After watching too many movies, I have a prejudice in my heart: romantic movies cannot be expressed in a simple form that is not exaggerated or dramatic. Because movies are visual art, without a strong visual impact, it is too difficult to express those turbulent undercurrents.
Think about the romantic films you've seen, from "LOVE STORY" to "SLEEPLESS SEATTLE", or "Ghost Love", or "Soul Broken Blue Bridge"...You name it. None of them is not full of drama and storytelling: either someone died of a serious illness, or someone committed suicide, or there must be a connection between gods and ghosts, or telepathy... Anyway, these incredible things must happen to prove it. Our supreme romance. Otherwise what to do, shoot some chai rice oil salt? That's "The Happy Life of the Poor Zhang Damin", a social film; shoot some under the bed? That's "Nine Songs", it's an erotic film; doing some mental activities or running tongue-tied? It was "When Dreams Shine Into Reality", a chatter film.
In short, it is not mysterious, and it cannot be made into a romantic film.
But JOHN did it. He made a romantic film with a mere 170,000 and a camcorder.
It's not uncommon for a small cost and a non-set background. "Speak Up" or "The Witch Affair" all play this, but those are all deep play types - just based on this, there is no social meaning to shoot one or Thriller stories, which are purely emotional things, are almost impossible to do because they are too bland.
I admire JOHN very much, he told a simple story very simple, without any mystery: it is ONCE, it is a chance encounter with passers-by. I sing on the street, my father opened a vacuum cleaner repair shop and was very poor; you sold flowers on the street, with a mother and a daughter struggling to survive in a foreign country. In the end, they never called each other by name, let alone kissed them in bed.
But we have music.
But what about music?
I still have to go to South Drift in London, and you still have to live with your husband and children. I didn't even have a chance to see each other again - just because this casual goodbye turned out to be a goodbye, and I also forgive the director for letting Glen buy Markéta a piano in the end.
Romance movies are always very tissue-intensive and not environmentally friendly - I have friends who used up two full boxes of "Yun Shui Yao". But ONCE doesn't. From the beginning to the end, my eyes won't get wet, but my heart is completely soft from the end, and I can't let it go - I really want to know whether he succeeded in the end, whether he has realized his dream, and I also want to know if she can finally Insist on becoming a mediocre woman - thinking of this I refuse to treat these characters as fictitious.
What can be more representative of the success of the film than this?
The movie is called "ONCE", and it actually says "THE ONE". you are my only one.
I firmly believe that the scene of Markéta dragging the vacuum cleaner and GLEN shopping with the guitar will become a new classic symbol of romance. It is not only full of earthly intimacy, full of optimism, full of creativity, but also full of simplicity and wisdom.
And when Markéta said "Miluju Tebe" to GLEN, looking at the Chinese subtitles, it was as if a bullet had penetrated my chest, because of her words and because of GLEN's ignorance. Actually he really doesn't know, either as a character or an actor. In the past, when I watched a movie, I always felt very bloody about the plot of this kind of non-straightforward communication. Today I finally saw a scene that was not bloody at all, but it was real and heart-warming.
The songs in the movie are quite nice. GLEN has a broken guitar and a good voice. He interprets those original songs quite fascinating, and Markéta also seems to have played the true character of his Czech girl, whether it is a bargain, Still confessing those few scenes, I sincerely like this 17-year-old woman.
Watching this movie, I always think of "Cape No. 7" - it can be said to be a movie of the same type, with music as the main line, pure and natural route, and one of the themes of inspiration, but...but ah but, What a bloody movie that was.
By the way, "ONCE" finally sold more than 20 million, but for me as an audience, that is too unimportant.
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