During the Spring Festival, I watched several theatrical films in a row, and I was dazzled. I watched "Sister Peach" at home one night, and was attracted by Xu Anhua's plain style and the master-servant love left over from the modern metropolis of Hong Kong. Emotions are not as direct and violent as "Hello, Li Huanying", but the warm current that touches the heart can make me settle my thoughts, and the aftertaste is long, and I can't let go for a long time. So I decided to watch it a few more times, and think carefully about the message that Director Xu wanted to convey against the script.
1. From master-servant love to "special mother-son love"
"Sister Tao" tells a touching "special mother-son relationship" between a young master Luo Jie (played by Andy Lau) who grew up in a big family and Sister Tao (played by Ye Dexian), a domestic helper who took care of him and grew up since childhood. Xu Anhua takes the audience to appreciate the change from the master-servant relationship to the "mother-son" relationship with a consistently plain and delicate lens, reflecting the mental journey of people slowly moving towards old age and death. Unlike genre films, it does not revolve around fierce external conflicts, and various pieces of a process are piles of daily life. It does not have a rhythm of ups and downs, but tells the story of Sister Tao's later years in a relaxed and sound manner, but the master-servant relationship has changed little by little to hard work, making the audience gradually believe in the true feelings of the two and be moved by it. True family love does not need to be earth-shattering. In the face of birth, old age, sickness and death, there is no need to cry and tear your heart. As long as you have devoted yourself, been serious, and have a clear conscience, you will cherish it and understand it indifferently.
2. There is a dramatic rhythm with relaxation and relaxation, just like the daily life of life
The changes in Sister Tao's physical condition and living conditions are the external factors that affect people's hearts, but the director is not talking about this all the time, not continuously involving the audience's heartstrings, but interspersed with the trivial life of Roger and Sister Tao, making the film more difficult. The plot moves forward between a tight and a loose rhythm, which seems more lifelike, and the two people in the relationship between master and servant are more reasonable. For example: After Sister Tao was taken to the ambulance for the first time, the next two scenes were not hospital rescues, but Roger cleaning the house and work scenes, and the director also arranged for him to be arrested because he was dressed like a worker. Mistaken as an embarrassing scene of an air-conditioning repairman, I deliberately let the rhythm relax. In the second act of the whole film, the main task of the play is to promote the emotional relationship between Roger and Sister Tao. Through repeated visits, the feelings gradually change, but there are also work plots of Roger. Through these side stories, both the description It reflects the changes in Roger and also reflects the changes in his relationship with Sister Tao. The director has never deliberately created a strong dramatic conflict. Even in the third act, where the play requires a faster pace, the director has restrained himself. Facing the departure of the residents one by one, Sister Tao's health was deteriorating, and the director began to create the atmosphere of Sister Tao's "countdown to death", and the rhythm was obviously accelerated. After the whole second act, the relationship between the two began to push from slow and peaceful to tense and worrying, but it did not accelerate and aggravate all the time. Interspersed with plots such as taking family portraits and consuming old people, they pulled Sister Tao's body tightly and loosely. The situation is the heartstring of the audience.
3. The author’s language hidden by the well-designed lens
(1) Empty mirror
1. At the beginning of the movie, there is an empty mirror of plants, withered trees swaying outside the window, and a few lonely Haloxylon sylvestris in the desert are at the mercy of the wind in the sand. The metaphor here is Sister Tao.
2. During the Spring Festival, fireworks outside VS fireworks on TV = the liveliness outside VS the desertedness of the nursing home, expressing the heartache of the author and the audience for Sister Tao and the lonely elderly under special circumstances.
(2) Soundtrack
The role of modern movie soundtracks may already affect the psychological changes of the audience, and even express values. The director is also very restrained in using the soundtrack (the whole film only uses the soundtrack three times), and gives the audience the judgment and understanding of the atmosphere and emotion as much as possible.
(3) High-speed lens
High-speed footage is used when it is necessary to reinforce, exaggerate, express the passage of time, etc. Likewise, the film uses high-speed footage only once. Before Sister Tao was paralyzed, after Roger visited Sister Tao at the nursing home and said goodbye to Sister Tao, the director gave Sister Tao the only high-speed shot in the film, which was very short and sandwiched between two regular shots. Hard to find without looking closely. And the next scene is the empty mirror of the deserted and calm "lou and street" entering the roger, pushing Sister Tao in a wheelchair like pushing a child to run. So this high-speed shot can be understood as Sister Tao is about to "leave".
(4) The director explains the viewpoint-foreground occlusion
Foreground occlusion is rarely used in movies, and it tends to give the impression of being watched. But contrary to the previous methods, the director of this film used foreground occlusion many times. Moreover, I found that every time the lens has a foreground occlusion, the next sister Tao will have a situation, and it will be more serious each time. The first time was being teased by a street vendor, the second time was a stroke, and the third time was the conversation between Roger and Grasshopper before being admitted to the nursing home (the camera also panned to the tiled wall to capture the reflection of the conversation between the two) using mirror images to imply Sister Tao I am about to enter an uncomfortable nursing home life. The last time was when Sister Tao was in critical condition and Roger was unable to hold back, half of the camera was blocked by the foreground, and half was Roger responding to the phone call and the assistant continued to work tonight. The next scene where the doctor talked to Roger was also blocked by the foreground, and the next ending was already Obviously, Sister Tao is about to leave on Serenity.
The director may want to use this kind of treatment to express his secret concern for the elderly but he can't bear to approach them, expressing people's fear of life, old age, sickness and death (you know, Xu Anhua in 2010 was also 63 years old).
