A slow and heavy movie. Immersion requires a little patience. After about the first 20 minutes of watching, the distracted attention is firmly anchored until the end. (Of course it’s because of Curly Jesse who came to see him, he also played well without curly in the movie)
It tells about the disintegration of the family, the separation and predation between intimacy, the struggle between the self and the environment.
The beginning of the film quickly tells the story of the mother played by Hupel. She is a well-known photographer. Her works are famous for shooting war scenes in the Middle East and life experiences of ordinary people under fire. Few close-up pictures of the funeral describe a brief ceremony performed by a family for the little boy who died in the explosion. The adults were heartbroken and weeping, but the children's eyes were filled with speechless doubts that did not belong to their age, and it was shocking. Then I turned to some interview videos of my mother, and finally the report of her death in a car accident. A family collapsed in form. In response, the camera shifts to the eldest son Jonah gently comforting his newly-born daughter in the hospital, and the other family extends further in form. In the hospital, he met his ex-girlfriend, mentioned his current situation, graduated with a Ph.D., and has become a young university professor. And her mother was seriously ill, her haggard face exposed fragility. She did not hide, expressing her nostalgia for their old days and a certain need for him. The two had a hug with their own minds.
Conrad, the youngest son of the family, is still in high school and is a typical introverted teenager. Indifferent and violent on the outside, and turbulent on the inside like a volcano. He was in class at the time, and he fell into a messy fantasy in the voice of his favorite fanatic girl reading novels. His father worked in the same high school and was estranged from Conrad. Like every parent who is full of gentle understanding and wants to be close to their children, they are constantly rejected and ignored, and do not communicate or cooperate. Conard is the toughest adolescent. He doesn't want to go home after school. He lied on the phone without changing his face. When he was questioned, he furiously resisted. He hurt his family by hurting himself. He seemed to resist, but he was eager to understand but couldn't.
Because the museum is going to do a retrospective exhibition for his mother, Jonah returned to his father's house and wanted to sort out his mother's work first. Both he and his father knew that his mother's death was not an accident, but a suicide. In order to protect his younger brother and keep the secret together, they hope to find a chance to have a good talk with Conrad before the referee's article is released. All three of them were introverted and silent, and they didn't communicate much. When Jonah returned home, his father showed unconcealed joy, triviality, and sourness. His distress was self-evident. After the mother's death, all three people left a huge emotional hole in their hearts. Depend on each other, but cannot comfort each other.
Soon, Jonah found her daily life in a hotel in a war zone in one of the SD cards left by her mother. Taking a selfie in front of the bathroom mirror, leaving a few tired faces; a selfie sitting on the bed, revealing an aging body and face. When I looked at the photo for the second time, I saw the photographer-a naked man from the reflection of the wall painting. Jonah collapsed instantly and deleted the photo completely. His mother's infidelity undoubtedly destroyed her image in his heart. The pain of losing her was mixed with feelings of shame, anger, and confusion. As if infected by the atmosphere of the old home, he was still reluctant to go back to take care of his wife and daughter and work.
But the brothers are in a good relationship. Jonah knows that Conrad is sensitive and introverted and fears that he will be isolated. From time to time, he will go to his room and have a chat. Once I heard outdated music in Conrad's room and saw him swinging and dancing vigorously, with flexible and coordinated limbs, full of tension. He was very surprised, and said with surprise, you can dance. The two watched his father’s role as a superstar when he was young, and after a lot of laughter, Conrad showed him the passage he wrote-the brushstroke of stream of consciousness describing his daydreams, the girl he loved, and his favorite And the disgusting things, the discovery that his father followed him... It is very in line with his keen and keen perspective and expression inside. It is very exciting and I like this article very much. My brother was further shocked and kept saying repeatedly, "You write really well, very well. I don't know how you can write so well."
In the video, his wife reminded Jonah that he needed to go home, but he couldn't get rid of it several times. He drove home the last night before the end of the holiday. Halfway through, she drove to the ex-girlfriend's house, spent the night together, and told her about her mother's cheating. She asked him, does your wife know? He said, I don't know how to explain my mother's affairs to her. And the girl around me now knows. He needs her to share his pain, even if she unconsciously repeats the way his mother hurt him. Obviously, after waking up again, he took the pain of his mother's incident, and the added disgust of self, guilt for his wife and children, quickly left without saying goodbye, and returned to his old home.
