Usually when it comes to Hollywood, people always equate the term with commercial films, and even the analogy is "commercial films like Hollywood." The implication seems to be that Americans only make large-scale commercial films, and Europeans only When making literary and artistic films, the Chinese can only make court dramas, the Koreans can only make idol dramas, and the Japanese can only make A movies. But in fact, it is true that the Chinese are only good at making court dramas, but this does not mean that people from other countries can only be good at making one type of film. If you don't hide your ears and steal the bells, American dramas are quite good, and this "Second-hand Lion" is one of them.
In 2003, two films reminiscent of the legendary career of the old man appeared in Hollywood. One was "Second-hand Lion" and the other was "Big Fish" directed by Tim Burton. Tim Burton used a large number of his queen actors including Johnny Depp in "Big Fish", and the whole film runs through Burton's alternative and strange style. In contrast, "Second-hand Lion" "The style of "is much warmer, because his director is another Tim, Tim McKenzie.
When Tim chose actors for "Second-hand Lion", the first things he thought of were Robert Duvall and Michael Caine, as well as the genius child star Haley Joe Osment. Because this story is performed by two old heroes and a weak boy. Both Robert Duvall and Michael Caine played the role of a tough guy with a gun when they were young, and both of them once held the Oscars. And Hailey Joe Osment won an Oscar nomination for "Sixth Sense" when he was 12 years old. In "Artificial Intelligence" directed by Spielberg, Hailey alone supported the entire film. Film. It should be said that this "Second-hand Lion" is a joint work of three old dramas.
summary of the story:
The 14-year-old Walter (Haley Joe Osment) has a terrible life. He has no father and his ill-fated mother tells lies all day long. She keeps looking for men, hoping to change their lives, but the result is They always move from one place to another without even having their own home. In the summer vacation, Walter didn't have to go to school, but his mother had to send Walter to his two uncles who lived in Texas in order to live with the new man. There are many rumors about these two uncles. There is a saying that the two of them were locked up in a psychiatric hospital, and later they won a large sum of money in a lawsuit to spend their old age on the farm; there is also a saying that the two of them used to Working in the mafia, he robbed the bank and hid in the farm. In short, what is certain is that these two uncles have a lot of money and that they have been missing for forty years.
Walter, who was sent to the farm by his mother, was a weak-character boy, and his two uncles were men who used shotguns to fish and do farm work in the pond all day. They like to use shotguns to send salesmen who often harass them, they like to fight with young people, and they like to take risks. They spent money to buy a lot of strange things, including an old and frail lion bought at the zoo. Originally, the two uncles wanted to kill the lion and use its head as a decoration, but at Walter's plea, they agreed to give Walter the lion as a pet. In this way, two strange old men, a weak child and a weak lion live together on the farm.
Once, Walter found a picture of a beautiful woman in an old wooden box in the attic, and became interested in his uncle's past. He begged his uncle to tell him a story about his youth. The uncle told him the legendary adventures of the two when they were young, and more importantly, Walter gradually found the qualities that a man should possess from the uncle's story.
Character analysis:
Walter: Walter is the only protagonist in the film, because this is a story about growth. (Although the roles of the two uncle masters are very personal, they are still supporting roles. Robert Duval and Michael Caine's Oscar-winning roles in their acting careers are also supporting roles, which can be described as gold medal supporting roles.) The story takes place. When Walter was 14 years old, his clothing and background looked like America in the 1960s.
