Win Win (2011)
Director: Thomas McCarthy Starring: Paul Giamatti/ Amy Lean/ Bobby Cannaval/ Melanie Linsky/ Jeffrey Taber/ Alex Shaffer country: United States Genre: Comedy
Wen _JABBERWOCK
■ lead: always return to ordinary life. Thomas McCarthy, who is always judged to have participated in second-rate movies, played second-rate roles, and demonstrated first-class acting skills, when he was a screenwriter and director, he especially liked the stories of small people. At the same time, he also emphasized the change of ordinary life by "uninvited guests", [win-win] Success is similar to Thomas' wrestling skills. The tricks are clever and clumsy. Although the film routines have traces to follow, and they are not strong enough to start a school, they have become more sophisticated, skilled and flexible.
■Life's a struggle used to be
difficult in the ocean. Seeing Thomas McCarthy’s resume, people can’t help asking, why did actors who participated in such a tumultuous movie as [2012], [The King’s Team], and [Father’s Flag] pay such attention The struggle of the little guy? In fact, going back to the roots, McCarthy grew up in the suburbs of Providence, New Jersey during his childhood, and spent his youth in the wrestling team. Since the beginning of directing, Thomas McCarthy has never given up depicting a struggling life. In the three films he directed, the protagonist either avoids the world and hugs the group like [Mind Station], or is trapped in the immutable life like [Life Visitor], and the old man in [飞屋环游记] is also lonely for a long time. And almost none of the characters in this film is not a loser who is struggling in life. Mike, the lawyer representing the elderly case, is the backbone of the family, but he can hardly even pay for insurance. His meager income makes it almost impossible for him to face his wife. Even the wrestling team he organizes has never won. The coach of the wrestling team, Vigo, not only has no wrestling experience, his business is also a mess, but he has to worry about his stepson's vision correction surgery. His friend Terry may not have to worry about money, but his wife has gone out of the wall to make a divorce. The turning point in Mike's life may lie in his consulting client Leo, but he is a lonely old man who is already in the early stage of Alzheimer's and cannot tell right from wrong.
It’s also interesting to note the place where the story happened. Generally speaking, the film written by Thomas tends to set the story in the suburbs-----even if it is not in the suburbs, the place where the story occurs will be relatively closed, and the interpersonal relationship will be more Familiar but simple community environment-that is, closer to our own state of existence. In the interview, he mentioned that in the past, when filming the suburbs, he always took a mocking attitude, while his preference was to describe the ordinary and trivial in the closed suburban life in a humble manner, and to discover the brilliance from it. point.
Life's a struggle, an ordinary and small stage of life, a group of unfortunate beings, only when an external force suddenly appears, the story will suddenly start.
■Coordination and balance
American social psychologist L. Festinger proposed " Cognitive Inconsistency Theory". The main point of this theory is that our mind is always seeking a state of "coordination". If the psychological expectation contradicts the actual result, we will fall into anxiety and pain, and try to seek coordination and coordination. balance.
It is not difficult to see that in the category of interpersonal relationships, the most painful thing is not the pressure given by others, but the pressure given by oneself, and the imbalance between psychological expectations and actual results. This pressure is not "firm belief" that can be relieved. , But like quicksand, gradually covering the throat, making people fall into a vicious circle of self-questioning.
At the beginning of the movie, on the road of jogging, Mike had to stop to calm his breath when he saw the young and vigorous back left in front of him. When he and his friend Terry talked about the pressure of life during the jogging, he almost suffocated. Fainted on the road. The reason is that he cannot take on the responsibility of a man-making money, and the more fundamental reason is that he is unwilling to "unscrupulous" to make money like other lawyers, and he is unwilling to put down his body to become a bar. Waiter. In order to alleviate the main contradiction of "lack of money", Mike turned to bear the minor contradiction, violated his professional ethics and conscience, sent the elderly to the nursing home, took the initiative to be the guardian of the elderly, and pretended to receive his pension of US$1,500.
The elderly have been taken care of and the economic crisis has been resolved. This seems to be a "win-win" situation? But how will he face the questioning of his conscience and the opponent's family? As a result, trouble seemed to have come to him the fastest, and a problematic young Kyle with his hair dyed blond came to him. He was the grandson of the old man Leo.
Coordination is a very interesting word. When it is compared with "win-win", we will find that there is no real "coordination" and "win-win" in this world. Teenage Kyle ran away from home because his mother was in jail because of drug abuse, and was beaten up by her boyfriend. When the meeting happened, Mike took the teenager into the family. Mike turned to discover his wrestling skills. By taking care of Kyle to comfort his conscience, he used Kyle to revitalize the wrestling team. Mike seemed to have found coordination and balance again. Everyone in this young man seems to have found spiritual sustenance. But in fact, this fragile balance will one day be broken.
■The power of dialogue
Although life is trivial, it should not be boring. The character prototype of this movie actually comes from the director’s wrestling teammate at Providence High School. His outside friend Joe Tiboni is also an advocate for the interests of the elderly. Lawyer. No one would have thought that the finalization of the script was actually written by two old friends on the phone after "remembering the wrestling years of the past".
