Recently, "Medicine God" has brushed and dominated the screen in various ways. Today, you may wish to change your reading taste and talk about this movie "Letterhead Story" that is full of humanistic care like its predecessors.
Letterhead Story is based on the personal experiences of renowned producer Jennifer Fox and written and directed by Jennifer Fox herself.
The film premiered at the Sundance International Film Festival and was released in the United States on May 26 this year, causing a lot of repercussions and becoming a recent hit on Douban.
Usually, if a film is adapted from the director's own experience, it will often cling to the restoration of real details and the reproduction of real memories, which is regarded as respect for the past and respect for one's own suffering.
In contrast, the dramatic charm of the film may be neglected, and "Letterhead Story" is no exception, which makes it present a documentary-style realistic aesthetic.
In short, "Letterhead Story" tells the story of 48-year-old documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fox, who one day suddenly saw her diary when she was 13 years old and suddenly realized that her personable, mature and stable 40-year-old first love boyfriend in the memory was actually a habitual seduction offender, that is, her running coach.
Seduction? Jennifer did not want to believe that her first love boyfriend was an old rapist.
The diary is seen by Jennifer's current boyfriend, who angrily says: This is rape, it is illegal!
Jennifer strongly opposed her boyfriend's judgment, and under her boyfriend's questioning, Jennifer was even more embarrassed and angry, defending: "He is my coach." Implicitly, Jennifer still did not want to believe that the unforgettable love in the depths of the memory was a dirty deception.
In a dream, 13-year-old Jennifer defended: "You think I am a victim, I am not a victim, I have an experience, is unique... I'm not a child without a sense of existence. ”
In the face of tragedy and suffering, human genes instinctively avoid it. Jennifer is no exception. As an adult, she more or less moved out the memories of her childhood to exchange for today's self, in exchange for a peaceful thought.
Jennifer thinks this way, not without basis. Once, the 40-year-old running coach had injected her with a variety of ecstasy, and Jennifer, who was only 13 years old at the time, was of course powerless to resist.
The coach said: Jennifer, I love you, you are really special. You are mature, and I want to save you from those stupid young boys.
13-year-old Jennifer went from being half-convinced to being softly ground by a running coach.
Although he did not want to believe it, the evidence that surfaced one by one made Jennifer's obsession disintegrate little by little.
At that time, in addition to Jenfernie, the running coach had another student: Iris. Jennifer finds Iris and learns that the running coach of the year not only has a relationship with her, but also has a relationship with Iris.
Moreover, the running coach's tricks and rhetoric to seduce Jennifer are exactly the same as those that seduced Iris.
Jennifer's first love fantasy has since been completely shattered, and with it comes an incomparable disgust and hatred.
To digress, last year, from the United States to Europe, from Hollywood to Cannes, a vigorous women's equal rights movement emerged, celebrities have complained, tycoons have been shot repeatedly, only China is calm.
In the domestic showbiz circle, unspoken rules and power trades are no secret, why can't they make a little splash.
In the same way, this kind of silence about sexual assault continues into film and television works, that is, a peaceful and prosperous world, lang lang clean, all the great consummation of comedy blossoms everywhere, and the war films that flaunt their might are invincible.
Looking at other countries, South Korea has "The Melting Pot" and "Suyuan", and european and American sexual assault works are even more everywhere.
Although there was "Carnival" last year, it was only a flash in the pan and mentioned without pain, and it was very weak in presenting the pain and misery of the victims and in criticizing the meanness and brutality of the perpetrators, and did not have impact and penetration.
Carnival
As a result, the topic of sexual assault is only discussed and paid considerable attention in society.
Back to The Letterhead Story. Jennifer learned that the "first love" when she was a child was actually a deliberate seduction, she finally found the running coach of the year, the coach flashed his words, did not dare to admit it, and let the "first love boyfriend" of the year confirm the crime of rapist.
It can be said that in terms of theme and intention, "Letterhead Story" is more far-reaching than films such as "The Melting Pot" and "Carnival".
The protagonist of the latter story, at least knows that he has been violated, and has the right to resist and struggle. The former is that you have obviously been sexually assaulted, and you have been fooled, referring to the deer as a horse, making you happy with humiliation and pain.
This trauma is doubled. It is necessary to bear the pain of being sexually assaulted, but also to face the disillusionment of beautiful illusions.
This revelation is also in-depth. "Letterhead Story" not only indicts the perpetrator's evil, but also exposes the pervasive means of sexual assault, triggering the audience to think more deeply about sexual assault.
In 2018, a "I Am Not a Medicine God" gave the market and capital a taste of the potential of realist works, and also made the industry re-examine the power of film: movies are not only appendages of entertainment, but also the scalpel of society.
"Medicine God" set off a frenzy of national movie watching, and the resulting effect of destroying and decaying also occurred frequently.
According to today's news reports, under the "action" of "Medicine God", the relevant departments have not only accelerated the tax reduction reform of anti-cancer substances, but also promoted more related drugs to be included in the scope of medical insurance.
It is undeniable that the significance and influence of "Medicine God" has long gone beyond film entertainment itself, and has penetrated into different corners of society, causing shocks and reforms in different fields of society.
From this point of view, China needs movies like "I Am Not a Medicine God", as well as movies like "Letterhead Story".
Only through national works of art, the abomination of the perpetrator and the suffering of the victim can cause shock in society to the greatest extent, raise the importance of sexual protection to a new height, and promote the improvement of relevant laws.
When a society is from the inside out, fully vigilant and attaches importance to sexual protection, books such as "Fang Siqi's First Love Paradise" may become less and less, and news like Li Yiyi's suicide by jumping off a building in Qingyang, Gansu Province, may have a different ending.
So, what could be more suitable for such a mission than a "national" film that has swept through society?
【Text/Azhi】