The director interprets the fun and psychological world of children from the perspective of children. This kind of perspective is not that adults are looking down on adults, trying to use memories to describe the world of children in a way that restores their childhood. This perspective itself puts itself on an equal footing with the children in the film, and even the events that advance the film’s plot seem so logical and convincing. So the unfamiliar adults in the movie, the teachers at the school, the busy traffic on the street... seem to have little to do with the children. Although in a sense of the film, the world of adults excludes the world of children: Bastion is not allowed to bring balloons on the bus, the red balloon is regarded as the culprit for disrupting the normal order of the school, and Bastion is also locked up by the teacher because of this. But the director obviously doesn't want to intensify this contrast, but rather guides us in good faith to think about the adult world.
Children are immersed in their own world, which is made up of only the following: the protagonist Bastian, the smart and friendly red balloon, and the other children who are attracted by the balloon. Or in a strict sense, the world consists only of Bastian and red balloons. They talk, play, and mingle in a world that is both symbolic and human. We believe that the director did not intend to make it a children's film, but emotionally, it is more pure and real than today's various children's cartoons. We can also find out that the happiness of children is so simple, as we sometimes exclaim when we look at the beauty of the sunset without any utilitarian coloration.
"The Journey of the Red Balloon" is the first French film by Taiwanese film master Hou Hsiao-hsien. The director pays homage to "Red Balloon" at the end of the credits, and claims that "Red Balloon" has brought him inspiration. It is undeniable that in addition to the borrowing of some materials (such as red balloons), there is also a certain artistic communication between them.
Susan, played by Juliette Binoche, is so busy at work that she has no time to take care of her own life or to take care of her child, Simon. Susan invited Song, a Chinese student studying film at the University of Paris, to be Simon's nanny. Song took this opportunity to record Simon's every move in daily life with DV, making it a movie within a movie. Here, the pictures and consciousness scenes shown in the movie "Travel" are much broader than that of "Red Balloon". Susan's busyness as a mother, an adult, and a deeply involved part of society (despite being a college professor studying the art of puppet theater); quarrel with neighbors when neighbors borrowed Susan's kitchen and left smells she didn't like ; But also to face the troubles of rent, electricity, water and other trivial matters, life is full of noise, contradictions, difficulties and resistance. Simon is relatively calm in the film, he and Song are doing what they like together. However, this quietness tends to be lonely. The film's pictures change slowly, continuing the film master's usual technique: stop motion and long takes. Therefore, although Simon seems natural when going to school, after school, and playing games, he lacks natural enthusiasm and impulse. The child's life progresses in an unhurried and step-by-step rhythm, presenting a panoramic picture. Perhaps in this film, there has been some kind of irreconcilable diaphragm between the world of children and the world of adults, that is, the world of adults represented by Susan and the world of children represented by Simon. Does Susan's spooky-sounding voice acting for the puppets also imply that people live like a web?
We might as well guess that the director wants to use "Red Balloon" to express the joy and happiness from the perspective of children and the conditions and essence of obtaining them, and at the same time meaningfully guide our hearts to the adult world. Then we are gratified to see that his goal has been achieved. The red balloon is always by Bastian's side, amused, inseparable, emotional exchanges, and even become the focus of various contradictions in the film. When it followed Bastian running in the alley and the leather boots made a crisp and loud sound on the flagstone road, everyone felt the beginning of Bastian's happiness and happiness, which was enthusiastic, impulsive and unscrupulous. Although Bastian's run is just to not be late for school.
Where are the red balloons in "Travel"? It hangs on trees on the street, outside the glass windows of trams, on the walls of buildings, in Song's DV video... and above Paris. Although Simon was concerned and concerned all the way, he looked up at the balloon hanging on the tree and said, "Hey, balloon, come here! Come on, do you hear? If you come, I'll give you something more than you can imagine. Oh big thing." But he never let him get close and feel it. The red balloon here is not a participant in life, but more like a bystander. It always haunts where Simon is active, like Song's DV filming as a bystander to document the lives of their group. In this sense, both Susan and Simon have fallen into the same world at the same time. Although this red balloon also has a surreal meaning, it is a bit drifting. It uses its own unconscious wandering to record a certain life and state. Perhaps the director didn't want to give it the friendly quality of the balloons in "Red Balloon."
Such a good movie often gives us a deep understanding, causing pure, romantic and crazy fantasies, thinking that we will become the people in the movie one day in the future, thinking that we have long since broken away from our dissatisfaction with the world and used the spectator's opinion. The posture overlooks all living beings, thinking that after the eyes are removed from the screen, you can lie on the bed beautifully and live a pure, romantic and crazy life... Then looking at ourselves and the environment in which we live is bound to deepen the contradictory experience of the world. The hazy consciousness that was still wrapped in a hazy state was ruthlessly drawn deep by the movie, and it was peeled away, revealing the living paradox of reality and the irresistible helplessness. Since then, we have more requirements and fantasies about life, but at the same time our painful experience has also been sharply enriched and profound. Although we are involved in the understanding of movies in an unconscious state, who can withstand such arbitrary provocation? Indifferent?
We are constantly fiddling with life so complicated and exhausting, or are even the most basic and unconscious processes of life necessarily intertwined in a haphazard web? If this is the case, then we are destined to be in the throes of misery all our lives, unable to extricate ourselves. What's more, we have never been a simple group of animals. Therefore, we must acknowledge our human status and contradictions, and only in this way can we understand ourselves more thoroughly. Psychologists say: "The acquisition of happiness is a life experience, it means the courage to face difficulties and never give up attitude towards life". With these more thorough experiences and even fantasies, we may be able to show more tenacity and calmness in the face of life difficulties and unattainable ideals, and start to pursue the happiness that is easy to obtain.
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