When it comes to California, it's a place with too much symbolism. She has beautiful sunshine, charming beaches, and a legend that makes people yearn.
Miranda, whose father and daughter
were abandoned by her mother since she was a child, is strong and independent, and has taken on the responsibility of supporting her family before the age of 17. In order to support her father who is daydreaming all day, she not only needs to work for a living, but also needs to be afraid of her unknown father. Although the children of poor families have been in charge early, but the pressure that does not match her age makes her nerves tense all day long. Once she can't see her father, she begins to worry.
A few months ago, Miranda picked up her father, Charlie, from a mental hospital. Charlie looked pretty good, and despite his long beard, he was a little off-kilter.
Miranda and Charlie started their peaceful life, occasionally old friends went to see Charlie, and Miranda continued to work at McDonald's to earn money to support the family. Their current home is where Charlie grew up, and there are so many things Charlie grew up with, as well as the cello he used to make a living from. The old, mottled look of the house saturated Charlie's years of memories. Now things are different.
For Charlie, two years in a mental hospital seemed like a vacuum. He just found out that his daughter had dropped out of school to make a living. She has to work twice as hard to make ends meet. Maybe Miranda's life was easier without Charlie. Charlie did nothing to ease her burden. He will only stay at home leisurely and contentedly, as if the sky will drop gold and make him spend inexhaustible. In the middle of the night, Miranda came home tired and saw the mountains of dirty dishes in the kitchen. She turned off the light angrily, only pretending she didn't see it.
Miranda has not had time to enjoy the time to be reunited with her father, and this joy has been diluted by the trivial life. The director depicts many details of life from the very beginning, constantly increasing Miranda's boredom with the life in front of her, until she can't bear it.
Although Charlie pulled Miranda up, but Miranda's recognition of Charlie only rested on responsibility, and lacked a lot of family nourishment. She usually goes by her first name and rarely calls Charlie "Dad". Charlie, who has just been released from the mental hospital, hopes that he will be the image of a father in his daughter's heart, but his selfish behavior may make it difficult for Miranda to adapt. The relationship between them often makes people feel confused: the father is the child who needs the extra care and accommodation of the daughter, and the daughter under the age of 18 is the adult who supports the family and pampers the father. In fact, Charlie cared about his daughter's feelings very much. Once Miranda didn't agree with this matter, he would let himself stop.
In order to relieve Miranda
's pressure, Charlie said he was going to a restaurant for an interview, and Miranda happily accompanied him there. She has been sitting in the car waiting, but she has not seen Charlie come back, and only after asking the restaurant did she know that Charlie lied to her. Charlie was searching around the restaurant, and he came prepared, with maps and GPS ready in the morning.
Miranda was so angry that she slapped the steering wheel so hard that it hurt her hands. Seeing Charlie taking care of himself, the scene of Charlie hanging himself appeared in Miranda's mind. From this moment on, she realized that Charlie was not healed, and she knew that she was powerless to stop his madness. So I can only watch him, wherever Charlie goes, she follows him.
Charlie was always talking to himself and doing something seriously. He held the tools and maps for observing astrological phenomena, and he was mysterious and crazy in the posture of doing some important research. Miranda is like a parent, playing home with her children. On a dark and windy night, they climbed over the barbed wire and walked in the desert for nearly seven hours. Charlie starts looking for his target with a metal detector. Charlie is really professional, he knows that loud voices are the source and deep voices are the essence. When he heard the metal detector make a high-frequency sound, he put down the tool and started rummaging through the grass with his bare hands. Unexpectedly, he really found something like a ring. It's a 17th-century baby Dibru, and Charlie recognizes it. Charlie was full of confidence, and when he heard the irregular and dense sound of the metal detector, he was immediately excited and danced and started digging with a shovel.
