First published on the public account "Detective"
ID: ttyingtan
Author: small detective
Please indicate the source
The story takes place in a small town called "Squawhermish".
Chu Yili (Ellie Chu), the town's only Asian girl.
On the surface, she looks unremarkable and is alone;
In the mainland, he is a super scholar , a literary master of the school generation, and the dawn of the poor students in the whole class.
Make some extra money by writing papers for others, the money is good and the quality is high.
Not only take into account the studies, but also help the family to subsidize the family.
Riding a bicycle between school and home every day, although there are no surprises in life, it can be considered a pleasure.
But one day, the appearance of a boy disrupted her peaceful life.
Paul, a dumb straight man of steel.
He came to Ellie for a very strange reason.
Not for cheating, but because he took a fancy to a girl.
I want to write letters to others, but I can't do it myself.
Therefore, Xueba Ellie became a life-saving straw in his eyes.
Originally, Ellie was reluctant, but Naihe's family owed electricity bills for three months, so she had to take this errand.
Facts have proved that this money is really not so easy to make.
At least it's much harder than ghostwriting.
It's not that Ellie's ability is not good, it's just that his teammates are too straight.
With Ellie's efforts, she finally established a good impression with the goddess and formed a correspondence in letters.
But Paul's first date with the goddess poured cold water on this layer of goodwill.
In an instant, everything returned to before liberation.
But just when the two were exhausted, a text message from the goddess rekindled their hopes.
This time, they changed their play.
Obviously, it is not a problem to communicate with the goddess to increase goodwill, but to change this big straight man is the top priority.
So, Ellie decided to help Paul with a surprise study for three weeks.
The method is simple.
First spy on the goddess to find out what she likes.
Then prescribe the right medicine, and focus on tutoring for Paul according to the goddess's preferences.
As for the story behind, I don’t believe I will tell you, everyone can guess.
That's right, with the daily interaction, Paul gradually fell in love with Ellie who helped him chase the goddess;
But it is estimated that everyone did not expect that Ellie actually fell in love with the goddess;
As for the goddess, she seems to be in love with Paul.
But maybe, she likes Ellie again.
A "ring love triangle" was formed.
dog blood?
If it is someone else to shoot, it is very likely to fall into the routine of dog blood.
Fortunately, the screenwriter and director are Wu Siwei.
Who is Wu Siwei?
Graduated from Stanford University with a master's degree in computer science, used to be a software engineer at Microsoft.
He resigned halfway through and switched careers to become a screenwriter and director.
After 5 years of hard work, I made the first movie in my life - "Face".
Once released, it became a dark horse.
Not only did it receive unanimous praise, it was even known as the lesbian version of "The Wedding Banquet".
Because of this, some people use "Li An's successor" to describe her.
However, I personally think this evaluation is somewhat overrated.
But there is no denying that she is indeed an amazing director.
The film "Face" was adapted from her experience growing up in the Chinese-American community and coming out to her mother.
So with a certain autobiographical color.
The film uses the love of the two heroines as the main line, with the unexpected pregnancy of Xiaowei (one of the heroines), and the shortness of the parents of Chinese families...
Discusses the issue of face rooted in the bones of the Chinese.
Because of their lesbian status, the two heroines can only start an underground romance under pressure;
For the sake of her family's face, Xiaowei's mother can only choose to marry someone she doesn't love.
The other characters in the film also have their own knots for the sake of face, and I don't know when they can be unraveled.
Wu Siwei used delicate brush and ink to describe the distress that almost all Chinese people have experienced.
At the same time, she used her own story to unravel the hearts of all audiences.
She reasoned, but did not preach.
It makes people want to understand a truth from the bottom of their hearts-
All the knots in the heart are just to suffer the sins of life.
And no matter how big the face is, it is not as important as a sentence "I love you".
16 years ago, she used a Virgo to tell a beautiful love story and unravel the difficult knots in everyone's heart.
16 years later, she once again handed in a satisfactory answer.
This time, it was still so delicate.
The characters are gradually full of details.
For example, the goddess mentioned above - Esther.
About her story, the film does not give too much intuitive narrative.
But through her back-and-forth letters with Ellie, her story and character become clear.
It turned out that although she was the goddess next door in the eyes of others, she was not happy.
In front of people, she will play the role of the good daughter of the family, the good girlfriend of the rich second generation, and the so-called good best friend.
But after people, she didn't like herself like this.
