suitable movie for families with children, for you and your children to enjoy on New Year's Day.
The Tiger: An Old Hunter's Tale
The Tigeris a 2015 South Korean film about the journey of hunter Chun Man Duk as he prepares to kill the last great tiger of the Joseon Dynasty. It is a giant, fierce and cunning tiger that lives in the snowy forests of Jiri Mountain. In just two weeks of its release in Korea, the film has earned 2.67 million USD.
Lead actor Choi Min Sik, who plays hunter Man Duk, has shared his philosophical views on the film. He said that the story depicts “a man who spends his whole life killing living creatures, and praising himself for doing so.”
“Ignoring the film's setting during the Japanese colonial period, the darkest days for the Korean people, I was interested in the film's main theme of talking about a person's work (or mission),” Choi Min Sik said at a press conference.
“While filming, I realized thatThe Tigervery suitable for many people in today's modern society - they carelessly make abusive comments on the Internet and are proud of it. In the movie, Chun Man Duk, a hunter who has killed too many animals in his life, receives a tragic end".
Choi Min Sik also shared that he had to act more elaborately, and still did not know anything about the tiger because it was created with computer graphics. “I have never seen the form of the tiger - the main character of the movie - before.”
The film took seven years to complete, from script writing to the tiger being aired.
Life of Pi
“Things in life never turn out the way we expect, but what can we do? Whatever life gives us, we have to accept it and the only way is to make the best of it.”
That is the greeting of author Yan Martel at the beginning.Life of Pi- the book that after being adapted into a movie by director Ang Lee in 2012, people are still arguing whether this is a failure or a cinematic masterpiece.
In a letter to the author, Barack Obama once wrote,Life of Piis a clear testimony to God and the power of storytelling through images. Indeed, inLife of Pi, people do not have to worry about the "drama" or unpredictable content. The whole film is just the image of the boy Pi surviving on a boat floating in the Pacific Ocean, with a huge Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. But at the same time,Life of PiIt's like a thousand-layer cake, covered with countless metaphors and details that perhaps even after watching it several times, we still can't peel it all off.
Why did Richard Parker go straight into the forest in the end without even turning back to say goodbye to Pi? And later, when recounting, why did Pi cry when talking about Richard Parker? Perhaps the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker was no longer that of a human and a tiger, but almost became part ofchildand partPeoplein the ego of a complete person. Richard Parker represents the evil and the animal side of Pi. It arises when he is on the border between life and death. When the canoe drifts to land, that evil abandons Pi and goes away.
So it is true, "whatever life gives us, we just have to make the best of it."
THE JUNGLE BOOK
An adventure movie, or an animated classic? Both are correct when it comes toThe Jungle Book.The Jungle BookThe live-action version is a remake of Walt Disney's 1967 animated film of the same name. Both films are excerpts from the first part of the massive children's book series first published in 1894 by Nobel Prize-winning author Rudyard Kipling.
The Jungle Book animated version 1967
The film's plot tells the story of an orphan boy named Mowgli who was left in the deep forest and raised by a pack of wolves. One day, the notorious tiger Shere Khan demanded to eat Mowgli, forcing the boy to return to the human village. Finally, with the fire of intelligence and courage, Mowgli destroyed Shere Khan, avenging his unfortunate victims.
Unlike the original animated film, which was full of music and poetry, the film directed by Jon Favreau had a budget of 175 million USD and clearly showed its ambition to captivate viewers with images. From beginning to end, the film shows a series of visually overwhelming frames, from the primeval forest with ancient trees growing next to the waterfall; to the vivid images of animals such as tigers, black panthers, bears, wolves, elephants walking, meeting, discussing and fighting.
Whether you choose an old animated musical or a live-action film with a more intense take on the action genre,The Jungle Bookcan definitely make your heart boil and awaken the desire for exploration and freedom in you. In 2022, do not hesitate to face “Shere Khan the tiger”, because we always have “Bagheera the leopard, Baloo the bear” and friends to support us.
