Text | Love cat novelist
I want to take it out and see it almost every winter, but I watched it again last winter.
The first time I watched it was in college, when I was in a movie sharing class, I was analyzed by the teacher, and after watching the movie, I still kept thinking about the setting of this movie, even after a few years, I was still impressed by the screenwriter and director of this movie.
Later, there was also a movie in China that paid tribute to "Groundhog Day", and I also went to the cinema to see it, which was very affected by the plot of "Cycle Day", and also imitated this kind of plot to shoot short films in my free time.
But this "originator", which was released in 1993, is more worth revisiting in the winter.
One
Today is yesterday
So far, the impression of this part is still stuck in the picture of a snowy ending, and because the previous plot is not so attractive, it is almost abandoned.
Groundhog Day is a fantasy film produced by Columbia Pictures, directed by Harold Remis and starring Bill Murray and Andy McDowell. It mainly tells the story of weather announcer Phil who encountered a snowstorm on a mission, stayed the day before but could not take another step forward, and began his repeated life. The film was released in the United States on February 12, 1993.
In the film, Phil does not like his job, does not like his life, does not like the people around him, and even has no good feelings for himself. As a result, he also became a person who did not like others.
It may all be caused by his repetitive life.
On traditional Groundhog Day in the United States (February 2), Phil went to the town to report on the groundhog. But then something very magical happened, that is, every time he woke up in the morning, it was the same day: always February 2, Groundhog Day.
And what happened that day, like a videotape playing repeatedly, happened to Phil.
The same person will always appear, the same thing will happen: every day he gets up with the same radio broadcast, someone will talk to him, there is a puddle waiting for him, the old lady will chat with him about breakfast and the weather, meet beggars and old friends who sell insurance on the road, report programs, etc.
Phil was a little confused at first, unable to accept anything sudden, but after a while, Phil found that having everything about Groundhog Day would bring him a lot of convenience, because he could do whatever he wanted, without worrying about what punishment he would receive tomorrow. The next morning, still comfortably lying in his bed, he began another sunny groundhog day.
However, it wasn't long before he began to get tired of all this again, because when everything was satisfactory, he found that the only thing he couldn't do was to win the heart of his colleague Rita, and although he had spent a lot of effort to please her, it was all in vain.
He began to lose faith in life again, and began to live a negative life, but what was even more terrifying was that he could not kill himself, no matter how he committed suicide, the next morning, he would lie in bed and wait for the morning to come.
After many juxtaposed deaths, Phil finally realized that since he could not escape all this, it was better to live such a good day. So he began to improve his relationships, to try to learn everything, not just for any purpose, to enjoy life.
Finally, after experiencing countless "yesterdays", he found that his life was completely different, and he met all the people in the small town he went to once a year, and had all kinds of stories with them, and became a popular good person.
In the end, the changed Phil finally touches the heart of the heroine Rita in one day and spends a good night together. When he wakes up the next day, Phil finds that Rita has not disappeared, but is still with him, and the time has changed to February 3. The endless "yesterday" is finally over.
Two
When will it come tomorrow
He has been circulating through yesterday, waking up today or yesterday, he has mistakenly fallen into a strange circle, how can not jump out. So the film design allowed him to achieve a goal in order to meet tomorrow.
That is the love with the heroine.
In the first two loops in the story, the male protagonist may not have noticed and thought that it was just a dream; but when the cycle happened again, he realized that only he was locked up on the day of "Groundhog Day".
If this kind of thing happens in real life, I am afraid that today's office workers want to encounter it the most, who does not want every day to be Sunday, Monday never to come.
Just kidding.
In fact, Phil in the film also enjoys such a cyclical life at the beginning, after all, there are many advantages that can be used, but gradually in the back, he will gradually become irritable and want this day to pass quickly.
To elaborate on the significance of this film, of course, there are many.
["Groundhog Day" has another translation, called "Stealing The Sky", which is unique in that it does not involve any high technology, but shows how the protagonist is forced to be trapped in the same day, and this same day is the day he hates the most.]
Mortals can't really dive into such a situation, and good movies are like a storyteller, bringing the audience in front of the screen into such a situation, using peeping and accompanying to answer the question in the mind: "How to seek liberation in a similar life?" So in the narrative of the next film, Phil's four stages of state of mind and actions are shown, and the four attitudes of modern people in the face of similar lives are appropriately shown. 】
It's like seeing some comments about the film: God borrowed Phil to tell us, "True love is not how you look like the one she wants, it's just you are the one." Love is not simply about getting others, but about giving yourself.
Therefore, Phil deliberately carved into the Mr. Right described by Rita is not the key to unlocking the spell, and only when he truly becomes that person, the one who dedicates himself to love, can he get the respect and love of others.
The director didn't tell us how long Phil's life had been "repeated" in the film in order to usher in the perfect day, we can only know through Phil's words: he knows the past and present of everyone in the town, he can count down what is about to happen in each time period, he spends six months to become an expert in flying cards into hats, he never plays the piano to be able to perform on stage to win applause, he learns ice carving skills, even with his eyes closed, he can carve Rita's appearance.
And all this time spent just waiting for a "perfect today" to save us.
Perhaps this is the so-called right love: "Before we meet the 'perfect' person we want, we need to constantly strive to build an equally 'perfect' self, and if we don't have the previous efforts, even if we meet, we will lose like Phil in the film." 」 There is no benevolent God in reality that gives us the over-repeated 'today' to be revised into a 'perfect day'. ”
Three
Repetition is also life
Many times we don't understand love, when we were eighteen years old, we thought that sweetness was love, and then when we grew up, until we were together for a long time, it was not boring to love. It's an indescribable force that makes life suddenly better, allowing yourself to have a firmness you've never had before, mixed with ideals, care, romance, all of which come together unexpectedly.
The cyclical life in the movie is very much like the real life we have to face every day.
Three meals a day, nine-to-five work, and looking forward to the weekend. Just like Phil in the film, he will go through a gloomy period of time, not believing anything, seeing no way out.
This is the process of epiphany before redemption.
God is standing by your side, watching you, giving you the opportunity to grow, smiling and watching you progress. We just have to bury our heads in life, like the moment of waking up from a dream is more soul-destroying than the spring supper, but you don't know God's timetable, to try to love, to get close to God.
Change the moment, the alarm will go off and you will be completely unconscious.
Tomorrow may still be the same as yesterday, but perhaps, there will be a completely different snow from yesterday, telling you that the repeated life is full of small surprises.