Small town charm

Afton 2022-01-08 08:04:07

If you hate him, please send him to the north.
If you love him, please send him to the northern

frontiers or remote areas, which often means barren, primitive, and backward. Going to live there also has the meaning of punishment, so there is Su Dongpo who was relegated to Hainan, and Philip who made a mistake in this film and was sent to work and live in the remote northern town of Bergs for two years. In the end, Su Dongpo wrote: I don’t hate the nine deaths and I don’t hate it, and I’m here to win the title of my life; as for Philip, after living for three years without knowing it, Philip shed tears when he left.

If I insist that there is more luxury, decay, and depravity behind the prosperity, I think this statement is one-sided and has the taste of sour grapes. But I still dare to say that places that have not been completely eroded by industry and rapid economic development have more rustic atmosphere, leisurely pace of life, and hospitable and hearty folk customs. Philip came to such a place with the mood of being sent, and his prejudice and misunderstanding of life in the north. When he met natural and sincere colleagues and hospitable townspeople, he naturally fell in love there. Similarly, the box office champion "Cape No. 7", which everyone in Taiwan vie for last year, is also set in a beautiful seaside town, showing a natural and simple aboriginal life that makes people comfortable. It's just that "The Sea" takes the sensational line of a love letter from many years ago, and "Welcome to the North" takes the French humorous comedic line.

In addition to the comic effect, the film is commendable that the conflict design is relatively smooth and natural: in order to please his wife, desperately trying to transfer, in order to transfer the disabled, wear a gang, and learn about the assignment. Then the choreographer began to pave the Southerners’ prejudice against the terrible life in the North and Central from various perspectives. When Philip took office, he felt a little sad and tragic, and the strong man was gone forever. The north greeted him with a heavy rain and all kinds of contradictions, then reconciliation, acceptance and liking. At the same time, interspersed with Philip and his wife, colleague Anthony struggling in the emotional scene between mother and lover. The warm tones of the film are warm and clean, and the picture is very textured.

Speaking of this film, everyone has to talk about its box office, surpassing the 42-year record of "Out of the Tiger's Mouth", and some people suspect that it is not very funny. I saw "Tiger" when I was very young, except for the details of "eye-to-eye" aiming at the plane, I can't remember the other details. It's a little humor that doesn't make people laugh, but can appreciate it. Zhou Libo's "Thirty Years of Laughing and Talking" has caused controversy in the market. Is the humor produced in Shanghai dialect and cultural atmosphere real humor? Does humor have borders? This problem also exists in "Welcome to the North". The laughter effect produced by language is greatly reduced by the incomprehension of it. (There is a version on the Internet that is better translated, and relatively speaking, it can show the funny caused by the difference in pronunciation.) However, these do not hinder the joy of watching the film. There are a lot of laughs in the film, and there is a sneer from time to time. Laughter. Just as I don’t like the horror expressed in bloody scenes, and the sadness of sensational crying to lead the audience to tears, I don’t like the humor expressed with exaggeration and vulgarity, and I prefer this kind of light comedy with sunshine and warmth.


In the 1970s, my dad almost went to Tibet as an aid cadre. He didn't make a mistake and felt punished. There were many other conditions as compensation, such as promotion, salary increase, and solving the family's work. At that time, the prejudice against there was that I could not take a bath for a few months, and I had no meat to eat. In the end he didn't make it, or I should be living in a remote town now, leading a simple and peaceful life.

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Extended Reading
  • Dane 2022-03-27 09:01:14

    2.5 / A French theme comedy with no real contradictions, but interesting to learn about French culture.

  • Ashleigh 2022-03-19 09:01:06

    I really like such a joyous and unsophisticated movie.