The first sentence that popped into my head after watching the whole movie became the title of this thing. The reason is simple, I would not classify this film as a gay movie, at least not spiritually. The behavior displayed by Adams and her colleagues in the film is known in the field of psychiatry as Gender Identity Disorder, which refers to a person's psychological inability to identify with oneself and one's innate gender. Gender identity disorder usually occurs when an individual is young, but it also occurs during adolescence or even adulthood, and becomes more pronounced with age and sexuality. From Adams' account, we know she belongs to the latter.
Gender identity disorder and homosexuality have both differences and similarities, and using a mathematical set approach, the relationship between the two groups should be an intersection. Some homosexuals have gender identity barriers to varying degrees, while others do not. The difference is that the former does not accept their biological gender, and often achieves psychological comfort by requesting sex change and pursuing a heterosexual lifestyle and dress; the latter accepts their biological gender identity, but the object of sexual excitement is the same sex. Simply put, the former is more spiritual and the latter is more physical. For example, a person with gender identity disorder who is biologically male is considered a homosexual if he likes to associate with women.
Of course, in real life there is usually no such fine-grained division. I say the above, in order to bring out the existence of the "gender identity disorder" group that is highlighted in the film, rather than simply classifying them as homosexuals.
Back to the movie, let's talk about the background first. The film is based on true events, and it is no accident that this happened, as it is set in a time that is very typical of people's perceptions of LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender). Transgender's English acronym) the initial stage of awareness and acceptance of this group. In recent years, movies about this group, such as "The Normal Heart" and "Dallas Buyers Club", also occurred during this period, that is, between the 1980s and 1990s. The HIV outbreak in the 1980s brought homosexuality and its associated non-sexual groups into the spotlight. We know that when a certain force occupies an absolute advantage, the possibility of conflict is small, and conflicts often occur between the collision of two forces. The whole social environment is in a state of active and radical attitude towards this topic, the rise of gay bars, LGBT people are no longer opposed to their own identity, and at the same time, those who oppose it are even more angry. This may have been the trigger for how things eventually turned into such an extreme tragedy.
Second is the role. The director used this simple to almost rough shooting technique to portray the outlines of the characters to the core, and a large part of the credit is due to the excellent editing. The sharply contrasting cut between the two scenes is used several times throughout the film, and it's just right every time. In the middle of the film, the scenes of Adams having sex with Barry and the scenes of Fisher looking for his "comrade-in-arms" to accompany him but failed are alternately edited together. The unsound mind of Seoul's morbid desire for attention, the undercurrents surged under the rapid alternation of shots, planting the seeds for the conflict between Fisher and Barry in the future. In the latter part of the film, Adams's award-winning scene and the scene of Barry's tragic murder alternately deepen the sad mood, and at the end of the film, Adams's beautiful and moving performance on the stage is still stubborn and stubborn when Fisher is interrogated. It's a stark contrast.
Some people are born upright and brave, although they may bring misfortune for him, at least he gets the love he wants; some people may not be so sure of themselves in the past, but after experiencing some good and bad things, she can also Find the way to continue. There is also someone who has always considered himself to be the greatest, that he is the center of himself, and that his destiny is buried by himself in the end. These three characters should be successful examples of film works amplifying and dramatizing the characteristics of real characters.
Last but not least, I would like to explain the title. Although things are often more indifferent than this in reality, this incident played a turbulent influence after being reported by the media from the sensitive perspective of homosexual discrimination, and was eventually made into a movie, and Adams's prototype in reality was pushed to the cusp of the storm , she sold the right to adapt the story, and soon used the money to complete the gender reassignment surgery (the above information comes from another film review of this film, "Unforgettable, Unforgettable" by Yolanda), but after all, the movie is a movie, This is a movie about love after all. The male protagonist went from being initially attracted to Adams' external femininity to later accepting her inner physical masculinity (we also watched the second sex when Adams said don't go down would ruin the whole atmosphere). to how Barry reacted), it can be said that he fell in love with her wholeheartedly, and from there Adams completely gave himself to Barry, including the side of herself that she most disagreed with, which can be said to be Barry His love saved her from self-loathing; and in the end, it was also because the special identity of the "she" he loved was not accepted by those around him, which led to the tragedy.
The end of the film is a true and brutal reproduction of the killing of Barry, combined with those sweet times when he was in love with Adams, and Adams' grief when he learned the news, has a strong impact. This is a film that perfectly balances beauty and ugliness.
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