This is a record of a conversation I had with a friend discussing this movie a long time ago...
【Form】
There are no unnecessary words, and the smooth and fluent make people think that the director is looking for the shooting method of DOGMA95, hand-held and close to the natural light source. , The small details were captured, but it was not boring at all, and successfully created the desired atmosphere in the film: tranquility in the plain.
When all movies show their dramatic tension with stunts, sound effects, props, actors, and bloody plots, this one is so contrasting that we think, "What the hell did he say? What do you play?" Suddenly I can't adapt to it, but this is what makes it special. The whole film gives people a very quiet, peaceful feeling, and it is very "clean".
In terms of lens shooting, the natural panning photography process makes the picture very fluent, beautiful and soothing. In the lens, everything seems to be magnified, and the generous color block configuration is concise and clear, so that you have to pay attention to its agility. For example: juice flowing from papaya branches and leaves, water droplets, frogs, ants, the expressions of children observing the appearance of nature, the relationship between two men and a woman, body movements, etc., all make people feel that this is like "little What children often do” is as natural and understanding.
Also, maybe because there is no extra lighting, the overall tone is darker. But this is just right, this film is not suitable for too much pretense. The lens is very shaky, and the instability of the hand-cranked photography seems to imply the turbulence of everyone's fate in the play. A large number of top-down shots are very ruthless, as if nothing can escape the fate that has been arranged. The director's fatalistic point of view comes out here.
The scary part of this film is that the language of the pictures is amazing. There are not many lines, because what the director wants to say has already been said through the combination of fine lens movements. However, I don't know if the director took too much care to arrange the shots or the length of the shots. The actors' personalities are obviously weak here, and the director's attention to the emotional changes of individual characters is too little. In retrospect, this film is less like a movie, and more like a marquee scene after scene.
[sound]
In terms of music, the sound of cicadas runs through the beginning and the end, a kind of vitality that is immortal; there are also commenters on the Internet that the whole film is also full of Buddhist "Zen". An ordinary life, simple encounters, sincere thoughts, and innocent actions have been compiled into another kind of meticulousness in tropical Vietnam; and the sweet feeling of green papaya, the plain and pure ideal life, will eventually come to the heroine. It's like being blessed by God. As for the sound of the piano, the tone of the sound is mostly sad and dull, bearing the slight misfortune and pain of the owner and the family; the grandfather who has been waiting for the grandmother, and the heroine's fortunes become a great contrast. The "qin" sound of the piano in the latter part is different from the "qin" sound at the beginning. The piano is a product of modern civilization, but it is also used to express the feelings of the performer.
Few films are like this, except for the dialogue, all the voices are so naked.
At the beginning of the film, Xiaomei listened to her mother telling the story of the family. The frogs croaking outside the window, the friction of the quilts and clothes when turning over, and the storytelling atmosphere of Iya on the wooden bed created a stronger atmosphere. The old grandmother's wooden fish beats the passage of time as the old lover sneaks upstairs to peep. The scene where the third young master crushes the ants, faithfully accompanied by the cracking sound of the hard shell of the insect, makes the scene even though the scene is miserable, but still not surprised.
Also, the sound of plum picking up water in the morning, the stalk of the vegetable breaking when picking the leaves, even the chirping of insects and birds, the raindrops hitting the eaves and the water tank, and the kitchen knife hitting like an old grandmother when slicing green papaya. The wooden fish, the china colliding with the wooden table when the food is served, the rattling of the wooden stairs when going up the stairs, and the piano sound that is too bright and crisp...
If the director is compared to a poet, then the whole film is Poetic and picturesque, these unpretentious sound elements really do a great job.
[meaning]
It is said that Vietnamese people eat green papaya often without caring about the seeds, and the heroine's love for green papaya is because she knows that the person she likes likes it; The storyline, after Hao Ren taught Mei to read, the sentence that Mei read "independently" by herself: "Those papayas are hanging from the tree one by one. A ripe papaya has a pale yellow color; The papaya tastes sweet." The ripeness of the green papaya also indicates the maturity of the heroine; for the "Prince and Princess" ending that we have seen now, although the subsequent plot cannot be deduced, it can be inferred. The thing is, you can still see the solidity in ordinary life.
If this film is classified as female growth, there will probably be no objection. The first generation in the play is a widowed grandmother. The second generation is a young grandmother who was forced to live as a widow. They were content with the etiquette and did not dare to go beyond them, and they took precautions from each other. In the play, the old grandmother blames the young grandmother for her son's running away from home. The words are sharp and clear: "It's all your fault, a good husband, you won't please him, he will leave!" This is the misfortune of the previous generation. Compared with Xiaomei, who greets people with a smile, she is braver. She has the courage to take the initiative to release the message of love, and she has the courage to take the initiative to break down the barriers of class. So the storyteller gave her the happiest ending.
However, I have to make a little noise: the contrast between the two directors is too great, which makes the tension of the plot all the way to expand slightly insufficient. Although the plot is a bit sloppy, the director's ingenuity at the end of the play is obviously the finishing touch, and the aftertaste echoes in the beautiful and dull life.
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