The excellent box office success of "Perfect Stranger" made director Paul Genovese itch for a while, and the next year he made "Café Destiny"; only this time the shooting scene extended from a party at someone's house to a cafe on a street corner. A middle-aged man whose name we do not yet know, who claims to be feeding the devil; apparently he was right. He plays God and the devil at the same time, responsible for providing "missions" to nine strangers who have never met. These people traded with him and sold their souls to Satan, mostly in exchange for the health and care of their family members; of course, there were also people who were greedy and just for their own selfishness, hoping to monopolize the mercy of God.
Everyone who walks into this cafe (called The Place) is a policeman, a car mechanic, a nun, a working woman, a money-loving woman, a thief, and there are also successful people; Said that the middle-aged men who went to the cafe one after another, in exchange for completing certain tasks, can hope to get what they need (change). During the transaction, there are no general assignments such as crime and murder; the lives of 9 strangers are involved in this transaction of greed and morality for no reason.
The god (and the devil) in the cafe grabbed the weak underbelly of this group of people, and frequently revised and added new crimes (tasks) in the book of life and death; and this group of people was inextricably related to him, to put it bluntly Yes, it's human greed. In this farce, there are obviously some people who finally wake up and pull back from the brink, such as the car mechanic who fell in love with the photo actress; and the old woman who is praying that her husband can recover from Alzheimer's disease. Only in the end, only the old woman who made the bomb was left to be truly redeemed. She wasn't conscientious; she just couldn't face her crime.
Paul Genovese used the two films "Perfect Stranger" and "Café Destiny" to ruthlessly strangle human nature; through "exposure" and "on the sidelines", he outlined human nature in the face of irreversible fate. How to see the truth and save yourself immediately. From this group of people, we have seen sincere family affection and love, as well as human jealousy and selfishness. Another proposition in "Cafe of Destiny" is "faith"; or blind obedience similar to faith. When the nun repeatedly asked the middle-aged man if he believed in God? Which side is God on? We cannot view their choices in terms of equivalence (and equivalence) between the two who throw problems and get the task (redemption). Is it possible to have a choice? Can I choose to abandon the mission? Can a new task be reassigned?
"Fate Cafe" may not be as shocking as "Perfect Stranger"! (After all, I was scared and remembered to delete the phone message) But from this complex (closed) narrative that 1+9 is not necessarily equal to 10, Paul Genovese is the God (and the devil) behind the middle-aged man in the cafe. ). After watching the movie, I intuitively think of Dan Brown's "Origins" which I just finished reading a while ago; I said that this man (hand) worker Winston played between human nature and the palm of his hand. Even when the truth is revealed, we still lose to our own "cowardice"; this is the most difficult task in human nature to succeed.
View more about The Place reviews
