The film is like a kaleidoscope, showing the living conditions of a group of people living in American society at the end of the 20th century. The film is adapted from a short story by Raymond Carver.
Drosophila invasion
At the beginning of the film, the roar of helicopter propellers in the California sky at night was spraying insecticides to wipe out the invading fruit flies.
The first shot has already revealed the theme of the film: This is a sick society and it needs treatment.
Many protagonists
There are so many characters in the film, it's impossible to remember all the characters and the stories that happened to them once. The second viewing is very necessary. The following is a brief summary of the protagonists:
The news anchor (Howa) and his wife, their child Kaiser was hit by a car and died
Cellist (Joy) and mother (jazz singer, suffering from a serious illness), husband Chico (die by suicide)
Doctor (Luff, saves Howard's children), painter (Marian, played by Julian Moore, is the sister of Sheri)
The clown (Claire, celebrates the child’s birthday), the angler (Stewart, found the dead girl, currently unemployed), the two went to the doctor’s house to attend a party together
The driver (maybe not? Often go to the jazz singer's bar), the restaurant waiter (Dolly, hit Howard's child), the two quarreled and reconciled
Pool cleaner (Jerry, who killed a girl in the end, was dissatisfied with his wife’s career but was helpless. He cleaned the pool in Howard’s house and the pool of the jazz singer’s house next door), and his wife is a sex phone serviceman
Makeup artist (Bill, a sex abuser, violent, loves sex calls, takes pictures of girlfriends, is the buddy of the pool cleaner), girlfriend (maybe his wife? Is the best friend of the sex call service, but also a sex Telephone attendants, the two go to bars and camping together, the daughter of a restaurant waiter), they help their neighbors look after the house. This group of characters went camping with the previous group.
Policeman (Gini, threw away the child's dog, flirted with the clown, flirted with flowers everywhere, one of Betty's lover), full-time housewife (Sheri, the sister of the painter Marianne)
A woman with many lovers (Betty, he has a soldier husband Stormy, but it does not prevent her from finding a lover, including but not limited to the police and the rich)
The film has a total of 17 protagonists and 9 story lines. The first time I saw it, it was like sorting out a hair loop messed up by a dog? It was dazzling...
The film shows a kind of "environment" in this society, and how people think and act in this environment through detailed depictions of these ordinary people with no similarities.
Lack of loyalty
Most of the characters in the film are husbands and wives or couples. Naturally, married life becomes one of the themes.
The married life depicted in the film is not so good, and people will not remain loyal to their partners.
The policeman has his own lover, and he is throwing flowers everywhere outside. After being questioned by his wife, the policeman lied to explain the little piece of paper with the clown's phone number. His wife knew all this and watched her husband's performance with a detached attitude.
Betty, the master of love, circulates between many lovers. Howard's father fucked with his aunt. Marianne loves Aristeback, an artist collector who goes to concerts.
Everything makes marriage a tacit game
indifferent
People living in modern cities seem to use an indifferent attitude to disguise and protect themselves in order to deal with their troubled city life. This has a lot of manifestations in the film.
After the waitress told her husband that he had hit a child, the husband just asked indifferently: "Did any police see it?" He just wanted to make sure that he would not be prosecuted.
The fishing team was indifferent when seeing the corpse, and could even enjoy outdoor leisure time casually, even taking pictures. It seems that the death of a person has nothing to do with them.
The police abandoned the children's beloved dog, and later snatched it from the children who adopted the dog. He doesn't care about the children's feelings at all.
The jazz singer was also indifferent to the death of the neighbor's child.
The doctor remembered the name of the clown husband (Stewart) by mistake. The baker told Howard his name and identity at the beginning, but he didn't remember it, which caused a misunderstanding later.
Hidden harm to children
The sex call service provider is taking care of the child in her arms while talking foul language, sometimes even the older child is nearby
The slutty woman takes her child on dates with many lovers (the child is called Chad, and the funny thing is that he even confuses the names of the lovers, and he is very interested in the mother’s rich love history and keeps peeking)
Kaiser was hit by a car the day before his birthday without the company of his parents
Suspicion (lack of trust)
People in marriage inevitably have suspicions about their spouse
The drunk driver is suspicious of the waitress; the painter and the doctor have a grievance about David and Mitchell Anderson of the gallery
Arrogance, the host’s conversation with the baker caused a misunderstanding
Difficulties in communication between generations
The relationship between the jazz musician and his daughter is tense (the father is absent), and the two often talk to themselves.
Howard’s father has no contact with Howard for a long time, so that he doesn’t even know the name of his grandson
People are trapped in their own world, although close at hand, communication is still very difficult.
The screenwriter is awesome
The script of this film is great. It clearly and completely expresses the interlacing lines of events in just 3 hours. The narrative is very efficient.
For example, in the scene of buying cakes, Cather's mother, Stormi and the clown all went to the cake shop to buy cakes. The clown is very caring, even for children he doesn't know, he will carefully design cakes. In contrast, the pilot bought cakes hastily to celebrate his wife’s birthday, and could not even add his wife’s name on the cake. This scene also paved the way for the conflict between Cather's mother and Stormy.
In this scene, three groups of characters gather in one scene, and their respective story lines are in progress at the same time, which makes people have to admire the skill of the screenwriter.
earthquake
The film ended with an earthquake, symbolizing that this society will eventually undergo a drastic change and usher in a new era. What will happen to people's lives after the earthquake?
When the camera scans the streets and buildings of California cities, we feel the same with the characters in the movie. We are all part of the city, no different from the protagonists. The confusion, tragedy and joy they experience are also what we feel. What we have experienced is that we are all connected in some mysterious way in one way or another. The destiny of one person is also the destiny of all people.
Broken thoughts
This film has high requirements for memory and observation. If anyone can watch it once and remember all the characters and clear the plot, then I really admire it.
For example, who would have thought that the woman at the concert would be the later clown (the background of the conversation with the husband who went fishing while applying the mask already implies the identity of the character)?
The violinist and jazz singer are mother and daughter. The tall girl playing basketball is the violinist at the concert, but because of the two very different dresses, it is difficult to distinguish.
The pilot sprayed insecticide in the first shot and was interviewed on TV in the last shot
Betty called the lover policeman "Ruff", the pronunciation is very interesting, just like calling a dog, her son also learned
The swimming pool in Howard's home is reminiscent of the acrylic paintings by Hornik
When the policeman flirted with the clown, Claire saw through the policeman's tricks and asked, "Do you have any children?"
The doctor thinks that there is no color beyond nature, and the artist’s wife obviously doesn’t think so
The pool cleaner may not lift, which is one of the reasons why he killed the girl. Otherwise, how could he tolerate his wife's flirting with other men? Several conversations with his wife showed a lack of masculinity.
The lemon brought back by the doctor was finally used at the party
The makeup artist used a Minolta camera to take pictures of his girlfriend
Confuse
The film also has some confusing points.
Why does the clown have no children? Is it because she has no fertility? Is this why she is a clown to make children happy?
Why do painters and doctors have no children?
Why did Cather die? It seems that he was not seriously injured after being hit by a car, and he died of breath when he woke up and saw his mother in a coma. What is this implying?
Why did the violinist hurt his hand?
In short, this is an excellent film and a model of group portrait film. The exquisite narrative, wonderful performance, well-designed structure, and realistic themes all make this movie stand out and become one of the favorites of movie fans.
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