The title of the movie is quite playful, "Squid and Whale", two giant animals living in the water, symbolizing people in life The great troubles of helplessness, and the story of the squid and the whale fighting, also metaphors the fierce resistance encountered by the writer and his wife when they have sharp contradictions in their lives. Going back to the theme of the movie, looking at the whole movie, the theme is actually quite vague, even without the most important central theme. The movie is more of a delicate narration that allows us to feel it. Every detail of life can make it easy for people to walk out of the screen and return to the real world to think about it.
The film uses a simple and peaceful tone to express the various problems of this family of four, Qiqiong’s affair, Bernard’s teacher-student relationship, Walter’s lowly plagiarism, and Frank’s teenage sexual fantasies...out of the frame, It seems that a series of social problems have been revealed by this movie. If you take a closer look at the story of the movie, you can't help but give a more real impression. In fact, this is also the biggest advantage of this movie. Let's retell the facts.
When scenes and scenes that are no longer normal in the movie appear in front of our eyes, we also see many social problems that are accustomed to reality, as if the director has opened the curtains that hide the dirt and let us I have to look directly at them, and I have to think and reflect on my own life. The social problems in the film are very popular. For example, the moral problem of marriage. The female writer Joan first had an affair and had an affair with a neighbor, and then quietly walked with Frank’s tennis coach. The same derailment happened to her husband. When it happened, he was easily hooked up by a sexy student girl. Another example is the problem of teenagers, Walter, who loves vanity and steals other people’s music, Frank, a little boy who is constantly drunk and self-professed, and a young girl who numbly faces his parents separated and doesn’t care for himself... The director is talking about these. When there is a ferocious animal problem, I did not adopt a very affectionate and deliberate approach. From the beginning to the end, it is a simple narrative method, and there is no special focus. There are no slow motions or close-ups, and there are only details. The character description and character portraying, the quiet reproduction and the gentle narration make us inadvertently forget the existence of the camera when watching the movie, as if that is what happened next to us, and it is easy to let the watching us feel in this ordinary family. The dilemma of life.
Unlike the critical and preaching films that we generally encounter, "Squid and Whale" did not make effort to create a preacher's posture, as Montaigne said: I am only telling, not guiding. The director puts more of the film’s expressive force in the calm narration, calmly and silently revealing the plight of life. First, as an intellectual, Joan does not think that his derailment is a kind of moral corruption in marriage. In her words, it is too normal to say: How can you not think about having an affair if your husband is not there. Between her words, there was no trace of guilt or regret. And as a husband, Pat, after he separated from his wife, he used his reputation to start a teacher-student relationship with his students soon. He would often fall into a kind of self-blame, but the self-blame was only based on When I first became famous, I didn't seize the opportunity to hook up with a few hot female students. The whole movie did not give a positive and instructive ending until the end, and the director completely eliminated the intention of guiding life in the movie. At the end of the film, Walt ran from his father’s ward to the Natural History Museum, once again confronting the squid and whale that he had been afraid of since childhood. In the empty museum, a small pink squid was dying with eight claws. Entangling the teeth of a huge whale, stalemate with each other, both of them are extremely frightened. Therefore, the metaphor of the title "Squid and Whale" is pointed out again at the end. Whether it is a squid struggling with life or a whale whose teeth are entangled by the squid, the difficulties are all affecting each other. For life, this is an embarrassing stalemate. The theme of the movie "Squid and Whale" is this kind of revelation, although it has no specific social significance, although it only tells a family full of contradictions, the scene is no longer normal, but the corner of society is gently revealed by the movie, " "Squid and Whale", but in my opinion, this revelation is the most remarkable part of the whole movie. Its image is like a drop of water reflecting reality. In this drop of crystal clear water, we see family conflicts. The predicament brought about, I also feel the difficulties of life, and also realize the profound significance of children's growth and education. All these social problems will make us quietly silent after the end of the movie...
Tarkovsky once said: "I once again emphasize that no matter what form the film is combined, its first essential and indispensable final standard is whether it reflects life concretely and truly, that is also it. The reason why it is unique." In the movie "Squid and Whale", whether it is the random setting of the scene or the language and the close relationship with life, it is very accurate and complete to reflect a true reality. of. In this era of large-scale movies and low-level miserable movies, although there are endless methods, it is either to challenge the senses or to criticize the ugliness of the world with cruel humanity, like "Squid and Whale", telling life with the subtleties of life in the future. A good movie of the story is really an obscure but fragrant flower that refreshes the heart and lungs. For us, what life needs most is neither stimulation nor criticism, but a kind of thinking and a kind of reflection. Only by constantly thinking, reflecting, and changing can we live a happier and more beautiful life.
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