If John Hughes ("Spring Isn't Book Day", "The Breakfast Club") were alive today, there's a good chance he would have made a movie like, "To All the Boys I've Loved Before."
Sex and love, skipping classes, pranks and other elements are used as condiments, because John Hughes knows the secrets of youth films very well, and it is necessary to make teenagers too mature.
Since Netflix has tasted the sweetness from the youth gay film "Love You, Simon", it has once again brought "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Following the LGBT group, Hollywood bigwigs have begun to smell the consumption power and influence of the Asian group, and this time the heroine of this youth film is Asian.
Laura Jane, a 16-year-old girl who likes to write down each crush, keeps the five love letters in a box. One day, however, all five of these love letters were sent—a childhood sweetheart, a first kiss, a dancer buddy, a camp buddy, and a speech boy.
A secret love letter is made public, and Laura Jane's life is thrown into upheaval. After the window paper was pierced, the relationship between Laura Jane and Bamboo Horse became more delicate, but she accepted the proposal of the popular campus prince Peter to pretend to be a couple, and played a contract love relationship, and finally the fake came true.
Although it is another utopia where a secret love comes true, and the story is too old-fashioned, the corners of the mouth cannot be restrained rising during the viewing process, which makes people want to stop, that kind of sweet and addictive movie like candy.
Both the audio-visual map and the grammar of the plot follow the configuration of American youth films. Laura Jane is an ordinary student who is not good-looking but loves fantasy. Because of her poor appearance and poor communication, she is laughed at by beautiful girls. This is the protagonist image that often appears in youth comedies.
Like most youth comedies, the space where the film takes place is mainly on the campus, so a set of performance montages often appear in a certain segment of the film, and then the campus environment is shown with bright-tone photography effects. On the homecoming festival of the new semester, accompanied by fast-paced pop music, following Laura Jane's subjective lens, through her eyes, the audience got to know the main characters in the film, and looked at the classroom, corridor, library, cafeteria, playground . This light-hearted montage highlights representative spaces on the campus and the characters of the main characters to set off Laura Jane's discomfort and unease with the environment.
In terms of plot grammar, it follows the highly similar story content and arrangement of youth comedies. Ordinary little transparent sparks with popular students; a contractual relationship is established by chance; various parties and club activities enhance feelings; the favorite boy expresses his goodwill at the end.
All of the above are the formula rules of Hollywood youth movies. "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" is just a new wine in an old bottle. You can use this "formula" well. However, the discussion of sexual relations, teens' desire for sex and love has always been the more popular type.
The film does not attempt to use sex to bridge the gap between growing teens and their self-identity. "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" does not address themes such as sex and dating, but rather shows the beginnings of love. Pregnant girl. Delicate shots show the mood of a young girl who has just tasted romance, just like a toddler, who is unskilled and will fall. It is this feeling of innocence that hits our soft heart.
Perhaps most girls can find their own shadow in Laura Jane, feel that they are ordinary, afraid of being rejected, so they have to keep their own little world. Dreaming of a princess dream in an imaginary country, writing a love letter that will never be sent. Laura Jane said: "The more people you let into your life, the more people will be able to leave." Laura Jane is also afraid of secret crush girls. In the end, I understand that people can't live by imagination, can't be locked in a room, and write a love letter that can't be sent for a lifetime.
"I admired, worried about, hurt, struggled, I would like to dedicate this song to me, every boy in the past was like a blooming flower." Just like this song, the movie sings youth recall.
For me, To All the Boys I've Loved Before is a captivating youth comedy. Free and wanton and youthful breath blowing, knowing the cliché but watching it happily.
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