A close friend once told me that we can't always watch good movies, and we can't always watch classics from decades ago. From time to time, you have to go and see what everyone likes at the moment, and see what is popular in theaters, it will be very enlightening. Seiya's remarks, "Later Us" once again confirmed his words. I learned a lot from this movie.
1. The creator's selection and grasp of the subject matter
"Later Us" managed to make me feel awkward from the very first shot of the whole film. The green leather carriages during the Spring Festival travel, the luggage racks stuffed with snakeskin bags, the noisy and crowded crowds, the flight attendants checking the tickets, and the hot instant noodles delivered all seem close to reality, but they cannot stand up to scrutiny. The luggage rack was too full, and it was full of large luggage, filling the luggage rack like tofu cubes. The people in the carriage are also all young people. Although they are wearing thick coats and rough makeup, they cannot hide their youthful faces. In addition, the real Spring Festival carriage is not only crowded and chaotic, but also dirty and vulgar, as well as the crying of children, the laughter and anxiety of adults, and these things are incompatible with "Later Us". The film wanted to be real, but not too real, it wanted a middle ground. But there is never a compromise in this world, and this ambiguous attitude determines the heights this film can reach.
I don't know how much the director Rene Liu has the right to decide on this film. For the convenience of the following comments, I will treat this as her personal film, and use "Rene Liu" to refer to the entire creator. Liu's biggest problem in this film is the choice and grasp of the subject matter. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the scenes and plots that are wrapped in the real coat, but in fact without scrutiny, actually constitute the whole film. It is a step higher than the idol drama, at least it tries to be close to the truth, but it is too far from the truth.
This defect comes from the creator's ignorance of the subject matter. Rene Liu was born in Taiwan, studied music since she was a child, and studied in the United States. She is a woman from a good family and both talents and looks. She has neither experience nor understanding of life in a small northeastern city in China, Beijing and Beipiao. However, it is normal for creators to express stories that they have never experienced, because creators cannot always limit themselves to their own lives. But the premise of doing this is that you have to do your homework, and you have to take the time to understand, so as to make up for your lack of understanding. But I don't see this kind of effort in "Later Us". It's based on borrowing from other works and wishful thinking, so it's full of clichés such as staying in Beijing or going home, sugar daddy, and buying a house. , there is no trace of the creator's personal experience and unique feelings about life.
So why did Rene Liu bother to make a movie about a young man from the North? For the same story, she must be much better at shooting Taipei than Beijing. Of course, the decision-making of the film and television company behind this and the consideration of practical interests must have a great influence, but in terms of film creation alone, this decision is an incomparable failure.
2. Blank space in the film and arrangement of lines
The second biggest problem with "The Later Us" is that the lines are too full. If at the beginning of the movie, the male protagonist began to complain about his hometown and Beijing as soon as he met, it is understandable. After all, everyone is a young man and a fellow villager. Then in the plot ten years later, the male and female protagonists joke about the scene of making love ten years ago. It is less convincing to bring up the reasons for the breakup lightly. The worst part of the whole movie is its climax. Ten years later, the hero and heroine are by the river, and they say to me with emotion, "How will we be in the future", embarrassed, I just want to bury my head in my thigh . This is not called dialogue, this is a large-scale poem recitation in the central set.
Because the audience is unwilling or unable to understand the feelings behind the lines, and the screenwriters are unwilling or unable to express the feelings behind the lines, today's movies are more and more dependent on the lines, and the lines fill the entire movie. All the feelings are spoken, you just need to listen, no need to think. This approach is contrary to real life. As human beings who use language every day, we are well aware of the limitations and powerlessness of language. We know that we can’t speak to the full, and we know that many feelings have never been and will never be expressed in words. That is our cowardice, that is our tenderness, that is our forbearance. "Later Us" ignores this kind of forbearance and puts everything on the table in words.
Therefore, the only thing that moved me in this movie was the father played by Tian Zhuangzhuang. He won't shout about Beijing, and won't confidently ask the reason for the breakup that year, he is restrained, he keeps his thoughts for his son deep in his heart, and writes his thoughts about Xiaoxiao into a letter. His restraint was so real, we couldn't help but cry.
3. Beyond the movie
My heart beat faster when I heard "Contentment" coming out of the male lead's earphones.
How many times have you heard this song? I can't remember it for a long time, but it's the first time I heard it on the big screen. It turns out that Mayday has also become an object that can be recalled, so I can't help but feel the passage of time.
I remember that summer, I sat in the front of the car and sang contented, in front of me was an unbelievably blue sky and white elephant-like clouds. While I was singing "If I fall in love with your smile, how can I keep it, how can I have it", while I secretly turned back, she was looking at me with a big smile. I hurriedly turned my head and watched the sky sing.
Later, every time I went to KTV, my first song was "Contentment". Friends always say that you like Mayday, and slowly I really like them. I always thought that if I sang this song many times, I would really be content.
Similarly, Rene Liu's "Later" also accompanied me through the summer, and "Later Us" also made me cycle for a long time.
These are all digressions, nothing to do with the movie, but I just remembered it when I watched the movie today.
Ashin once said that the question more unsolvable than "if we never met" is "if we never separated".
View more about Us and Them reviews
