Friday's words: There are many works in the history of cinema that shoot the theme of "father", such as the Italian neorealist masterpiece DeSica's "The Man Who Stole the Bicycle", like the famous Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu's film "Floating Grass", the famous Hong Kong director Du Qifeng's "A Lang Story" and so on, but it is rare to shoot the story of a mentally retarded father. "I Am Sam" became a classic tear-jerking movie after its release in 2001, and it is currently the 154th most popular classic movie by Chinese audiences on Douban, giving it a high score of 8.9 for more than 210,000 viewers.
This film does not use how gorgeous film techniques are used, and it does not use how clever the art of lensing is, and even the use of editing and color is very ordinary. So why is it that nearly 20 years later, every Father's Day, people always think of it, and every time people recommend a touching movie, they always recommend it?
Friday believes that the main reason for the film's unforgettable and tearful eyes lies in the way it is told, in the core values of the film itself, and in the superb acting skills of the protagonist, Sean Penn. The clever combination of these factors makes this otherwise ordinary film timeless and attractive, as precious as the pearls found in the sea.
Let's take a stripped-down analysis of this movie and see how a protagonist with an IQ of only 7 years old can make the global audience cry after watching it?
Many viewers wonder why they can be impressed by a "fool"? In fact, it is very simple, we unconsciously enter the atmosphere of the story when watching the movie. The first shot of the film quietly brings the audience into this "fairy tale world". Why is it a fairy tale world? You can recall the fairy tales you have read, and the first sentence is generally like this: "Once upon a time there was a poor man who had nothing... In the end, they live happily together. "This is the way fairy tales are told, and this way is a model of the story that humans have heard for hundreds of years from infancy to adulthood and even old age. "I Am Sam" is only told in visual language.
The first shot of the film begins with a close-up of one hand, which is very careful and meticulous, and the various bags and straws of coffee are neatly placed. The camera switches and focuses on a face with a somewhat demented expression. His eyes are sluggish, his expression is exaggerated, and carefully identified, the audience can be sure that this is not a normal person. The camera continued to follow, and he always repeated to the customer "That's a wonderful choice!" "He can treat everyone warmly, although demented, but it does not cause trouble to others, and can even bring warmth to every strange customer." Such an image appeared in the audience's mind: this is a kind and enthusiastic coffee waiter with a low IQ.
Let's look at the first storyline point, where the "abnormal" waiter is urged by his boss to go to the hospital to accompany his girlfriend because he is going to be a father. Then, with the encouragement of all the medical staff, he became a father, but was abandoned by his girlfriend. Since then, he has been a single father with a "low IQ" and a meager income.
At the beginning of the movie, a man holding his newborn daughter is dazed and helpless
After reading the first storyline point, do you find that our protagonist has nothing, not even a normal person? This is the beginning of a "fairy tale". Throughout the story, Sam, as a single father, is not so smooth sailing, he has experienced a twists and turns of the road to "take a daughter", and finally live happily with his daughter.
"Beginning-Pass-Ending" fits perfectly with the "fairy tale" story model. We used to read One Thousand and One Nights as children, and many of the stories in it were models like this! We can't get tired of the story of this model, and this is the charm of the story. "I Am Sam" uses such an ancient but timeless story model to tell us the story of a "special father", which makes everyone deeply immersed in this story.
So why is it the tone of "bedtime story"?
Imagine telling stories to children before going to bed in a pure and exaggerated tone. In fact, this movie is like this. A father With an IQ of only 7 years old, Sam, a 7-year-old daughter, and a group of "idiot" friends, the perspective of the story is mainly based on Sam's perspective, to put it bluntly, it is the perspective of a father with an IQ of only 7 years old. The tone of the bedtime story he tells his daughter every night is the tone in which this movie tells us the whole story.
In short, it is to show us the life of a special father in an innocent and exaggerated visual language. Once we accept this tone and accept this narrative method, then the audience unconsciously "empathizes" with the protagonist Sam, whose joys and sorrows are the audience's joys and sorrows.
The film starts from a unique perspective and gives us an understanding of how a person becomes a father. Earlier we introduced the narrative techniques and lens language of the film, which are all external forms. And what really touches our hearts is a core value. Human civilization has lasted for thousands of years, and the pursuit of "love" has been highlighted in our collective unconscious. Maybe every viewer can't reach Sam's great love, but this satisfies every viewer's dream.
The core values of the whole film are divided into two stages, which are actually the two rhythms of the film: the first rhythm is the love of the father; the second rhythm is the love of human nature. These two stages are a progressive relationship and a soul that moves us.
