One at the festival, two at the point screening, and three after the show. Many people say that "The Thief Family" is much gentler and more reserved than Hirokazu Koreeda's previous films, but I feel that this kind of calm and indifferent watching is more cruel than throwing the tragedy directly in front of you.
Ling and her "I'm sorry"
The movie starts with a little girl. Her name was Shuli, because she was too young to speak inarticulately and became "Yuri", and later changed her name to "Ling" for fear of being abducted by the police. Changing her name, like cutting her hair and burning old clothes, meant that the little girl had to say goodbye to her past and start a new life.
Ling was picked up by Dazhi and Xiangtai from the corridor of someone else's house on their way back in the cold night. She had been there alone for several days, and if she didn't pick it up, she might freeze to death there that night. Her body is thin and thin, and the scars all over her body tell us the fact that she is often abused. The people who abuse her are her biological parents, and the reason for the abuse is what her mother said: "It's not that I want to treat her born."
Ling, who was picked up, kept saying sorry to everyone after wetting the bed. This was the scene in the whole movie that made me want to cry the most. You can fully imagine how many times she has said sorry to others (parents) like this, and how deep the fear was when she said it. She thought that if she said sorry, if she said sorry a few times, the iron on her body might be less and lighter. This fear finally dissipated after she was picked up, but it came again after she returned to her biological mother.
In Ling's past memory, she was always wrong. If she was wrong, she would say sorry. Saying sorry would mean she would be beaten. She was beaten because she loved her. But she didn't want to be beaten. In the fitting room, Ling asked timidly, is this really not going to be beaten? At that time, I understood why Shinyo was so distressed after listening to it. This little girl was really scared of being beaten, so scared that she didn't even dare to ask for her favorite skirt, because in her past experience, skirts and love were all bought by beatings.
Ling was very lucky to be picked up by such a family to give her food, drink, warmth and company. She no longer has to be afraid of being beaten, she doesn't have to keep saying sorry to others, and she doesn't have to pay the price to get love from her family. She changed her teeth naturally, put on new clothes, ate her favorite gluten, shouted "Come on" for the molting cicada, and laughed happily after Xiangtai's buttocks in the wind and rain.
On the night when Xiangtai ran out and did not come back, Ling sat at the door worrying about him and waiting for him; when she saw the same scar on Xindai's hand as hers, Ling touched the scar sadly and did not speak. If possible, how I hope this little girl really slowly turns into a happy and kind Ling, because in her eyes, there is a whole universe.
But the movie also ends with Ling. The unaccompanied little girl, cowering from her mother who gave birth to her, was left alone in the corridor once again, humming a number song taught to her by the family who picked her up. She looked outside, she wanted that home outside, and wanted to go back to the family who wouldn't tell her to say sorry. From the beginning to the end, it is the same corridor, but Ling's ending is unknown. Outside that corridor, the same family will never pass by again.
Grandma said "Thank you" before dying
Grandma has two incomes every month, one is the pension after her ex-husband's death, and the other is the "compensation fee" from the house of Aji's parents (the ex-husband's stepson). The money in the front is dignifiedly used every month to buy things to supplement the family, eat with Aji, and feed the family to the elderly;
Grandma actually has a son, but from the information of the "old man who has three children at home but no one is willing to support" from the staff; and on the way to "buy" clothes for Ling, the letter said that Ling "choose" them, Grandma also said something, just like I "choose" you at the beginning; and at the end of the movie, the grandma that Xindai said at the police station was picked up by her, we can basically be sure that she was also abandoned.
The relationship between grandma and Aji is very intriguing. In my guess, the abandoned grandma accidentally picked up Aji who ran away from home. Then, when she went to worship her ex-husband, she knew the identity of Aji. Under the same disease, one old and one young depend on each other for life. In the movie, Grandma deliberately asked Aji's parents how their eldest daughter was doing. I think this intention was tentative, because she wanted to know if Aji's parents were worried about Aji, but looked at them with embarrassment She told lies so freely, she knew no.
In fact, from the amount of money saved, we know that grandma has been to Yaji's parents many times, and may have asked similar questions many times, but grandma never heard the expected answer, and did not see Yaji's parents. She had the slightest worry about Aji, so she chose to hide it, because for parents like this, it would be good for everyone if they didn't go back. She was embarrassingly embezzling money from them every month, and she was just helping Aki get alimony.
