What are the few things that are unavoidable when you are born? In the new film "The Most Beautiful Arrangement", screenwriter Alan Lieb extracted the three elements of "death", "time" and "love" and "personified them" to make the gray-haired old woman, Rebellious young people and delicate and beautiful girls "play" these three invisible existences to "comfort" the director of an advertising agency who has been devastated after losing his daughter.
Does it sound amazing? In addition to the insight into the story, the actors in the film are also star-studded: Will Smith from "When Happiness Knocks" plays the role of director Howard, and "Death", "Time" and "Love" are old drama bones Helen Mirren, The singer Jacob Latimore and the seemingly ubiquitous Keira Knightley, and the "good (damage) friends trio" surrounding the protagonist are the three well-acting "familiar faces" of Edward Norton, Kate Winslet and Michael Peña. .
Howard suffered a devastation after losing his daughter a few years ago. He only knows how to pile up dominoes, eat very little, sleep at night, and live as a walking dead, and the company's business has plummeted. The "good (damage) friends trio" looked anxious in their eyes. They learned through special means that Howard had delivered the "death", "time" and "love" that he had repeatedly emphasized in meetings. The letter, with an idea, decided to find someone to act as these three objects, hoping to not only promote business transactions, but also comfort Howard more or less. The three were responsible for communicating with the actors who played "death," "time," and "love." Coincidentally, they also had troubles related to "death," "time," and "love."
The line in the film is impressive: "The pain of losing a loved one can never go away." The more you deliberately avoid it, lead your life into a mess, and try to forget, the result may be more counterproductive. "Death" is inevitable, "time" brings good and bad situations, and gives people healing energy. "Love" is the cause of everything, hidden in all kinds of emotions, whether it is happiness, satisfaction or anger and sadness. The film attempts to show a person's self-healing process after suffering a trauma. In addition to the heavy dialogue, it also interspersed with a lot of jokes to ease the atmosphere.
After a long process, Howard finally accepted the facts. The three friends and three actors were also self-fulfilled and redeemed. The ending scene is warm and beautiful. Although Howard is the "designed" one, it is not "the most beautiful arrangement"-the title seems to be a pun. If you want to appreciate a tear-jerking heart-warming sketch at the end of the year, this film should be very suitable.
However, Yu doesn't conceal his flaws. Behind the rather ingenious setting, there are many blunt transitions, and the characters in them are also flat. Edward Norton's discovery of the three actors was too random and coincidental. The relationship between Jacob Latimore and "time" is almost invisible. The behavioral changes of Keira Knightley, who represents "love", are unpredictable. Predicament, the connection with "death", "time", and "love" is simple and crude. Due to space limitations, the characters are forced to inject their destiny, but it is difficult to empathize.
The dialogues between "Death", "Time", "Love" and Howard are filled with a strong sense of "witty words" and "chicken soup for the soul". The screenwriter tries to instill truth in the audience in the most direct way. Feelings and changes are not focused enough, and the sense of preaching is strong. As for the protagonist, a person who doesn’t even care about his company being sold and a friend’s delivery of food to his door, unexpectedly suddenly "understood" that he cared about three friends and (in a time when he should be ignorant of the outside world) Everything is well known, and the sudden change in temperament is staggering.
In last year's "Forever Alice", Julianne Moore played Alice who suffered from Harzheimer's disease. She was a very ambitious professor. After the illness, her memory gradually deteriorated and she even lost her ability to take care of herself. Changes and "lost", bit by bit as the plot progresses, "moisturize things silently," which makes people feel sad. It is also about "love", but in the film, no one throws out warning words to her, and even when she can hardly remember anything, she can still feel the temperature of "love" and convey the power of "love".
In "The Most Beautiful Arrangement" (Hong Kong translation), there is a dialogue that is deliberately topical, and connected to it is the reversal of the ending, the original soundtrack with the right content matching, which is very tear-gassing. However, every aspect from the plot setting to the specific implementation oozes a strong "craftsmanship." Even if you try to use various characters to gag, it is still difficult to cover up, making it impossible to concentrate on the inner world of the protagonist.
The ingenuity of the screenwriter is half the success of the film, but how to erase the "craftsmanship" in the ingenuity, so that the story is presented in a more peaceful, natural, more convincing, and more consistent way, more real and longer lasting. People's hearts may still be a question worth considering.
Happy Ending is happy, and howard, the protagonist in the story, has ever believed in the "human existence" of "death", "time", and "love" and was moved by this "beautiful arrangement"? I believe the audience will have the answer after watching it.
(The cooperative article has a strong sense of stereotypes, and the only remaining manuscript is here. Original: http://www.orangenews.hk/culture/system/2016/12/21/010047413.shtml )
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