foreign words
Whether it is the twisted Travis in "Taxi Driver", Vito Kryon in "The Godfather 2", the noodles in "Once Upon a Time in America", "Raging Bull" Jack LaMotta in , Macaulay in The Wire, or Jimmy in Goodfellas, or Fahrenheit 9/11, The Happiness Line Behind the Clouds, The Last of Las Vegas "... Robert De Niro, who is known as one of the top ten male stars in the United States, has already built his own skyscraper in the movie world. A mental patient, a murderer, a big drug lord, and a gang boss, he is old and has gone through the vast years of his life, and his family is more and more cherished by this old man. Taking the role of his father at this time may also be an expression of his own emotions. However, the traces left by the years not only did not subside the old man's footsteps in his acting career, but instead turned his back to the right in "Meet the Father-in-law" and became a retired FBI agent. However, when we indulge in the vivid images that he interprets for us, we often ignore that this old man in his seventies should enjoy his life, and the time he left for us to taste also enters. Countdown is up.
As a remake of the same name in
1990, Miramax obviously didn't want to deal with it simply. Not only did Kirk Jones, Tony Noguera and other four screenwriters, but also improved the characters and background of the story. . At the same time, it has also strengthened the layout of the cast. Not only arranging De Niro to play the leading role of his father, but also arranging Kate Beckinsale, Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell, handsome boys and beauties, not only strengthened the beauty of the film, but also reflected the The film of family affection has injected fresh literary blood. The story tells the story of a father who lost his wife shortly after. Before another family gathering, he learned that none of his children could go home, and he felt like he set off to visit each of the children at their home. As the father of four children, this trip was not smooth. Despite the doctor's dissuasion, he left home to visit the children. Not only did he not see his youngest son, but he also felt himself and them with the remaining three children. Lopsided.
Every child seems to lead a glamorous life, but the father realizes that what he sees is not the truth. Every child is trying to prove that he is a successful person and hide his failure. Until the end of the film, the father learned that the youngest son he admired the most, not only did not become a successful painter, but instead died in an accident in Mexico because of drug abuse. Frank, who was lying in the hospital bed, finally realized his educational mistakes over the past few decades in the dialogue with the woman.
Undoubtedly, the happy ending of the film also declares that as long as the family members under the kinship bond are honest, life is still happy and contented. Just stay behind the film about family, about fathers and children, about education, and thinking about communication, which will make the audience in front of the screen think for a long time. With the rapid pace of modern society, what are we left with our families? Is it stacks of banknotes, praise from the outside world, or that simple heart that goes home? As a film that shows the relationship between father and children, the
middle part is reminiscent of Ang Lee's "Diet Men and Women", which is also a family gathering as the starting point of contradictions.
In "Food Men and Women", the father, Lao Zhu, uses family dinners every Sunday to consolidate the relationship between each daughter and himself, but in the end, the marriage of each daughter also indicates the loss of the father in terms of family affection. The father in "Journey to Heaven" personally dispatched himself, traveling through various cities in lonely trips, just to see each child and prove the existence of this feeling. The framework of the two films is exactly the opposite, but the discussion of family is equally vivid.
As a worker who used to protect the wires, Frank always maintains a sense of satisfaction with his work achievements. As he boasted to the women around him on his first train ride: "What you see is not the wires, but the PVC coating I make, and they carry good news and bad news." As Frank said Yes, every time they separated from a child, the children did pass information to each other over the phone, whether it was about their schedule or their worries about the disappearance of their eldest brother.
As a family emotional drama of the film, the simple and monotonous shooting style runs through the whole film. The lonely figure shuttles between the roads of the city, and the accompanying trolley case is also reimbursed at the end. On the train, the subway, or the truck on the downwind, a father who doesn't talk to his children can always find solace in conversations with strangers. Four children, looking forward to the younger son to become a painter, the eldest daughter is successful in her work, but her marriage is unfortunate, the son robert has not become the claimed conductor but only a drummer, and the daughter Rosie, who likes to dance since childhood, has also become a Lesbian. All in all, what Frank's wife said did not match. Is it because his education failed or his children do not want to make progress? During this trip, the father's doubts about himself continued to deepen. It was not until he suffered a heart attack on the plane home that he realized the growing gap between himself and his children.
Just like every time he was about to leave the child at the station airport, the child in the eyes of old Frank was the same as when he was a child. As a father, the child will never grow up in his own eyes, but it is also the distance between the father and the child who is invisibly separated from the expectations of the child's growth.
The director of the next chapter
named "Journey to Heaven". Obviously, he didn't think that this bad trip was a bad thing for the father. He didn't see his youngest son as scheduled, no child was willing to stay overnight, and even there was no suitable train to leave. Without this trip, maybe he would always live in his wife's description of his children and his own satisfaction in life's journey. Obviously, breaking the old man's dream, returning to reality, and accepting the beauty of reality is the harvest of the old man's trip. He also finally understands how to communicate with children, understand and share. If this is a road movie, it is not surprising that every child's city is not the end, but the beginning. The march is happy because of the anticipation of meeting the next child, and the end is sad because every child is in disguise. It is undeniable that this journey is lonely and continuous, just like the discussion of family affection will also be an eternal topic, just as old Frank described his pride in the telephone line: "produce 1000 miles a week, never stop."
final chapter
The aesthetic distance theory of the aesthetician Blow points out that a certain "distance" must be maintained in aesthetics, so that the objective phenomenon cannot be hooked up with the real self, so that it can fully display its true colors. Therefore, we always see ancient themes and future themes in film and television works. One has passed and one has not yet happened. For the audience, these two distances are so far away that we have no time to consider their right and wrong, good and bad. This is also the way directors are good at making fun of them these days. However, even if distance produces beauty, we still care about the things around us and the people around us. The truth of realistic themes often touches the most vulnerable corners of people's hearts. But it is this truth that we are most likely to ignore.
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