But there is one place I can't understand: why does grandma love Aji so much. You know, in this temporary family, everyone has their own value, even the youngest Ling is no exception, but if you think about it, you will find that only Aji does not. The letter said that grandma spoiled Yaji, and I don't understand the reason for grandma's bias. She and Aji are not actually related by blood, but her eccentricity has actually caused Aji to stray from this family and not become a real family with everyone. This also led to the "betrayal" of the family in the end.
When the letter generation half-jokingly asked Aji to pay for the family too, the grandmother disagreed, and said that as long as there are old people, you should continue to eat. Maybe this is the only place Grandma feels she can help the family. She might have quietly left this world at some point like those old people who "didn't have the chance to die", but now she has daughters and daughters, grandchildren, and love. In order to maintain these, what else do you care about? Dignity. Isn't everyone in this family "using" each other to keep each other warm?
So when they were at the beach, grandma looked at the figures of the five people playing and playing, and said softly, "Thank you." She is thanking and saying goodbye. It was these people who met by chance that gave her a real home for the rest of her life.
Aki wants to be Saka
Yaji told Ling that she also has another name, Saka. But it was actually her sister's name. Due to the limitations of the plot of the movie, Aki's role is slightly insufficient. I can only guess that Yaji is because her parents love her sister more, something happened one day, she chose to run away from home, and then she met her grandmother and never went back.
Why do you say that Aki ran away from home by himself? When I discussed with my friend before, my friend said that Aji might also be kidnapped by her grandmother to take revenge on her ex-husband. I don't agree with this view, because first, if it is abduction, unless it is a very young age, otherwise Aji has a memory, and will not know from the beginning to the end that grandma has been in his house; second, if it is abduction If so, unless Aji is not loved in the first place, her parents shouldn't have the attitude in the movie.
I seriously thought about the possibility of "abduction and revenge". When grandma went to her ex-husband's house, she found that Aki and Saka were treated differently by their parents. So just like Dazhi picked up Ling, she "picked up" her back when only Aji was there. It's just that one is passive and the other is active. In this case, it is justified that grandma is particularly partial to Aji in the thief's family. But there is a bug in this case: the photos of her in Aki's family are from high school. If she came out since she was a child, there should not be these photos.
In addition, from the lies that Aji's parents told her grandmother, we can also infer that it is unlikely that Aji got lost by himself. If it is lost, parents will be anxious, will look for it, will worry, rather than ignore it. Even if it's really because you don't love it, you don't worry about losing it, don't look for it, don't worry about it, you can't be so at ease, right? Only when Aki runs away from home can her parents breathe a sigh of relief, because they can take away a lot of moral guilt and weave one beautiful lie after another. Aji's parents have this kind of lie, and Ling's parents also have it. But Ling's mother at least came over and took Ling back in the end, and what about Aji's parents? It never appeared again.
Aji has always longed for the same care as her parents, so she chose the same name as her sister; but she was especially jealous of her parents' preference for her sister, so she used this name as a form of revenge at work. That's why grandma said she was bad. She didn't know that grandma would go to her house every month, so when she found out later, she was so excited.
At the police station, Aki's expression had an obvious change process, first excited, then disappointed, and finally frustrated. Of course she wanted to know an answer, but she was equally afraid to know that answer. She asked dubiously if her grandmother didn't say whether it was because she wanted to use her to defraud money, maybe at that time she already knew that a home that no one was waiting for her to go back to, and a name she couldn't be, would be regarded as a tool to defraud money , even more distressing.
Shota said he was caught on purpose
This may be the most puzzling question in "The Thief's Family": Why was Shota deliberately arrested?
Shota's character setting is actually different from the rest of the family. If Ling is ignorant, she will do what everyone does; Grandma, Shinyo, and Dazhi are determined to do whatever they want, and there is no other way; Don't do it; then Xiangtai is confused and even struggling, thinking about whether to do it or not.
It is not so much that the words of the shop's grandfather inspired Xiangta's thinking, but rather that it was the confusion that he had to go through when he grew up. At the beginning of the movie, Dazhi talks to him about the hammer, but when he really wants to use the hammer, Shota runs away; when Dazhi is thinking about how much the stolen fishing rod can be sold for, Shota I was thinking about fishing, and I also remembered the difference between different bait. Xiangtai in the movie has been learning and growing in various ways, and finally began to doubt the correctness of the current life.
