This year's national comics have good works again, "Lion Boy" has gained a one-sided good reputation during the screening, Douban opened a direct score of 8.0+, a good dark horse at the end of the year, in fact, in terms of theme, this film is easy to think of "Spiritual Journey", after all, it is all about bread and dreams.
1
The lion dance competition was in full swing, a boy named Ah Juan was watching from the sidelines, and was surprised to find that it was the girl who competed with the strong man, the girl won the game, but was chased by the other party's retaliation, Ah Juan and the girl fled madly, and his bicycle led the audience through the streets.
Although he won the game, the girl gave the lion's head to Ah Juan, coincidentally, the girl was also named Ah Juan, she told him to hear the inner roar, never to be bullied by others again, but since then, he has never been exposed to the lion dance, let alone listened to his own inner voice.
In order to save money for his children to go to college, Ah Juan's parents worked at the Construction Site in Guangzhou, and they were not at home for many years, Ah Juan had no intention of studying, and only wanted a family reunion, he decided to go to Guangzhou to find his parents, but considering that he would not know anything, he thought of a lion dance.
He found a lazy good friend A cat and a dog, A cat is dry and thin, A dog is delicious and lazy, for some very absurd reasons, they formed a small group to discuss to participate in the next lion dance competition.
When waste wood chooses dreams, it will only be ridiculed by others, others say that Ah Juan is a child that no one wants, bullying him is weak, but it is the moment when the lion's head is trampled, Ah Juan feels that "it is impossible to dance the lion", but the lion dance is impossible to teach itself, and after being pointed out, they go to find Ah Qiang, who is known as "the next Huang Feihong".
Years do not spare people, Ah Qiang was once the best lion dance team member, and now the neighbors have given him a new name "salted fish strong", he no longer dances lions, every day in addition to drinking is to send salted fish. In the eyes of others, the lion dance is the root cause of his failure in life, but the arrival of several teenagers awakened his dream of lion dance.
Their physical fitness is not suitable for lion dance, but the teenager is energetic, Cuong is the salted fish among adults, the three children are the salted fish of the same age, no matter what the way, no matter what the cost, they all want to win once.
Ah Qiang has a feeling of guilt for his wife, feeling that he has not been able to make her live a hard life for many years, Ah Qiang's wife knife mouth tofu heart, originally she persuaded her husband to give up the lion dance, but now secretly help them complete their dreams, she took up her husband's work, took the deposit to fund them, and took the three little apprentices as her own children.
2
Reality and people's desires are often not proportional, the apprentices who have been training for a while compete with the drama team, and soon lose the game, the three are very discouraged, but Ah Qiang feels that if they can withstand the blow, they will progress faster.
Ah Qiang said that the highest pillar is called optimus prime, which symbolizes the unsurpassable peak, and this pillar exists to keep the lion dancers in awe. Although Ah Qiang did not have much expectations, they still got good results in the preliminary round, because Ah Juan did not want to be trampled under the feet of others like mud.
Hearing that his parents returned from Guangzhou, Ah Juan ran home happily, only to see his injured father lying on the bed, he fell on the construction site, no one paid for his medical treatment, the sky at home also collapsed, Ah Juan helplessly decided to go to Guangzhou to work, the lion dance dream ended.
He worked hard in the big city, did not shout bitterness, did not shout tired, made himself scarred, in addition to part-time delivery of takeaways, because he was at the bottom of society, he was looked down upon, no matter how hard he tried or was called waste by others.
In the city, he met the girl Ah Juan, she herself because of gender to give up the dream of lion dance, Ah Juan only then understood that the girl was giving him her dream, and when she found that Ah Juan was already running for a living, there was a little loss in her eyes.
At this time, Ah Qiang, Ah Cat and Ah Dog made a decision, they want to complete the dream of lion dance for Ah Juan, and told him that even if he fell from the sky, he would "don't recognize".
This game is very important, and the whole live broadcast, high-intensity work makes Ah Juan more robust, disadvantage has become an advantage, several people composed of strong boy salty fish lion team all the way through the barrier, into the final showdown.
Their stronger opponent is Wuji Lion Gate, which is a formally trained team, they have time and venue to train lion dances, life is much better than Ah Juan and friends, lion dances may only be an accessory to them, at this time Ah Juan's feet are seriously injured, objectively speaking, they can't win the game at all.
Ah Qiang persuaded the apprentices to give up the game, he thought that he could get to this step has been successful, but Ah Juan still wants to fight again, in his heart, the lion dance is not only a cultural inheritance, or a project used for competition, the lion dance is a fire that cannot be extinguished in the heart of the teenager, and it is the only way for him to realize his self-worth.
3
"Lion Boy" tells an inspirational story of "salted fish turning into male lion", but the salted fish in the film are essentially marginal people abandoned by society, they are not incompetent, but have no background, no resources, no opportunities, and the reason why they joined the lion dance team in the first place is because it is an abandoned folk tradition.
The aesthetics of the film is very realistic, whether in the countryside or in the big city, the delicate scene design brings a personal temperature, once he was a wild child in the countryside, and later became a migrant worker, Ah Juan will bring the audience into the real life to see, think carefully, this is not the ordinary people who rub shoulders with us every day.
Among them, Ah Juan's dream of lion dance was once interrupted, the passage in which he worked in the big city was the most precious presentation, he did not know where his future was, others asked how much money Ah Juan lacked, he replied "I don't know how much is lacking to be terrible", this is an unbeautiified migrant worker life, although bitter but honest and frank.
And from a feminist point of view, the film is also well done, the name "AJuan" belongs to two people, one is a boy who has nothing in the countryside, and the other is a girl who is excluded by the concept of decay, although they are in different classes of society, they have similar lost dreams.
"Young people can't realize their dreams" is the real main theme of this film, in fact, even if Ah Juan wins the game, she still has to say goodbye to her dreams, which is the sentimental tone of the film. From another point of view, Ah Juan's youth has no regrets, he has completed the "only for himself" thing, which is enough luxury.
What is rare is that "Lion Boy" dares to adapt animation to the realism closest to people's hearts, and there is no variety of spectacles to lean over, which is undoubtedly a huge challenge for animated films, so this film is ultimately won by the sincerity of the emotional core. Finally, if there is an opportunity, it would be more appropriate to watch the Cantonese version.