20th century woman
This is a tribute to the past.
The whole film is carried out in self-reporting and narrating others. The mother describes the son, and the son describes Julie...a lot of dialogue establishes the feeling of a third vision of the bystander.
Mother
As the landlord, mother is the link that connects the whole story. The role of mother is also the epitome of most middle-aged people in the late twentieth century. Fortunately, they did not experience World War II, but they grew up under the ruins of poverty, eager to pioneer and advance. They also chased the trend when they were young, but faced the new series of anti-war, same-sex, rock and roll punk forces that had prevailed since the end of the 1960s. Most are resisting. In 1979, her mother was 55 years old. When she was young, she smoked to chase the trend, and when she faced her son who was almost killed because of "dumb"/"stupid" irresponsible tricks, she was fiercely opposed. The son's reason is to "follow others", but the mother said that you should have your own consciousness and know what is wise. Like all parents, they can only see themselves as adults in the mirror, but they can't see the trajectory of years. They use experience to teach their children, but forget that they were just as irresponsible when they were young.
This small contradiction at the beginning has actually clarified the contradiction of the role of mother: I am limited to years of experience and experience, but I still have the pursuit of new trends deep in my heart.
Just like my mother suddenly proposed to go to a bar together, but after the cup, she can still calmly say to William, you are responsible for your kiss, why do you have to sleep with her if you don't love someone seriously?
The image of a mother is more positive than most parents in life. She worked hard to understand her son, shaking her head mechanically in Talking Heads and Black Flag, she knew that the best response to her son leaving home to watch the show without authorization was to say: next time you do this, you must tell me in advance so that I won’t do more. It's supper. A very wise reason, not a light or heavy blame, secretly tells your son that you are not only an individual, but also responsible for the family.
In addition to internal contradictions, the external image of the mother is also contradictory, withdrawn and lonely but trusting in others. In the context of the times (Carter’s crisis of confidence speech), the mother would invite firefighters to come home for dinner at the beginning of the film, but in the son’s narrative, the mother was lonely and could not find love. Because she does not communicate and does not actively seek out needs.
In the end, her mother did not live to the millennium, but she finally found a partner to accompany her until she died. Like the people of the previous generation, they finally compromised, but they still couldn't restrain the pace of the times.
Jamie, Abbie and Julie
These three roles influence each other and blend into the epitome of the times. Abbie is a new generation of hippies. Wearing wide-leg pants and a shirt printed with Lou Reed, with dyed red hair, he looks chic, but his heart is fragile and sensitive. She believes in women's rights and will openly discuss menstruation at the dinner table. But she also believes in marriage and family, even if the bird she raises is monogamous. She listens to rock, is the enlightenment of boys' aesthetic and sexual consciousness, represents the forward of the times, full of hope but confused. Julie is a boy's emotional world. Although she does not want to be the boy's mother, she exists in a certain sense. She teaches the boy to smoke and takes him to truly realize love, sex and youth.
In addition to the epitome of the times, the setting of Abbie and Julie is a very strange existence. Because of their mother's request, they have the responsibility to lead Jamie's growth, which makes them more or less paternalistic. On the other hand, because they understand Jamie, they are also part of him. So when the mother asked Abbie that she should not teach boys feminism, when the mother found out that Julie was sleeping with the boy in the car, it was actually a conversation between the mother and the character who was part of the boy.
The existence of Julie and Abbie makes the two eras understand and blend.
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Watching this movie, especially the setting of the three heroines, always reminds me of "The Moment". Although "The Moment" is a more stream of consciousness, the generational alternation of the spiritual level is unmatched by this movie. But this movie always has more or less shadows, and the director's compositional ambitions are also very large. The film covers Forrest Gump-style historical insertions, as well as various classic tunes and masterpieces.
The film has a lot of shining details, such as the relationship between the mother and the boy. One line she likes the most. The mother said to Abbie, "You get to see him out in the world as a person. I never will." The limitation and love. But generally speaking, the film is too trivial, and it is not up to the level of success all the time.
Some lines:
Don't need a man to raise a man?
You never tell me what you are going to do. You just do it.
Sex is a commitment. Once you are there, you can't go back to holding hands.
Of all the misconceptions about love, the most powerful and persuasive is the belief that falling in love is love.
Women's sexuality, defined by men to benefit men, has been downgraded and perverted, repressed and channeled.
Next time, a dude tells you a sex story. You just have to agree with everything he says and acts like it's right. Even if it's not, because they don't wanna be contradicted. They just wanna to live in their fantasy land.
Whatever you think your life is going to be like, just know, it's not going to be anything like that.
You get to see him out in the world as a person. I never will.
So you think you know me better because you read that.
Pretty music is used to cover up how unfair and corrupt society is.
It's like they have got all these feelings. And they don't have any skills and they don't need any skills, because it's really interesting. What happens when your passion is bigger than the tools that you have to deal with it. It creates this energy. This rock. Is this great?
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