1
Whether it is literature, painting or film and television drama, there will be two major directions on the road of development, one is realism and the other is romanticism. Soldiers under the realism are always complaining about the ruthlessness and cruelty of reality. Kadale wrote that "the living are nothing but the dead who have been allowed to come to this reality on vacation", Miller described The lonely figure of a shepherd girl at dusk, Gu Meimen pointed out, "In this world, you are either stepping on someone else's head or being stepped on. This is the reality." On the contrary, romanticism is more like a cradle of micro-ripples, which breeds no cannibalism. Firework-like innocence and simplicity. It is easy to find resonance in the works of realism, and we feel that life is not easy, while romanticism is more regarded as a fragile castle in the air and a flashy glass rose.
But just as the British poet Sassoon said: "There is a tiger in your heart, and you sniff the roses." Rao is a person who is accustomed to chewing on suffering and despair, and he inevitably hopes for a beautiful and warm world in his heart. "The Strange Voyages of Young Spivey" depicts such a world.
2
The Spivey family lives on the grasslands of Montana. The red house and the verdant grasslands complement each other, and together with the blue sky and white clouds, they form a colorful oil painting.
There seems to be no normal person in the Spivey family. Spivey's mother is addicted to studying insects; his father is obsessed with being a cowboy; his sister loves singing and dancing and wants to participate in beauty contests; his younger brother is keen to shoot anything that moves with a gun; High Spivey has a soft spot for scientific experiments. This is not a perfect family. There are too many incomprehensions and conflicts between members, especially Speyway's father, who is silent all day long, and only smiles and speaks when facing his younger brother. But they have been tolerant and accommodating, maintaining a harmonious atmosphere.
Unexpectedly, his brother was killed in an accident. After that, everyone in the family kept silent, each escaping the cruel truth in their own way. Spivey, who has an indirect relationship with his brother's accident, is even more guilty and can't let go. At this time, the Smithsonian College called to inform him of the award and invited him to give his acceptance speech, so Spivey left a note and embarked on a journey across most of the United States alone.
Only in this kind of film can a ten-year-old boy reach his destination safely. Along the way, Spivey hid in the RV carried on the train. A kind old grandfather told him stories and gave him money to buy hot dogs. The truck driver who stopped him just happened to drop in and was willing to let him hitch a ride, even if he wanted to. The police who arrested him were genuinely worried about him when they saw him crumbling after crossing the suspension bridge.
However, the place where he traveled thousands of miles to find a sense of identity is very different from his hometown. Stewards at the Smithsonian Institution simply saw Spivey as a cash cow, and the people at the awards ceremony had fake smiles on their faces. No one cares about his inner thoughts, or even about science and true knowledge. All they care about is hype and selling points.
All this bizarreness is just like his inner monologue when he first arrived in Washington: "Nature has disappeared, and every inch of the field of vision has been replaced by man-made structures, which obey the principles of geometry. Humans have created so many right angles, but they The behavior is complex and absurd."
In any case, Spivey finally found a chance to express his simmering grief and guilt, speaking about the accident in his speech at the awards ceremony. This escape, from beginning to end, was not for any prize at all, but for this opportunity to express one's heart. His parents finally found him. After his mother admitted that he was busy with research and neglected to supervise the two brothers, and after his father expressed his love and concern, the intelligent but sensitive little boy finally lifted his heavy burden. , dispelled the guilt and grievances, and returned to their red house with their parents.
3
Telling stories from a child's perspective has always been an excellent way to combine romanticism and realism, which can not only show warmth and romance, but also satirize the complexity and absurdity of real life, and subtly rationalize exaggerated plots. This has always been France's forte.
The film also has a strong French flair, as always, through bright, warm tones, long takes, Speyway's raspberry narration, and soothing, healing music.
Speaking of France, it is the founder of the film, but now it is slightly less coquettish than the American blockbuster. At a time when the heroic dream made by Hollywood was popular, France resolutely went the other way, sacrificing the box office and maintaining the pursuit of art. But the box office has never been the only criterion for judging whether a movie is good or bad. So we can see that the theme of "Young Speyway" may not be so deep and the plot is not so attractive, but it does have a unique artistic charm. Even when Spivey's younger brother was shot and killed, all we saw were frightened horses and dandelions outside the log cabin.
French movies don’t have so many grand themes, and they don’t have so many shocking impacts, but compared to American movies, they have a much deeper and more delicate grasp of the inside. Leon, who is not childish, has taken a different approach in the highly typed killer theme, and has achieved the classic position of "This killer is not too cold".
And this "Youth Spivey", its innocence and compassion seem a bit unworldly, it can't arouse your adrenaline, and it can't earn your moral tears. This is a film that requires you to calm down and savor it slowly. It may be more like a Qingshang in a high-rise building, waiting for the feelings of the bosom friend.
The article was first published on the public account: Yuji YuJee, welcome to tease~
View more about The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet reviews