Taking life into movies, the dialogue in [Win-Win] is also full of life’s wisdom and humor. Thomas placed ridicule and satire just right in the movie. When Mike got up for a run in the morning, the little daughter asked his father where he was. The mother answered "Running!" (running), and the little daughter understood it as an escape, so she asked Said: "Running from what?" (What to avoid?). It is the escapist portrayal of the lawyer Mike, who is embarrassed by the financial crisis at this time. When Mike applied to be the guardian of the elderly Leo, his family said "this is crazy", and the younger daughter asked: "who's crazy" Mike replied, "It's me." The doubt of “nothing to do” is also a portrayal of Mike’s intention to use the elderly to earn pensions to “treat or steal”. And such interesting dialogues and scenes abound in movies. Terry said that Kyle has "man-strength" which literally means "adult strength" but in fact it describes a middle-aged person with a burst of youthful vitality. Coincidentally, "man-strength" also means that this group is disappointed. The uplifting power that young people need.
It was the same frustrated teenager Kyle who provided this kind of invigorating power. Although he was a little taciturn, he was an out-and-out activist. After returning to the wrestling ring, he began to exercise self-discipline. Up the smoke. He burst out of vigorous fighting spirit and vitality, swiftly twirling in the wrestling arena, and winning many battles. He used his actions to arouse his teammates' fighting spirit. However, it is the power of dialogue that shows more of this appeal. When Kyle talks about the secret of comeback when there is nowhere to go in the wrestling field, what he said is "Fuck it!" (what ever the f*ck it takes).
This answer has nothing to do with any wrestling skills, it is an ideal way of fighting, but this is precisely the voice that people in desperate need most.
■ Break the game, life still needs to go on
In Thomas McCarthy's films, it is often outsiders who break the deadlock. The peaceful life of the dwarf in [Mind Station] was changed by two sudden visitors. The old man in [Life Visitor] returned home and was surprised to find two African immigrants sitting at home, and fell in love with percussion in the process of getting along with them. . Thomas McCarthy's expectations of "uninvited guests" have always been positive. It's just that in [Win-Win], another uninvited guest has been added. Kyle's drug addict mother.
For Kyle’s mother, Cindy, the director’s handling is relatively simplistic. A desperate drug addict comes only for her father’s money. However, her role is crucial. Her arrival exposed the conscience of lawyers talking about masturbation, and Mike finally dared to face his hypocrisy. In fact, from beginning to end, what he thought of as a "win-win" was nothing more than escape. This echoes the question "What to escape from?" at the beginning of the film. In the face of difficulties, we have many choices. Waiting to be trapped in a difficult situation, to escape, or to choose to face it directly? After Kyle’s victories one after another, Mike actually evaded his responsibility as the head of the family. Instead, he attached himself to an old man who was unable to take care of himself. What Kyle avoided was an ideal that could not be realized. Painful and unscrupulous mother. Although Kyle's mother is not a character that everyone wants to see, it is a catalyst to break the deadlock.
The deadlock was broken. We can almost feel the lawyer's mood. After facing ourselves, the self in the mirror is so ugly. Mike's character image is portrayed very vividly. His mentality evolves with the development of the incident, and the start of anxiety and anxiety , Taking care of Kyle with uneasy conscience, being exposed to the embarrassment, and finally facing Kyle's courage to apologize, and resolutely abandoning $1,500, and let Cindy leave on this condition. Paul Giamatti once again captured the audience's hearts overwhelmingly with the layering of the characters once shown in [Glasses of Wine].
Kyle also needs to face his own dilemma, the world will not favor anyone for no reason. He needs to reassess and balance his life after the collapse of trust through his own judgment, is it to believe? Don't believe it? Or continue to escape? For Mike's apology, he first used violence to vent and escape, just like he had met his mother in the game because he gave up on himself. But in the end, under Mike's sincere apology and Mike's wife's sincere retention, perhaps for the first time in his life, he chose to forgive. Forgiveness requires great courage and tolerance, not everyone can calmly deal with it, but cross this hurdle, Kyle's world will be even broader. And for a lawyer who faces life like a real man, everything is just the beginning.
Life needs to continue. Divorced people need to get out of the shadow of failed marriages on their own. Housewives also need to participate more in the pace of family advancement. Teenagers need to learn courage and know how to control their emotions, and the pillars of the family need to put down their body and Burdened, go to work two jobs to take care of Kyle and two daughters, the old man Leo, to support the family.
Thomas McCarthy once said, "Writing is a bitch!" Because he understands the entanglements and pains of writing as he understands life. "Yin'an one word, cut off the stalks and beards." He is so appropriate, humble, but rigorous and calm to construct a life comedy, which truly reflects our lives.
This in itself tells us one of the most obvious truths: only when you double the effort, there is a win-win situation in this world.
Jabberwock 2011-11-16
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