On December 3 (Fri), Han Film "Oh! "Wen Ji" was released in the mainland. This is the second time in 6 years after the 2015 "Assassination" starring Jeon Ji-hyun, Lee Jeong-jae and Ha Jeong-woo, the mainland has once again introduced Korean films.
Directed by Jeong Se-dun and starring Luo Wenji, Lee Hee-joon and Choi Won-young, "Oh! Wen Ji" tells the story of Wu Wenji, a grandmother with Alzheimer's disease, and her son Douyuan to find the hit-and-run criminal who bumped into her granddaughter. Douban currently has a score of 7.2.
Let's talk about this "Oh! Wen Ji", is it worth going to the cinema?
A mixture of suspense + comedy genres
Dual Narratives Looking for Life's "Hit-and-Run"
Oh! "Wen Ji" is a warm comedy that combines the suspense genre. In this movie, you can see some routines, but there is also no lack of novelty and deep meaning.
The main line is very simple, that is, to find the hit-and-run prisoners, which is one of the most common narratives in Korean films and dramas. But on the slightly old-fashioned storyline, a new "subject" is added, who is going to find the hit-and-run prisoners? That is, who is the protagonist?
Audiences familiar with Korean dramas must know that the identity of the protagonists in suspense dramas, whether it is police, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, forensic doctors, journalists, insurance investigators, or even prisoners themselves... You can check the case yourself!
The protagonist of this film is a grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, sometimes awake and sometimes confused. This is a completely fresh detective protagonist design! Therefore, the Taiwanese translation of the name "Famous Detective Grandma" seems to be nonsensical, but it can also catch a little essence.
Wen Ji is the key and obstacle, not only because the victim is a granddaughter, but also because she is the only witness at the scene of the crime, but her dementia has become the biggest obstacle to the investigation.
Wen Ji's son, Dou Yuan, is a car insurance officer who does not know how to recognize models. After her mother Wenji and her daughter fell asleep, she sneaked out to drink, and blamed Her wife for miscarriage and divorce on Wenji.
All in all, a middle-aged man who is not very good, the only bottom line is his daughter. When his beloved daughter is knocked unconscious, he is determined to find the perpetrator. The setting of the car insurers gives him the ability to investigate vehicle information.
Such a character setting is not only to meet the innovation of the suspense part, but more importantly, to depict the mother-child relationship in special circumstances.
On the surface, Douyuan is looking for a car hit-and-run, but in fact, in his heart, to some extent, his mother Wenji is also a "hit-and-run" in his life.
He believes that Wen Ji was too bad for his daughter-in-law after suffering from dementia, which led to his wife leaving; Wen Ji took her granddaughter out to buy rice wine when she was unconscious, which led to his daughter being hit; Wen Ji "unplugged" the ventilator socket while taking care of her granddaughter who had improved, causing his daughter to almost die...
In Dou Yuan's eyes, After Wen Ji "hits", she "escapes" into the shell of dementia, making him unable to bear to blame a sick person. When he was most angry, he even said that he would break off the mother-son relationship and drive Wen Ji out of the house.
But it was he who did not take good care of his wife, it was he who let his daughter run away to steal drinks, and it was he who left the demented Wen Ji alone in the ward.
Such a "useless" person will not cause disgust to the audience. Thanks to the right comedy part, in a very sad and guilty moment, he learned that the dog Enzi ran all the way to the ambulance and was "more useful" than him, so he lay down on the ground and said: "Enzi, I am your son, I am the puppy..."
Foolishly plucking his tail in the scrapping plant, he pulled out a large wild boar; he created a trick to hang persimmons on the beams of the house as hypnotic props... The look of doing something stupid is very joyful.
Occasionally, when Wen Ji was dancing happily, she would pick a small flower on the side of the road and give it to her, and Wen Ji said happily: "Oba, it is so beautiful." ”
The new combination of settings, coupled with complex and full characters, is not only a combination of suspense and warm comedy genres, but also a double narrative in a deep sense, that is, when looking for hit-and-run, the protagonist himself is also a "hit-and-run" in his son's life.
