The new film "Let Them Say It" directed by the famous director Steven Soderbergh recently went online exclusively on Warner Bros.'s streaming platform HBO Max. The cast of the film seems to be the rhythm of the Austrian, Aunt May plus two other experienced actors at the same time, Diane West (Best Supporting Actress, "Bullets Fly on Broadway") and Candice Burr Root (missing a golden man), plus two young but talented actors Chen Jiama and Lucas Hedges.
The story of the movie is extremely simple. In one sentence, a writer named Alice played by Aunt Mei took her three guests (two old friends from college and her nephew) on a boat from New York to the UK to receive one. The story of an award commended by an author. Movies, with the exception of brain-burning films, the main storyline of most feature films should be summed up in one sentence. If they can't be summed up in one sentence, then they are bad films.
Since the film was launched, it has received a lot of criticism. The audience felt that such a cast lineup came out with such a boring film. But in my opinion, this film is quite interesting, and it's worth taking a long time. I think this film is more like an experimental work by the director. The whole film was shot on the Queen Mary cruise ship. It only took two weeks. The director took a few actors and took the real ship. Went from the United States to the United Kingdom. Because of the effective shooting conditions on board, the entire film was basically shot by Steven Soderberg with his own handheld. Many of the moving shots were completed by himself while sitting in a wheelchair. As for the actors, the challenge is even greater. 70% of the dialogue in the film is done by the actors in the form of impromptu dialogues based on the script outline. It is a large number of impromptu dialogue performances. After the shooting is completed every day, the director will edit part of the material himself to reshape the integrity of the story.
For me, most of the time I watch feature films are actually the role modeling in movies. From this perspective, I personally like this work quite a bit. The characters in the movie must be full and can allude to the real people in our real life to be considered successful. Let me explain my understanding of the three characters created by the three old drama bones in "Let them talk":
The first is the writer Alice portrayed by Aunt Mei. When the film comes up, Karen, played by her manager, Jiama Chen, discusses with her about going to the UK to accept the award and asking her about her next work. It is not difficult to see that Alice is a one. A successful writer, and later mentioned in the film that one of her novels won the Pulitzer Prize, the highest award in literature. As for Alice, she was very afraid of flying, so Karen suggested that she could take the boat to the UK to receive the award. She agreed and said that she would take her two friends, Roberta and Susan, together, just to take the opportunity to reunite. She also asked to bring his nephew Tyler along with him. In addition, there was a mysterious guest. It was finally revealed that it was Alice's personal doctor because she had been suffering from health problems and eventually died in the UK as a result. Everyone has a motivation to do everything. I guess the reasons for Alice’s choice of these few people can actually be seen. Although she is successful on the surface, the price of success may be that she has no credible relatives and friends around her, she is unmarried, and has no children under her knees. Her nephew is regarded as her son, and her two old friends may be the best definition of friendship in her mind. Her character is a bit arrogant and arrogant, and the outside world recognizes her success, then she thinks she is amazing and talented! And look down on some other people, this is also reflected on the ship. Although Alice invited two friends on the boat together, except for breakfast every day, she rarely gathers with them because she has told them in advance that she wants to write. During several meals in the film, they met another writer, Kelvin Kranz, a writer who specializes in suspense novels. Alice did not recognize him, but Roberta and Susan had read many of his works and were obsessed with him. In Alice's view, suspense novels are just literalization of "puzzles" and cannot be regarded as "talented". In a conversation between her and Kelvin, she asked Kelvin how long it would take to write a book. , Kelvin said three months, Alice said sarcastically: I thought one month would be enough. Jealousy became "arrogant", she had difficulty admitting the success of others, and she was extremely insecure.
Secondly, let's look at Alice's two friends again. They decided to go on board with her to the UK because they really missed the friendship they once had, and they came to reunite. In fact, it is not. The film tells us very quickly that the reason why Roberta got on the boat is because he wants Alice's apology and money. Why is this? At the beginning of the film, we know that Roberta is doing sales in a Dallas department store. She is the most unsuccessful of the three women. She attributed it all to her unfortunate marriage. And she felt that the novel in which Alice won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature was the direct cause of the end of her marriage, because she felt that the protagonist in Alice's novel was written based on her own story, and that his ex-husband used this novel when she got divorced. The evidence has dealt with her. So she not only wanted Alice to admit this when she got on the boat, but more importantly, if Alice publishes a sequel to this novel, she needs to be divided. In this way, when we look back at Alice's motivation for inviting two friends, it may not be so pure to want to reunite, to regain the friendship many years ago, and to continue to dig from Roberta to write a book. While on the boat, Roberta spent most of her time "hunting for beauty", and the emptiness in her heart desperately needed another person to help her fill it up. She has been relying on others for her life, not a self-driven person.
Finally, look at the role of Susan. She is a lawyer who specializes in helping women trapped in domestic violence. During the whole journey, she spent most of the time with Roberta. Regarding the drama between Alice and Roberta, Susan actually chose a neutral attitude. At the end of the film, she actually became a writer. She and Kelvin, the suspense novelist she met on board, are writing a new suspense novel together. I think to Susan, Alice may be the person Susan has always longed to be, but she doesn't like her in her heart and despise her. And Susan is the most common type of person in life. The grass on the wall falls with the wind, the wind turns the rudder, and the left bank watches the fire. In fact, she has no loyalty to anyone, no real friends.
The friendship of the three women may be a portrayal of many triangles of friendship in our reality, competing with each other, comparing and using them. Human nature, the real dark part is that we are all selfish, after all, we are all thinking about our own interests. But at the same time, we are endowed with self-control by ethics, how much we have the ability to control the erosion of the dark side of our human nature, so that competition, comparison, and use become mutual assistance. Our whole life is to compete, compete with everyone, compete with ourselves. Occasionally I want to say that it is good to have no desires, but just think about it. After a while, the dark side of my heart will return.
Actually, life is not black and white, everyone understands this. But what kind of life is considered a successful life, everyone has their own opinions and standards. Make the most money? The most successful career? The happiest family? The happiest heart? Even traveled around the world? Have all the limited edition bags? ... There is no fixed answer, really, let them say it, let us live.
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