Link to the original text: Drama/"Ring Story": Beyond science fiction, it's how people behave
"Ring Story" is not a sci-fi cool drama. If you sum up the feeling of watching this film in one sentence, it may be like a dialogue at the end of the film, it's sad, and beautiful .
There are eight episodes in total, and each episode is about 50 minutes long. It appears to be eight separate short stories, each with a relatively specific protagonist. They all have a certain desire or "knot" in their hearts. After encountering or deliberately using the power of "magic things", some people meet the future (past) self, and some people exchange with others. The body, some people stop time, and some people go to another parallel universe... However, those who achieve the "purpose" are not really what they want. In almost every story, the audience can feel a strong sense of powerlessness that is difficult to escape. This powerlessness declares that "technology" is difficult to "complete" in the human heart, in emotion, in time, and in change. This kind of powerlessness finally puts the problem in people's own self, which makes people think and explore inward.
Therefore, such a drama seems to have become an "ethical drama" dressed in science fiction.
This is not a derogatory term. It's just that this atypical sci-fi drama brings people not the thrill of adrenaline rushing, but the deepness that asks the soul and triggers philosophical thinking. Because the background of every story is so sad.
Story 1: The little girl's mother suddenly disappeared. While trying to find her mother, she said angrily that if she had a child, she would definitely not leave her. However, when she meets her future self, she finds that her future self has also become the mother who is unwilling to accompany her children. Through positive communication with her future self, the little girl learned that one day, she will live a life she never imagined. In the future, she finally picked up her childhood "oath" and worked hard to protect her children.
Story 2: The curly-haired man and the tall man are at the same table. Curly-haired men envy tall men for their physical fitness and social skills, and tall men yearn for curly-haired men's wealthy families and a bright future. One day, they found a machine that could swap bodies in the woods. It was supposed to be a good experience and it would be replaced in a day, but the tall man broke his promise. Later, because of the dislocation of the body, a series of "tragedies" occurred one after another.
Story 3: The Asian woman is the curly-haired man's girlfriend, but she quickly loses interest in him. One day I met a lame man and thought this was true love. In order to make love eternal, she stopped time with objects. The whole town has since stopped, only she and the lame man can move as usual. They enjoyed the time of the two worlds to the fullest, but they still had a conflict one day. The standstill of time does not make love eternal. When time recovered, the Asian woman left the lame man.
Story 4: The grandfather who built the Loop is about to come to the end of his life. He was very sad, but he had to accept this ending. The little grandson is still very young and does not yet understand what death is. He loves grandpa very much and hopes to find a way to keep grandpa alive. Grandpa told him there was no way. He said that death is part of life, the last part. The family also tried to use various methods to make the little boy understand what death is and how to face and accept death.
Story 5: The fat man's son (that is, the tall man in the previous article) died. He was very sad and vowed to protect the rest of his family - his wife and a mute daughter. He was financially strapped, and he didn't even have the money to update the circuit equipment at home, but he still "borrowed" to buy a robot to guard his home. But the robot was seen as a danger by neighbors, and he had to stand guard with the robot every night. His wife persuaded him not to listen, so he left the house with his daughter. In the end, he sold the robot, updated the circuit in the home, and called his wife home.
Story 6: The black man regards the white man in a photo as his dream lover, which makes him unable to accept other people's love in reality. One day he found a truck in the field, which transported him to another world. Here, he met himself and the lover of his dreams. In this world, he and the white man seem to be a very loving couple. He was envious, and at the same time wanted to convince the white man to come back to his own world with him. But this "self" told him that this white man was not perfect. They exhausted countless efforts to finally reach the state where they are still stumbling. The black man Shi then began to open his heart to others.
Story 7: One day, a teenager was tricked by a friend into a small island. Here, he encountered a "monster" and was bitten by a poisonous tongue, and his left arm had to be amputated. His father (the grandfather who built the Loop) gave him a robotic arm. A few years later, he returned to the island that had always terrified him, and found that the former monster was actually a robot invented by his father, the First. And the robotic arm he has used for decades is First's arm. The reason why my father sent First to the island was because the world could not accept Ta and stay away from the crowd in order to protect Ta.
Story Eight: The curly man told the little boy the truth about his identity and his brother's identity, and the little boy went to find his brother. At this point, his brother was already a robot wandering alone in the woods. He was about to take his brother home, but he encountered a "fierce" robot on the way. In order to protect him, his brother had a duel with the robot, but was "injured" and "died" on the road. The little boy was in a hurry to tell his mother, but he accidentally crossed a stream of time. When I saw my mother, I didn't know how many years had passed. Both my father and my grandmother have passed away, and my mother is also gray-haired.
His teacher asked him how it felt to be home. Everything has changed, but you haven't, he said. The teacher told him that she had taught his brother as well as his parents. She is the second "life" created by Grandpa, the Second.
At the end of the story, the little boy grows up, takes his wife and children, and returns to visit the hometown where he once grew up. So, despite what appears to be eight different stories, there is a connection between the characters, which also seems to constitute a Loop.
In the process of watching, you will feel that this drama is very depressing, the shots are slow, and the soundtrack is also deep. I always felt that my chest was enveloped by a deep sadness that could not be melted away. I often feel a bottomless loneliness, sadness, and life is so bitter.
But the screenwriter is still gentle after all, and behind all the stories, some warmth is retained or laid. Just like what grandfather said to grandson, Remember, you can always find light in the dark. Just like the First who was deliberately exiled to a desert island, even though the world has changed, Ta is still wearing a tattered blanket that grandpa once gave The blanket he put on.
Perhaps, technology can give people countless conveniences, and even make people realize countless "selfish" dreams. But human nature is eternal.
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