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Brazil is similar to China, with rich and poor polarities. Although the system is different, the various forms of society presented are very similar.
Kleber Mendoza Jr.'s debut film "The Sound of the House" (2012) is my favorite film. He previously worked on "The Key" (2008). As a film critic, he integrates editing, directing, and filming. It can be said that he is a complete author of the film.
This "Aquarius" (2016) was listed as one of the ten best films of the year in "Cinebook" (although it is listed, don't be superstitious, otherwise it will limit the viewing horizon). Indeed, "Aquarius" has its own uniqueness and won the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the 32nd American Film Independent Spirit Awards. Just like "The Sound of the House", it is all related to the people in the building or the house.
"The Sound of the House" is about the usual and tangled entanglements between property security managers and residents. These various residents are confined to the building, their joys, sorrows and sorrows, and their ignorance of hard work , Even the barking of a dog can make him anxious and unable to sleep. It's a pity that the second half of "The Sound of the House" is a bit flawed, too entangled in revenge, otherwise, it would be a perfect film. This is my overall impression of "The Sound of the House".
Obviously, "Aquarius" is better than "The Sound of the House", as is most of the daily flowing state of "The Sound of the House", which is the pleasing part. The film presents Clark's spiritual history in the form of chapters, consisting of three chapters: "Clara's Hair, Clara's Love, and Clara's Cancer".
The role of Sonia Blaga in Clark's old drama is vivid and revitalized, and I even feel that she has a kind of dedication in the interpretation of this role. While this is a must for a professional actor, not every actor can do it, especially an older actor.
The prelude reappears in the early 1980s, located in Recife, Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil (the sixth largest city in Brazil and the director's hometown), when the night was fading, Clark, a music critic, and his brother Antonio and his sister-in-law The trio drove to the Boavia waterfront and played tapes listening to Queen's pop songs. Then back home, husband Adalberto stood on the balcony waiting. Because this night, they have to celebrate the birthday of their 70-year-old aunt Lucia. Lucia was the woman Clark admired most.
Clark's children have successively expressed their admiration for the aunt Lucia. This old aunt, a female college student in the 1930s, a new woman, keeps up with the trend of the times, but flashes back to the exciting scene of love and love with her husband when she was young. The old aunt said that I missed Augustus who had been dead for 5 years. What a joyous time it is when relatives and friends gather together, Qin se and Ming. Clark said that after our family went through a difficult 1979, we finally made it through, and the family of four was really happy.
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The years passed, and Clark jumped into reality. He was nearly 70 years old and had undergone a right breast surgery. Her husband had passed away for 17 years. Enjoying her old age, she has multiple recipes for dispelling loneliness. Music is her eternal emotional comfort. She will take out the old record released in December 1980, and tell that it is her lost record "Double Fantasy". And a wonderful return to the story in her hands. It was the eve of John Lennon's shooting, and the Los Angeles Times ran a story about it.
She is immersed in these old records, soothing these old days, as if she has touched a pair of warm but dead hands. Music carries her life and comforts her soul. But she doesn't reject modern digital music, only that she prefers the scenes on these discs.
She goes to the beach for swimming every day, and the training on the spiritual revolution of "Le Haha" is carried out on the beach as usual. More than 30 years ago, the lonely life of aunt Lucia continued to Clark. Her life was so similar and lonely, but she was as elegant as Lucia.
Clara was furious at the developer's forced relocation, but we don't seem to see the slightest bit of displeasure in Clark and enough to hit her to make her sad. She has enough mental protection, and she has enough mental barriers to resist external invasion. The apartment she was in was evacuated, and the old developer Sue Gerardo brought her grandson Diego to negotiate the acquisition of her apartment, which was called the "Aquarius" renovation plan. She asked what the apartment used to be called. Atlantic Plaza residential area. She coldly refused the persuasion of the grandfather and grandson.
After closing the door, a printed matter with "Aquarius" was inserted through the crack of the door, and it was pushed out again and again. The film directly hits the theme. What role does an individual play in the shadows of society and standing buildings? His habits are controlled, his destiny is dominated, or it is completely changed. In fact, this is what everyone will face with the evolution of time. problem.
Clark has lived in the apartment for nearly half a century. She is used to everything here, but now that external forces want to change her habits, she must choose where to go. At the same time, she was disturbed and abused by the relocated households of the former neighbors, because she obstructed their "reconstruction" plan and affected their lives. She can tear up the "Aquarius" plan, but countless eyes are staring at her. She can be seen without seeing it, but it is impossible not to make waves, it is just that she is not exposed.
Just like when she attended an old friend's open-air party, the love that she had been expecting fell from the sky, an old handsome man who was widowed just like her, danced gracefully and made out in the car. When she was told that her right breast was missing, the other party slowly got up and said I'll take you home. What should go will always go, and what should come will certainly come. She really doesn't care. She is still playing the disc, listening to old songs from more than 40 years ago, dancing solo dance, she is really a heartless and lovely old lady.
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Diego, the rich second generation, is fully responsible for the development of "Aquarius". He said that he has entrusted it to a construction company, claiming that he is a decent person, and he is a reasonable person after studying in the United States, but the building is empty, and you are left, Clark. , you are a literate person, why don't you think about your children, I will protect our interests at all costs.
