Driving alone for half an hour, sitting in the middle of a group of white American audiences, I was the only Asian face in the entire theater, watching the cultural collision of a Chinese-American girl speaking blunt Chinese returning home alone. Such a mirror-like identity and environment made me and the heroine immediately establish a magical empathy, which may be the most wonderful viewing experience in recent years.
The Chinese are the main production team, and the director, Lulu Wang, is also a 1.5-generation immigrant. He must have a lot of real experiences and emotions, so his portrayal of many domestic phenomena and ideas is surprisingly accurate: the traditional Chinese people's concealment of goodwill (or "pseudo") good), as well as the ambivalence of admiration and sourness towards the foreign "moon", which is particularly sharp and precise. But these may be for foreigners to see. The real immigrant is most touched by the indescribable sense of isolation and familiar strangeness when the heroine returns to her former hometown. The sense of belonging and emotional destination that I want to find is like fishing for the moon in the water, so far away, there is nothing to get again, absolute loneliness and emptiness, beyond material and time and space, I can only scream at the sky.
At first, I felt that the text was a bit rigid, both Chinese and English were a bit rigid, but it pointed to the theme intentionally or not.
Awafina was pleasantly surprised, the poor Chinese, the embarrassment of a slapstick style, and the out of place state worked surprisingly well. The entire Chinese cast is also very real, constantly evoking memories of their own family and life.
The film has a very good reputation in the United States, especially the bilingual credits in Chinese and English that the director insists on, as well as the dialogue in Chinese and even Northeastern dialect. When I watch it, I am also worried about whether there are many language and cultural designs that non-immigrant non-Chinese American audiences can understand. . At the end, I asked the audience next to me, it seems that the language did not hinder the viewing of the movie. However, many subtle things must still be lost in translation. The screenwriter has added a lot of absurd and even mocking episodes. Although it seems to please the local audience, it is generally portrayed realistically, which also makes the film mood have dramatic ups and downs and relieves the overall heavy mood.
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