Boys are in puberty when they are 14 years old. It is a period of physical and mental development, as well as a period of psychological confusion. It happened that Walter had no father but only a very unruly mother. The growing up experience of a single parent made him a little shy (sissy). His father was the idol of every boy in childhood and the hero in their fantasy story. One missing The childhood of fatherly love is very unfortunate, because a boy without a father does not have an intuitive example to tell him what a man is. Because there is no father, Walter is very shy and melancholic. (I have to say that Hailey no longer looks like in "Forrest Gump", "Sixth Sense" and "Artificial Intelligence" in this film. He is no longer a child. In this film, he is already a teenager. Although not handsome enough, his proficient acting skills make it impossible for any beautiful teenager to compare with him. He puts that kind of dependence on his mother, a child of this age His shyness and yearning for the world of men are very well grasped. This kind of acting is definitely not something that the film academy can teach. Without the talent brought by the mother's womb, it can't reach this level. I believe that in his future acting career. There is a little golden man waiting for him.) He is afraid and yearning for the unknown world. He has half a map of the United States torn from his phone book on his body, preparing for the next move. (It is not difficult to imagine what kind of past this child has. It must be a life of drifting away.) Although his mother confessed that the purpose of his trip was to find the huge sums of money hidden by his uncles, his deep desire for such a child , His subconscious motive of behavior must be to seek a home, to seek the love of the father. She got these from the two uncles, so when his mother brought a man named Stan to tell him that the two uncles were actually robbers, Walter refused to believe it. When Stan beat him and forced him to tell where his uncle's money was hidden, Walter reacted as a man should, and at this moment he completed his transformation from boy to man.
Hubble (Robert Duvall): One of the uncles. He is a hot-tempered old man with a straightforward personality. The first thing he said to his mother when he saw Walter was: "Your son is a sissy." He is that kind of American tough guy who eats big chunks of meat. There is no profit to buy him, and no threat can scare him. Although he is over the age, he still looks like a cowboy. He likes to fight against injustices, and he likes to give young people a speech called "Manly Notes". (It can be seen that the United States is also a country lacking the masculine spirit.) He has that kind of heroism that has disappeared for a long time. When you see this character, you will believe that it is this American who defeated the Japanese. . He is also the protagonist of the B-line plot of the film, the protagonist of the legendary story told by another uncle, Master Gass, and the role model of the man in Walter's mind.
Garth Mikan (Michael Cain): Another uncle. Compared with Hubble, Gas was more like a gentleman. (Michael Kane is an Englishman. He was knighted by the Queen of England for his performance in performance.) He is the companion of Hubble's adventures and the teller of Hubble's legends. (This is very similar to Watson in "Holmes." After the new version of "Detective Sherlock Holmes" starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law was released, some media said: "Every Holmes needs a Watson." This mutual support The friendship between men who live and die has been ignored for too long, or is often interpreted as homosexuality.) Compared with Hubble, Gas is more like Walter’s teacher and can patiently explain to Walter The story gave him a lot of guidance.
In this way, Hubble and Garth became the indispensable male role models in Walter's growth. The two of them also experienced family affection that they had never experienced in their lives by taking care of Walter.
Hubble and Garth have no clear history in the film, because his history is a suspense in the film. Ordinary characters reason about characters through their history, while such characters use characters to reason about their past history. (This point is the same as the father in "Big Fish".)
Lion Jasmine: Actually, she is not a male lion, but a female teacher. She was named after Hubble’s lover "Jasmin" by Walter. An old and debilitated lion was sold to Hubble and Gasth as a second-hand item. Hubble and Gas originally wanted to kill him to experience the taste of hunting in Africa, but Walter loved this lion so much that he kept her as a pet. In one accident, the lion ran out of the cage and got into the cornfield. She never came out. She chose a place most similar to her favorite African grassland to spend the rest of her life in the cornfield. The relationship between her and Walter is also very close and harmonious, just like a big cat raised by Walter. Until the guy named Stan tried to hurt Walter for the sake of his uncle's property, the lion rushed out of the cornfield to protect Walter, but died of excessive excitement and heart failure.
Lion is also a character with no history, we can only imagine her former glory. In the film, the lion is not the main character, but a metaphor, a metaphor for the two old heroes. The same ever-sweeping situation, the same lonely old age, the same death deserves its place.