The first rhythm: Father's love
What can a mentally retarded father bring to a smart and beautiful daughter?
First of all, he does not have a stable job; second, he does not have a normal IQ to cope with the problems that his daughter faces. But throughout the story we find Sam's kindness, innocence, and love for his daughter that fills the screen. Although he is busy at work and has a small income, he still squeezes out more time to spend with his daughter. He was familiar with every book his daughter read, every cartoon he watched, and even knew any of her little preferences. He saw his daughter as an angel and encouraged her to do whatever she liked. He gave himself everything he had—the wholehearted fatherly love.
Accompany your daughter Qu Park
Sam's neighbor Anne said in court that Sam was a good father because Ofe was strong, brave, friendly to everyone around her, and full of love for life. These excellent qualities were formed under the influence of his father, Sam.
What if a father realizes that he has humiliated his child?
In fact, what impressed us was not how Sam had parenting, but his awareness of his IQ disability, his realization that he had humiliated his precious daughter, his guilt and self-blame. He once said: Why does God do this to me, I want an ordinary person to do his best and still fail.
He knew his own flaws, the pain in his heart
He reads lucy bedtime stories, beyond the cognitive range of 7 years old, which he can no longer control. In order to understand her father, Lucy resolutely stopped reading, and she was afraid that his father would be embarrassed. Such a plot is touching and unforgettable!
Sensible Lucy said, "I'm lucky. Because other dads never accompany them to the park", "I don't want anyone to be a dad except you".
This is Lucy's gift of fatherly love, when a mentally retarded father loves his daughter wholeheartedly, the audience's most emotional experience is recognition and respect, Lucy received such an education and loved her father wholeheartedly, and never ashamed, but constantly comforted, let us be infinitely moved. A hot review of Douban once said that Lucy is the tear bomb.
The second rhythm: human love
This movie is not only about Sam's father's love, but also about his pure love for the people around him. Whether it's his socially-fearing neighbor Anne, to the dashing lawyer, or to his own group of "special" friends, he shows kindness and tenderness.
I remember one of the most tear-jerking scenes in the movie, where Sam asks to buy a pair of shoes for his daughter Lucy, and the pair that her daughter likes is $16, but Sam is only $6 for 25 cents. At this time, Sam's group of "IQ-deficient" friends poured out their money to help, some donated $3, some donated $1.50, and at that moment the clerk was moved to choke and said: "If there's a God..."
The clerk who was touched
They are rarely unhappy because they have little money, and what he cares about is the respect others have for them. After buying shoes, Lucy's dads walked across the road happily and contentedly with red balloons.
In addition, Sam is a Beatles fan, and the entire film also uses the Beatles' songs as a turning point in the narrative. When his daughter was born, he named her "Lucy". This comes from the Beatles' lyrics "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." One of the lyrics Sam often taught his daughter was "All you need is love." This shows that what he gave most to his daughter was the ability to love others. This ability is the most precious and the most impressive.
One line in the film reads: "Why are we so different, but feel so much alike?" (Why are we so different and feel so different?) Sam replied, "All we need is love. (All we need is love)
Sam, played by Sean Penn, became the biggest highlight of the show, and it was his superb acting skills that filled the show with tears. For this drama, he was nominated for Best Actor at the 74th Academy Awards.
In the field of performance, there are two major systems, experientialism and expressionism, the former based on the Stanislavsky system in the former Soviet Union and the german Brecht system as the theoretical basis. When Sean Penn plays a "fool", both in form and language, in both eyes and expressions, is very in place. He put a lot of effort into thinking about this role.
Some people perform only their form, not their god. In many film and television dramas, there are many fools. But the acting skills of many actors let the audience know at a glance that this is the actor acting, and the traces of the performance are serious. And for a good actor, just like Sean Pan when he ponders this role, not only in terms of form, he can even show "silly" in his eyes.
The talented actor has been nominated for five Oscars and won two Academy Awards for Best Actor. The second person in history to set the three major film festivals of Cannes, Berlin and Venice and the Oscar for Best Actor. He is also an actor who has won two Oscars after Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and others. Hollywood's evaluation of him is that "the acting skills are natural, and the older he gets, the more energetic he is." ”
Jessie Nelson, director of "I Am Sam," said of the film: "I think all parents must have times of confusion and frustration. All parents on this planet, whether disabled or not, have to face this problem. The stories of parents with disabilities offer a unique perspective on how people are coping with these challenges. ”
In fact, this is a movie for parents and children to watch together, it allows a parent to examine how to be a qualified parent from another perspective; it can also let the child know how to understand their parents. So, what exactly is a child's real need? Let's quote a line from the movie as the answer: All we need is love.
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