When it comes to Hong Kong movies now, I still think of police and criminal affairs, casino situations, and various situations in the market. When it comes to Hong Kong movie stars, Andy Lau, Chow Yun-fat, Huang Qiusheng, Maggie Cheung... I have roughly flipped through Hong Kong's film history. The 1990s was the prosperous period of Hong Kong films. At that time, Hong Kong had not returned to China. It is hard to imagine that so many works, directors and actors with the influence of the times were cultivated in such a small place. At that time, the Hong Kong film industry was not short of capital. , There is no shortage of box office, the influx of Taiwanese capital, the actors are excellent, many movies are written while shooting, and they have also created countless legends of Hong Kong movies.
Turning to the year 2000, it cannot be said that Hong Kong films have begun to decline. It can only be said that the Hong Kong film industry is no longer crazy (or capital has become rational), and Hong Kong films have gradually stepped out of its golden age. If the Hong Kong film before 2000 was a youth full of vigor and vitality, then the Hong Kong film after 2000 was a more stable middle-aged man. In the subject of art, stability is not necessarily a good thing. For example, we are now The art products such as domestic TV dramas and movies that I have seen should be a bizarre chapter of art history worth studying in the future. The "forbearance and concession" and "one less thing" in Greater Chinese culture were brought into full play during this period, which is a portrayal of the Hong Kong film industry after 2000.
After 2010, it became more and more obvious. Most of the urban romance films are inclined to safety in the subject matter, and bold metaphors and local mapping are no longer seen in the content. You must know that Hong Kong's unique political, economic and cultural environment makes him destined to have a special symbolic imprint, but we rarely see these in modern Hong Kong movies. We can compare the Stephen Chow series that everyone is most familiar with in the early 1990s, with nonsensical lines, funny characters, and chaotic order. We cannot simply define it as a funny movie (and looking back now, you may not find it funny), it It really shows the subtle Hong Kong style at that time, from the relationship between the police and the people to the attitude of the market, and it expresses it very fully and completely. Such a comparison inevitably makes people sigh "How did Hong Kong movies become like this?".
Against this background, "Sister Peach" came out. Sister Tao is not an epoch-making work in Hong Kong in the 21st century, and it does not even have too much influence, but I think it is not unreasonable to compare it to a turbulent world. As for director Xu Anhua, maybe everyone has seen many of her works, but they don't know much about her. I also learned about this director after watching Sister Tao. I feel that Xu Anhua is quite different as a director. She always says that her works are not satisfactory and there are many points of dissatisfaction. In fact, her work status is very similar to our work. It is not all about insisting on art. She often shows tension and compromise in the face of external obstacles. But one thing can explain why she can shoot works like Sister Tao. She once said:
"The reason why I like filming is because my contact with the society is often through professional relationships. If I don't film, who will pay attention to me? When I go to film, my job is to understand people, and I can participate in the joys and sorrows of others. , and you don't need the upper body, how good you say. You can have a role to do it, and you can get to know people justifiably, and at the same time you can shoot it out. It's a positive thing, and it suits my requirements!"
The background of this film is very simple. It tells the story of the life of an old servant, Sister Tao, and her second-generation employer, Roger. Sister Tao has been working in Roger's family for decades. From taking care of Roger's grandmother until Roger grew up, Sister Tao has been single and childless. One day, she prepared meals as usual and waited for Roger to come home for dinner, but after a stroke suddenly fell to the ground, she was admitted to a nursing home. Roger occasionally visited and accompanied him until he was old. The film is nearly 2 hours long, but the scene is also very simple, except for a few simple street scenes, it is Roger's house and the nursing home. The brilliance of the whole film is supported by the delicate and superb acting skills of Andy Lau and Dexian Yeh. They can be said to be the soul of this film. An old actor's eyes and words.
What impresses me the most is that Ye Dexian's interpretation of Sister Tao, as a servant, deliberately maintains a sense of distance between her and her employer. Even though Sister Tao has worked in Roger's house for more than 50 years, Roger intimately introduces her to outsiders. She is her own godmother, but Sister Tao is always very restrained when facing the care and help of the Roger family. She is afraid of causing trouble to others and wasting other people's money. La, it's not easy to screen money (translation: no, don't be so troublesome, don't waste money)", in front of the host, her eyebrows are always lowered and her voice is lowered, but this is not a sign of cowardice , but the professionalism of an old servant. She is very aware of her identity, and she is very grateful for what she has achieved, so she tries to take care of the employer's feelings in everything she does and says, so that the other party feels comfortable.
In addition to Yip Dexian's acting skills, the director also let me see the real side of the Hong Kong Nursing Home and the ordinary way of life of the elderly. The film focuses on describing the stories of several elderly people. Sent to a nursing home, her son never visits her, and her daughter comes to visit with mixed emotions and can't help but gushed out scolding, the stubborn old lady was reluctant to go to her daughter's house for Chinese New Year on the evening of New Year's Eve, and insisted on waiting for her son to come. Then, unfortunately, in the end, she still couldn't wait for her son to die, and a few short dialogue scenes described the old lady's inner struggle in a real and compelling way. But for these various people and things, the director did not show a special position, as she said in the interview:
"I don't maintain any vision or worldview. I hate some very childish opinions. I don't like the swarming, sloganism and scolding of people who are different from the Chinese or Hong Kong people... I think I should stick to it and treat everything. have their own independent opinion..."
So, Sister Tao went up to comfort and said: "Old lady, your son is not free, you can go back with your daughter to celebrate the New Year." As for what is right and what is wrong, the director does not comment, leaving it to the audience to think and judge.
Xu Anhua did not make too many comments and attitude expressions about life and sophistication, but there was a small episode about social phenomena in the film, and her attitude was fully expressed. As the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, the elderly people in the nursing home are sitting neatly in the narrow hall. Celebrities from the society come to visit, sing songs, send moon cakes, and say auspicious words to the elderly. The recording was recorded, the visitors collected the moon cakes and left to go to the next venue (speaking of the festival), the old people sighed for a while and were about to leave, the director of the nursing home (played by Qin Hailu) reluctantly said: "Wait and sit again. In a while, there will be the next group of visitors." The old people let out a long, tired sigh. In this section, Xu Anhua's sigh was slowly conveyed by Qin Hailu. She expressed her disgust and disgust for fake charity and show of love, but she didn't try to fight. , what are you going to do?
Maybe ten years ago I would have sneered at this film, but now I really like it, it really depicts an ordinary reality, and none of us can take it. My experience is not rich, I dare not say that I have seen through the world, but I have seen some things, and I began to understand the precious character of Sister Tao, the helplessness of the director, and even the stubbornness of the patriarchal mother-in-law. Each way of living, I want to end this review with one of my favorite lines in the film:
"Sometimes the pacifier, sometimes the coffin"
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