If I hadn't seen the movie "Love Before memory fades", I really wouldn't have thought that an American road movie could make the scenery along the way so colorful and beautiful. In our past impression, the stories that happened on the roads of the United States were always full of dust and yellow sand, and the desert Gobi was all over the world.
But the movie "Love Before Memory Fades" shows us a completely different scenery of the journey: blue sky and clear water, evening wind and lake shore, such a different kind of beauty, let me once wonder if this is not the "country on wheels" that we are familiar with, whether it is a story that happens on the road.
When we talk about road-themed films, we can't help but mention 1969's "Runaway Riders." As an ultra-small-budget film with an investment of only $400,000, it came out in the 60s and achieved unprecedented success after its release, not only sweeping the 25 million box office, but also achieving an impressive result of 7 nominations at the 41st Academy Awards. This film full of struggle, wandering, rebellion and lust is the epitome of the "Beat Generation" in the United States, and has also laid a deep stylistic imprint on a large number of films of the same type in later generations, and since then, "road films" have officially entered the public eye.
Compared with the common style of road movies, "Love Before Memory Disappears" is more alternative, or it is closer to a sub-category of road movies - healing travel films. With the continuous development of road movies, while maintaining distinct genre characteristics, the continuous integration with multiple types has also enriched the form and content of road movies. The healing journey film is a typical "anti-routine" road movie, which abandons the "road theme" of criticism, violence, confrontation, and rebellion, avoids the common ending of jade burning and tragic tragedy, and instead tells a warm and inspirational, complete and passionate touching story that occurs on the journey.
The original name of "Love Before memory fades" is "Seeker", which is the name of the classic car in the movie, and the mainland uses the naming mode of "Love in +", which inevitably has the suspicion of touching the porcelain Richard Linklater's "Love in the Series" ("Love Before dawn breaks", "Love at sunset and dusk", "Love before midnight"), but we can also fully understand that the translator does not want this excellent film to be buried because of the title.
The story of "Love Before memory fades" begins with a "defection", a young couple, hiding from a pair of children, giving up the planned settlement and care, driving the same "wind candle" classic car, embarking on a journey across the entire United States. The "rebellion" of the two old people is obviously different from the rebellion, rupture and challenge of mainstream values in traditional road movies, on the contrary, the loving old husband and wife let us see the warm and healing themes such as returning to the family, cherishing family affection, and learning to let go. The purpose of their travel is simple and pure: to travel the roads full of memories and stories, and to regain love and companionship in the little time left.
In the beginning, the behavior of the elderly was not supported by the children, for the simple reason that the husband John suffered from severe Alzheimer's disease, which is what we often call Alzheimer's disease, and was awake for only a short period of time every day, and the wife Ella was terminally ill, and it was no exaggeration to say that she was terminally ill. Whether such an old couple can take care of themselves is unknown, let alone experience a long journey and bumpy and tiring journey.
Interestingly, while their children are going crazy because they can't find their parents, Ella and John are enjoying their long-lost time as a duo. They said goodbye to the hospital and the bed, turned off their mobile phones, made lists, and fulfilled their long-unfulfilled wishes because of the shackles of life and age.
Many people like this bright and touching movie, first of all because they can find the shadow of their own life in it. For most people, even at different stages of life, they will still be tied up by various social and family identities, and everyone seems to live with a mask, unconsciously becoming the same. We don't have the opportunity to accomplish our life goals outside of the set track, and we don't have the conditions to be our "true selves" regardless of whether we are, Ella and John's "wish list" is like our most unattainable daydreams.
Of course, the film can be so sincere and touching, not only because it evokes the psychological resonance of the audience at the social level, but also from their love of snuggling and white heads.
There are always people who say that after a husband and wife get along for a long time, love will gradually evolve into affection, so marriage is like a graveyard of love, except for chai rice oil and salt, that is, chicken and dog fragments. Such arguments may seem reasonable, but they are actually full of negative attitudes and denials of mainstream values.
Ella and John's love is the best refutation of this statement, 50 years of ups and downs, the two have always worked together. John's bad memory state often made Ella physically and mentally exhausted and close to collapse, but after complaining and calming down, she would adjust her state in time to be gentle and patient to be considerate of her husband.
In the movie, the husband and wife even maintain a fairly strong possessiveness of the relationship: Ella is dissatisfied with her husband's obsession with the beautiful schoolgirl, John will also care about his wife's attitude to his first love 50 years ago, and the biggest laugh in the movie almost all comes from the inexplicable "vinegar" of the two.
Such a real romance and persistence make the audience feel envious, but also bring us the thinking of returning to order and returning to mainstream values.
If we refocus our attention on the "road" or "journey" itself, we will find that in fact, Ella and John's journey to complete the list is not only to find love and remember, but also to help themselves and their children grow and change.
The husband and wife drove all the way south, gradually away from the constraints and hustle and bustle of daily life, the scenery along the way was soft and comfortable, and the blue sea and blue sky were like elixirs that constantly soothed and comforted their tangled and depressed hearts. The small space in the car provides a rare opportunity for couples to be alone, and the constant occurrence of unexpected events also allows the two to gain a closer emotional exchange.
During an episode of illness, John mistakes his wife Ella for his next-door neighbor Lillian, thus confiding in the fact that he cheated on him many years ago. This is nothing less than a thunderbolt for the strong personality of Ella, who angrily sends John to a nursing home in a bad environment, pats her ass and leaves it alone, but when she talks to the child and vents, she chooses to forgive and reconcile.
We can fully appreciate that it is precisely the day and night together all the way, the spiritual purification of the beautiful scenery, and the gentle nourishment of the relaxed environment that enable Ella to face the betrayal of the past with a more calm, more tolerant and more generous state. In essence, the journey of finding love and reminiscing has helped Ella learn to let go, to learn to look at love, to look at gains and losses, and to look at life from a higher perspective. So in the end, she chose to face death in the bravest and most decisive way. And her choice also helps her children and the people around her to get out of the dilemma of gain and loss and bravely face the future.
The movie "Love Before Memory Fades" focuses on the interpretation of the state of mind of modern people under the external form of "rebellion" and "exodus", and reflects the growth and change of the protagonist in the mainstream price system through the narrative mode of the highway, so that the audience can eliminate spiritual anxiety and return to the value pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty in the warm and healing movie-watching experience.