Usually, female directors direct novels by female writers often present the film delicately and gently, and occasionally it is difficult to escape the suspicion of triviality and lengthiness. The film "An Invisible Sign of My Own" obviously has a delicate and warm character, but its attention to detail is not trivial and lengthy, director Marilyn Agreño is good at reproducing the story of inner growth, she presents Aimee Bend's novel of the same name in a simple and warm, comfortable and moving, soft and heartfelt, but also has a seemingly endless staying power.
The picture of the film is quite beautiful, the tone is cold and lonely, and the scenes of autumn and winter give people a striking visual feeling in the clearness. The beginning of the animation is a story told by the heroine's father, and it is also the main theme of this film: people, born lonely, and have an independent spiritual world, have the will and freedom to express themselves, and there is a way to recognize themselves, and growth means abandoning meaningless dependence, abandonment, escape and complicity.
Since the bizarre illness of her father, the world of little Mona has changed, and as she grows older, her mentality is becoming more and more "mature" in a special situation, and she recognizes life in her own unique way, digitizing everything, that is, "digital dependence". This kind of girl who has a strong dependence on something or something is often kind and harmless, less able to express herself, seem lonely and not grouped, have a positive and clear attitude towards life, and give up, pander, avoid, and even escape have become daily staples in the subconscious.
It can be said that Mona Gray (played by Jessica Alba) has the shadow of many young girls, who encounter mutations in their life situations in their formative years, and people are a little autistic, focusing on what they are good at, and also focusing on what they are good at. At the same time, because of confusion and helplessness, some unrelated objective beings are imagined as logical associations, and chances are regarded as necessities, such as the connection between numbers and death, and the connection between numbers and emotions.
Life is full of accidents, and trying to find an orderly world of numbers in a chaotic and disorderly life is itself a contradictory proposition, and Mona seems to be using it to alleviate her inner panic about the unknown future. This is actually a way of understanding life chosen by the helpless and unprepared. Fortunately, Mona was given the opportunity to solve the dilemma by working as a math teacher in a primary school. Mona did not forget that she was also a child, she recognized what those children hid after smiling, they, like her when she was a child, can only use her favorite specific symbols to express the objective existence of distress, and the arrival of suitable love is the most reliable weapon of "siege" (the presentation of this love by individuals is a little uncomfortable, always feel that the person is not suitable, the way is wrong)...
Jessica Alba, who has always been used by male directors to show sexy things, gave a good performance this time, although her age is not suitable, but her performance is suitable. Although in the film "The Killer in the Heart", Alba has a hard performance, but the effect is very small, in "My Invisible Symbol", Alba's slender and sensitive side is excavated, and there is a pretty good inner scene.
The little devil, Bailey Madison, played Little Mona, a small thing that caught people's attention as early as "The Bridge to Trebicia", and interpreted the initial development of Little Mona's mentality with her clever and eerie performance. In addition, this child under the age of 12 has appeared in nearly 20 films, and his acting talent cannot be underestimated.
Mona in the film once subconsciously bought an axe in the hardware store of a former math teacher, but it was not available, so she used it as the number "7" in the classroom as a physical teaching material. An axe can be a 7 or a murderous weapon, depending on the user's qualifications and the bystander's mentality and perspective. Things are always multi-faceted, and people's attitudes towards life are more or less the same.
The film ends with a cheerful and cute song "Sunny Day", which brings the audience a warm and carefree feeling, as if listening to the little secret of the girl's heart, which is very close to the style of the film.