#This article may have spoilers#
The director is William H. Macy (William H. Macy), yes, it is the bastard dad in "Shameless Shamless", and the old man not only directed the film, but also played a role in the film. The male protagonist Billy Crudup (Billy Crudup) is a familiar face, such as the dad of the Flash in the Justice League, the lawyer in Focus, and...the Doctor Manhattan who is shaking XX in the Watchers all the time...
Sam, starring Billy, is a successful advertiser. After winning another big order with his self-confident performance, he plans to celebrate with his son Josh in college at a bar.
However, Sam didn't wait for his son Josh in the bar. The TV suddenly began to broadcast breaking news, chaotic crowds, rushing police, doctors, stretchers, and people cried and hid their faces. Six people were killed in a campus shooting in Josh's school. Sam lost his son.
Sam's life plummeted. He lost his wife, career, etc. He owned the whole world, but because of a shooting, everything went to nothing.
He started to drink, let himself go, and remain silent, trying to forget all of this, sold all his property, and lived alone on the boat, relying on odd jobs.
One day his ex-wife came to visit her. She had remarried and became pregnant again. She organized and brought some Josh’s relics. Inside were several boxes of Josh’s own recorded songs, piano scores, CDs, and guitars. The two had a big fight by the way. One, blames Sam for not being responsible and has been evading.
Sam began to listen carefully to the songs his son wrote before his death, trying to play and sing these songs, as if stepping into Josh's inner world.
Finally he plucked up the courage and came to this bar with his guitar on his back, wanting to sing his son's song to everyone.
He was very nervous, expressionless, could not say a word, just sang softly.
Sam's song caught the attention of a teenager in a noisy bar
He had his head down sullenly, his eyes flashed
Sam gradually got into a state, his feet started to beat the beat unconsciously
This teenager who was attracted by Sam's music was called Quentin, and he also had the dream of music. He began to come to Sam again and again, eager to perform with Sam.
Sam put down his guard, and Quentin played the piano and sang together on the boat
Sam's first performance with a helpless and relieved smile at the end
Gradually, the popular music made Sam seem to be reborn, and they formed a band called "rudderless".
Sam will also try to treat Quentin like a father, a sensitive and shy teenager
After another successful performance, a girl standing quietly in the dark stopped Sam, who turned out to be Josh's former girlfriend Kate. Sam was very surprised when he saw her, but Kate was extremely angry and asked Sam how could he sing Josh's song.
She even fell off a sentence of "Shame onyou" and left.
Seeing this, I feel a little strange, singing the song of the deceased may be suspected of plagiarism or disrespect, but it seems that it is not a big problem for the father to interpret the song of his son. Kate should not be irritated in this way.
The film then gave us the answer. On the day of Josh’s death, Sam went to the grave and met his ex-wife. The two did not have much words, but silently began to clean the graffiti on the tombstone. With shocking bright red characters: "Murderer (murderer)" Burn in hell, no for giveness, baster, evil, killer...
It turns out that Josh was the perpetrator of the campus shooting that killed six people two years ago. The last shot of him carrying his schoolbag to the library was not homework, but guns and bullets.
The angry words on the tombstone silently reveal the truth
Everything is explained. Why there were so many reporters chasing and intercepting the father of a deceased person, why the loss of a child would cause the collapse of the entire family, and it took Sam's wife two full years to get out of the shadows and let Sam choose to pass. Archive all forgotten.
In addition, Sam's band is thriving, even being invited to participate in music festivals.
When Sam was looking forward to the performance at the festival, Kate, Josh’s ex-girlfriend told the band members the truth, they couldn’t accept it anyway, and what he performed on stage every day turned out to be the work of a murderer.
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This movie actually describes several types of emotions, father-son love, year-long friendship, and when taken apart, it is a story of a middle-aged man trying to redeem himself with music; it is a story of a group of teenagers who love music, and, Hidden is the story of a child who has hidden talents that are unknown but ended his own and others' lives in pain, reflected by those lyrics and melody.
He also seriously raised a question, can a murderer's work be extolled?
The film did not give an answer.
Sam was not redeemed by music. He was arrested after a hangover in a public place. The band once was just a dream.
Sam didn’t know that singing these songs was wrong, so he was resistant to Quentin at first, but Quentin and Josh’s similar age, talents, and the popularity of these music made Sam already rotten. Re-seeing those shining things in life, he is like a fugitive with mistakes and memories, carefully concealing this secret, just hoping that this kind of life will last longer, for himself, for his son, and for this. A group of teenagers who dream of music, we can’t blame him, just like the owner of a video store said:
"I can't say I know half of what you've beenthrough, man."
Just like when someone asked Sam why he did this at the end, he could only answer softly with tears in his eyes:
"But he was my son."
When Sam plucked up the courage to go back to Josh's school, and when he didn't see Josh's name on the list of students killed in the shooting, the forbearing, tough, taciturn man finally wept against the tombstone.
There is no Josh on the tombstone set by the school for the victims of the shooting.
At the end of the movie, Sam returned to the tavern where he originally sang alone. On the stage, he said blankly, "My son's name is Josh Manning. Two years ago, he murdered 6 people. This is his song."
The people in the audience were astonished and furious. Sam sang the last Josh song on his own. At the end, he murmured one sentence after another. It was hard to tell whether he sang "my song" or "my". son."
The songs in the movie are all original and extremely brilliant, especially worth mentioning is the song "Over Your Shoulder" which is also heavily performed in the movie.
This song, even if it is completely separated from the movie, is still a very listenable song. At the beginning, the bass line and xylophone are clever, the middle drum is gradually strengthened, and finally the guitar chords are brushed together with the harmony, although the song is sung. It's Quentin and Sam, but this is Josh's work. The lyrics still reflect the inner struggle of this closed, depressed, and ultimately extreme child:
"The angel and the devil
Secretly they get along
Sitting up there with me in the middle
From dusk till dawn
I get so confused by it
Which way to turn
They're looking at me like
"Decide which bridge to burn"
Angels and demons are vividly manifested in Josh’s body
???
At the end of the article, the curly-haired teenager who played Quentin in the film, Russian actor Anton Eugene Anton Yelchin, died unexpectedly in a car accident on June 19, 2016, at the age of 27, RIP.
-END-
After watching some movies
Still lingering in my mind
I think you too
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