But it would be a big mistake for anyone to classify this 83-year-old film as mediocre based on their knowledge of that show.
The director of the film is Francis Ford Coppola, who worked on the "Godfather" trilogy and "Apocalypse Now." Novel and screenplay by SE Hinton, author of The Outsiders. Coppola asked Hinton after filming The Little Godfather, do you have any novels left? Hinton said, I just finished a "Betta fish" that no one can understand, you can watch it. After reading the novel, Coppola praised Hinton, saying it was amazing, and even used Greek mythology.
Coppola does not specify what Greek mythology is. I'm guessing referring to the end of the Odyssey. Odyssey went on an expedition to Troy with the Greek army, and returned to his homeland ten years later. His friends from the past thought he was dead, and took his throne and robbed his wife. His son has always regarded his father as an idol, but now his idol has collapsed, and he doesn't know what to do.
In "Betta Fish," 17-year-old James adores his older brother, the motorcycle boy. The motorcycle boy used to be a street hero in a small town, the leader of the gangster, fighting, billiards, picking girls, and motorcycles. There is nothing he can't do well, he is omnipotent. By the time the movie begins, the motorcycle boy has left the town and is rehabilitated. James becomes the new gang leader. He forbids people to mention Biker Kid in front of him, and on the other hand imitates Biker Kid everywhere.
And then the motorcycle boy came back. James wanted his brother to come back, but the motorcycle boy just shrugged his shoulders and smiled indifferently. He took James to the pet store and showed James the betta fish. Betta fish are colorful, but Moto Boy can't see the color. Betta fish are aggressive by nature, and will attack each other when they see the same kind, and even attack their own shadow in the mirror. The motorcycle boy said that maybe they just lived in too narrow a space, what if they were allowed to return to the natural river?
At the end of the movie, the motorcycle boy attacked the pet store, snatched the betta, and put the betta into a real river. He had James get on his motorcycle and walk down the river to the sea.
The motorcycle boy is a very tragic character. His mother had deserted them, and his father had succumbed to his own depravity. He couldn't identify with his father, but he couldn't leave his father, and to make matters worse, he wasn't much better than his father. Despite his omnipotence, he couldn't find what he was desperately trying to do. His father said the motorcycle boy was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Others say he is an exiled prince. In a small town, all the motorcycle boy can do is to lead the punks into fights and troubles, symbolizing a betrayal of traditional values and established order, with an anarchic overtone. But where this rebellion might lead him in the end, he had no idea. It was just a "rebel for no reason". However, drugs began to invade gang organizations, and the rebellion was no longer without cause, but driven by profit. This is already contrary to the original intention of the motorcycle boy, so he can only leave on a motorcycle.
Motorcycle is a very important prop. He reminds us of the protagonists in road movies like Easy Rider. Since the 1960s, angry youths have driven their motorcycles on the road. Mercedes-Benz is both an escape and a pursuit. What the motorcycle boy was trying to escape was the colorless town, where he was omnipotent, but he could only lead a group of gangsters to do nothing. So, he left town and rode his motorcycle to California, a sunny place. But he didn't find the sea in the end, so he had to go back to his hometown and live with his drunken father.
James symbolizes the generation after the knights. He no longer rebelled for freedom like his older brother. His rebellion was only to succeed his brother. After his elder brother broke down, he had to prove that his elder brother was worthy and that his elder brother existed. His father was an alcoholic, and life was better than death. So he transplanted his affection for his father to his brother. But this brother also collapsed.
Moto Boy has a goal but doesn't know how to do it. James has been doing it without a goal of his own.
When the motorcycle boy resisted the order for the last time to steal the fighting fish, he was killed by the defenders of the order, and the crowd gathered around his body. The camera gradually moved away and saw different people exclaiming and exclaiming that the motorcycle boy was dead. This passage has a strong sense of form and is clearly a libertarian elegy. And at the end of the shot, James can be seen riding his motorcycle away, suggesting that the liberals will keep going.
And the last shot of the movie, the silhouette of James riding a motorcycle before the sea, also gives us hope. The failure of the motorcycle boy will not necessarily repeat itself, and the ocean of freedom can be reached after all.
Douyu is a very American movie. Yet about liberals, or angry youth, their failures and legacy have universal implications. Our previous generation also fought and bleed for freedom and ideals, but ended in failure. Our world still stinks. However, not all of them are rotten, and there are still people who keep going.
The film language of Douyu is very special. The entire film is almost black and white, and the town also has a shabby atmosphere. It makes the movie look very old. However, the lens of the movie is very sharp. Looking at the first few shots of the movie, the angle changes, whizzing by and full of tension.
Throughout the film, the images are in black and white, only Douyu has extremely bright colors, which vividly seem to jump outside the image and live in this mediocre world. At the end of the film, James finally sees his coloured face in the mirror, a very clear indication of the birth of a new generation of liberals.
IMDB score of 6.9 (5039 votes), I give it a 9.
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