Clark is irritated, don't bring it up to my children, it has nothing to do with them, I used to think that the poor are uneducated, it seems that the most uneducated are you elites who claim to be highly educated and rich, but you have to convince me , unless you let me die.
Of course, Diego can only represent the interests of the developer. He privately instructed people to deliberately throw sex parties next to Clark, throw feces at her house, burn mattresses downstairs and sneak white ants into the dirtiest of all, in order to get a little bit more Eclipse empties her apartment. How similar this is to what is happening in our country. Developers with deep pockets always do what they want.
In fact, Clark's children really came to ask about the apartment and worried about their mother. Daughter Anna had a dispute with her mother for this, saying that the developer should compensate 2 million. This was reprimanded by my mother. If you are short of money, please ask me for it. I still have a pension. Before your father died, we also made a will together, which will be handed over to you. The daughter even said that what you said you wanted to give us also included my father's share.
This made my mother sad. Clark, who had never shed tears, had tears in his eyes. The son took out a book "Those Songs We Can't Understand" (by Heitorvi-La Robles), which read "To my dear Martin, Ana and Rodrigo, and you who were taken away the leisure time you get”. Anna cried, repented, sorry, Mom. Clark hugged her tightly.
This tense and squeezing time could not stop Clark's pleasurable pursuit. They disrupted sex parties, and she called in the handsome guy to have sex with her. And she is naive and cute like the nanny Latijan, and the two of them can always find happiness together. Clark played her the piano for her birthday and had a beach party together.
She was especially able to talk to her nephew Thomas, as if her relationship with her aunt Lucia was closer than her children. Thomas loves music very much, and also has a girlfriend who loves music. When his girlfriend took out her favorite Farina record and enjoyed it together, she was all influenced by the singing.
Music can bring family closer, and also make each other more empathy and understanding. Beach lifeguard Robe Valle is also Clark's best friend, and they get along very well. When the two resigned construction workers secretly told Clark that she had something upstairs, she found Robevale, the hugely destructive white ant, and it was thanks to his presence that the truth was revealed. The tips from the two builders also showed the kindness of ordinary laborers.
When Clark finally showed up in the office of Diego's grandfather and grandson with his brother's family of three and a female lawyer, they pretended to know nothing. Clark had to pick up the box and open the pieces of dead wood that had been rotten by termites. She angrily tapped and tapped, saying, I had cancer more than 30 years ago, so much pain didn't bother me, and you can't even think about it...
That's when we realized that at the beginning of the film, Clark said that in 1979 I went through a difficult stage in my life, and it turned out that she had cancer and had her right breast removed.
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That's how the movie ended, and it didn't make any sense. I think developers will always come to the door again, and life will continue. The empty ghostly castle-like buildings of "Aquarius" will also be preserved. But no one can really stop her rock-solid sunshine mentality, and can't really read the abundant feelings in her heart. She desires, she loves, she enjoys quietly, but she never compromises. She is a concoction of intense chocolate, fragrant jasmine tea and mild, colorless white blossoms, she can defuse any external challenge, not she has to adapt to the outside world. The strength of the individual's spirit is the strong support of emotions, not pretense and disguise.
Obviously, Clark knows the essential difference between life, life and life, and she wants to enjoy the short time in life, rather than materialized nothingness and useless consumption. She truly realized the role of a spiritual fortress against unbearable reality. Instead of escaping, she faced it calmly, turning the visible into the invisible. Old photo albums, old records, old furniture and other old objects, together with her old friends and new knowledge in reality, constitute a vivid and graceful painting of her life. It made her intoxicated and had a lot of fun.
Yes, as the film says everything is changing. Years may pass away, and desires may fade. But the spirit of self is immortal. This does not prevent her from caring for her family, being kind to her friendship, and respecting others. She is not a woman who does not eat the fireworks of the world, but it is precisely because of her personal love for life and the observation of life itself that she is so optimistic and quiet.
Every era requires angelic responsibilities like Lucia and Clark. They are cheerful messengers among all living beings in an era. They are not ostentatious, but they all have certain special marks and cultural symbols, which are the bridging agent of the cracks in reality. Maybe matter and spirit have never been opposites, but they are destined to be two roads, which can be parallel but cannot intersect. Each of these two ways has its own way, and each has its own laws and missions.
When the material corrodes the spirit, the spirit will inevitably choose to protect and offset. Undoubtedly, the residence of the building has become a visible symbol of materialization. It gives people a safe place to live, and at the same time brings some possible disparities. This is the result of a conspiracy between society and time. Focusing on this, the director has repeatedly made the house the background of the object and the people living in it as the protagonist, destined to stage a silent "war" of deviation or dissolution.
Gentle on the outside, determined on the inside, enjoy solitude, and never compromise. My Aquarius, can only belong to me. Just like the seaside that she goes to every day, there is a pier called Aquarius, which is the harbor of her soul, where she can rest and relax and listen to the music she enjoys.
In this way, we can see a silent Clark, who lives happily and peacefully every day, where to go, only she controls herself, she is her own pilot, helmsman and smiling messenger.
2016, 12, 28
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