7 points, the story itself is very simple and not complete, the way of telling is also very direct, and even a lot of times it looks like a small video put together, the editing is a bit confusing, but this simplicity still hit me many times, can It can be seen that the director has worked hard on the details. There is no need to pay attention to the acting skills of the actors. There is no emotional outburst here, and there is no need for gorgeous acting skills; don't think that this is a film that exports Chinese culture, promotes traditional virtues, or shows the real China to the world. The director just talked about it. A story where she was in this environment and saw relatively limited things. But I also want to praise my grandma's acting skills, like the one in everyone's family, the grandma who wants to see her grandchildren and wants her children to go home.
I saw someone say, why don't you go to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to shoot, why go to third-tier cities, why don't you show the bright side of our country? Why is the unreasonable part of Chinese sophistication emphasized too much? For example, hiring actors to be "filial sons" to mourn. Did the stumbling director just want to show this part to the world?
So what should the director do? We assume that the background of the story is in Shanghai, so does grandma have to live in a big house? Should the hotel be booked at the Peace Hotel? The wedding will be held in the most luxurious hotel, a professional master of ceremonies, and 5 bridesmaids and 5 best men? The heroine is beautiful and kind, should she be fluent in Mandarin? The heroine should be picked up by a special car after getting off the plane. How can you film a scene where a bunch of people are waiting at the exit to solicit customers? Of course, shooting in Shanghai doesn't mean this is the way to go. What the director shows is the ordinary life of most people. Of course there are exaggerated parts in the movie, but there are also many real plots.
Because the director tells his own story, and that story overlaps with my own experience, I am moved. Especially over the years, I've been away from home for longer and longer, and my grandmother's health is getting worse and worse. Many times I was afraid that if one day her condition suddenly deteriorated, it would be too late for me to say goodbye to her.
My grandmother has been a farmer all her life, and the farm work in the field is heavy, and her health has been bad a long time ago. As far back as I can remember, my grandmother took more than a dozen medicines every day. In winter, when the smog first came, my grandmother would start coughing and sneezing, sometimes even more than 20 sneezes in a row. In 2018, my grandmother's health became much worse, and she began to go to the hospital frequently. There is also a certain psychological burden. Even once, she felt that she was only comfortable in the hospital, even though there was no other discomfort in her body, the doctor said she could be discharged from the hospital.
So there is a plot in the film that says it's not cancer that kills, it's fear. So the children decided not to tell their grandma. Of course, there is also a problem. The first is that as the heroine thinks, grandma has the right to know her physical condition, and she understands her own body and mind, so how can others hide it? But if you see it at the end, the director's grandmother is still happily using her own "qigong" 6 years after the diagnosis. I think this whole thing still makes sense.
There is also a plot where the heroine is cupping, and the aunt says while playing with her mobile phone: tell her what to do? In this episode, at first, it seemed that my aunt was indifferent, but later, the uncle stood on the stage and thanked this cousin, who took care of her grandmother for many years, just like she took care of her own mother. It can be seen that people who often accompany the elderly regard birth, old age, illness and death as the normal state of life, because they watched their grandmother's health deteriorate little by little, so they were already psychologically prepared. Children who have been away for a long time are very difficult. Accept the truth as if your mother's body suddenly collapsed overnight.
The same thing happened in my house. After my grandmother was hospitalized several times, my aunt in my hometown was not surprised by the hospitalization. Facing my grandmother's worsening health, she became calmer. My mother is now gradually accepting this fact. But when I returned to China this time, I felt that my grandmother's health had suddenly deteriorated a lot. Now I walked 50 meters from the house to the gate of the courtyard, and I couldn't walk anymore. My cousin bought my grandmother a walker that can be pushed and seated, so that she can move around when she has nothing to do.
So I began to worry that one day, my grandmother's illness will really be cured, and we will face several situations. First, grandma didn't know, everyone kept it from her; second, grandma knew, kept it from the younger generation, kept it from my grandchildren, and even kept it from me, who was far abroad; Pretend to each other, lie to each other that they are doing well.
Finally, a few details that I find interesting in the movie:
1. It was the first time the family had a reunion dinner. Everyone was hiding their thoughts. Only Grandpa Li concentrated on eating at the dinner table.
2. American Chinese are like Americans, Japanese Chinese are like Japanese, and the details are good
3. The translation is not particularly good, there is face, and it is translated into cheap. In fact, it is difficult to simply and literally translate Chinese into English. If it is too simple, it will affect the understanding of American audiences. For example, if you have a wedding, you need to "have face". There are actually many Chinese definitions of having face and having no face. It's not how much money you spend or whether it's cheap, but cheap is relatively derogatory.
4. Uncle and Dad have no northeastern accent
5. It’s not easy for the heroine. Many ABCs can’t speak Chinese at all. Poor Mandarin does affect emotional expression, especially in the conversation between the heroine and the uncle, the string of I know. If you speak directly in English, the effect of emotional expression may be better. Rolling eyes towards the heroine can't be summed up simply by "not being polite".
6. "China is better or America is better" almost everyone will ask. If the person I meet for the first time says that I am studying in Canada, the first question from the other person is do you think Canada is good? How does it compare to China?
7. Grandma said: Women, be self-sufficient. In fact, grandma is a very open-minded person, more open-minded than most of the elderly now. My grandmother is a veteran and has seen the world. Many of my friends work in government departments, and they have different circles.
8. My cousin took a wedding photo with a Japanese girl. It was super fun.
9. At the dinner table, relatives compare their children with each other, sneer and sneer, whether it is better to compare China or the United States, where can I earn a lot of money? The heroine's father said that he was legally an American, and his uncle said that he was always Chinese.
10. At first, I felt that the heroine's mother was having a strange heart, and the words at the dinner table were too ugly. But thinking about it carefully, the hostess just wants to prove that she has lived a good life abroad, even though she is really just living an ordinary life with difficulty. Most old immigrants have such a mentality. The hostess' mother should have had a lot of dissatisfaction with this mother-in-law when she was young. However, the heroine's mother shed tears in the taxi at the end, which still made people see her hard-hearted and soft-hearted side.
11. Burned an iPhone
12. Why does grandma ask the doctor if she is married? If you are the only older girl over the age of 25 who has no partner, your family is also anxious. When I'm 30 years old, my mother should also be like this, looking for a match without a blind date.
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