As soon as Toto's voice-over appeared, it showed the traces of Jaco Van Dormael's style. Like the voice-over voice at the beginning of "The Eighth Day" that is authentic on the first and second days of God’s creation, "Hero Toto" describes the child poetically with a narration that combines the voices of Little Toto and Old Toto. His birth and childhood life in his memories:
"A long time ago, a little thing came from an unknown place. Then quack fell and splashed. A man on a big boat found him and took him to his parents. By his side. This is the story his mother told him. Then he saw his parents. They told him that his name was Thomas Van Naspork. That’s how it happened. His mother called him'baby'.' Baby’ used to love singing: “Fireman, come on, the house is on fire, it’s not me who set the fire, it’s the little man who set the fire.” Then his mother will dance. After the cold, the taste is very interesting. Mom's smell is better than that of Dad. When she hits her, she will shout loudly. Pull the cat's tail and it will also bark. Only airplanes can’t bark, you can throw it to the ground Just step on a few feet. In the morning, my father will kiss my mother, and my mother will kiss her baby again. Her baby is me."
"In the morning, my father will walk to the door. When you ran to see, He is gone, he is going to work. In the evening, he opened the door. He was behind the door before, but you just can't see him. Dad is fun, he likes to hide, so you can't find it."
"At night, You can't see anything if you can't see your five fingers. When the cats die, they can't see anything. They just lie down quietly, just like that..."
At the beginning of the film, Toto’s childhood life was represented by selecting a few special and poetic images. The camera rack was placed at a very low height to take pictures of the smiling faces of his parents, as well as the bright colors and relaxed style, all of a sudden. Caught me. And when my father sang "Boom Rumble" on the piano, it naturally reminded me of the song in "The Eighth Day" that George would always hear when he was immersed in a beautiful fantasy. The tune was also the same. Brisk and nostalgic. In Toto's memory, this song symbolizes the happiness and joy of his family before the death of his father and sister, and he has never had such carefree. Until he escaped from the nursing home and got on a truck, and heard the driver whistling a long-lost tune, the illusion of his father and sister singing together appeared before his eyes. At that time, his wrinkled and vicissitudes of life face opened up. Smile like a child. I had an urge to cry when I saw his father died, lost his sister, and his love with Evelyn. When I saw this, I couldn't help but burst out. I thought that maybe it was this song and the beauty of those childhood memories that made him suddenly change his mind and made the last unexpected decision. .
The song appeared again at the end. As the ashes were spilled from the plane, Toto's laughter—a fusion of old and young laughs—reverberated in the air. Here the director used a camera completely perpendicular to the ground, perhaps the world that Toto saw in the air. Later, when the singing sounded, the camera returned to the ground. Following the brisk rhythm, those happily running chickens, ducks, and leisurely cows appeared one by one in Toto's laughter. Then I just listened to Little Toto's lovely voice saying: That's it. That's it. The ending was very happy, but when I heard this melody, I couldn't help crying again. The director said in the essay attached to the disc, “His life may have been a failure, but his death was a success. Even if someone dies in the film, I still hope it will be a happy ending. To some extent, he His death is the best day of his life.” Only through these words did I understand the director’s way of handling the ending with a smile. Just like in "The Eighth Day", the movie did not end in George’s death, but instead allowed us to see the changes after Xia Li, and to see the improvement in his relationship with his family and the world, leaving us sad and sad. After that, we can still see some warmth and hope.
Recently, I have been watching at least one movie a day. But it's been a long time since I was so heartily moved by a good movie. The filming notes on the disc were also directed by him. It lasted nearly 60 minutes and talked a lot about the process of his script creation and filming. The shooting and editing were very smooth, and it gave me a lot of inspiration. I checked the information of Jaco Van Dormael and found that "Hero Toto" was his feature film debut in 1991, and he did not shoot "The Eighth Day" five years later. Except for Mr. Nobody, who is still in production, he has only filmed these two feature films so far. It can be said that each is a masterpiece of accumulation and painstaking effort. I have always admired all-talent directors who are screenwriters and directors. Apart from von Dommel, Iwai Shunji, Wong Kar-wai, and Lai Shengchuan are my favorites, although their styles and talent tendencies are very different. I have always dreamed of being such a person, whether through music, text or film language, I just hope to have my own stage to express my thoughts on the world and express what I think is imperfect. world.
I look forward to this new work by Jaco Van Dormael. You can't go wrong.
View more about Toto le héros reviews
