A hurricane, scraping life, scraping away books, words and colors, everything started so inexplicably.
What I think is special about this short film is that it's not a flip-flop about a person who goes from not loving books to loving books -- that would be too cliché. The male protagonist has been sitting in the pile of books at the beginning of the film, and the yellow-toned picture makes everything seem warm and peaceful. The sudden hurricane seems to have taken him to a new place, and the youth wanders around in search of a place to rest. He walked through the road paved with scattered book pages, and met a girl who was holding a book flying. Under her guidance, he arrived at a huge book house, where the books were all alive, like children, and needed to be taken care of: They want to eat alphabet cookies and change into new clothes. There are also particularly old books here that fall apart when trying to fly off the shelf, and the youth repairs it but can't bring it back to life. Only reading can make books come alive. The youth distributed the books to the people of the town, and every story, every person was important.
This is mutual, people are colored by reading, and books are alive by reading.
The film’s transmutation gives it a richer meaning and a new way of explaining death: the book will bring him back to life—in another place. When a lot of people commented on this film, they said they would cry again and again after watching it. Maybe I understood it too plainly, and I didn't understand where the tears were.
I once read a question on Zhihu: What makes you think reading is important? I think that books will melt into the flesh and blood, and bind to the bones and muscles. I have always believed that reading books will change a person's temperament and connotation unconsciously, making you different from others. It will be useful someday.
The 84th Academy Awards in 2013 won the best short film "Fantastic Flying Book" in memory of the pioneer of American library, Mr. Bill Morris.
2016.7.31
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