"Palm Springs": The desert never ends

Sylvester 2021-12-03 08:01:42

Even the most forgiving audience heard about the story setting of "Palm Springs" before watching the movie, and may have to sweat secretly for those old stalks that are no longer novel. There are too many deja vu in "Palm Springs". First of all, its story takes place at a wedding. So, those alcohol and slow dancing, those vows and speeches that are destined to be disturbed, and those unruly family dilemmas and permutations. The blood and mistakes of the dog, they all have everything they should, neither late nor absent;

Secondly, "Palm Springs" is a romantic comedy featuring two broken bad guys. At the moment when funeral culture is prevalent, the more and more realistic masses have long abandoned the possibility of the existence of a perfect prince or a true goddess, but this kind of "rotten people save each other" story seems to inevitably gradually become another kind of story. Vulgar

The core setting in "Palm Springs" is a repetitive one-day cycle. This once-inspiring genre film has been tested too many times since the founding of "The Day of the Groundhog", and it became "Edge of Tomorrow" on the battlefield in the future. It was added to the horror film. There is "Happy Death Day". If you stretch the time and buy one get one free for the protagonist who is trapped in the loop, you will get "Reincarnation Party".

However, when a bit of cold beer and quantum mechanics are added to these tired routines, the subtle and sensible sparks and philosophical conversation fragments of the two protagonists are mixed in, and finally a layer of depression and dark reality is dyed, and finally The blended product "Palm Springs" has become an existential romantic comedy with a proper proportion of old stalks and new ideas, cute and fresh, and with a bit sober bitterness.

Expanding the three-tiered routine at the beginning, you get the first scene of "Palm Springs": On the day of a desert wedding, the bride’s sister always looks cynical and is considered by the family to “only drink and drink. Sarah, who was fucking, was attracted by Nyles, her bridesmaid and boyfriend who didn't care about anything, and his speech of "We are not alone". Their passion among the rocks under the stars was interrupted by an arrow coming from the sky, worrying that Sarah of Nyles would follow him into the cave with red light, but unexpectedly fell into a cycle of time.

Perhaps it is that the audience who is worried about God’s perspective on the setting of the time cycle has long been aesthetically tired. "Palm Springs" has made two small innovations on the basis of the predecessors of the same theme: First, when Sarah first entered the cycle When she was at a loss, Nyles, the culprit who caused her to be trapped, had been in this day for an unknown amount of time. He wakes up in front of a pair of "graduate" legs every day. He has already slept all the people who can sleep at the wedding, regardless of gender, and has tried any way to escape the cycle. In this way, "Palm Springs" can no longer waste screen time for the protagonist to explore the ins and outs that the audience has known in his self-doubt. After a few symbolic struggles, Sarah accepted the cycle under the guidance of her predecessor Nyles. Rules, start the two-person montage that cultivates ambiguousness and enjoys life.

Second, unlike many time loops or time-space shuttle works that allow the protagonist to manipulate time to repeatedly practice the magical skills of picking up girls, "Palm Springs" directly puts the girls who should be the goal or the ultimate reward into the loop, so that no longer The changed desert starry sky and the specific time and space that isolates others have become the limited stage for the development of love between two broken people with similar fate. At the same time, there is a third person Roy who is like a system bug time bomb in the loop, adding a bit of surprise and acrimony to the time between Nyles and Sarah.

The success or failure of all love stories probably depends on the rationality of the love between the two protagonists. "Palm Springs" has put Nyles and Sarah in an island of time with only each other, decorated with swimming pools, burritos and sunshine, wedding pranks and retro dances in the bar, bonfires, and deserts. A group of dinosaurs that seem to be true and imaginary. This kind of madness of giving up everything and getting away from reality is enough to make any two people who dislike each other fall in love. On this basis, the adaptability and chemical reaction between the two actors are even more important for this palm. Quan Qiyu adds a weird romance.

The audience relationship is a very mysterious thing, and the two leading actors of "Palm Springs" happen to be two very lovable and lovely actors. Andy Samberg, who came out of SNL, has long used the big boy Jake in "Detective Divine Trouble" to establish a funny image that is somewhat trivial but still thick, and there is a Grammy Cristin Milioti, Also in the final season of "My Mom and Dad Romance", it amazed all fans who had full expectations for their mom. So, when Nyles met Sarah, his slightly sparsely curly hair and the care that he tried to hide with a smile, paired with her never-spent mascara and the pain in his big eyes, worked together to pull the love off the holy Altar.

