The film "The Thief's Family" won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year. As we all know, last year's Cannes was the most gold-filled session in recent years.
There is Pawlikowski's minimalist "Cold War", Lee Changdong's most philosophical "Burning" (personal favorite is this), and Spike Lee's ambitious "BlacKkKlansman" , and the most popular "Lazaro of Happiness", as well as "Capernaum", "War", "The Book of Images", "Children of Jianghu", "Wild Pear Tree", "Midsummer" and so on, these movies Many are enough to become classics that have been repeatedly discussed by movie fans.
However, "The Thief Family" stands out among many masterpieces, and the result is not too controversial, which is enough to prove the status of "The Thief Family" in film history.
"The Thief Family" can be said to be the culmination of Hirokazu Kore-eda's previous films. In this film, you can see the fetters of family affection in "Haijie Diary", as well as the speculation about blood relationship in "Like Father Like Son". There is also the social discussion in "Nobody Knows", and the questioning of the judicial system in "The Third Suspect".
There are many scenes in it that can easily remind you of Hirokazu Koreeda's past movies, of course, I prefer Hirokazu Koreeda's summary of his directorial career. But if you think that Hirokazu Kore-eda's "The Thief Family" is just a work that repeats itself, then you are completely wrong.
Many movie marketing accounts describe "The Thief Family" as a warm family movie. This may be a great misunderstanding. In my opinion, "The Thief Family" is a completely sad movie. It was Hirokazu Koreeda who jumped out of his usual director's "comfort zone" this time and made a work with a very sharp social expression. I only saw the same feeling in his previous "Nobody Knows".
It is Hirokazu-eda's social expression that is fourfold:
The first is the accusation against the capital. As a temporary worker on the construction site, Azhi was injured during his work but could not get compensation from the company. Xindai was forced to choose a person to be fired by his boss like a lottery with his colleagues in the factory and demolished the company. At the beginning, I advised grandma to live in a nursing home. In the eyes of capital, these people at the bottom are like ants and can be sacrificed at any time .
The second is thinking about justice. The little girl was abused by her parents. At this time, the judiciary was in a state of dereliction of duty. However, the family that really took care of the little girl suffered a judicial trial. Especially in the interrogation scene, the police officers used their one-sided impressions to determine the motives of Azhi and Xindai for adopting the little girl. The police had no way of understanding or understanding the process of getting along for an hour and a half before the movie. If justice is a symbol of justice, is it reasonable to send the little girl back to her original family to continue being abused?
The third is the discussion of social ethics, and of course Hirokazu Koreeda has always questioned the family of origin. Blood is thicker than water is a traditional concept all over the world, but can biological parents really bring happiness to their children? This is another question that Hirokazu Kore-eda left behind.
The fourth is to question the media’s communication. In fact, if you look closely, you can see that the media has always been in a state of sanctimonious justice and awe-inspiring, discussing the children’s parents in a serious manner, and letting the children’s parents again after the incident is exposed. In an interview, he told lies about taking care of children, but the thief's family completely lost the right to speak in front of the media and had no chance to speak out.
These social issues are carefully placed in detail by Hirokazu Koeda, without affecting the integrity of the story itself. This is also the surprise that Hirokazu Koeda gave me this time.
It can be said that the amount of information in "The Thief's Family" is the most complicated in his works. For example, Azhi used a safety hammer to break the glass of the car and brought him back to Xiangta, and Xiangtai happened to be next to the safety hammer when he finally got on the bus.
Grandma asked Aji's parents for money every month, but she deliberately gave Aji the password when she was withdrawing money at the bank; the little girl was afraid of receiving new clothes, because she was afraid of being beaten later, and finally the little girl returned to her mother. At the time, her mother smiled and asked her if she wanted new clothes; at first, Azhi saw the abandoned little girl outside the window, and at the end, the little girl looked outside and waited for Azhi's arrival... This is in the movie The details are endless, and a film like this discovers something new every time you watch it.
Besides, it is the emotional expression of the characters in Hirokazu Koreeda's film. The film deeply expresses the implicit emotions of the Japanese. Both the grandmother and Mrs. Xiang said their most heartfelt words in soft words that the other party couldn't hear at all. The little girl's last request was directly hidden by the director (this also indicates that her expectation will never come) , the repression in Xindai's heart after being expelled can only be solved by making love. The only difference is Aki, she has an emotional outburst in front of Mr. 4, but Mr. 4 is aphasia and can only respond to her crying with tears.
Although the movie is about the life of the bottom people, it does not praise the bottom people because of this. The film has always used the characters to express the inferiority of the bottom people. Azhi and Xindai teach Xiangta and their youngest daughter to steal, because they only have this skill, and they use brainwashing to convince the two children of the rationality of stealing. The first time Shotai questioned his parents was through the uncle of the outside shop. Later, after the death of his grandmother, Aji and Nobuyo smugly counted his grandmother's money, which made Shotai completely disgusted with their behavior. Xiangtai chose to steal and expose, on the one hand, to protect her sister, on the other hand, was it not because she hated her stealing life.
"The Thief Family" has an anti-mainstream temperament throughout. The family is a thief, "stealing" other people's children, teaching children to steal in the process of getting along, and finally giving everyone a mainstream ending: cheating money The old grandmother died, and Xindai spent five years in prison. Xindai asked Xiangtai to find her biological parents. Xiangtai went to the orphanage and finally went to school normally, and the little girl returned to her original family.
This is a harmonious and beautiful ending, but the audience will feel uncomfortable watching it. It is Hirokazu-eda's skill to let the audience enter into the values set by the director and understand this kind of anti-mainstream thinking.
Finally, my personal favorite is the scene where the family is watching fireworks together. The camera does not capture any fireworks. They are huddled in the middle of the screen to watch the camera, as if the audience and the protagonist in the dilapidated hut A meeting of them.
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