3. The performance of Ye Dexian and Andy Lau depicts the character arc of the two protagonists
(1) Ye Dexian, consistent expression of roles
1. As an old man in his 70s, Sister Tao should have inconvenience in her legs and feet, so she has to lift the dishes up the stairs in separate trips, so her legs will tremble after squatting down and stroking the cat.
2. As a servant for more than 60 years, Sister Tao is self-reliant and does not accept help from others even if she is inconvenient; she loves cleanliness, and keeps a distance from the sanitary conditions of the nursing home; she is loyal, and she is respectful to the owner and does not easily accept the owner's benefits; self-respect, to herself The identity of a servant is recognized in the heart but does not want to be despised by others.
3. As a short-term relative of the young master, Sister Tao showed progressive changes to the young master's behavior after entering the nursing home. Roger came to visit the nursing home for the first time. He was surprised and nervous to the point of a trace of grace. Between the lines of eyebrows and words, he began to show that he changed his role by "taking advantage" of his poor physical condition. People were embarrassed by the cordial atmosphere of the conversation just now.
The second time Roger took Sister Tao to the street, the food Roger ordered at the restaurant was also fish, and he did not eat for Sister Tao.
The third time Roger brought Sister Tao home, apart from the content of the conversation, the identity of master and servant can be seen occasionally, the intimacy of the two has shown that the relationship between mother and son has gone further. Note that this is one of the rare times the director has used the soundtrack in the film.
For the fourth time, the two of them started "talking about marriage" in the park (the last time Sister Tao "interviewed" the servant for Roger). This scene is not much humorous talk and laugh, and the atmosphere is harmonious. Compared with the use of the soundtrack in the last scene, the director further mobilized the audience's knowing smile, and began to make the audience consciously believe that the intimacy of the relationship between the two has been further improved.
The fifth time Roger took his mother to visit Sister Tao. The director deliberately let a real mother and a servant "compete on the same field". Sister Tao recklessly commented on "fishy" in front of the young lady Liang Tai, saying that Liang Tai is also a little bit. I'm not happy, but she is present with a roger, so she can speak like a child.
(2) Andy Lau, the same progressive interpretation and added drama.
From the beginning, there is no "peach" in the eyes, sitting sideways when visiting Sister Tao in the hospital, then the first time I went to the nursing home to visit Sister Tao to help clean up, the second time I ordered food for Sister Tao, and the third time I took her home At home, for the fourth time "talking about marriage" with Sister Tao, the fifth "choose" to "turn into" Sister Tao, and making a cup of chrysanthemum honey tea for my mother; for the sixth time, I regard Sister Tao as my most grateful important person, take her to the premiere of his movie. After entering the third act, as the rhythm accelerates, the relationship between the two also changed from undercurrent to impulsive. Seeing the residents leave one by one, Roger even got angry at the trivial matter of Sister Tao's unwillingness to treat her dental problems.
In addition to adapting to the progressive changes of the role, Andy Lau occasionally added drama to himself. In the scene of "talking about marriage" with Sister Tao in the park, Sister Tao asked Roger how he was "as tall as a model", Roger said, "I have become a model, and I also followed Aaron Kwok." It is said that this line was not in the original script, and was changed by Andy Lau himself. He said that it was because people liked to insert the star's name in the chat content at that time, and this expression was closer to daily life. In another scene, Sister Tao suffered a second stroke in a wheelchair, and Roger pushed her to the park to relax. First of all, Roger parked the wheelchair on the near side (on the left side of where he sat), after he sat down, he found that Sister Tao, who was paralyzed at the time, had her head turned to the left, and Roger pushed the wheelchair without hesitation. Going back to the right side, this little detail is not explained in the script, maybe Andy Lau himself added the play.
4. The director retains factual statements about social reality
(1) For the film industry
It is both ridiculing and helpless to some commercial methods in the film industry. Tsui Hark, Sammo Hung and Roger played a scene to let the boss over-budget the show; Grasshopper helped Roger find a group to scare the homeless; after the premiere, Sister Tao and Roger left the venue early for the premiere. A candid expression of the reasons. These are the truths of the film industry restored by the director. Compared with those reports that sell gossip news in the name of truth, the film appears to be more plain.
(2) The issue of social care for the lonely and widowed elderly
1. Be straightforward on issues such as hygiene, resources, and compliance in orphanages, and bluntly criticize social issues such as consuming the elderly and even profiting from them: As the owner of the orphanage (male), Grasshopper's dress is not plain, but spicy. The long boots, painted nails, fashionable coats, smoky makeup, and a yellow accent; the cashier lady is Gong Xuehua, a three-aunt and six-grandmother with a mainland accent. The strong contrast with the image of the orphanage makes people suspicious of the orphanage and critical thinking about the welfare of the elderly in Hong Kong.
2. Revealing social phenomena such as the preference for sons over daughters and the failure of younger generations to take care of their elders: Aunt Jin, who values sons over daughters, was not cared for or even greeted by her most caring and beloved son in her later years, but her daughter was the last to send her to her death. people.
"Sister Tao" uses such a calm and restrained approach to show the old age of elder sister Tao. Some people feel that this expression is too flat, and it is not enough to penetrate deeper themes such as life, aging, illness and death, or the wider society. Questions, film industry issues theme. Indeed, if the pattern is not large, it will become a good film at most, and it is generally difficult to become a classic. But for Xu Anhua, this is enough to insist on her independence. Xu Anhua is the master of the Hong Kong film industry. There are few directors who can balance personal aspirations and genre orientation. Considering the commercial market, many of her works are still permeated with strong and common author information. Maybe this is what people say, a director only makes one movie in his life.
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