Still Life

It's been a long time since I've seen a movie that appealed to me.

Whether it's the film's beautiful framing, muted tones, or the soundtrack that flows slowly like a stream, and the well-timed long shots, I'm deeply attracted.

It's a slow-moving film that requires one to watch in complete silence. Just one hour and twenty-seven minutes, don't be interrupted.

Would you dare to lie down on a lawn in a cemetery? Would you choose a posthumous land for yourself at a young age?

We are to take life extremely seriously, and life itself, including death. To yourself, and to others.

Of the movies, my favorite is that photo album by Mr. John May. He is always under the lamp, lightly protecting the four corners of each photo, and then slowly pasting it on the paper. One after another bright and vivid photos, recording the lives of the dead.

May was without a doubt a man who treated his life with the utmost care, but it was unusual that he was so meticulous about the lives of others—only the lives of dead people who had no stake in him. May would buy a cemetery for William Stoker, a eccentric, rambunctious, fickle man whom almost everyone sees, and when asked, "Is it family?", his line "No family, just a friend" is embarrassing.

Mei's life is a quiet life. We don't know what he looked like when he was born, only to witness his sudden death. In a halo of white halo, he looked straight at the sky without even closing his eyes.

In the end, a few people routinely held a funeral for May—or not a funeral, but simply burying him in the place chosen during his lifetime. Then they were gone, and not a single "person" went to John May's grave. In the distance, a large number of people gathered in front of William Stoker's tomb, all of whom May had seen, the woman selling fish and chips and her daughter and granddaughter, Stoker's daughter, comrades in arms and former Tramp friends...they say goodbye to Stoker, exchange greetings, and at the end they pass John May's empty tomb in company, not recognizing him.

Only one by one translucent souls stepped out of their graves and surrounded Mei. They didn't know May, they were dead when they first met May, but they were both May's friends.

Finally, the music sounded like a flowing stream again, and everything was silent.