On the other hand, Xiangtai's emotional belonging has also been uncertain. The image of Xiangta in the movie is mainly established through the comparison with Dazhi. Of course, Xiangtai is willing to call Dazhi "Dad", otherwise there will be no scene on the bus; whether it is Dazhi or Xindai, Xiangtai can communicate with them like a real father, son, mother and son. The confusion of growing up. But he couldn't make up his mind, not because he was too shy to say it, but because he felt in his heart that Dazhi was still a little short of the "father" he wanted.
Dazhi told Xiangtai that only unintelligent children should go to school, and Xiangtai took it seriously; but when Xiangtai wanted to know the truth of the story of Xiao Heiyu, Dazhi said that he did not understand English, let alone Mandarin ; Yes, Dazhi taught him a lot of things, but when Xiangtai found out that these things were good or not, and he found out that there were more things that Dazhi could not teach, he was confused.
In addition, Xiang Tai did not know whether Dazhi, the de facto father, smashed the car to save him, or smashed the car and then saved him by the way; he also did not know if the family had escaped overnight, whether they really wanted to leave him behind . When the people with whom he was most emotionally connected began to make him suspicious, he had only one choice to make.
So back to the question at the beginning, why was Xiangtai deliberately arrested? On the surface, Xiangtai wants to protect Ling from being discovered; but if you think about it further, this protection is also for Xiangtai herself. He was forced to steal things to live this life, and even such a young Ling began to be assimilated. Maybe I don't know what kind of person I should be and what kind of life I should live, but it's definitely not like this. So Xiangtai was deliberately arrested, hoping to find an answer through this kind of intentionality.
Dazhi is going from father to uncle
In the end, Dazhi still didn't hear the word "Dad" that Xiangtai said silently on the bus. This is what he has been looking forward to and looking for in the movie, a sense of identity as a man.
Dazhi is understandable and sympathetic. He has no home, no child, no job, and can only rely on petty theft to make a living. He was only a guest of Xindai before, and because he killed people and committed crimes together with Xindai, he was tied to Xindai to live together. To be honest I can't tell whether the relationship between Shindai and him is out of gratitude or mutual pity. He is very kind, but because of his own limitations, he cannot make the family better, nor can he make the two children better.
When he was at the police station, Dazhi said weakly, I only know this, I can only teach him this. He couldn't tell Xiangtai the story of the little black fish, and he couldn't answer why the grandfather told Xiangtai not to let his sister continue to steal things. How can you live without stealing? It was because of stealing that he found Xiang Tai; it was also because of stealing that he gained face in front of Xiang Tai; in the end, it was because of stealing that he lost the opportunity to be a father in front of Xiang Tai.
Of course, Dazhi has done a good job, he tried his best. He wanted so much to hear Xiang Tai call him Dad. When he saw other fathers and sons playing football very happily, he made one himself in a plastic bag at home, and said to himself while playing, "Xiangtai, do you think your father is very good? Even Yaji laughed at him for being naive; He proudly performed magic tricks for two children, and then he was helpless when the magic trick was dismantled by Xindai; when he smashed the car and stole something, he danced triumphantly in front of Xiang Tai...
In fact, it is precisely because of this "best effort" that the role of Dazhi is more tragic. He is a person who has been abandoned by society, and he has no ability to think about tomorrow, and living a day is a day. Later, he had a family and several family members. He used what he could to maintain everyone's life, and he never complained. On such a cold day, he wanted to send a text message to ask for leave, but he finally got up to work early in the morning. Later, he was injured and crippled. He was glad that the temporary workers also had insurance. When he knew that there was no insurance, he also tried to steal the fishing rod to make up for it. income this month. You really can't ask this man to do more. His only thought was to hear "Dad", which was almost his greatest wish in life.
There was one scene in the movie that really touched me. Dazhi and his family were about to escape overnight, but the police blocked the door. Under the light, Dazhi looked old and humble, but he still kept Xindai and Ling behind him. At that moment, I felt that Dazhi was quite a man.