It turned out that when Charlie was in the mental hospital for two years, he accidentally found a priest's diary in 1651 in the hospital's library. Following the various details mentioned in the diary, Charlie read a lot of relevant materials. That's when his treasure hunt program probably started. Charlie looked earnestly like a scientist as he explained to Miranda that they had found Diblu. Once Miranda questioned, Charlie was able to come up with a lot of materials as evidence: such as the Dibru on the priest's finger and so on. Charlie further explained his treasure hunt plan: in his diary, Charlie discovered that in 1624, the Queen of Spain had buried gold coins in the ground. Now, Charlie is preparing for a full-on search.
Miranda was taken aback, and Charlie looked like a dedicated treasure hunter. He thought his enthusiasm and preparedness would infect his daughter, or at least make her believe in him. But Miranda didn't. She even wondered if her father should be sent to a mental hospital again. Charlie's almost pleading tone hoped that his daughter would believe his guess was reasonable, and at this moment Miranda had already decided that her father was crazy again. She was desperate.
Unable to withstand Charlie's repeated pleas, Miranda accepted that they found the Dibru, and Charlie was a little more at ease. Perhaps in order to find some reasons for Charlie's obsession, Miranda carefully read the priest's diary.
While Miranda took a silent approach to Charlie, he began his journey to decipher the treasure, calling Miranda from time to time to report. Reading the priest's diary, Miranda gradually became convinced that the treasure really existed. Charlie is immersed in his Taobao journey, rain or shine. Perhaps this search process itself is full of fun, and they will have unexpected joy. Miranda is still working at McDonald's, she only occasionally participates in the dream created by her father. Along the way, she experienced beautiful scenery all over California. Once, they found a stone in the park with exactly the same pattern as the illustration in the priest's diary. The excited behavior of the two of them caught the police's attention, but fortunately, Charlie thought of a trick to seduce and put the serious policewoman away. In places that Charlie had carefully calculated, he began to use a large excavator to work, and he actually dug up 17th-century porcelain fragments.
The accidental discovery made both father and daughter go crazy, and new troubles followed. Originally, they had been digging along the river bed, but when they climbed over a small hill, they found that there was a large supermarket at their target site.
Could this be enough to stumped Charlie and his daughter? They pretended to be customers, brought their professional measuring instruments, and walked into the supermarket generously to start work: measuring distances and finding locations. At this time, Miranda was like no one, just like Charlie. Six feet below the large locker was exactly what Charlie had calculated. Charlie dragged the cargo out with great effort, marking the floor. According to his calculations, it only takes 4 hours to dig out the treasure. Charlie decided to dig here, how could he be stopped by these concrete floors in front of him? However, Miranda was sober, and she couldn't stand her father's crazy behavior anymore. If Miranda was playing with her father when she secretly digged in a deserted place before, now digging three feet in the supermarket is no joke. Miranda tried to stop Charlie, but how could Charlie let such an opportunity go. But she could only show her attitude and determination by leaving. Just as she was leaving the supermarket, she saw the dishwasher. She couldn't help but stop, standing in front of the dishwasher watching the trickle of water and the slowly rotating cantilever of the dishwasher.
The dishwasher reminded her of her mother. Miranda's mother is good at crafts and her income is enough to support the whole family. Although I can't accompany my daughter every day, I also made a lot of toys for her. Out of work, my mother took great care to protect her hands, and even Charlie couldn't touch hers. When Mom left, only Miranda and Charlie lived together. Charlie couldn't stand being alone and was addicted to his music all day long. Young Miranda often played by her father, alone with the toys left by her mother. In this way, they got through a very hard time.
Although years later, Miranda and Charlie are now able to live together, but their lives are as hopeless as death. There are some memories that Charlie doesn't want to remember, he'd rather choose some crazy way to forget. But Miranda is not like that, she understands that life can't go on like this forever.
In order to buy equipment for excavation, Charlie actually sold Miranda's broken car. Miranda was going crazy. She had a big fight with Charlie, and the grievances over the years broke out. She advised Charlie to wake up and stop worrying about the things that he fantasized about. When Miranda walked out of the house in a rage, the neighbors were holding a donation ceremony, and Miranda walked through the applauding crowd with a black face.
