(Text / Yang Shiyang)
Guilt and repentance have become one of the most prominent themes in Wang Xiaoshuai's recent films. For Chinese films, such an important proposition has been absent for a long time. In the previous episode of "The Intruder", Wang Xiaoshuai aimed the camera at the murder of others and self-gnawing caused by history and the system. He wrapped this into a slightly suspenseful story. After seemingly losing its strength and hiding for many years, the poisoned arrow suddenly shot into the current life, letting the parties know that the torture of conscience has always existed, and repentance is the only way out. If "Intruder" focuses on writing history, injuries and regrets in sports, then "Long Time" takes everything a step further while maintaining this theme, forming a more complex multi-voice narrative. From this point of view, it is by no means just about "losing one's loneliness".
This is a very Chinese story, with a Chinese-style narrative tone and a Chinese-style sophistication. It involves the good and evil of the human heart, the positive and negative aspects of oriental forbearance, the evil of individuals, the tragedy of the system, the relationship between history and time, hatred and The deepening, purification, or diminution of repentance. On the surface, it is an individual narrative of the two families from friendship, separation to reunion, stirring up the dust of the vicissitudes of the decades since their birth, but behind this so-called civilian epic, hidden under the torrent of life It is the root of the true strength of this story—repentance, moral weight, and—conscience. It's all of this that really drives the story and keeps it taut. Few Chinese films are willing to face up to repentance and conscience. This abstract intellectualized concept has an anachronistic coldness and old rust in the tide of consumerism. But these two concepts are closely related to our lives and are the root and core of multiple problems today. Even if people deliberately avoid it, don't talk about it, and only rely on time to wash away the past, in fact, there is no experience of repentance and conscience. Tortured, many memories of the past will not be diluted but will be strengthened.
"Long Time" begins with the accidental death of a child. The accident caused Yaojun, Liyun, Yingming, and Haiyan to fall into unspeakable pain and a bewildered relationship. Yaojun and Liyun themselves He was exiled to a small southern town to escape from the world. Time has changed, and several friends in the factory have moved forward. The children grow up, they grow old, and they reunite in the twilight of their lives. As a child, Haohao finally opens his mouth to tell the truth of the year. Sitting in that small old house, facing the old furniture that was sealed by time, facing the once young and immature face in the photo, what Haohao did was actually repentance. The best playmate of the year, because of his vanity and inexplicable childish emotions, drowned in the reservoir. In the setting of the story, Yaojun and Liyun already knew everything and chose to forgive. However, the torture of conscience can only be truly ended if the perpetrator himself takes the initiative to tell everything. Sometimes the punishment does not come from external discipline, but the harshest part comes from the deep inside and never stops biting.
People will notice all kinds of symbols related to collective memory in "Long Time", in fact, the time flow represented by all is just the surface coating of the story, and the deep structure and carefully hidden themes below it. That's where the power lies. The child is the core of this story. It begins with the child's untimely death and ends with the arrival of a new life, completing a vast closed loop. There are actually more than one child who died in this story. The star drowning in the reservoir was an explicit death, and the two hidden deaths were even more cruel and intriguing. One was the embryo created by Liyun's flow of people, and the other was the accident of Yaojun and Yingming's sister having a one-night affair, which was also abandoned in the end. One died from the evil of the individual's unconscious, the other died from the evil of the system, and the other died from the indescribable helpless choice after the faint flicker of the human heart. The three deaths kinked together, creating a festering wound that was difficult to heal.
And these few death interactions, after many years, gradually brewed completely different consequences. The drowning of a star seems tragic, and it is the beginning of everything, but in comparison, it is the easiest to be diluted by time. More and more painful. The most painful part of all this came to the two mothers inextricably, Liyun, the mother who lost two children, and Haiyan, the mother of Haohao. Haiyan's son killed the other's son, and he The name of the system killed the other's second child who had not yet been born. Haiyan's self-blame began to superimpose and ferment, and it evolved into an unspeakable nightmare that couldn't be shaken off. Years later, Haiyan burst into tears, what death did she regret for? Perhaps it was more because of her tough stance when she learned that the other party was pregnant with a second child. Until now, has she been able to figure out what caused all this? What role did you play in it? Are you a chess player or a pawn? Now that she has the opportunity, can she face her confession like her son did?
In this story, two generations have chosen different ways to deal with remorse. The parents, after being overwhelmed, instinctively choose to avoid, escape, and give everything to time, while the children's generation, when Haohao grows up, grows up At the age of his parents, he decided to repent face to face. This is progress. But behind this progress, another cruel tone is revealed. We can repent of those individual, explicit, and accidental injuries, but there is still no one willing to repent for the deeper, systemic evil. and responsibility. Haiyan was in a lot of pain during her lifetime, but she couldn't say a straight apology when she put it in Liyun's ear when she was dying. Still instinctively excuse it, and blame it on the helplessness of the unspeakable times. It may still be a superficial evil that we dare to profess our repentance. In this story, everyone's fate has been arbitrarily kneaded by an invisible but ubiquitous hand, but no one can question it.
Things roll forward. People look forward to forgetting all the absurdities and unbearable things before, and the newly built new buildings were severely beaten in the name of lewdness because of dancing. If they saw the ambiguous neon lights hanging up in their tube towers, would they only sigh, and those who brought him to justice? What do you think? The violent family planning officers rushed to a husband who just wanted to protect his wife and children. Where are those people now, and what are they doing? They have all thought about what kind of part they played in what kind of system.
When repenting, Haohao said that guilt is like a big tree growing in his body, growing all the time and trying to break himself, so he chose to speak out, regardless of the cost. But how many people around us hide a tree that is constantly catalyzed by guilt. Those people are unreasonably irritable, twisted, and make inexplicable actions. In many cases, it is because of the stinging pain in the body. But they don't know how to deal with the pressure from morality and the pressure of conscience.
Wang Xiaoshuai is willing to arrange a soothing ending for this story. The new born comes, the adopted son returns, and the couple who have suffered all their lives find their son's perfunctory tombstone standing in the decaying weeds and complete a relief. This is the soul that can finally be comforted. What about souls that don't even have tombstones? Will they float forever? They are waiting for more voices of repentance to comfort them.
(The first Tencent column, unauthorized reprinting is strictly prohibited)
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