The letter generation does not need a "mother" title
Well, finally, let's write about the letter generation played by Ando Sakura. Xindai is the central figure of this family of six, without her, this family would not exist at all. At the beginning, Xindai and Dazhi killed their ex-husband out of self-defense. Later, Xindai picked up grandma, and Dazhi picked up Xiangtai; grandma picked up Yaji again, and Dazhi and Xiangtai picked up Ling, so they finally had this family.
On the surface, Xindai is cold-blooded. She will speak ill of her to Dazhi when her grandmother is away; she will coldly say, after making a deal with her colleagues, if you inform me, I will definitely kill you; When he found out that his grandmother was dead, he stopped Dazhi from making a phone call, and told Aji that life, old age, sickness and death were like this; when he discovered the money hidden by his grandma, he unabashedly and Dazhi happily counted the money aside. This kind of cold-bloodedness was seen in Aji's eyes, as well as in Xiangtai's eyes, and ultimately affected their judgment, which in turn led to the collapse of the family.
But in fact, this cold blood is necessary to maintain the family. In a precarious temporary family, everyone has a lot of problems. Once any link is emotional, the family will collapse in an instant. It's a pity that the only one who can understand this is grandma. I think this is also the true meaning of grandma's words at the beach when she said, "Actually, you are pretty."
Of course Xindai is not cold-blooded, she is more emotional than anyone else. In the movie, Grandma's emotional focus is placed on Yaji, Dazhi's emotional focus is on Sho Tai, and Nobunyo's emotional focus is on Ling. When she first picked up Ling, Xindai asked Dazhi to send the child back quickly, because this home was already difficult enough, and if someone else found out that the child was kidnapped, the trouble would be big; but when she carried Ling to the door of the house, she never again Ken sent the child back to that kind of family environment; when Ling was sitting at the door waiting for Mrs. Xiang to come back, the letter said that children who had that kind of experience (being abused) should not be like this; later they went with grandma to steal skirts for Ling , Xindai hugged Ling and said that no one would beat you; when she came back to burn Ling's old clothes, she hugged Ling again and said that people who love you will only hug you like me.
That scene at the police station needs no further praise. When the policewoman said that Ling wanted to go back, Xindai shook her head and said that the child could not say that; the policewoman said if she abducted the child because she could not bear children and wanted to be a mother, Xindai asked back, can she be a mother after giving birth to a child? ? When the policewoman asked her again, what did the child call you, Xindai said it twice, yes, how do you call it? I think what Xindai cares about is actually not a title at all. What she cares about is whether she can teach her children the most correct things and give them the most selfless love like a real mother.
Xindai said that she hated her mother, and maybe she had been abused before, but later, she treated a strange child with incomparable tenderness; Ling was afraid of her mother, but she cared about the unreturned Xiangtai just as innocently. Perhaps it is because of this commonality that Shindai protects Ling. Protecting Ling is to give her what her original family can't give, and telling Xiangtai the information when she found him is to give him what her temporary family can't give. Xindai told Dazhi that children alone are not enough. Yes, if every child can have a happy family of origin from the beginning, how can there be such a temporary family of thieves?
There is another detail, I don't know if you have noticed, Xindai is the only person in the whole movie who has serious communication with all family members.
last of the last
There are still many people worth talking about in "The Thief Family", such as the old grandfather who opened a shop, and for example, Mr. No. 4, who can't speak. But the last thing I want to talk about is the details in the movie: Xindai has the same scar on her hand that was burnt by an iron like Ling; Ling likes to wear a skirt, no matter when and where she wears it, Yaji also has this experience; The process of Ji falling in love with No. 4 is the same as Xindai fell in love with Dazhi at the beginning; and Dazhi's real name is Xiangtai.
What do all these details mean? It means that people and things in the film are not isolated cases, but loops, endless loops. That's the tragedy of this movie. The movie starts in winter and ends in winter. During this year, the six people steal life and love, and experience parting from life and death. They actually represent all stages of life. The little girl may be everyone's past. She will gradually become Sho Tai, Aji, and Shindai (Dazhi), and the grandma may be her and everyone's future.
So you say the world will be okay? From birth to death, no one knows these people; Temporary family members can still form bonds and keep each other warm; the real relatives choose to live in lies and ignore them. It is such a cycle of "strangers are warm, and relatives are calamities" that makes people feel chilling and desperate.
Ai Chen, 2018/8/13
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