Text | Le Yili
"The Thief Family", which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, finally landed in Chinese theaters.
Hirokazu Kore-eda is good at shooting family themes. This time, crime, suspense and warmth are combined into the same work, showing the most extreme appearance of life: the darkest underlying reality and the purest intensity of human nature.
Diverse topics and a lively rhythm allow the director to climb to the pinnacle of artistic achievement.
The little girl Yuri (played by Miki Sasaki) was born in an unfortunate family and was often beaten by her parents and abandoned in the corridor of her apartment.
By chance, she was brought home by Shibata Haru (played by Nakagawa Masaya) on the next street, and met five members of Shibata's family: grandmother Hatsue (Shirin Shirin), mother Nobuyo ( Ando Sakura), sister Aki (Pine ). Oka Moyou), brother Xiangta (city cypress official).
Shibata's house is located in a shanty town at the corner of the city. Yuri's arrival made the six people crowded. To make matters worse, none of the family had a formal occupation:
My father is a temporary worker at a construction site. In his spare time, he takes his brother to steal things around to make up for the family. My mother is a laundry worker, and she often takes care of the sheep in the shop. My father and mother want to develop my sister and become a thief, but my grandma stops her. escort; grandma is old, pension is the main source of income for the family.
Although the family is "indecent", they are more caring for Youli: every member does their best to make her feel the warmth of the family, and the shadow of domestic violence from her biological parents is gradually dissipating.
Yuri gradually integrated into the "thief family", but his peaceful life did not last long. A series of unexpected events made the situation go out of control.
The intervention of the police revealed the true identity of the family: it turned out that the members of the family were not related to each other . The elders live at the bottom and have low education levels, so they can only make a living by stealing.
In the end, Yuri returned to his former life, the Shibata family's house was confiscated, and the thief family was dissolved.
Although the film features a thief as the protagonist, it does not carry a value judgment. Instead, it depicts the warmth in the hearts of the thieves and a strong interest in life:
Dad and brother cooperated with the burglary in the supermarket, full of jokes; mother used "mumps infection" to make fun of coworkers; to prevent bedwetting, grandma superstitiously asked Yuli to eat salt before going to bed; sister was in a customs store, fell in love with a handsome young customer; On the beach, use "Mimi" to educate my son...
Starting from grandma, the family has only a basic awareness of survival, and there is no clear concept of class, shame, law, etc., only focusing on the current joy, and must also look down on life and death . The roof under which they live together is all that each has: daily teasing, timely care, mutual understanding and mutual healing.
Compared with the silent and bleakness of the previous work "Nobody Knows", "The Thief Family" is more lively and open-minded. Although both of them deliberately weaken the social environment and focus the lens on individuals, the latter makes people experience a rout. And after disillusionment, continue to have hope in life.
Of course, each character still reflects various ills of Japanese society: serious aging, dropout of school and unemployment, insufficient salary and insurance quotas, and the whole society is immersed in the emotions of sluggishness and dull alienation.
Nevertheless, the collective aphasia of justice and the strong sense of powerlessness did not darken the tone of the film.
The frequently used head-up and look-up cameras show respect for children-their external world is not looked down upon by poverty, but in scenes such as the sea, cicada sloughing and painting, the colorful inner world and excellent imagination are completely preserved , which reserves enough possibilities for their future self-reliance.
The slow and restrained shots of the whole film create a long aftertaste for the audience:
Many scenes stop abruptly after the dialogue, retaining the compact story structure, alternately appearing mysteries and lyricism, allowing the audience to get closer to the truth step by step, while silently detonating their subconscious conscience and enlightenment: the connection of the couple's emotions, about childhood scars comfort, responsibility for parents and children, and the establishment of social trust.
Various details enrich the theme of the film, and also show the inextinguishable light of humanity at the bottom of the society.
At the end of the film, the father sent Sho too to the orphanage. After the car started, Sho Tai silently called "Dad" to Shibata who was behind him, while the friends who were trapped on their balcony repeatedly sang the nursery rhyme that her grandmother taught her during her lifetime.
The two scenes are understated, telling everyone's nostalgia for the "thief family" and their self-evident understanding.
At the Beijing premiere of "The Family of Thieves", starring Masaya Nakagawa and Miki Sasaki disclosed to the outside world the hidden easter eggs of the film for the first time :
(The world's first Easter egg exposure, beware of spoilers)
Hidden Easter Egg 1: At the end, why did Xiangta call out "Dad" in the car?
Mr. Nakagawa revealed that when he was shooting the penultimate scene of sending Mrs. Xiang into the car, he actually kept chasing the car behind Mrs. Xiang. In this scene, Nakagawa ran a long way, shouting to his son in the car as he ran. Therefore, in the situation where his father was chasing the car, Xiangta finally silently called Shibataji "Dad".
In the finished film, the scenes of Nakagawa chasing the car were basically deleted, and the audience could only see the reaction of Xiangta in the car.
Hidden Easter Egg 2: In the last scene, Youli was lying on the balcony, what did you see?
After the car chase scene, Shibata Zhi watched Xiang Tai far away and burst into tears. He suddenly remembered something, so he turned and ran to Yuri's house - he was going to rescue the girl who was beaten by her parents. So, in the last scene, Yuri, who was locked on the balcony by her mother, saw the scene: Shibataji ran towards her from a distance. But this scene was deleted as a whole.
The young actor Sasaki Miki revealed at the scene: In the last scene of the film, she called "Dad" to Shibata Hara in the distance from the balcony. But this sentence was finally cut by the director, and the whole film stopped abruptly when the girl lay on the balcony, so the audience was curious about what the girl saw.
In fact, it was Hirokazu-eda who wanted to leave more space for the audience to imagine the possibilities that would happen next. This is his style.
In the main creative communication session, the two leading actors also talked about a few tidbits during the shooting process:
Trivia 1: All the actors appear without makeup
During the filming of this film, every actor did not wear makeup, especially a few actresses, who rarely went into battle without makeup. When the poster was filmed, the grandmother's actor, Shu Xilin, also took off his dentures to try to be realistic.
Trivia 2: The seaside is the first scene
The movie was shot in winter, and the beach vacation scene we saw was actually very cold. The seascape, which is the favorite of many audiences, is the first scene in the filming, but several young actors had a great time on the scene. Sasaki Miki said that the most unforgettable scene was swimming at the beach.
Trivia 3: It was Hirokazu-eda who turned out to be Super Scissors
In order to ensure the clarity of the film's rhythm and narrative, many plots have been removed by Hirokazu Koreeda. For example, there was actually a fight scene between my sister and my mother. The whole family watched the fight and tried to persuade the fight.
In fact, every actor has a very heart-wrenching scene in the later stage of shooting, but when the director edited, he cut out the things that the audience can understand at a glance, and the scenes with too strong emotions.
So, every time I finish an emotional scene, Shu Xilin (who plays my grandmother), who has collaborated with the director many times, will say: Alas, it will be cut in the end anyway (laughs)! Throughout the filming process, my grandmother kept repeating the phrase "it will be cut anyway".
Trivia 4: The earliest title was not "The Thief Family"
Nakagawa said that the original title of the script was "Speak Out/Shout Out", because in this family, Shibata and Shibata Nobunyo were never called "Dad" and "Mom" by the children until the last scene. , this is the most touching scene. But in the end, the director cut out the scene where Yuri called "Dad", perhaps to avoid being overly emotional at the end of the film.
They have nothing but love.
The short-lived warmth has also become a lifelong bond.
Everyone relies on the stolen time to write a big love.
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