Ms. Luo Wenji's agile acting skills, and Lee Hee-joon's reverse comedy charm that is different from "Snooping". Coupled with the relaxed rhythm of the whole film, as well as the small reversal of the prisoner at the end, are the key to the interesting and plump work.
Especially like the "quagmire war" plot that is necessary for variety shows, although it weakens the tension of the suspense type, it makes the ending return to the comedy style, watching Grandma Wenji drive a tractor to fight the prisoners, it is also an unexpected "spectacle".
It is still highly recommended to go to the cinema with my family!
If the suspense part is stronger, such as the 1155 that Grandma Wenji has been nagging, it is difficult not to think of the license plate number in car-related cases... But through the mouth of the police, Douyuan is a "fool of a fool"... Enko can only express helplessness
Thematic spotlight: Alzheimer's disease
The humanistic care of realistic films
In recent years, there have been more and more foreign movies and TV series on the theme of "Alzheimer's disease".
The most famous is the Oscar-winning "Father Trapped in Time". Its special feature is that it wraps up Alzheimer's patients with suspense genre films, which is a genre film and a realist masterpiece with humanistic care.
South Korea's more representative is "Dazzling" in 2019, with a high score of 9.0 on Douban. Also borrowed a fantasy shell, the girl is about to fall in love when she becomes an old lady overnight, in fact, suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The protagonist is Keiko Kim, an old drama bone like Ms. Luo Wenji.
There is also an old drama bone Park In-hwan, who has played Alzheimer's patients in two works this year, one is the 9.4 point "Like a Butterfly" with Song Jiang and Luo Wenji, and the other is the 8.9 point "Human Disqualification" with Jeon Do-yeon and Yoo Joon-yeol.
You may find that works that contain such themes or characters are not very straightforward or sensational, telling everyone to care more about Alzheimer's patients and the like.
Instead, it is packaged through different shells: suspense, fantasy, and healing, emphasizing the self-awareness of the characters in the story, so that young audiences can also come closer to understand the chaos, the powerlessness to do nothing, and the pain of losing memory, and naturally empathize.
For example, "Dazzling" first laid the love scene between the heroine and the male protagonist at the beginning, the two CP sense is very full, and it is the most beautiful ambiguous period, the audience is looking forward to being together, and the result is that the heroine has become the appearance of a grandmother overnight...
How sorry those lost youths should be, they are not together yet! This kind of regret is simple and easy to understand, but it is a ladder to approach the inner heart of The Character of Kim Keiko.
It turns out that those time and precious memories, for Alzheimer's patients, are like love and love, which have never existed in this world.
In the face of the gradual disappearance of self-awareness, I was too sad to reconcile with myself, but in the end I forgot nothing about sadness.
For example, "Like a Butterfly", which is cut from a different angle, the 70-year-old remembered his young dream and decided to learn to dance ballet.
The dream allowed him to unload his old body, break away from the gradually chaotic self-consciousness, and enter the beautiful spiritual world. So he had to do everything he could to enjoy it, just afraid that there wasn't enough time.
And the audience will naturally be touched by the old man's dream, hoping that he can really complete his wish to dance ballet on the stage. This kind of touching on the dream makes people regret his illness even more.
Back to the movie Oh! Wen Ji", not only the care for the film Chinese Ji himself, but also the focus on the patient's family, because of the sick Wen Ji and the son who is under pressure, this poor and hateful character, what kind of suffering is he suffering?
And because of the incurable relationship, it is difficult for such works to have happy ending, even if they use suspense, fantasy, healing, and comedy tricks, they are doomed to change the core of their tragedy.
The ending echoes the beginning, Wen Ji wants to hang again, and her son deceives her that if she commits suicide, she will not get 50 million insurance money, which coaxes her down. At this time, the sky was snowing, and Wen Ji jumped from the tree and looked up at the snow, and a faint sentimental emotion spread, making the ending meaningful.
Public number: Foggy, welcome to pay attention