"Mother"
The film mainly tells the story of a mother who seeks justice for her son to find the real murderer, but finally finds out that her child is the real murderer. The title indicates the main characters of the film.
The opening scene shows a middle-aged woman dancing in a towering wheat field with a long shot, accompanied by soothing music, giving the audience a feeling of doubt. Immediately afterwards, the image of cutting herbs came into view, and the loud voice brought a sense of tension. The middle-aged woman's gaze has been on a man across the street, that is his son. This creates an image of a mother revolving around her son. This contrasts with the scene where the mother cuts the herbs again at the end of the film. The image of the mother has become more tragic and grand. The narrative of the film mainly uses flashbacks, borrowing one person's pain to evoke another person's memories. Most of Feng Junhao's films have a clear story line, but the plot twists and turns, often distracting the audience's attention, giving people a strong visual and psychological impact. All the details are interlocked and closely related to the development of the story. Every transition is very natural.
The sound design in the film is also very fascinating. For example, when the mother went to see the old man who was picking up rubbish, the tragic background music brought people, but it stopped abruptly when she stepped on the mud. And the last scene on the bus, the whole bus is dancing, and the camera is slowly pushed to the mother's face. She used a needle to prick the acupuncture point that makes people forget their troubles, accompanied by music. And the moment she stood up and danced, her perspective suddenly shifted to outside the bus, and the music stopped abruptly again. The mother's figure and the reflection of the setting sun complement each other, and under the constantly shaking lens, it seems that she sees the brilliance behind her in a trance.
The image of this mother is very multi-faceted, and she is not a perfect mother. She favored her own children and even killed a witness to protect her son. Such a good reason to resonate with the homicidal mother. In this film, I saw the birth of a tragic character, the construction of a tragic society. After watching the film, I reflect on it. The mother said to her son that if someone beats you, you should beat you back, and if you beat you once, you need to beat you back twice. This seems to be the reason why the son will really kill the girl. And the truth disappeared with that fire.
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