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"Later Us" touches on a huge topic and emotion of the times - Beidrift.
Behind this term is desire, anxiety, and pain. It's the young people who are witnessing the continued decay of their hometowns and struggling to breathe in the big cities. It is a microcosm of an ancient vast empire undergoing its own modernization transformation.
However, the film has no "ambition" to deal with this proposition. Yes, there are some symbols and details of "North Drift" floating in it, such as the congested partition room, such as the suffocated green leather train... "Later Us" actually tells a rather universal love story: a poor boy Meeting a precocious girl, the two fell in love but eventually missed it - and those era scenes about "North Drift" just gave this love story some fresh background elements.
The protagonists of the story, Jian Qing and Xiao Xiao, come from the same remote town and are floating in the same city. However, the rhythm of their lives was misplaced: Xiaoxiao knew exactly what she wanted, she wanted a Beijing hukou, and she wanted to fulfill her vision in this city full of possibilities; Jianqing had a vague dream in her heart, and she didn't A clear and recognizable picture of the future. And when she sees that Qing has finally achieved a huge breakthrough in material life and regards it as a panacea to save her love, Xiaoxiao will tell her that what she really wants is not a full material life, but an abundant sense of security.
Such stories can take place in Beijing in the new century or in Victorian London. It does not describe the hesitation and Zhang Huang that people have when they return to the two coordinate points of their hometown and a foreign land, but deals with a love motif about the "beauty of regret".
Nostalgia can wash away all the redundant and unsightly accumulations and floating objects on the coastline of the "old days", leaving only the sapphire blue sky and the milky white sunshine. Missing your ex is the same. The starting point of the story of "Later Us" is the reunion of Jian Qing and Xiao Xiao ten years later. Because they can no longer continue their relationship, they are immersed in the stream of regret that is not without sorrow, but shines with beauty.
This is also where the film is most focused, capturing a sense of sadness and beauty. Obviously, when the plot came to Jianqing, who grabbed Xiaoxiao's hand but was smashed by a colleague, the story the director really wanted to tell had already been told - after that, he entered into two emotions of self-pity and self-pity. Rendering without restraint. Of course, from the actual sensational effect, it was a huge success. In some sharing of perceptions about this movie, you can often see such detailed records: in the dark theater, the sobbing of the female audience is scattered.
Therefore, you cannot give Liu Ruoying such a compliment: as a bystander on the other side, he can paint an accurate portrait for a love story of a northern drifter. Because, there is love here, there is no north drift.
Even when everyone dedicates their applause to the father figure of Tian Zhuangzhuang, you can also find that Tian Zhuangzhuang, although he bears the necessary elements in the story of Bei Piao, an emotional symbol about his hometown, but the father and Bei drift What is the relationship between the love story of a man and a woman? Does the existence of this character enrich the dimension of discussion on the theme of love?
the answer is negative.
Largely because this father is a good sensational tool. According to the propagandist, "Later Us" is adapted from Rene Liu's short story "New Year, Go Home", which tells the story of a pair of Taiwanese youths who fall in love and break up, and go home with each other during the Spring Festival. This story is actually a love story, not a love story. Therefore, the appearance of the father's long letter at the end of the novel is a reasonable and reasonable setting. But in "Later Us", Tian Zhuangzhuang's family letter full of wisdom and affection is a somewhat abrupt existence that is detached from the main line.
Rene Liu handed over her directorial debut at the age of 48. It has been 23 years since her stunning debut in "Little Girl". In "Later Us", the first person Liu Ruoying thanked was Zhang Aijia. Of course, Zhang Aijia is her Bole, giving her a different starting point in life.
I wonder if Rene Liu asked Zhang Aijia for specific creative issues when filming "The Next Us"? Or, I wonder if in her heart, the director's work of her teacher Zhang Aijia will be an important reference?
It is actually unfair to make a horizontal comparison between Rene Liu and Zhang Aijia. Zhang Aijia seems to have a natural ability to grasp things, and her transparency and precision are well revealed in her performances and directing works.
It seems that Haojun and Xiaorou in "Heartbeat" are similar to Jianqing and Xiaoxiao, and they are both former lovers who eventually got separated over the years. However, Zhang Aijia doesn't like to be immersed in endless sentimentality. The story of Haojun and Xiaorou was finally released in those photos that spanned two decades.
In "20 30 40", Zhang Aijia is not afraid to face the cruelty of reality. In the divorced woman she plays, you can see a person's trepidation and lack of self-confidence when faced with new possibilities in life, and how Facing a new possible disillusionment - Zhang Aijia's handling is that the characters regain the courage to stand up after admitting their failures.
But "later us" is different. Jian Qing and Xiaoxiao indulge in a situation of a tragic protagonist, and the audience follows in their footsteps, seeing themselves as the tragic protagonist and unable to extricate themselves.
Furthermore, Zhang Aijia will not stop at dealing with a simple love story. She will discuss love in a larger context. For example, in "Love and Blind Date", love acquires a background full of depth: arranged marriages in the old era, media violence in the new era... and these The background again nicely joins the discussion of love.
Therefore, if we want to say that the "later us" is a pity, it is that it uses the times as its selling point, but abandons the handling of the times. Behind this, it is actually its abandonment of people in this era, which blurs the true love and pain of the Beidrifts. In my opinion, what really speaks of the weakness and helplessness of the drifters in the big city comes from the words of a Japanese scriptwriter: "Tokyo is not the place where your dreams come true, but the place where you forget that you didn't realize your dreams. "
Originally published in "Beijing Youth Daily"
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