Revisiting after five years

Horace 2022-04-24 07:01:23

"Big Fish and Begonia" is a six-year-old movie, and after five years, I can't help rewatching it. The opportunity is the sudden storm in Beijing tonight, and in the past few years I have seen Big Fish, every time I encounter a heavy rainy day, I will think of many scenes and atmospheres in the movie, and faintly feel an ancient mysterious power. I also always think of the phrase "mountain and rain are coming and the wind will fill the building", and the circular earth building where Chun lives. Although the plot of the movie has been scolded many times, this is indeed the top 1 of Guoman in my heart for many years. I really love her pictures and cultural elements. Just like "Spirited Away" has a strong Japanese monster culture, "Big Fish and Begonia" also contains a set of ancient Chinese myths and legends. There are also solemn and condensed earth buildings, such a huge and cohesive architectural form, plus the configuration of various high-end gods such as "Heavenly God", and some correspondence with Zhuangzi's "Xiaoyaoyou", it is very ancient Chinese cosmology. It seems that the second part will be released next year, and I hope it will continue to be good.

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Extended Reading

Big Fish & Begonia quotes

  • Lingpo: What brings you to the Island of Souls?

    Chun: There's a soul I'm looking for: the soul of a human boy

    Lingpo: What time was it he died?

    Chun: It was two days before the wheat harvest.

    Lingpo: You need to be sure of the date. Otherwise you're searching for a needle in a haystack. So many die every day.

    Chun: I'm sure. It was my birthday.

    Lingpo: I know what you're trying to do, girl, and it goes against the laws of nature!

    Chun: I don't care. I've got to save him!

    Lingpo: The punishment is harsh for those who defy nature, no matter who you are, so you *should* care.

    Chun: But I owe him, for saving my life.

    Lingpo: How very touching. I've been stuck here for 800 years, and I'm still not done paying penance for my sin!

    Chun: But you didn't...!

    Lingpo: Don't interrupt! Let me tell you what real tragedy is. Meeting someone you care about so much you forget yourself and make a mistake. So then you go back and try to fix it and make things right again, and then you learn that fixing it's impossible.

    [chuckles]

    Lingpo: We can never undo the wrongs we've done. This I know.

    Chun: You're saying you won't help me?

    Lingpo: I'm saying I pity you. Besides, resurrecting someone from the dead doesn't come cheap.

    Chun: What would it cost?

    Lingpo: No less than a lovely girl's loveliest features: your eyes.

    Chun: [winces]

    Lingpo: [laughing] Now she's scared.

    [chuckles]

    Lingpo: Don't want to give up your pretty eyes, eh? All right, I'll take half your life instead.

    Chun: If that'll save him, take it.