The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

In the crazy 1990s, a man's name was a familiar one.

Nicolas Cage.

He shot 21 movies in six years, making three to four movies a year on average.

However, he also became famous overnight and spent lavishly, resulting in huge debts, and contributed N bad films, which was affectionately known as the "King of bad films" by the Chinese people.

But at the 2022 South by Southwest Film Festival, he returned with the weight of Genius, vowing to wipe the SLATE clean.

Did he succeed?

(* The following content contains revealed plot elements, please read as appropriate)

The man

Nicolas Cage, a man whose average rating on Douban dropped from 8 to 5, a man who abandoned his famous family name coppola and vowed to make his own life, a man who wants to clean up his acting career after paying off a huge debt, he's back.

A man who does not die, it is hard to imagine that he is 58 years old this year. Cage is remembered as the star of Face/Off, Con Air, The Fast in 60 Seconds, and the National Treasure series, his eyes full of stories. I mean, who would have thought that buildings would collapse overnight, that there would be dozens of movies that I couldn't even remember the name of, and that my wife would change.

In an interview with GQ magazine in March 2022, Cage said he paid off at least $14 million in debt a year and a half ago, before he even declared bankruptcy.

It seemed to signify a rebirth.

"The Unbearable Weight of Genius" is an entirely autobiographical action comedy, starring Nicolas Cage as himself, Nic Cage. Abandoned by his wife, estranged by his daughter, tragically rejected in an audition for quentin Tarantino's new film and locked out of a hotel room because he can't afford it, cage seems to be a mirror image of the real world.

In order to improve his relationship with his family and pay off his debts, he decided to pay off his debts by going to a party in southern Spain attended by his biggest fan tycoons.

Their debt, smashed POTS and pans also rely on their own efforts to finish. It is poignant to think that Cage, once the son of a wealthy family, has allowed his name to appear in third-rate movies and magazines.

But the movie is gentler than the real world. Instead of ending in a bland way, Cage's trip to the restaurant is just the right style, in the form of the show, accidentally cameo in Spain as a CIA agent, and save the daughter of a national presidential candidate (who is also a fan of Cage). Instead, he punches a gang boss, gets a loyal millionaire brother, gets back together with his wife and daughter, and puts on a new movie that gets a lot of applause. This is heaven! This is my dream life!

The script for The movie is actually no. 6 on The Black List of Hollywood screenplays in 2019. The screenwriters, Tom Gormican and Kevin Eden, both wrote the supernatural single-camera comedy The Stoogers Fight the Ghosts, and Tom Gormican is also the director of Zac Efron's Awkward Moments. Both of them are big fans of Cage, but both of them are paste coffee and have no famous works before.

Tom and Kevin tried several channels to get the script to Cage, but it was rejected three or four times. Finally, Tom had no choice but to write a letter with emotion. Eventually, a producer who had worked with Cage saw the script and decided to make the film, which piqued Cage's interest.

Paste coffee and paste coffee cooperation, thus born.

Only fans know fans

Will "The Unbearable Weight of Genius" give Cage a good comeback? It's hard to see so far. The relatively cheesy plot, the seemingly under-budget cinematography and lighting, and the slightly contrivance and emotional action scenes don't make this a five-star movie.

But that doesn't stop the film from becoming a two-way redemption for Cage and his fans. If you look at the film as a love letter written by Cage and his fans together, you should get a lot of surprises. It's a "fan movie".

The film of another male master, Chile African-American actor pedro PASCAL (star "mandalorian" game of thrones, "drug") as the legendary gang leader, Harvey is actually a role without faults, as a friend, he XiaGanYiDan his humiliation, as beloved as an artist he is innocent and romantic, as a member of the Mafia family he tender side.

But let's not forget that his main identity is that of nicolas Cage's biggest fan. No one knows the secret basement, is his carefully arranged exclusive Nicolas Cage collection, as far as the eye can see, magazines, photos, throw pillows, hand crafts, props, scripts and everything. There are also gems that make us realistic fans squeal, such as a full-size waxwork of Cage in Face/Off, his best work, staring straight ahead in a black suit and holding gold guns.

There is a strong suspicion that both writers have a collection room in their homes that is all around Cage, hiding a glorious history that even Cage may have forgotten. Otherwise, why did Harvey in this film have a face of shyness and embarrassment when he was seen by his idol? Just like us fans of stars, he exposed all his love to his idol in the air and couldn't stop it.

Not only that, but Harvey also worked to restore his idol to his pedestal, writing a script tailored specifically for Cage and sending it to his agent. It was a dream come true when cage read her script. And it was Harvey's script that brought Cage back to her best in the real world.

Look how this is different from this movie. Director Tom Gormican doesn't even think twice about quoting cage from every single one of his movies. Salute in the film is more a large number of cage's magnum opus, covers the cage from the 1980 s to the 2020 years of career, "leaving Las Vegas" suddenly turn hostile "crazy primitive" "con air" "my heart wild", etc., when fans to the sake, give their idols, movies also be make track for a star of the top of his career.

I want you to pick yourself up, I want you to pick yourself up, I want me to be able to help you, I want you to be on that stage again. The sincere desire of the director and scriptwriter, in this film, could not be more obvious.

It can be said that The Unbearable Weight of Genius is a symbol, a work that speaks to the hearts of all fans represented by its two biggest fans. It could have been a comma, summing up the first half of Cage's life, but also the beginning of his glorious and dismal second. It could also be a full stop, an end to the story of cage, who held the Oscar for Best Actor and then willfully dropped it to the ground.

A dream

At the end of "The Unbearable Weight of Genius," Cage, who used to stay out at night and put fame and fortune before family, makes a different decision.

As Harvey penned and Cage polished the film to great success, Cage, sitting in the audience, heard the loud applause again, and his wife and daughter smiled.

As the crowd filed out of the theater, His wife and daughter thought cage would still be attending the after-party, but he declined Harvey's invitation and went home to discuss the plot and watch Paddington 2 with his wife and daughter, which is what Cage wants now. Take off the clothes and the wine, life can be so warm and calm.

"When I'm making four movies a year, there's no time to stop," Cage told GQ. "But I still have to find something in those movies that I believe in so I can go all out."

It's hard to imagine what cage, who loves movies, was thinking as he struggled to get into his role in some of the so-called bad scenes, but he never gave up his pursuit of movies and his exploration of himself. He once said that he dreamed of playing a role that he could relate to as an ocean lover as Captain Nemo in Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island."

After all, the first step to finding yourself is to see yourself clearly. Cage, however, seems to have found herself in a variety of roles in "The Unbearable Weight of Genius."

Let's have some faith in him again.