The theme of this movie makes people have to think of "When Happiness Knocks on the Door" directed by Gabriel Mulridge in 2006. The father is also taking care of his children alone, and he is also facing poverty. The former made me shed countless tears, so when I learned of Gabriel’s film with the same affectionate theme, I was unavoidably full of expectations, hoping that there would be one and two, and two greater than or equal to one.
After watching the movie, I made a comparison between "Father and Daughter Love" and "When Happiness Knocks on the Door". From the perspective of the core paternal love of the movie, "Father-Daughter Love" is very successful in shaping the father, which is exactly the same as "When Happiness Knocks on the Door". But this is the problem with the movie: Although it is successful, it is not very touching.
The reason why the movie as a whole does not affect the shaping of the father is because of the two-line narrative, but the failure is also the failure here. One line is the story of her daughter when she was young, and here should be the focus. The father is suffering from a serious mental illness, but the love and care for his daughter is a hundred times better than normal. Using the last strength of his life, he wrote "Father and Daughter" dedicated to his daughter.
On the other line, 25 years later, Katie grew up and became a community counselor, but she herself had a great psychological barrier. She was empty in her heart and did not dare to accept love. Need to make up for the emptiness of the heart through sexual intercourse again and again.
The frustrating place is here. In Katie’s life 25 years later, I cannot see the shadow of my father, and I cannot feel the continuation of the power of the great father’s love. I can't imagine her connection with the father who used the last force of his life to love her and take care of her. All I saw was a child who had lost his parents since he was a child, and when he grew up, his heart became empty and scared. This kind of psychological shadow can exist on any orphan, but I think it shouldn’t exist on Katie. Because she has such a great father.
The success of "When Happiness Knocks at the Door" is that it allows us to see the power of father's love, which supports a father's hard work to survive, and finally defeats his destiny and achieves success. Similarly, since the theme of the movie is father-daughter love, in Katie's story after his father's death, we should also see the continuation of the power of this fatherly love in Katie.
For the dead Jack, his greatness should be affirmed through his daughter. This is the junction of the two narrative lines, and it is also a necessary sublimation of the father's love.
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