When neighbors' houses are constantly being renovated and repaired, their homes are particularly rundown. When others reunite with their families and live with Meimei, she not only has to run for a living, but also takes care of a father who suffers from delusions. Such a contrast stimulated Miranda again and again. Of course, what hurt her the most was that Charlie didn't understand her the most.
In the middle of the night, Charlie lingered at the door, waiting for his daughter to come back, and the laughter of the neighbor's children kept coming. He hesitated whether to give up the cello and redeem his daughter's car. In the night, the low voice of the cello seemed to be the father's confession to his daughter. The song is not finished, only simple notes pass by one by one at the fingertips.
Miranda worked so hard she didn't want to go home to her nervous father. Charlie stayed up all night and sneaked to the door of his daughter's room to have a look. Day after day, Charlie quietly looked at his daughter's room every night, but she never came back. He couldn't help but think of the old days. He was sitting at the door of his house like this, talking about the piano, waiting for his daughter to come back.
After an unknown amount of time, Miranda came home. At the door of the house, she saw that her car had also returned. Charlie fell asleep in the chair by the door, and Miranda felt bad for him. Looking at the lights and thinking about your own life, what did the hard work get in return? Instead of waiting so hopelessly, it's really better to bet once, on Charlie's treasure.
Digging Dreams
Miranda and Charlie set out to fully deploy their plan: how to dig for treasure in the supermarket.
First, Miranda sneaked into the supermarket to find out the truth. She applied to that supermarket as a salesman. On the surface, she was standing there to promote the soup, but in fact, she quietly observed the internal management of the supermarket, the most important thing is the security system. She drew the exact floor plan of the supermarket and worked with Charlie on the battle plan.
After a long period of observation, she found that only the manager had all the keys that could open all the doors. Miranda began to deliberately get close to the manager. The manager is full of sympathy for the tragic girl, and he invites Miranda to a family reunion so that she can meet more friends. Miranda gratefully listened to the manager's persuasion, revolving around the key on the manager's waist.
In order to get the manager's keys, Miranda goes to the manager's house party. The party is easy and fun. Miranda had no intention of enjoying such a moment and was only interested in the manager's keys. She was constantly watching where the manager put the keys, in his hands, around his waist, in his trouser pockets. While the manager's wife was helping her find a bikini, she carefully stole one of the manager's large keys.
Of course Charlie will not be idle. Maybe because he was eager for money, maybe because he didn't trust Miranda enough, he found a friend Pep who was familiar with the security system. Late at night, Miranda put her hard-earned stolen keys on Charlie's bedside table, expecting her father to see them as soon as he wakes up.
The next day, Miranda was woken up again by a loud noise. This time it wasn't the noise of the neighbors' renovation, it was the sound of moving, and it was her own home. She went downstairs in a robe in a daze, but was knocked awake by a stranger who went upstairs. She was almost dumbfounded when she saw her living room, which had been evacuated. It turned out that Charlie could not make ends meet, and the bank came to collect the house. Miranda questioned Charlie angrily, but Charlie was not at all sad, because he was as happy as Miranda expected when he saw the key that Miranda put on the bedside.
Their father-daughter relationship was always on the verge of collapse because of Charlie's actions. There is no yardstick against which Charlie's way of doing things is right or wrong, only whether his way is approved by his daughter. When Charlie took the house to the bank for mortgage again and again, he never seemed to think about the child. Miranda knew from a young age that Charlie was not a conscientious father, and Charlie believed that only in this way was in the spirit of American freedom. If everything is considered for children, it is "Chinese".
No matter how bad the relationship between father and daughter is, the common dream of treasure hunting in their hearts is to let them work together. Finally came the night of the real hands-on. The three people started to act according to the plan and division of labor studied before.