The time loop that takes place on the wedding day is like a joking love simulation game in itself. Probably every couple in a passionate love period will feel that they are in a cycle similar to Nyles and Sarah. Time no longer flows linearly, and other unrelated people are also isolated. The two of them are surrounded by rosy enthusiasm. And the heart is endless. However, even in the magical cracks of time and space, any relationship between two people cannot have an immutable steady state, and "Palm Springs" also uses the different perspectives of Sarah and Nyles as the active and passive. Mature discussions and ruthless parody of intimacy.

Sarah in this relationship is an atypical romcom heroine who has the initiative from beginning to end. She can proactively pierce Nyles’ nonchalant disguise, just stand up and ride on the elusive ambiguity, or be sober-minded for the two of them. The infinite evasion of important issues is brought to an end. This may be the first level of intimacy in Palm Springs. Although love has the magic power to stop time and pull people into a sweet cycle, but most of the time, love is just an excuse to escape important issues. Two people who can't face themselves and can no longer tolerate loneliness can take advantage of the declared side effect of "blindness" in love, and try not to look directly at the elephant in the room while embracing each other.

Sarah, who no longer uses love to escape, and even says "I can live without you", seems to put love in a dispensable position, but eventually gains a tested lover. Nyles, who is not as mature and brave as Sarah, actually needs to make a more difficult choice. Either give up love and return to the previous lonely but self-consistent single-player cycle, or risk the entire existence of being erased and bet on one and The possibility of Sarah's smooth transition to the next stage. Using explosives to break out of the current cycle is a wonderful metaphor. Perhaps every love that faces evolution and change is a gamble. The moment you press the button, it will either be invincible in the explosion, or let the one that has been built before. Self, together with this relationship, turned to ashes.

As a short romantic comedy, the concept of love shown in "Palm Springs" is extremely mature. Love can be the icing on the cake after recognizing oneself, it can be a willingness to gamble about sacrifice and risk, but it can never be salvation, it can't be the most important meaning of life or the ultimate answer to all questions. The cycle in Palm Springs seems to be just a sweet illusion that cannot be sustained, and after the cycle is out of the cycle, the true love begins.

If you go beyond the relationship between Nyles and Sarah, and bring the grumpy veteran Roy far away in Irvine into the discussion, Palm Springs' one-day cycle will expand from a metaphor of intimacy to a comment on life. The time and space cycle in this desert seems to be three invisible single cells, a private custom-made reincarnation purgatory for each of them, and the way to escape from the sea of ​​suffering can only be found by them alone.

In the end Sarah cleaned up the misdeeds behind her, admitted her sister's kindness and offered her blessings, Roy calmed down her anger and indulgence in the tranquility of family life, and Nyles also found the people he cared about and the courage to take a step forward for her. Therefore, Nyles's opening speech "We are not alone" seems to be inaccurate, but it is close to the truth. Although the three of them all found a solution to their own problems in the interior, in the end, they still have to go back to love and the crowd.

However, (perhaps because I was too pessimistic), behind the happy ending when the two pizza swimming laps finally came together, the sadness in Nyles's words remained lingering. Nyles, who has gone through tens of thousands of cycles more than Sarah, seems to have seen the essence of life a long time ago. Whether Palm Springs, Irvine, marriage, one-night stands, the world is full of repetitive time cycles, large and small. , There are more meaninglessness that makes people helpless, there are more lies and mistakes that people want to avoid.

Therefore, although Palm Springs has a pleasant climate than the icy and sunny Pusutani, "Palm Springs" is actually a darker and more adult "Groundhog Day." Can be redeemed to usher in spring. Under such a hard-mode life setting, all we can do is to start with a mistake or find a meaning, escape from a small cycle, and then fall into a larger cycle.

There is no need for rescue or ultimate answer, as long as life becomes "less mundane" because of this, it is already a great victory. Because the desert never ends, and we in the desert must have some fun.

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Extended Reading
  • Kirsten 2021-12-03 08:01:42

    Dinosaurs appeared! More dinosaur scenes would be great. The time cycle is quite satisfactory. There have been so many cold meals on this subject in the past few years.

  • Roslyn 2022-03-26 09:01:05

    Indecision, quantum mechanics.

Palm Springs quotes

  • Nyles: The second you fall asleep, it all just goes back to the start.

  • Nyles: Stop! There's a bomb in the cake!