Director Shannon Murphy, Australian, the film "Baby Teeth" is her virgin, nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Part of what makes literary films dull is the difficulty in understanding the purpose of each scene. And this is the fun of watching movies. We blindly collect the elements we see, spell out complete characters, and speculate on their environment. Starting from the hearts of the characters, every scene with ambiguous meanings seems to have sufficient motivation. . From this, I feel the subtlety of the plot constructed by the director. This thinking process allows us to connect characters, environments, and events, and also allows us to see the big from the small and see the emotions behind the film.
·Opening
At the beginning of the movie, a baby tooth slowly falls in the water glass, combined with the background of the soundtrack, the whole process is gentle and slow. When it falls to the bottom of the cup, the focus is slowly aligned. Title: Baby Teeth.
At this time, we couldn't interpret the language of the shots, and it was only after the movie was over that we realized that this scene that was about to be forgotten was actually a summary of the entire movie.
In the first scene, Mila, the heroine, turned her back to the camera. In a close-up view, the city rail roared past. Followed by a close-up of Mira, there were chatter sounds around, and the overall environment was noisy. Mila kept taking deep breaths. Several girls in the same school uniform stood in the distance chatting with themselves, the camera in hand shaking slightly.
When we followed the camera and Mila to focus on his own state, the male protagonist Moss suddenly rushed into the camera, and the city rail was speeding in front, and Moss was almost involved. The sudden danger makes our hearts pound. Mira looked at Moss' back, and he opened his arms in front of the city rail. When Moss turns around, we see that he is dismissive of the danger in front of him, his red eyes, bizarre haircut and sloppy clothing make it hard to make a good impression.
The classmates who got on the subway shouted Mila a few times. Mila was stunned and didn't get on the train. Until the door was closed, but the classmates did not express unnecessary concern.
Moss squatted on the ground, praised Mila's hair like a bracelet, and introduced himself to her shaved hair. Well-dressed Mila and punk Moss are not from the same world. Facing such an uninvited guest, Mira reached out and touched his hair. When Mila suddenly had a nosebleed, Moss pushed Mila to the ground in an out-of-bounds manner, and used his shirt to help Mila stop the bleeding.
Moss borrowed money from Mila, and all we thought was, sure enough, the punks had a purpose. Mira was unexpectedly willing to give him 50 yuan, but there was one request. Then, cut to the second, irrelevant scene.
As the first scene, most movies often use more eye-catching scenes to arouse the audience's interest, and functionally introduce the main characters and the theme of the upcoming movie. There are several incidents in the first scene of the film, where Mila was hit, missed getting in the car, had a nosebleed, touched her hair, and borrowed money. The state embodied by the relevant characters is confusing, and it is impossible to even see the meaning of the scene.
When I looked back after watching the entire film, I realized that not only was this scene necessary, but all the shots, actions, and dialogue in it were not wasted.
Mila has cancer and her back to the camera shows she doesn't want to communicate with people. She took a deep breath and adjusted her state. The reason was that she was in poor physical condition and even had nosebleeds for no reason. The classmates were estranged from her and did not care too much about her abnormal situation of not going to the city rail, which represented her alienation from the overall environment.
She was shocked and envious when she saw Moss shrugging off the danger of speeding past. Moss praised her bangle-like hair tied with red rope, and she was happy. She is also willing to touch the little gangster Moss' hair because she knows that she is about to undergo chemotherapy and will be shaved bald. Moss was willing to take off his clothes to help her stop the nosebleed, and told her to look at the sky. These are the reasons why Mila fell in love with Moss afterward.
·figure
The main characters in the film explain their predicament in a very clever way. When Moss returned home, the mother's first reaction was to protect her little son and call the police.
Mila's mother was taking Prozac and Zaanor. She took too much medicine and was bitten and bleeding without knowing it. This drug is an anti-anxiety and depression drug and should not be discontinued after taking it for more than four weeks.
The newly moved pregnant female neighbor has been looking for a dog, noisily and repeatedly looking for a dog. She needed to move on her own, and it wasn't hard to think about where her husband, who never showed up, was and what she had been through before moving. Can't help but forgive her again, it seems that she really needs the company of this dog.
It just so happens that the dog is also called Henry, the same name as the heroine's father, and Henry's life is indeed so embarrassing.
· Baby teeth
Can you put this pillow on my face, Mila asked Moss. If my body starts to push, or it feels like I've changed my mind, push harder. That's the body's instinct, the instinct to fight. Don't give up halfway, once my legs are down and the spine is soft, you can remove the pillow.
That night, after seeking death, the deciduous teeth fell off and Mila threw it into the water glass. They have sex. At four in the morning, Mila got up alone and looked at her sleeping parents. Walking to the gate, the camera pans upwards with her gaze, the birds on the trees chirping, and the light blue sky reveals between the branches.
The sky was bright, and Moss and Mila fell asleep hugging each other on the bed, head to head. Then Moss walked out of the bedroom alone. Mom asks Moss how Mila is sleeping. Mom was happy she went to bed without morphine for the first time in six weeks. Mom went to the bedroom with breakfast biscuits. When he came out again, the camera saw the crying mother Mila through his father Henry's shaking shoulders.
Morse said she was dead.
When Mila chose to face death, her baby teeth fell out, completing her growth. Then, she has a perfect love. Growing up and dying on the same day, let us see how life is so tenacious and so fragile, how life is so unbearable and so beautiful.
Mira finally said, Dad, I'd be happy to be part of the sky.
Let's go back to the beginning of the film, a baby tooth is slowly and gently sinking in the water glass, and the blurred focus is not clear until it hits the bottom.
The same goes for Mira's life.
View more about Babyteeth reviews
