Write in front
Speaking of director Clint Eastwood, many people may be very unfamiliar. He also has a lovely Chinese name, Dongmu.
But if you mention his movies, I believe you must be familiar with them: "The Bridge of Last Dream", "The Perfect World", "Unforgivable", "Captain Sally", "American Sniper", "The Suspicious Cloud", "Flags of Fathers", and "Hundreds". Ten Thousand Dollar Baby" "Mystic River"...
Basically every one can be regarded as a classic, and the latest one is about to be released in China, "Mule", he was almost 90 years old when this film was made, and he was not only a director, but also a starring role.
Higashiki is very keen on real-life movies based on real events, as is "Mule", excerpted from the Internet: In October 2011, in a joint operation between the Michigan State Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, an unusual drug dealer was arrested, 87 The year-old Leo Earl Sharp was arrested for holding 200 pounds of cocaine. Sharp is a "mule" who specializes in delivering drugs to gangs, and he is also the oldest person arrested in the history of American drug enforcement.
Coincidentally, Dongmu, who played this mule, also happened to be 87 years old at the time. It's hard to imagine an old man who can direct and participate in a drug-themed crime movie, and also be a drug transporter who accidentally hits him by mistake.
Earl Stone, the protagonist played by Clint Eastwood, has a character setting a bit like the drug lord old white in "Breaking Bad" (PS: Breaking Bad should be the best one in my years after graduating from college). I like an American drama!)
It's just that the old man is just a mule transporting drugs in "The Mule", and he strayed into a drug crime without knowing it. The factors that inspired the two old men’s desire for money are somewhat different: Lao Bai in "Breaking Bad" is a late-stage cancer, and Earl in "Mule" is a family barrier, but they both have a purpose, that is, In his old age, he can save a lot of money for his family.
01
Seeing the old man hobbled in the movie with his face full of folds, I really don't know whether he should be happy or sad, because a talented director always hopes to make a movie of his own in his twilight years.
Although "Mule" is not the father's curtain call movie, but I think this must belong to him to interpret his life and present his life's inner thoughts and ideas.
02
Tell me about this movie!
In fact, although the label says it is crime, thriller, and suspense, this movie basically has no horror and suspense. It is more like a pure drama, and more of the film seems to be the inner projection of the director Dongmu himself.
Old Man Earle is a flower grower, a person who can abandon everything except flowers, including family.
Sticking to one thing for a lifetime, thinking of it is actually an incredible but enviable thing, but those who can achieve something in a certain field will most likely put their life's efforts into it.
But not everyone can do this, let alone abandon the family and invest in it without hesitation.
Earle used to miss her daughter’s birth ceremony, graduation ceremony, wedding...any important day in the family, it seems to be a very incredible thing, when a person has to make a choice between career and family , There is only one kind of person who is decisive, and that is the person who is stubborn to his bones.
Old Man Earle is a very stubborn old man, as for his career, as for his family.
What was deeply impressed was that Earle had been complaining that the Internet had destroyed everything about him, including his career, but he stubbornly would rather auction off his flower farm than accept the changes brought about by technology.
Earl, who was forced to have nowhere to go, came to his granddaughter's house, where the director bought me the most common quarrel in a family.
The daughter said: "If he is here, then I don't want to stay here." The wife said: "He came to his granddaughter because he has nowhere to go."...
His wife felt that Earl had spent all his life with friends, discussing whose flower seeds had sprouted, and enjoying trophies and praise.
Earle felt that he was driving for ten hours every Saturday, just to feed the family.
In fact, one thing is quite perplexing. We are always willing to be tolerant to strangers and to forgive our friends, but in many cases we are extremely harsh on our relatives. For example, when you start a quarrel, you will always move out the old accounts from a few years or even decades ago, and the hurt and pain seem to be unforgettable and cannot be smoothed.
Of course, I also believe that only the loved ones will care more. Because they care, any flaw will be easily magnified, and any damage will be magnified.
Even so, Earl’s family complained about Earl all his life, and Earl was alone all his life.
03
I watched Huang Qiusheng's "Fallen Man" a few days ago, and it is rare to see Huang Qiusheng playing a downcast figure, Liang Changrong. But what impressed me even more was the character Liang Jingying played by Ye Tong. In the movie, she was Huang Qiusheng's sister. Because Liang Changrong opposed her love with the barber in the early years, she hated Liang Changrong for a lifetime.
It is also the contradiction between families, which has become a life-long gap. The only time in the movie to have dinner together during the Chinese New Year, the two sisters sat together, but they couldn't be happy. Although Liang Changrong tried to express his emotions and joy, in the end Liang Jingying could not accept such an unintentional reconciliation and left in tears.
In fact, Liang Changrong in "The Fallen Man" is very similar to the old man Earl in "The Mule". They are too stubborn. Because of their stubbornness when they were young, the whole family lost the harmony they deserved.
However, the movie ended with a reconciliation in the end. "Fallen Man" uses an open approach to exchange a photo of Liang Changrong laughing in exchange for Liang Jingying's heartfelt smile.
In "Mule", the old man Earl’s wife was ill for a short time, and the last two people stayed with each other to make a final reconciliation of the contradiction between the two in the past.
But in fact, this is sad, because when the closest person is about to leave this world, he is willing to hold the other's hand. It seems that everything has come too late.
In the hospital bed, the Earls contributed the most quintessential dialogue and the most tearful scene in the film. A pair of old people who were in the back of the scorpion were finally willing to let go of each other's stubbornness and say sorry to each other.
When his wife asked Earl where he made so much money, Earl replied: "Actually, I am a senior dancer", "bounty hunter", "I am a drug mule from a drug cartel"...
Although only one sentence among the many sentences was true, it still won a smile from his wife.
And the wife also said the most moving sentence of the whole movie: "you didn't have to get rich for us to want you around. (You don't need to be rich to make us feel we need you." )"
04
Having said so much about the family in "The Mule", let’s go back and look at the plot of the movie about the crime part. It is true that drug trafficking is the main line of the whole movie, but in fact, the film is not created like a traditional drug trafficking movie. A tense atmosphere.
So if you want to watch that kind of nervous crime movie that makes your adrenaline soar, maybe this one will disappoint you. But what can we ask for? After all, the old man Dongmu is already 90 years old at this time, and it is incredible to be able to act like this!
On the contrary, the words and deeds of the old man Earl in the process of drug trafficking will make people's eyes bright. He hunched and hobbled, but he hooked up with dancers on the dance floor, and the hotel prostituted two at a time, all kinds of glib tongue...
Lian Po is not old, he is always strong!
05
Earl’s daughter was right. She said to Earl: "You are just a person who wakes up late."
I hope that anyone who treats the family will not become the one who awakens late.
View more about The Mule reviews