Plot analysis:
How to promote the plot of a family story between a child and an old man so that it will not be dull and clichéd? The film uses a suspense and a burden. It is the real whereabouts of the two uncles for forty years, and the origin of that large sum of money. With this question, the audience is unconsciously attracted, wanting to know the truth, and at the same time unconsciously moved by the simple story.
When we watched the film with doubts, Gas started to tell Walter stories. The legendary stories are interspersed in the plot, making people think, ah! This is the answer. However, this answer is too weird and legendary, it is like really coaxing children, so this answer is not the real answer, we have to look at it.
Gas said that Hubble and he didn't want to stay at home when they were young, eager to take risks. They persuaded their family to travel to Europe together, but it was World War I and the trip was terrible. They drank with a group of soldiers the night before returning home, and fell asleep drunk. Woke up to find that they were on a boat bound for North Africa. They were sold to the French Foreign Legion. So they began a life of nine dead soldiers. During the war, they supported each other and shared the joys and sorrows. After the war, they stayed in North Africa. Gas became a tour guide, and Hubble joined the army against slave traders. Thanks to his good skill in fighting slave traders, Hubble was attracted by a princess (Jasmin) (it was Walter who found the woman in the photo). The two met through horse racing and fell in love. However, he was obstructed by a chief who had long been married to the princess, and then a legendary story of One Thousand and One Nights happened. Hubble rescued the princess single-handedly, but was hired by the chief to kill him. With the help of Gass, Hubble outwitted the chief's bounty and could almost kill the chief, but Hubble as a man forgives the chief of entertainment. In the end, they took 10,000 gold coins and flew away together, until the princess died in childbirth and Hubble and Gas were also old, and they returned to the United States to spend their old age on the farm.
Yes, I didn't believe it after listening to the story. It was a bedtime story for children. But I believe one thing is that Hubble and Gas’s love for Walter is real, and that’s enough. Later, Walter discovered the place where the money was hidden, and his mother came with the detective named Stan. They told Walter the "truth": Hubble and Gass were bank robbers decades ago, and Jasmine was The girl who helped them drive away was shot dead. "This "truth" is more in line with reality. The money, the quirks of the two old people, and Hubble's longing for Jasmine can all explain more reasonably, but I really don't want to believe this "truth". Some people sometimes It’s better to live in fantasy. Walter is also unwilling to believe the so-called "truth" like me. He firmly believes that the stories that Gas told him are true. He refuses to tell Stan where the money is. He does it like a man. Defending what he believed in, and then the lion Jasmine came out to save Walter and died. Walter finally lived with his two uncles who loved him.
The burden of the story is solved here, but it is not over yet, and the audience is still entangled in their hearts. Are Hubble and Gass robbers? A few decades later, Walter grew up and became a cartoonist. One day, the police called him and said that his two 90-year-old uncles were killed in aerobatics in a biplane. This incident shocked the news media. A wealthy chief (the grandson of the chief in the story) far away in North Africa took a helicopter to condolences Walter. Only then did we know that the story was true.
People sometimes have to believe that what is cruel is true, but why can't we believe that what is beautiful may also be true. After-viewing
:
I just feel very good and warm after watching this film. These are enough for a good movie. There is no need to show off skills with complicated plot relationships and distorted character settings. Simple plot, simple characters, simple pictures, simple beauty, only simple is the best, isn't it? I really envy Walter having such a childhood. I envy him for having two weird uncles. I envy him for having lions as pets. I envy him for being accompanied by a group of dogs and pigs with different looks. I also envy Hubble and Gass for having such a perfect life, a young age full of adventures, a wealthy old age, and death by their favorite adventure.
I completed a beautiful movie watching in the end music of the yodel tune, goodbye Hubble, goodbye Gas, goodbye the lion Jasmine, and goodbye to the heroes who belonged to that tough guy who came out of the era. One shot, one man, one horse, the original Eastwood and his smoke, and Lawrence and his headscarf in the desert that turned North Africa alone. Those former heroes belonged to that old era, goodbye!
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