I just watched this awesome documentary on Henry Darger, recommended by Renee (again!). It tells the true story of this poor and solitary janitor in Chicago who did a 15,000 page novel named The Realms of the Unreal together with 300 paintings in his life. All his works were only discovered by his landlady after his death.
The film presents to us two pictures of Henry Darger: his social picture which is very limited and almost invisible; his inner picture, his private art world, which is in contrast so overwhelming and rich. His isolated way of living left the world little evidence of his physical existence, except three photos of himself, one friend and a few acquaintances. Instead of trying to create an objective biography, the film rather explores Henry’s mysterious inner world by blending in a large amount of his paintings, writings and autobiography with limited source of interviews and photographs. Through his works, we see his constant inner struggle with God, his eccentric vision of kids, his expression for peace and freedom… The strangely beautiful art world Henry created is the ultimate world he lived in.
From a presentation perspective, the animation of Henry’s original paintings is quite appealing and innovative. The juxtaposition of the blooming time images of Chicago with Henry’s fantasy characters makes sharp contrast between two different time and atmosphere which paradoxically coexisted. These imaginative techniques employed in the film simply accord with the incredible imagination inside Henry.
Worth mentioning, director Jessica Yu spent five years in making this film including extensive research on Henry’s works. I appreciate her efforts to show us the work and life of such a hidden genius.
虽然片中他身边为数不多算是有所接触的人都在说，他只是奇怪、只是活在自己的世界里，但并不疯狂，可这种强调反而好像说明了一些什么，而且我会想放在今天的情况来看，老先生会不会是多重人格患者呢？只是所有分裂出来的人格都不是反社会的，不仅无害而且都极有艺术天赋，毕竟具备语言和绘画天赋的情况，在已有已知的人格分裂案例的并不算少见——或许又印证了那一句，天才与疯子只有一线之隔。
不过作为纪录片也有稍显遗憾的地方，主人公遗世的个人资料太少，不论是个人照片影音，还是任何形式与他人交流的信息；还有就是把个人生平内容和画作、书籍三类内容，叙述主线感觉交代的不是很清楚，但是动态影画的处理技术在2004年的时候应该也算是可以了，也可以称为美得有些不真实的影片了。
天才就是天才，众多天才之一员，倒不必过高过分的去宣扬，也不必和梵高或是其他任何具有传奇色彩的人物去比较；他的头脑构造有异也好，思维不同于常人也好，留下一部好书、一批好的绘画，从而展示出那样一个不真实的国度，对于我们，这就足够了。
他完全是一个业余画家,职业是在医院里当清洁工,在孤儿院长大.
一生都孤独一人,他用了一生的时间留下了大量的画稿和文字稿而无人知晓,直到他死去,人们才发现他的宝藏。
他的绘画围绕着一个＂儿童奴隶造反＂的故事展开，画面刺激而多义，是典型的原生艺术．
The film presents to us two pictures of Henry Darger: his social picture which is very limited and almost invisible; his inner picture, his private art world, which is in contrast so overwhelming and rich. His isolated way of living left the world little evidence of his physical existence, except three photos of himself, one friend and a few acquaintances. Instead of trying to create an objective biography, the film rather explores Henry’s mysterious inner world by blending in a large amount of his paintings, writings and autobiography with limited source of interviews and photographs. Through his works, we see his constant inner struggle with God, his eccentric vision of kids, his expression for peace and freedom… The strangely beautiful art world Henry created is the ultimate world he lived in.
From a presentation perspective, the animation of Henry’s original paintings is quite appealing and innovative. The juxtaposition of the blooming time images of Chicago with Henry’s fantasy characters makes sharp contrast between two different time and atmosphere which paradoxically coexisted. These imaginative techniques employed in the film simply accord with the incredible imagination inside Henry.
Worth mentioning, director Jessica Yu spent five years in making this film including extensive research on Henry’s works. I appreciate her efforts to show us the work and life of such a hidden genius.
也许是在某个苦涩的夜晚，这个疲惫的中年人望着镜子中的自己，昏暗的灯光仿佛穿透了未来，于是他指着镜子里的人说，“来和我一起创造世界吧！” 这横跨四十年，孤独的旅程开始了，他像上帝那样摆弄星辰，捏人造物，捣碎曲奇饼和牛奶糊成山川湖泊，挑自己喜欢的纪念日来建立时空观，探求艺术的表现形式，然后开始码字，画插画，拼接素材，像匠人一样在隐蔽的地方刻下自己名字。什么？没有尝试过，没关系，接下来有14600天可以学习。这神奇又孤单的旅程，热烈激情又虔诚卑微，老爷子以自己的经历和感受为蓝本，赋予这奇想世界中所有元素以足够的引申义。在他的世界里，充满了神话和诗意，也有折磨与死亡，他化身为将军，成为了童趣人最后的守护者，完成了对自己孤独一生的救赎，所有的这些让他在自己的异想世界中越走越远。即便过世之后，也许这老爷子亦以别样的形式存在，一边躲避死神，一边还回来打扫书房，整理画作，为尘封的颜料桶添加色彩，等待那么个有朝一日，继承者们终于能打开了那扇充满魔力的大门；让世人知道，曾经有这么个人，坚强执着的存在过，只是这份信念的传承，老爷子就可以满心欢喜的升天了。
1892-1973，简直就是魔性十足的年代，也是在这个时期，托尔金为了给英格兰续写盎格鲁萨克逊的神话，铸造了不朽的镶有《精灵宝钻》的《魔戒》；他的挚友刘易斯也穿过了魔衣橱，开始了他的《纳尼亚传奇》，经历过战争的人们，对现实世界和人性理解更加透彻，可能更希望在自己创造的幻梦中寻求美好；在这之后，到了我自己所熟知的，伊藤润二栩栩如生的恐怖世界，藤子不二雄用不可思议的故事带来迷之感动，手冢治虫在《火鸟》中对生死意义的探寻，宫崎骏老爷子魔幻现实中的人文主义的关怀，鸟山明，押井守，今敏，新海诚还有庵野秀明，新一代的造梦人们，他们用新的艺术表现形式，在作品中传达自己最真实的感受，无不瑰丽惊奇，磅礴壮阔；甚至你是否能想象，皮克斯的所有动画人物其实是在一个时空观里面？还有杰洛米·贝斯拜在《这个男人来自地球》中对耶稣神性的挑战，这些曾经的少年们，创造了一个又一个令人感动的瞬间，让人沉浸其中不能自拔。
这种迷之感动中的沉浸感，无时无刻不在吸引着我们，经年累积，会有那么一种东西自然的在心中流淌，随时将要迸发，那就是想要表达自己真实所想的渴望。也许就是这种渴望的执念不断的驱使着我们，即使孤单也不会感到那么的寂寞。在我们现在所属的年代，有游戏的存在，简直就是最好的时代，游戏作为一种综合的表达载体，透过光影，操作反馈，氛围营造，所有这些融合在一起成为最完美的体验，实在是太美妙了。少年们啊，应该是将自己的感受和想法诉诸笔端，以游戏的方式表达出来。让更多的人能感受到，只要有那么一款作品能传世，也不枉此生了。
愿天下所有依然对游戏有梦的人，共勉。