The theme of death is brought out from the beginning of the film: the hero Yongyuan is sitting in a corner of the campus, the bright sun in front of the camera is shining on the green grass, and two children are playing next to it, then Yongyuan's inner monologue appears: "I When I was young, all my classmates left, and I was still sitting on the playground alone, missing my mother who had passed away, and I suddenly realized that we will all disappear eventually..." Yan Yang, Xia Cao, and young children are all symbols of surging life, but the director does not. Forget to remind us: one day, everything will wear out, and no one will be spared.
When the father of elementary school classmate Zhou Gao dies, Yong Won goes to the funeral. Outside the mourning hall, the sunlight stretched the shadows of the trees, and Yongyuan sat alone under the shade of the tree; at the back, there was the reflection of the sun all over the ground, and there were several relatives, friends and children scattered; at the end of the picture was the mourning hall shrouded in shadows. The contrast between the images inside and outside the bureau is extremely stark. The receptionist said: "He has gone, but we have to live, please help yourself with food..." There is a bystander mentality that has nothing to do with yourself, but does death really have nothing to do with yourself? Brightness is life, darkness is extinction, and the male protagonist Yongyuan is in the shadow of the trees and shadows.
Later, the plot slowly revealed that Yongyuan had already been terminally ill.
The film leads the audience to reflect on themselves, reminding you and me: Have you ever thought about how you will spend your life when you only have the last time left? Wash your face with tears every day and blame others? Or travel around and realize your dreams? Regarding this point, the director did not say it directly, but expressed his opinion through the delicate performance of the actors.
Remember the grandmother who took a photo of herself in the film? She and Yong Won are the only people in the film who think of death when they are taking pictures. This is not a coincidence, in fact, it is an idea the film wants to convey: how should we deal with death in the face of death? In fact, the grandmother's smile is a hint to Yongyuan: life is limited, and you need to face death with a dull heart.
Yongyuan understands that death is inevitable, so why is it necessary to rob the sky and provoke pity? Wouldn't it be better to conform to nature, wouldn't it be more peaceful? Therefore, Yongyuan, who has a short time, works as usual, lives as usual, and is always happy. He still slept in late; he was waiting in the hospital, he was still laughing with children he didn’t know; he still climbed the horizontal bar to show off his skills; the family was eating, and his sister was worried about her illness, but he could handle it calmly; when his old girlfriend asked about her health, he gently In the past, everything is done in a joke.
Death takes away life, but also cuts off deep emotional relationships; life and death are personal matters after all, but friendship, family affection, and love must involve relatives and friends who are still alive. The former can be free and easy, while the latter is unavoidable.
The old girlfriend deliberately went to the photo studio to imply to Yongyuan that the relationship between the two was officially over. As soon as the camera turned, Yongyuan meditated on the bus: "Time has changed us unknowingly...I think everything will become the past. , including love", outside the car window is the scene that is constantly speeding back. This group of shots has given us great inspiration: the personnel affairs in life come and go, come and go, and the relationship with the old girlfriend is completely broken.
This made Yongyuan, who was at the end of his life, from bewilderment to an epiphany, to understand that since he can be calm with himself, he can also be calm with others: when friends from elementary school meet, they don't hug each other and cry, it's just an ordinary picnic in the suburbs, and they don't even forget to The messy cups and plates were cleaned properly as usual; the moon shadow night light was shot from the courtyard, the sister and brother chatted while eating watermelon, and after spitting out the last watermelon seed, the two looked at each other and smiled; had dinner with the sister's family, took pictures Take a photo as a souvenir; the father and son went to the market to buy fish together and prepared dishes together; Yongyuan couldn’t sleep well on the thunderstorm night, and hid in his father’s bed next door; taught his father to use the remote control of the video recorder, and wrote very seriously How to use the processor and video recorder; carefully write a love letter, but don't want to send it, just want to keep the love that has not faded in the heart of his girlfriend; love is coming, and Yongyuan is just gently touching De through the glass. Lin's figure slowly left.
Yongyuan uses his own way to retain friendship, family and love.
Yongyuan, who took so many photos for others, took the last photo, but it was his own. He carefully organized his clothes, sat down in front of the camera, and smiled slowly. The rotation of the camera rustled as if it was a century long. Finally, with the sound of "click", Yong Yuan's smile will always remain in that small square inch. The film lens will freeze the original color and slowly transform it into a portrait wrapped in black veil. Yong Won just left this world.
A person's life is made up of moments in memory. When we are about to die, recalling our past is just a momentary image. Yong Won used his camera to make every moment eternal, but he couldn't stop his steps towards death.
A dying person is no different from the death faced by ordinary people. Don't need to pray, don't ask ghosts and gods, face it plainly, accept it calmly, why should there be any fear of death? This is the death theme of the film's metaphor.
The photo studio is a particularly symbolic place, which records every moment in life. Then, the photo fades and the life ends. The traces of fixer and developer left on a piece of photographic paper will be like a memory, fuzzy but clear. In the end, you give up your identification and search, sit down, and look at the photo, which is the background of life, endures peacefully in the face of death, but is also as eternal as the warm and tranquil sunshine in August.
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