Today is the 66th birthday of the famous director Ang Lee. On such a special day, of course Yu Meng would like to introduce Ang Lee and his works. Ang Lee's success lies in his ability to properly handle the differences and oppositions between Chinese and Western cultures in the film, and adopt a narrative strategy that meets both the requirements of traditional Chinese culture and the aesthetic psychology of Western audiences. His films not only understand and think about traditional Chinese culture, but also feel the Western value system. The three films of his early work "Father Trilogy" show and expound the conflict and fusion of two different cultural concepts in China and the West, as well as the attribution of traditional Chinese culture in this conflict. In his subsequent works, Ang Lee continued his thinking on Chinese and Western culture and art, and tried his best to perfectly combine the connotation of Chinese and Western cultures and their aesthetic expressions, and applied them well to filming, forming his unique creative style.
I have always liked the films directed by Ang Lee, and today I will not talk about his American works, but only his works with a strong Chinese style. In these Chinese-style films he directed, I can always see the fireworks and the human touch. Although it will be accompanied by some trivialities and chicken feathers, it looks as monotonous and boring as the daily necessities of life, but I see a Chinese heart of this director who has lived in the United States for a long time. Among his early "Father Trilogy", "Eating and Drinking Men and Women" was the one that moved me the most. What moved me was not how sensational it was, but how it told a very emotional story through the delicious meal prepared by my father at that table. The story of an ordinary Chinese family, such a family represents the national conditions of a country and the true feelings of a small family. "Diet men and women" is worth recommending!
"Diet Men and Women" is a feature film starring Lang Xiong, Wu Qianlian, Yang Guimei and Wang Yuwen. It was released in the United States on August 3, 1994.
An introduction to the story line
The film tells us that life is about appetite and sexual desire through the "everyday meals" of the retiring celebrity chef.
Lao Zhu is the only remaining great chef of Chinese cuisine in Taiwan. Now he is retired and lives in an old house with his three daughters. Every day he spends a lot of time cooking sumptuous dishes. The eldest daughter, Jiazhen, is an old maid teacher in a middle school. She is rigid and conservative in Christian teachings and hymns. In management, there is also a lover; the youngest daughter, Jia Ning, is going to school, and it is the age of the beginning of love.
Although Lao Zhu made a luxurious feast every day, the three daughters still had their own concerns, and they did not buy the account of their father, and Lao Zhu gradually lost the most important ability and taste as a chef. Jiazhen is getting older and older, for fear of not being able to marry, so she likes the school's physical education teacher; Jiaqian is independent and capable, and has always wanted to compete with men. I went to Amsterdam, but on the one hand, my relationship with my lover was unclear, and on the other hand, I had a relationship with Li Kai, the company's go-getter; . In addition to fighting with his daughters, Lao Zhu is helping the neighbor's little girl Shanshan make lunch boxes. Shanshan's grandmother, Aunt Liang, came back from the United States. Although the daughters hate this nagging old woman, they still hope to find a wife for their father.
Jia Ning and her boyfriend are gone, and they want to get married and have children soon; Jia Zhen also gets a physical education teacher after a prank by a student; only Jia Qian, her lover wants to marry someone else, Li Kai has also become a best friend and bought it The real estate lost a mess, and in order to take care of my father, I also turned down the promotion opportunity in Amsterdam.
Seeing that the daughters were going to leave, Lao Zhu called a dinner party that included the Shanshan family. At the banquet, Lao Zhu spit out the unhappiness in his chest, decided to sell the old house, and solemnly asked Aunt Liang to marry his daughter Jin Rong to him. Aunt Liang suddenly fainted, the whole family was in chaos, and the dinner was over in a hurry.
2. The contrast of the characters is precisely the director's hope for the audience
At the beginning of the film, the audience is shown Lao Zhu carefully cooking the food for the weekly dinner in his own kitchen, after the conversation on the table of food in the back, as well as the conflict between him and his family. Most of the audience will think that he is the image of an ordinary old father, some old-fashioned but has his own insistence, that is, no matter how busy he is, the weekly dinner must be eaten at home without a hitch. He has worked hard for this family all his life. His wife has been dead for 16 years. He has always been reluctant to find a new wife, but plunged into his kitchen with one mind. But it wasn't until the film's last big reunion dinner that we learned that he had his own sexuality even at such an old age, and that he wanted to live with Jin Rong, not Aunt Liang. It may be said that sexuality is a bit uncomfortable for the reader to watch, but it is only the word that best expresses the authenticity of the film. It's not that Lao Zhu covets Jin Rong's youth, but that he has been in love with Jin Rong for so many years. At the end of the film, he finally braved one more time. Maybe Chinese parents should be more tolerant. It is best for family members to follow their own hearts instead of living according to everyone's wishes.
Jiazhen gave me the impression that she was a bit of an old-fashioned Christian. She didn't get married because of her emotional injury. She might be the daughter who accompanied her father to old age, but her reversal also surprised me. She is very persistent in her beliefs. Daily prayers before meals and going to church are the norm, but in her heart, she also longs for love, and is not an old maid in the eyes of everyone. When she changed her normal routine, put on bright clothes, put on delicate makeup, and dared to pursue her true love, what a scene should be the desire of a girl who is waiting for her in the face of true love!
Jia Ning is a good girl in the eyes of everyone. She is not familiar with the world and probably doesn't need adults to worry about it. She is a typical good girl. However, when she faced the boy she liked, her performance could be said to be a big kid. She could steal her good friend's boyfriend and get pregnant before marriage. She is the youngest, but she is the first child of the old Zhu family to marry and have children. It can only be said that women can't help but mother. In the process of a child's growth, everything has variables, you never know where the child will go next, you can only hope that everything is well for her.
Jia Qian is my favorite among the three daughters. She is a new generation of strong women who does not depend on family or men. In the face of her sexual desire, she can hide it and live a magnanimous life. On the surface, she has the worst relationship with her father and wants to break away from the shackles of the family. In fact, she is the daughter who loves her father the most. She is three The first among the daughters to find out that her father has a physical problem, she is also the one with the easiest life among the three daughters. When she finds out that her lover is about to get married, she can quickly cut off the love with him and not be a third party who destroys other people's feelings. She is the person who cares about her family the most, and she always keeps her sister's "love history" in her heart.
The character transformation of the four protagonists is ostensibly a skill of Ang Lee, but it is actually a gift from him to us moviegoers. You think you know your family, but in fact you don't know at all, you only know superficially. In a person's life, family members are the ones you can't escape from. A "Diet Men and Women" tells us that if you want to give your family better love, you must really understand what he wants.
There are many characters in "Diet Men and Women", but through Ang Lee's handling, the story becomes clear and not boring. In terms of character setting, Ang Lee used a lot of footage and details to explain the character's identity and family status in the early stage. The reason why the shaping of the characters in this film is very successful is that all the characters are not their nature, but are gradually revealed through the pressure and choices faced by the characters in the advancement and development of the film story.
Eating men and women, people's great desire, it is difficult not to want.
View more about Eat Drink Man Woman reviews