The first step is to disable the security system, and then they have enough time to dig three feet in the ground to hunt for treasure. When they took the key and opened the door to enter the supermarket, the alarm system was activated instantly. Of course the police will be dispatched immediately. They opened fire canisters in supermarkets and pretended that the alarm system was triggered by a gas leak. Then they lurk in the supermarket, waiting for the police to come and go. This is complete security.
The big supermarket has everything, and they found a lot of the tools they needed in the supermarket, and then they started work. Pep at the door is responsible for letting out the air. Miranda ran to see the dishwasher and started the dishwasher over and over again. In the dark, the flickering dishwasher gave her great comfort. Suddenly, Charlie heard the sound of metal, and he was immediately excited, and he desperately chiseled the metal material. When the metal object was chiseled, the smelly water spurted out. It turned out that Charlie chiseled the underground waterway. So, Charlie found diving equipment in the supermarket, and he decided that he must dive to find the treasure. At this time, Miranda once again reminded Charlie that the treasure was not real, and persuaded him to give up his fantasy. With a solemn expression, Charlie solemnly gave his daughter a military salute, and then dived into the sewers with all the equipment.
In order to lure the police away, Pep risked his life. Although he refused to confess, the police guessed the truth and immediately returned to catch the accomplice. Miranda heard the sirens coming closer, and she knew things were about to fall. So, she used all her strength to pull her father up from the water. At this moment, Charlie had just seen something engraved with words and patterns, and he was trying to get a closer look. The tug of war between the two of them began, and Miranda wanted to pull Charlie up and run away; Charlie wanted Miranda to lengthen the rope and dig for treasure. Finally, Miranda was no match for Charlie's pressing force, slammed her head into the container, and fainted. How dizzy she wished that these things never happened, it would be great that they could go back to their previous lives, even if they were living in poverty.
Charlie climbed out on his own, saw his unconscious daughter, heard the policeman's voice returning to the supermarket, and knew something was wrong. He picked up his daughter and put her in a relatively safe place. He wiped the blood from his daughter's forehead and told her that he had found the gold coin. A large number of police began to search the supermarket. The only way is to sacrifice one and save the other. Charlie tied his daughter to a vending machine. Before leaving, Charlie stuffed a note for Miranda and went back alone. At this moment, Miranda finally called out "Dad"! The police found Charlie, who jumped into the sewer as he wished. The police who came in panic stepped on the cave entrance.
Charlie's life is unknown, and the police have not been able to find Charlie's body. As a minor, Miranda escaped the law. She drove to the supermarket to buy things, as usual. In the supermarket, the staff repaired the hole they made. She took her father's note and found the dishwasher. When Miranda opened the dishwasher, there was a golden light from the cabinet, illuminating her tearful face.
On the coast of California, Miranda saw a group of people swimming and asked her loudly, "Is this California?" She smiled and said, "Welcome!" The film ended in California's bright sunshine and mild sea breeze, The allegorical hopeful ending softens the sadness and despair that are created throughout the film.
Although the filming of the film is only a short month, it does not affect the emotional conveyance of caring people in the film. In the film, Miranda's burnout mood is accumulated with the details of life, the hope of life is implied by the dishwasher, and there are treasures full of imagination, which combine the places and scenes full of modern significance with ancient sailing, exploration, and treasures. Connected, weaving the reality of ordinary American life and the wild fantasy appropriately and fully. I didn't expect Michael Douglas to be able to play such a role: in a state of madness, with a full head of hair and a full face of beard, a slovenly image, and without the uninhibited prodigal feelings of the past.
Although, I don't like the fact that the film finally sets the person who smuggled to California as a Chinese, after all, this is a movie for Americans to entertain themselves. It fully demonstrates the spirit of freedom that Americans advocate, and the American sense of superiority is undoubtedly revealed at the end of the film. Perhaps, we had expected to see a family film, and the film's ending shattered our initial expectations. The final episode of the film expresses, in a deeply complacent way, the love of Americans for their country, and what they think the whole world yearns for America.
(In "Watching a Movie
View more about King of California reviews
