Truman's Ordinary Life

When the time came to the end of April, The Truman Show finally ushered in its premiere.

The Levi-directed, Jim Carrey-starring, Enigma-produced, Columbia-distributed film has garnered a lot of attention from the day it was promoted. This is the first time Enigma has produced a movie with an actor with good box-office appeal. Everyone is curious about what effect Levi's film, coupled with Jim Carrey's acting skills, will have.

"This is the hardest movie I've ever acted in." At the premiere, Jim Carrey's snicker was also one of the topics of the media, "Levi was going to drive me crazy, and he gave me a lot in the performance. It's really not easy to film it. I'm a comedian who shows my true self, but I really have to put my heart into 'acting' for this movie." Jim Carrey's words are still not believable.

They have also seen Jim Carrey's performance in this movie's previously announced promotional video. In the film, Jim Carrey's usual wild acting style has been corrected a lot; in fact, this is one of the important reasons why people are interested. People really want to know what this movie will look like.

Then, subtitles appeared in the film, but the words in the subtitles surprised the audience.

In the film's subtitles, it's not Jim Carrey who plays Truman, and the director isn't Levi. In the subtitles, Truman plays himself. The director is Christopher - such subtitles surprised people at once.

How is this possible? Didn't you say this is a Levi and Jim Carrey movie?

However, amidst people's doubts, it was Jim Carrey who appeared in front of the camera. Apparently, he was standing in the bathroom. Arranging his clothes in front of the mirror, like someone who gets up every morning to get ready for work.

"Today will also be a perfect day. Look at yourself; you are still handsome today, even I am starting to like you; you are so amazing..."

Standing in front of the mirror, Truman arranges his clothes and talks to the mirror; these words are almost self-suggestive. Although it looks very ordinary, it has a different effect when it is said by Jim Carrey.

Watching this comedy master perform an ordinary self-suggestion before going to work, people also put a smile on their faces: some people can show their unique charm in simple details.

The wife's voice sounded. Truman sighed; his face collapsed in an instant. The charming look he made just now completely disappeared at this moment.

"Have a nice day," Truman said to himself in the mirror and walked out of the bathroom. His face turned into an everyday smile; walking out of the bathroom, he kissed his beautiful wife, who was walking towards him, and his day officially started.

When Levi was filming this segment, his biggest purpose was to make Truman in the movie show enough charisma — a charming protagonist, so that people could keep watching the movie.

And Jim Carrey's mature performance has done this very well: from the humor at the beginning to the subsequent self-encouragement to the gentle smile when meeting his wife, three different expressions were already shown in a short performance.

Moreover, none of these three expressions is the crazy performance he is used to in his daily life. Jim Carrey has already proved that this movie is extraordinary from the beginning of the film.

After kissing his wife goodbye, Truman stepped out of the house. After this period, people already know he has a pretty good family and a beautiful wife. Then, after walking out of the house, he immediately greeted his neighbors.

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Truman greeted his neighbors, and following his words, a very formulaic smile appeared on his face. Obviously, whether in front of his wife or in front of his neighbors, Truman's life is perfect, but this ideal life is almost flat.

And at this moment, the lamps that fell directly from the sky changed the initially dull movie.

This must be a key prop for the movie's turning point — this idea has already arisen in the hearts of almost all audience members. Although Truman's car radio said it was an airplane part, the audience didn't believe it at all.

People believe the key to the film's turning point must be here.

However, this prop was useless. Truman walked all the way from the house to the outside, and Jim Carrey also met various people along the way, and they kept saying hello. The shots of the movie follow him almost all the time, and under Levi's deliberate arrangement, the lens of the shots has always been very stable. Except for a few fixed shots of him buying magazines and stopping to talk, the other shots follow him.

Then, he made phone calls in the office, contacted others, and quietly tore off the pictures in the magazine. These shots showing Truman's charm at work were equally stable. However, careful observers have discovered that in the fixed shot of Truman, there is an obstruction in front of Truman.

This shooting method was used by Levi in ​​the movie 'The Lives of Others' - using the way of occluders to make the audience feel like they are peeping at the characters in the play.

Levi did not choose to deliberately shoot from a specific weird angle to highlight the sneak shot effect as in the original work. He used the lens to make the audience in front of the movie voyeurs so that the audience can truly be on the scene.

The lens of a film director can speak, and the use of the lens is the most crucial part of the film. The Truman Show is a fascinating story, but Levi wants to change some of the crude techniques of the original movie.

The story is still going on, and the man who was sent to work on the docks went out. It revealed his fear of water because his father died in a shipwreck. Then, when he returned home when he was building the lawn, he was pointed out by his wife that he did not do a good job. The movie seems to have exposed Truman's troubles.

Truman, who exposed his troubles, naturally went to relax. Calling friends to hang out that's how he unwinds.

"This is beer." He held a beer can in his hand. Marlon raised his hand. There was an aftertaste expression, and then he handed Truman a jar. Truman sat beside him; the two were smiling and chatting.

"Have you thought about going to Fiji one day?"

Truman asked the most important question in the movie, facing Marlon. He talked in detail about where Fiji was and his dream of going to Fiji. And Marlon, who was opposite him, listened to his words, smiled, and only softly advised him to give up this stupid idea.

Truman accepted his friend's advice with a smile, but after saying goodbye to his friend, he drove to the beach and sat on the beach alone in a daze.

Recalling his high school, to be precise, he was thinking about his high school sweetheart. Although he and his wife met in high school, besides his wife, he has a girl he loves even more. It's a pity that from the beginning to the end, he only asked the girl out once, and halfway through the only date, the girl was taken away by her father, and the words left behind were just words that people could not understand.

"They're all lying to you; none of this is true!"

Truman couldn't understand the girl's words when she left, but this didn't prevent him from remembering the name Fiji in his heart.

Truman's life has always been happy at the beginning of the movie, with a wife who loves him, a happy family, good interpersonal relationships, and a good job.

But when he got here, his troubles also appeared: the work was not very smooth, his father died in a shipwreck, and the girl he loved the most left him... These troubles are not the troubles of a hero but the troubles of a mortal. And it is these distresses that make people feel most sympathetic.

The rain that fell from the sky fell on Truman's head. Truman raised his head and found that the rain was only on his head. And when he wanted to escape, the entire sky started pouring down with rain.

This shot seems to be a mess, but if you think about it carefully, it is not difficult to find out: the rain indicates bad luck. This is just a symbol, but how can such a symbol be so straightforward in the movie?

With doubts, the audience watched Truman return home. After returning home, Truman once again mentioned his dream of Fiji to his wife. But this time, all he got was ridicule and questioning.

Everything together seems to be telling him that so-called Fiji is nothing but his impossible fantasy. Faced with such a thing, all Truman can do is go to his basement, sit there with the scarf left by his ex-girlfriend, and use the photos of the model to spell out the outline of the girl in his dream.

The sequence of the movie is also connected here. Truman's life seems to be perfect, but not perfect. He likes to tear paper and dream of Fiji because he has his dream girl. Unfortunately, like most small people, it is difficult for him to make up his mind to change his life.

His life is an ordinary life.

But his life is destined to be different: the lamp that fell in mid-air, the words that the girl said before leaving, the strange title of the movie, and the rain pouring on his body also gave the audience an intuition: There will definitely be changes in his life.

The details of the movie can hint at the audience. Using details to guide the movie is also the effect Levi wants.

Just what will this change be? The audience didn't notice that they had been brought to the voyeur's perspective by the camera's setting, and they just cared more about Truman's life at this time.

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons

Cherif Doghri

Scott DePaepe

MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999

Britanna

Sandra Torres

Mandy G

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.