The whole movie is actually three worlds: in 2000, when Luo Hongwu just met Wan Qiwen; in 2012, Luo Hongwu looked for Wan Qiwen; in 2012, Luo Hongwu's dream. In the dream scene, I thought the episode was about to end. I raised my 3D glasses while watching it, but I didn't even feel my hands when I lifted it up until the end of the movie. The last night on earth probably refers to time. The end of the world advocated in 2000 and the end of the world advocated in 2012 have not come in the end, and life has to go on, it is better to indulge in dreams.
I liked the movie very much. At first, I thought it was very Wong Kar-wai: the protagonist's long metaphorical narrative, and the scenes where there are no characters, and the pure still life is like a scene description in a novel. Ang Lee said that Wong Kar Wai's films are the feeling of a dream, and the form of Bi Gan's films is a dream. For me, the center of the whole film is the tension between dream and reality. So after seeing it, I felt it was more like David Lynch's Mulholland Road. The dream was shot directly without logic. The most direct concern and things that the characters couldn't let go of were shot: son, mother, Wan Qiwen. At the beginning, the reality part was all the foreshadowing of the dreams behind, in order to show which obsessions Luo Hongwu's dreams came from at various stages of his life, in order to interpret his last dream.
Thinking about it every day, dreaming at night, all the intentions that appeared in the dream, as I said before, are all regrets in Luo Hongwu's life. In real life, his emotions, like the vast majority of Chinese men, cannot be expressed in the heart. Luo Hongwu's emotions are very restrained, as is the performance of the movie or the performance of the actors. He knew that when his child was knocked out, he just asked an understatement, and nothing was revealed. When he talks about his mother, he doesn't get angry or reveal the slightest sadness at all, just blandly describing the story of the bee and the burning torch, the only memory he has of his mother. In terms of love, all his feelings are only seen from the side of his actions to find Wan Qiwen, and he himself has no tears or a place to lose control. This point is actually very consistent with the reality of Chinese men. They don't know how to express love or how to say it. They just love silently with their own reliability and difficulty in action. And what the director wants to show us is what kind of overwhelming feelings lie beneath his tepid appearance.
Dreams are illogical, rooted in their own thoughts and extend almost infinitely, and contain infinite contents. For Luo Hongwu's dream in the movie theater, there is a direct nostalgia for the past (mother), a make up for the regretful imagination of the past (son), and an imagination for what he has not achieved now (looking for Wan Qiwen).
The representation of the dream has a lot of effort in form. Even the beginning of the sign is to wear 3D eyes. All the details in the middle echo the previous text. In fact, I think the echo is a bit too much, too deliberate, and the craftsmanship is too heavy, and it lacks the psychedelic and lightness of dreams.
The first concern that appeared was his son who was knocked out. Twelve years ago, Luo Hongwu said a trivial joke about playing table tennis, and he has not forgotten it to this day. That kid was terribly real in the dream, wisecracks, occasional lies, and dressed in our familiar little school uniform. He is still angry when he plays table tennis, his movements are not skilled, and he admires the spinning ball. This may be what Luo Hongwu thought when he was awake and in a daze while repairing the car. If he had a child, what would it be like? Would he use the lights of the motorcycle to illuminate himself when he couldn't see the car parts.
The second concern is naturally Wan Qiwen, the main line of the story. When Luo Hongwu is thinking of her, he may imagine her current life, what she is like now after she left Zuo Hongyuan, and then told her husband stories to change the rent. Luo Hongwu may reason a little bit while driving: he has never heard of her, so Wan Qiwen should not be very famous now. But she must be doing what she likes, at least she wants her to be. It is best to be a singer in a small county or village. Although not famous, at least you can sing happily. Her salary may not be enough to support her life, then she should find a boyfriend, or find another job, such as a billiard hall. She might also have a bob, which is all the rage these days. She's so pretty, there must always be gangsters who come to play hooligans and make trouble for her. Luo Hongwu was very angry when he thought about it, and smashed the steering wheel, feeling that there was nothing he could do but get angry. There are not many things for Luo Hongwu to recall, so any things they have touched together, and topics they have discussed together, have been recollected by Luo Hongwu over and over again, and they will take root and sprout in their hearts until they fade, until they have a physical imprint. . The three words wild grapefruit can be seen everywhere in the village in the dream, as well as the poem in the little green book that the last two people read, the spinning and flying house. He firmly grasped the few intentions, like a life-saving straw, connected to Wan Qiwen on the cliff.
The third is Luo Hongwu's memories of his mother. In fact, the saddest part of me is not the episode of eating apples that I have deliberately emphasized countless times. In fact, I feel that eating apples is a bit too deliberate, and it will even be slightly embarrassing every time it appears. What makes me uncomfortable is that the mother in Luo Hongwu's memory looks like the red-haired girl (Zhang Aijia). Luo Hongwu doesn't remember his mother's appearance anymore, and his memory of his mother in his mind can only be completed with the help of the red-haired girl. Even in real life, his no-place love for his mother can only be temporarily placed with the red-haired woman. Moreover, Luo Hongwu did not resent his mother for abandoning him. In the dream, he still wanted to confirm that his mother eloped with the man. The man did not abandon his mother, but took her away. His fear of family affection is still so serious that in his dreams, he is afraid of a bridge between mother and son, and he does not tell his mother that he is her son. Even if he knew intellectually that this was a dream, even if he knew intellectually that he was vulnerable once, but emotionally, it would be fine, he still didn't say it. Maybe Luo Hongwu just wishful thinking in his heart to hope that his mother will live happily. All he wanted was a watch, and he hoped to give it to Wan Qiwen. Like a normal family, he passed on his mother's old things to his wife.
All the things he did in his dreams and what happened were what he longed for in reality. In reality, he couldn't find Wan Qiwen, couldn't find his mother, and couldn't get back the child who was knocked out. You can only put on 3D glasses in that small movie theater, the one you went to with Wan Qiwen, and have a long and beautiful dream, preferably like a movie, without waking up.
Personally, I still particularly hope that this dream will finally merge with reality and become reality. In the 3D part, I tried to take off the glasses many times, hoping that the 3D would become 2D when the audience didn't notice it, indicating that Luo Hongwu finally found Wan Qiwen, but it didn't. The good thing is that I didn't wake up from the 3D dream, so I drank the regret medicine in the dream and couldn't afford to sleep for a long time.
For the controversial long shot, technically good or bad, whether it is appropriate or not is a matter of opinion. But it I had a very wonderful chemistry with me. When I was in the cinema, I used the time when Luo Hongwu was going up and down the ropeway to recall myself. During that somewhat tedious time, my personal experience was connected to the film through the medium of dreams. It's more in the movie than the mind wandering, and it's a little more awake than sleeping. I saw my dream. The watch I gave, and my first kiss, I was moved by Luo Hongwu and myself at the same time, and my eyes were filled with tears.
Those who understand don't need to laugh at lows who don't understand, and those who don't understand don't need to laugh at those who do not understand. This film is very personal, mixed with the director's personal understanding of life and feelings, like a fine art type of thing. People's experiences are different. If the audience has a similar experience with the director, or can correspond to the plot in the movie, they will be moved. If not, then this is a group of unintelligible scenes editing. People's joys and sorrows are different from each other, and there is no need to force them.
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