"King of Staten Island" is a movie that unexpectedly came out of my mind recently. The first half of it has the taste of "The Last Movie", a small town where everyone is gradually leaving and the protagonist is unwilling to stay away. It is degenerate and empty. Some unsatisfactory things slowly filled Scott’s heart, but in the second half of the game, the conversation changed. Under the humor, there is a sense of unsuccessful sadness, but after the sadness is over, if you can get a new life, then you can also look forward to it. The wider world.
Spoiler alert
1. A small town no one knew
First, let us briefly introduce the location and circumstances of Staten Island.
The picture below shows the administrative divisions of New York City. The purple area labeled 5 is Staten Island. It can be seen that Staten Island is the only administrative district that is separated from the rest of New York. As described in the movie, Court sent her to the New York city center to take the exam by ferry.
Next, let’s take a look at the population of New York’s administrative districts in previous years. It can be seen that although the area of Staten Island is not small, the population is an order of magnitude worse than that of other districts. This is also called Staten Island. The reason for the island's sparse population.
In the movie, Staten Island is such a relatively closed area. Although it is only 40 minutes away from the most prosperous city in the world, it is still an area rarely visited. The children grow up brutally here and the neighborhood is almost Set in stone, some people slowly left Staten Island as they grew up, so ruined buildings, overgrown stadiums...
This is a place where there seems to be no future.
This kind of scene made me easily think of "The Last Movie", which is also a city where everyone goes out. In that movie, the male protagonist also chose to stay behind, but there are fewer and fewer friends around. , So until the end, the only cinema in the town was closed, and his best friend either left or died, and only one widow was left with him.
I am also very worried that the male protagonist Scott will face such an ending, because it is too similar and too similar. Although there are so many humorous packaging, in my opinion, it is still a decadent generation.
2. Unreasonable rebellion
Speaking of the decadent generation, I cannot fail to mention the other two films that the film reminds me of, "Rebellion without a Cause" and "Breakfast Club". Although the emotional tone of these two films is somewhat different, the core ideas are the rebellion of young people. The relationship between decadence, depravity and family education is that if the son does not teach, it is the father's fault.
And Scott’s experience of losing his father at a young age also made him even more unruly and lazy under the upbringing of his overly doting mother. He fooled around with a few friends, without a future direction, and lacked a lot of basic etiquette, full of mouthfuls. Dirty words, nothing to do, although I got a small job in the restaurant because of my father’s friend, he didn’t do a good job.
One thing I care about is Scott’s feelings towards his father. Although in front of friends, they can make jokes about Scott’s dying father, but from the point of view of his life, he is still He was very concerned about his father, who was unable to see his life and was consumed by the fire.
The first half of the film is a gradual downward plot. With the departure of her sister, the mother who has not had a man for seventeen years ushered in a man whom Scott did not like, and his own growth is also slowly getting away. Go, this entangled relationship finally ushered in a huge outbreak: friends went to jail for stealing, and after learning about the bad news about the new boyfriend Ray, the mother angrily drove both of them out of the house, and she thought Gofa Xiaojia was eventually kicked out again. Finally, he slept in the residence of Ray's fire brigade that he didn't like.
3. Tattoos and Superman
Fortunately, the film did not carry this "mourning" mood until the end. In fact, although the film has some hard and sentimental cores, the relaxed atmosphere still permeates every corner of the film.
In the end, the male protagonist released his suspicion with Lei in the process of living with Lei, and discussed the possibility of going to college with his sister. Although the partners were in jail, they discovered that one of the best friends actually had a hot girl, and Lei's son and daughter went to school happily, and drew his own Frozen Superman for Lei's son. When he worked with Lei to rescue the injured, he finally untied with his mother. Finally, he watched Xiao walk into the civil service exam. In the examination room, he himself looked towards the bustling New York city center...
Scott, although Fei Yezi is full of swear words, but fortunately, after reading the whole article, I found that he is a good person. He may not be so considerate. He has his own stubborn thoughts when facing many things. He didn't degenerate into that kind of sinner who never forgives all evils. In fact, he has done very well in many law-abiding places. He is not very good at rejecting others, even if reluctantly, he cares about his mother, although sometimes a little too much, he will care about other people's views of himself, although he is often open-mouthed, he likes his own small hair, although In many cases, it will not be expressed.
Even, he has a very shining side of himself, that is his tattoo.
In the first half of the journey, we all treated his tattoos as a joke, including the absurd idea that he wanted to open a restaurant where he would eat while tattooing, but when we saw the superman Scott painted for the little boy , We were shocked like Ray. On the one hand, we discovered that Scott’s talent in painting is actually not simple. On the other hand, did the drawing of the superman Scott in this child’s mind become the child’s mind? Where's Superman?
Fortunately, the film did not carry this "mourning" mood until the end. In fact, although the film has some hard and sentimental cores, the relaxed atmosphere still permeates every corner of the film. In the end, the male protagonist released his suspicion with Lei in the process of living with Lei, and discussed the possibility of going to college with his sister. Although the partners were in jail, they discovered that one of the best friends actually had a hot girl, and Lei's son and daughter went to school happily, and drew his own Frozen Superman for Lei's son. When he worked with Lei to rescue the injured, he finally untied with his mother. Finally, he watched Xiao walk into the civil service exam. In the examination room, he himself looked towards the bustling New York city center...
4. Three men
Everyone has his own shortcomings, but he is not a bad person.
Scott, as we said above, although he has so many shortcomings, his heart is not bad, and he often has his own shining points.
But the movie won't stop there. In fact, the view that this person is not perfect, Jin Wuzuchi, alludes to every male character in the movie.
Scott's appearance is a terrible image, and as the plot develops, we gradually see a good point in him.
Ray's appearance is a relatively neutral image, a little bit grumpy, but in the interaction with Scott's mother Maggie, we found that this old man is also quite good, but in the words of his ex-wife, Ray's image fell again. At the bottom of the valley, we became a gambler, but in the end, we discovered that this was a one-sided remark. Lei was not as good as he showed it, nor was he as bad as his ex-wife said. He is generally a good person, likes Maggie, and cares about his children. ,that's enough.
And Scott’s father, Stan, who had never played, started out with a more perfect image, struggling to save people from the unfortunate death. However, in the conversation between Scott and the old firefighter, he also discovered that his father sucked white powder when he was young. But all this did not destroy his father’s image. In fact, his father became more vivid and alive. He was like a real person who had lived. It’s not that he took drugs, just because he was a flawed one. Good people.
5. The world outside the town
As I mentioned earlier, the first half of the film is very similar to the "Last Movie" that was eventually trapped in his own town for life, but fortunately, Scott finally reached the bustling city center of New York by boat. After a brief parting with his "new" girlfriend, he looked at the row upon row of buildings and the world.
With just such a glance, his life will no longer be trapped on that sparsely populated island.
He will go back that day, but I also believe that he will also take a boat out again to show his style in this larger world.
Here, he can accept a lot of new things. He doesn’t have to worry that his tattoo will not find a test subject. People will even like his idea of eating while getting a tattoo. In the future, there is no limit. Will this king who dominates Staten Island one day show his best side in the larger world?
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