Such a boring life also makes her often feel lonely and can't find a friend who has a common language.
She longed for individuality, longed for freedom, but never had the courage to say no.
Therefore, after receiving the first letter, she will choose to reply.
To put it bluntly, this is a soul bound by reality and longing for freedom.
There is also the role of Paul , which is also vividly portrayed in the details.
That's one of the reasons the movie was so successful.
In the past, in films with Ji Qing as the main line, male characters were often reduced to foils, or even cannon fodder.
But this movie is the exact opposite.
At the beginning, he gave the impression of being a fool, a standard steel straight man.
No heart, no meaning.
Even if he likes girls, it is only because of their beautiful appearance.
But look down and you'll see that this guy turned out to be a hidden treasure boy.
When others bully Ellie, he will stand up;
When Ellie is in a dilemma, he will save the scene in time.
Don't look at his silly appearance, but his heart is full of positive energy.
He is persistent, and even if no one is there, he always believes that the taco sausage he created will explode;
He is optimistic, and even if he encounters a wall many times, he will not give up any hope;
He is also not superficial, so he slowly fell in love with Ellie in the process of getting along.
In a way, this movie also counts as a big boy growing up.
As for Ellie, it is even more deeply portrayed.
In front of her family, she is a little adult who can carry everything ;
In front of the person she likes, she is the soul mate who can walk into the heart ;
In front of her friends, she is the most sincere partner and the most reliable backing.
Although sometimes she is confused, helpless, sad...
But she always seems to have an inexhaustible energy in her heart, and this energy will make all the haze take a detour.
In fact, it is not difficult to see that this movie also hides some of Wu Siwei's careful thoughts.
Or rather, this is another autobiographical film about her.
First of all, the protagonist's name is Ellie Chu , which is called "Ellie Chu" in English .
If you read the English name quickly, it finally sounds like Wu Siwei's English name "Alice Wu".
Moreover, director Wu in reality and Ellie in the film are almost exactly the same in terms of dress and personality.
There is also a photo of Ellie's mother in the film, which is actually Chen Chong who plays Xiaowei's mother in "Face" .
So when watching this movie, you can also see a little bit of "face".
Only this time, Wu Siwei's handling of feelings is more delicate.
She talks about family affection without too many stories.
every move;
each line;
They all hide the deepest love in the family.
She talks about friendship, not about big things.
The small daily life is full of emotion.
Ellie secretly writes to Paul to promote taco sausages, and Paul understands and supports Ellie's choice.
Once, watching the male protagonist chasing the train on TV, Ellie would feel that the male protagonist is old-fashioned and the female protagonist is an idiot;
But when Paul ran after the train, she turned and burst into tears.
When she talks about love, she doesn't say I love you the whole time, but there are pink bubbles everywhere.
Like Ellie's feelings for Esther.
In fact, as early as in the choir, Ellie's eyes were already inseparable from Esther.
So when Paul just asked her to write a letter, she refused.
And when I met Esther in the corridor, the deer ran into it and was speechless.
And Esther seems to have some kind of unspeakable feelings for Ellie.
In the toilet, Esther's tacit smile stirred every nerve of the viewer.
The candor in the hot spring is full of provocation.
The screen is full of emotions.
She also talks about growth and life.
There is still not a trace of preaching, but people are touched from the heart.
She firmly believes that life should not be defined, and inspires us to be brave.
The way is sometimes down-to-earth-
Like Paul's taco sausage, you'll never know how delicious it is until you taste the first bite;
Sometimes poetic--
Like that crucial stroke, we would never have known we could make such a wonderful painting if we hadn't been brave enough to paint that stroke.
She made us understand a truth -
Youth is always accompanied by stings, and these stings do not stop us from loving.
Love doesn't have to be perfect.
It can have nothing to do with patience, friendliness, modesty;
It can be a mess, both horrific and selfish.
But at the same time, it is also bold.
Love is not about finding the perfect other half, but about trying, pursuing, and failing.
Love is willing to destroy the best paintings in exchange for the opportunity to paint better works.
So is our life.
In the face of life, never walk meekly into that good night.
Instead, breathe, feel, love, hurt, regret...
In the process, you may be injured and scab;
But the wounds that have been suffered will eventually become the gift of life with the passage of time;
The scabs that have formed will also become invisible armor in the future;
And the love and warmth that comes with the tingling is eternal.
Text/Small Investigator
View more about The Half of It reviews