Walking with Conard on the playground of their school, the younger brother said that he wanted to show those things he wrote to the girl he liked, while showing him to his brother, of course it was a cheerleader girl. Jonah said seriously, I fully understand your feelings, you wrote very well. But you live in a high-level high school, even if you are much ahead of their minds, they will not understand you, on the contrary, they will laugh at you and destroy you, including the empty-headed girl you like. Believe me, you will get better after high school. Don't give it to her. The younger brother hesitated to agree. At this time, his wife called. Conard watched his brother lying unscrupulously, making an excuse that he could not go home for the time being, and hung up the phone in a hurry. Speak softly, I will definitely not lie to my beloved girl. Jonah responded without pain. That's good, but you won't be so sure after you get married.
Seeing that the two sons were unable to communicate, the father almost angrily stuffed the works needed for the exhibition into two garbage bags and sent them to the writers of the exhibition. He calmly asked him if he had an affair with his wife. The other photographer, who is also a photographer, answered with difficulty. And explained to him their psychological feelings—the long-term shooting in different places and the emotional impact of facing local life almost split their personality. Every time I return home from exhaustion, I find that because I have been absent from family life for a long time, I can no longer communicate with my family. It is even more unable to express the spiritual trauma caused by his own remote experience.
Interrupted in several conversations between the husband and wife, one time she told him about her nightmare (related to sex, which can be seen as her veiled confession and asking for forgiveness from her husband), which he jokingly resolved. Once it was to say goodbye at the airport. He was reluctant and puzzled, but he still resisted harshness. Take out a newspaper with her photos and war zone reports, affirming her work slightly. She smiled faintly, turned her head and saw the man at the table next door glanced at the photos she took while reading the newspaper, and quickly turned to the entertainment section of the newspaper. There were expressions of disillusionment and boredom in her eyes, and a tear fell, and he looked at her without speaking. One time was a quarrel at the end of the bed before parting. In fact, the husband said a little loudly that you never considered the difficulty of bringing two children with me. They love each other, but they can't live their lives all the time. Daily life is the greatest mockery of them. In other words, there are holes everywhere.
Articles about her exhibition were published quickly, and the truth was revealed. Father and Jonah were surprised and angry. They had not had time to tell Connard.
Conrad met the emotional explosion of his father and teacher's relationship, his harshness and resentment toward his father, and the humiliation, anger, and hatred toward the teacher, mixed together, reaching the climax of the film's narrative and emotional. He insisted on stuffing his article in front of the girl's house, without even signing it, and just threw it away. It was that night when he went to the party to find the girl he liked, and said nothing after all. When she was about to leave, she was obviously drunk when she saw her sitting outside alone. He said you saw the article I gave you? She said that it was you who wrote it, and she was surprised while she said that it was really good. His dream was broken in half, and he was about to leave. She asked him to take a walk together. During the period, she quizzed him by a car and asked him to help unbutton it. Seeing her urine flow to his feet, he burst into tears with a huge sense of disillusionment. They hadn't happened yet, they had already seen such a real side of her. Going to say goodbye in the morning, she invited him to lunch together at school, and he knew she would forget this invitation soon. Then, Conrad accidentally saw the report in the convenience store, and the unreserved truth instantly shattered him. He just returned home quietly in the early morning, and finally cried with his father in his arms. Before going to bed, I told my father that Jonah was not good, and my father said lightly, I know, I'll look for him now.
The movie ends on the way his father drives Jonah home.
There is no way not to like such a movie. It speaks so slowly that it is impossible to understand. Tells about the great harm and misunderstanding contained in intimate relationships. Tell about the loneliness of everyone being besieged by themselves. Tells about the artist's almost unsolvable family problems.
In the end, the role of the father, on the contrary, seems to be the furthest away from the other three families with obvious artistic talents, but is the most gentle, patient, tolerant, and generous. He is the most magnanimous and self-consistent person in the family. He understood the three of them, forgave his wife, and steadily caught the broken child. The exposure of the obscure, ugly, dark secrets in the family is the fierce side of the gunfire, the most complete despair and destruction, which may not even be saved by love, but understanding can be.
Life without secrets is not worth living. But perhaps it is the warmth brought by understanding that resists the seemingly frustrated middle-aged sorrow, the hardships of family life that young people have just witnessed, and the young teenagers who are hostile to the world.
The soundtrack at the end of the PS movie is very good, and it flows out slowly at the most appropriate moment. The story came to an abrupt end, but the mood was gently supported by the music. After listening, you can return to reality without looking back.
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