"Dating Story" as a youth film with the theme of self-identification of the gay group is actually not new. Except for the recent "Love, Simon", the "Handsome Devil" starring fion in 2016 is actually the same. An Irish youth film about self-identity, and four years later, he also used his superb acting skills to create a neurotic, depressed and distressing boy Eddie for us.
"Dating Story" is set in a rural town in Ireland in the 1990s. Although homosexuality was decriminalized in Ireland in 1993, the influence of religion is still very strong and stubborn. All students must watch the boycott of homosexuality. It is an educational film about behavior, and revealing one's gay identity in this small town also means facing almost everyone's advice and even malice. Straight couple, and the story also unfolds. At first, the two went very well, but after two experiences in city bars and amber met Sarah, who he loves, they finally chose to come out, and the fake couple relationship between the two was also due to this. At the end of the film, the brave amber bravely encouraged Eddie who was hiding in the closet to give up and choose to run away and gave Eddie the 2,000 pounds he had saved. Eddie finally plucked up the courage and chose to run away.
In fact, if you want to strictly examine the plot, the plot of "Dating Story" is slightly loose, and the plot of Amber's mother accepting Amber's lesbian identity so quickly is indeed a bit deliberate and very functional.
Although the plot may not be brilliant, "Dating Story" has done a really good job in the characterization of Eddie and amber. Eddie, the male protagonist in the closet, has been burdened with the heavy burden of inheriting his father's business since he was a child, and he is constantly suffering for his father's expectations. Training, holding back his father's majestic eyes and sometimes sudden tears, facing an environment where homosexuality is almost guaranteed to be ridiculed by everyone, he does his best to suppress his own nature and limbs, making himself rigid and closed. Locking myself in a closet in fear, afraid of others thinking of myself as "glass" (a disparaging term for homosexuality), even afraid of hearing the word "gay" and constantly brainwashing myself to want to really like amber, but his His nature continued to linger in his mind again, and he tortured himself in pain, while drawing out his own desires, while denying himself with non-stop writing.
The heroine, Amber, is more mature. She hates Oasis, likes to talk about Beauvoir excitedly, and raises the middle finger to everyone who points her. As the movie progresses, she has a clearer understanding of herself. The male protagonist, after meeting Sarah, she became more and more active. From the beginning, she made money by renting venues for boys and girls in heat, and finally saved up a pizza box full of 2,000 pounds. She originally planned She relied on this money to escape this suffocating town, but she did not leave at the end of the film, because she no longer wanted to escape to protect herself, she was confident enough and loved herself enough, even in such a small town, she would never leave. You can continue to live peacefully.
So even though at the end of the film, I will be moved by the friendship between Eddie and Amber. Amber is the best person Eddie has ever met in his adolescence. She struggles to hold Eddie back and keep him from falling into the abyss of loss and pain. Let Eddie accept him, and hand over his heavy 2,000 pounds to Eddie. Yes, it's all heartwarming, but unfortunately, I wish Eddie could choose to be himself even without the £2,000. Because a person is willing to accept his own courage, should be far greater than the weight of 2000 pounds.
But aside from some regrets, I still like this movie, whether it's the director's concise presentation of the background of the times and the family background of the male protagonist through radio and TV at the beginning, or the lighting design in the two bar scenes: the first One was the gentle embrace of the male protagonist and the drag queen. The brightness of the light at this time was quite high, giving people a dream-like unreal feeling.
In another nightclub scene, the alternation of green light and blue light when the male protagonist dances with passers-by is also quite interesting, especially when the male protagonist suddenly finds that a friend he knows is also present, the faces under the blue light captured by the camera look very panicked .
At the same time, it is worth mentioning that the laughing points of this film are all embarrassing scenes. For example, when the male protagonist hears the teacher whom he has a crush on saying that I understand your feelings, he kisses the teacher directly. The teacher is surprised and shouts at himself. He is straight and has 30 years of mortgage to pay back with his wife.
In the end, "Dating Story" is a good youth comedy, and the heroine amber is also a representative of those beautiful people in youth films, just like the role played by Andrew Scott in "Handsome Devil", like "Half Sincere" Paul in "Solution", they accompany us in our youth, feel the throbbing and sadness with us, they look into our eyes and tell us over and over again, "Everything will be fine, it will be fine! It will definitely be." , of course, in real life, we may not meet someone like them, nor get a pizza box with 2000 pounds to help us escape, but I still hope that everyone, even if Without the help of others, you can not give up, love with courage and tolerance, and go to the sun at every stage of your life to be your truest self.
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