Author: Fang Hanjun
Canadian film director Stephen Dunn’s debut "Beast in the Cabinet" (2016), based on the director’s own growth story, won the best Canadian debut feature film at the 40th Toronto Film Festival, and a rare masterpiece in recent youth films , Won a good reputation.
Since then, Canada has not only a better-known Xavier Dolan, but also a young man named Stephen Dunn. The vast and vast snowfields always bring extraordinary imagination and comprehension to the creators.
"The Beast in the Cabinet" has an extraordinary texture. It uses documentary techniques to cut out the complexity and focus on the character's close-ups to increase the tangible sense of reality. Its artistry is unique. Especially when it comes to character creation, we get rid of the procrastination and complexity, starting from parent-child relationship to self-gender identity, and exploring and facing it step by step. Accompanied by all kinds of anxiety and fear, it is ingeniously and vividly reflected on a smart little hamster. , Coupled with unconstrained imagination and music collocation, delicately presents the process of a teenager's growth.
When Oscar Madley was 8 years old, her mother divorced her father. When she left home, Oscar pulled her suitcase tightly, and her mother said that we would meet once every two weeks. When she broke away, the little Oscar spit on her. The little ghost blamed her mother. Of course, it was excuseable. He didn't know that her mother's departure was due to his father's violent temperament. From then on, he could only go to school with Xiaobu the hamster and put them in his jacket pocket. The hamster brought him endless happiness.
But what’s worse is that at the Fleming Bishop’s School where he attended, he witnessed a group of boys beat up a 16-year-old "sissy" boy after school, and put an iron rod into the boy’s buttocks, causing the boy’s lower body. Paralyzed, this terrorist incident of campus bullying undoubtedly laid the root of the disease in Oscar's heart.
The iron rod lay in his heart one by one, depressing him to breathe. Is it true that what they call "homosexual" deserves to be beaten. In addition, his father deliberately strengthened the manhood of Oscars, so he specially built a tree house for him to climb. All this caused little Oscar's confusion.
Undoubtedly, in the eyes of this harsh father, men have to speak with strong muscles, arrogant characters and brave fists, but Oscar has to obey his will. He spent his frustrated time with the hamster. He told it about his distress and troubles, and he always got a funny and pleasing response from it. The hamster who traveled like a shadow became a close friend who talked about everything.
time flies. Oscar unknowingly reached the age of 18. He yearned to be a stage makeup artist, drawing pictures on the computer every day, and taking makeup photos of his female classmate Xiaojie. Xiaojie is a lively and cheerful girl. At first she thought Oscar liked her because she wanted to fall in love, but after trying it was completely impossible, Oscar confided in her. Father Peter also thought they were in love, and when he asked Xiaojie, she didn't comment, which annoyed Peter.
Of course the father stopped doing it. He must be thinking, how could my son be like that. He always uses the easiest and most rude way to communicate with his son, of course, it will always backfire. The son asked him, why didn't you return it to her because my mother took up so many clothes in my cabinet. This generous father said it was all mine and would not give her one. Peter has been blinded by anger, and his eyes are pitifully small.
After a while, Peter will talk to a girlfriend, but no one can get along, and he will be bye bye in a few months. The Oscar’s space is spent in the tree house, hamsters, and the warehouse for summer jobs. In the warehouse, he met Wade, a fellow who also worked. At first, Wade borrowed his old T-shirt to wear to work. After that, he sniffed and smelled the T-shirt that Wade returned to him. He fell in love with Wade at first sight.
That day Wade drove him home. The hamster was gone. It turned out that he ran into the car's stereo. Oscar was very anxious. Wade only spit a few cigarettes into it, and the gadgets ran out obediently. Then Wade went to see his tree house and was amazed. But when he came out, Peter saw that he shot Wade with a water gun, which made Wade feel that his father was weird. Peter is of course weird, he just doesn't want his son to be with boys.
But Oscar insisted on wearing his mother's yellow hat and wearing the clothes of his mother when he was young, and attended Wade's masquerade party (Peter called it a gay party).
At the ball, he witnessed Wade kissing a girl, which made him extremely sad. A man pestered him and forced a relationship with him, which made him sick, and he vomited all the filth. This is really another terrible experience. Growth is always accompanied by pain. He said that whenever he was alone, he talked to hamsters.
Another bad thing was that the warehouse fired him. Wade came to the tree house and said that he would not do it. Wade took the initiative to kiss him. He said he was going to Berlin to see relatives staying there for a few months. After that, Wade disappeared in his life. In fact, Wade returned to his hometown in Montana. That day, my father told him that there was a letter from you, and he took a look at it. The New York makeup school declared by Oscar rejected his application for admission. Where to go? He can only confide to the hamster sadly.
The volcano that had been suppressed finally erupted. Peter couldn't tolerate his son's depression, and he cruelly fell the hamster to death. Peter felt that he must grow up. But he didn't know that this hamster was equivalent to his Oscar's life. It was this gadget that grew up with him for so many years. Fortunately, his mother was there, and she asked Peter why he did this.
But Oscar, who was watching, held the dead cloth with his hand, and suddenly felt strangely nauseous. His stomach really caught fire. The bullying incident in childhood school kept him out of breath. His belly was swollen. He took out the iron rod from his stomach and suddenly raised it up angrily. Peter was scared to pee, but his son The stick is useless.
The iron rod that always made him sick was finally taken out. Oscar was lying on her mother's bed. Although my mother married the "homosexual" man in my father's mouth, she was very happy. This man had a pair of children before, which is also good for the stepmother.
Mom touched his head to comfort him and said, "You can't go to school in New York, can you go to Fogo's community college, so that you can stay away from your dad." The son said nothing. He is no longer the little pigeon in his mother's mouth.
He sent Xiaojie a makeup photo, hoping that she could apply for the university she wanted to go to as she wished. And he came to the beach. A new house by the sea. He put the hamster on the paper boat he had tied up and let it drift. At this time, the hamster suddenly became active. It said that I had met a good master. Your father had changed his girlfriends for four times, but he kept me with him for 10 years. Goodbye, Oscar.
The whole of the film is extremely quiet and stable, mixed with the cartoon magic of fairy tales and fables, which adds multiple fun. The narrative turning point will end, and it will not be entangled in it. This is a very bright selection and editing. Cool colors and cold treatments complement each other and have a poetic and smokey taste. It's hard to believe that this is a debut work.
The so-called "Beast in the Cabinet" is the painful past that has kept Oscar worried and uneasy. It is an embarrassment that is deeply hidden in the heart, and it is like the memory of a demon and a ghost. Now, the rusty iron rod that lay in his heart finally made him withdraw from his heart. He is relaxed.
People always learn to grow up. The life accompanied by hamsters is destined to belong to the past. Say goodbye to hamsters, and then you really say goodbye to childhood. In the evening, Oscar had a dream. What he dreamed about was all the time he spent with his father when he was young. In the end, his father gently said that you have grown up and can dream the dream you want. I am proud of you.
When he woke up, he was at a loss. Can he forgive dad. Maybe. After all, he has left home, he wants to live the life he wants, and he knows that there is no loop in life.
2017, 4, 21
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