American youth films have three clichés: football, school flowers and nerds.
On the surface, "True Heart Half Solution" occupies all three things. But under the cliché, it has made up for the neglect of children from ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and working-class backgrounds in American youth films. The eternal theme of "growth" has been filmed with a new meaning.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > story: Iron Triangle + Big Trick</h1>
Paul is a member of the school's football team and falls in love with astor, the school flower. Although he has a warm personality, he is a bitter hand in love. So he hired the nerd ChuChu to help her pursue love.
Paul and Chuchu started out in an employment relationship
Chu Chu is a first-generation Chinese immigrant from a poor family, but very talented. She didn't have any friends at school and was always alone. But with a few sincere love letters, Astor was impressed.
Chu Chu is a bully, proficient in music, and his mind is much more mature than his peers
Don't look at Astor as a school celebrity, and a rich second-generation boyfriend. But she is actually wearing the mask of "someone else's child" and living. Privately, she is sensitive and fragile, loves art, and is a little confused about life.
In the eyes of the surrounding world, astor marrying the rich second generation is a good choice
If it is an ordinary screenwriter, drawing these three cliché character cards, it will probably be logical to write a story of a nerd who wins a boyfriend with wisdom. However, the director and screenwriter of this film, Wu Siwei, made the two girls fall in love. And Paul was the one out.
Paul is gradually impressed by Chuchu, but Chuchu falls in love with Astor
More cleverly, Paul did not become a tool man. He was touched by his good friend Chu Chu, but when he found out that Chu Chu and Astor were truly in love, he felt very hurt, but did not take back his friendship. Finally, in a movie about same-sex love, this straight man has become "touching and responsible".
This stupid boy earned all my tears
I have to say that the relationship between this group of iron triangle characters is really strong. The three influence each other and push the story forward together. And when the film ends, the transformation and growth trajectory of the three characters are clearly visible.
The two girls are true soul mates, and they recognize their sexuality in each other. Astor was encouraged by Chuchu to give up his rich second-generation boyfriend and continue his studies at university. And Chuchu, under Paul's blessing, also left the town to report to a prestigious school. Paul became more mature and determined after a confused love affair, and he was determined to stay and inherit the family's meat processing industry.
In the end, although the three people parted ways, in this youth, they had the purest love and friendship, and they had no regrets in this life.
The best memories of youth
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > theme: the re-recognition and sublimation of "love"</h1>
The climactic passage of the film is the scene where Astor is blocked by Chuchu and Paul after being proposed by the rich second generation boyfriend in the church. In front of the neighbors and friends, the three young men made the most affectionate confessions in a language that only they could understand.
This line is very well written, not only echoing all the details of the previous one. For the characters, it is also a sign of their growth and completion.
And choosing the church in this place to make a confession of same-sex love, the director's intention is self-evident. However, neither religion nor traditional culture has caused substantial obstruction to the same-sex lovers. By clarifying their feelings, they have broken down the barriers in their hearts and reaffirmed the definition of "love".
This experience has allowed all three of them to grow tremendously
Love is embodied in Paul as "friendship" and in Chuchu's father as "letting go" of his daughter.
Tang Xianzu believes that love is "love does not know what to do, and it goes deeper". In Plato's words: Love is the process of a mortal separated from God to find the other half of himself. And "True Heart Half Solution" is not about love. It presents the essence of love.
In chuchu's words: love is chaos, selfishness, boldness.
At first, Astor was the more proactive one
In the end, Chu Chu finally took a brave step
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the best narrative strategy for youth films</h1>
Not preachy
In the film, ChuChu's philosophy teacher is an adult who talks to her on an equal footing, and does not intervene in her emotional life. Astor's father is set in the film as a conservative and strict priest. The director also does not show the state of Astor at home and father. From this treatment, it can be seen that the director has a thoughtful grasp of the tone of the youth film.
Chuchu's philosophy teachers have been encouraging her, but they can talk to each other on an equal footing
Many eager youth films will parachute an adult who leads them out of the myth and solve the problem bluntly. The biggest difference between "True Heart and Half Solution" is that it has no preachy meaning at all. The growth of the three protagonists in the film is done by themselves in adventure and trial and error.
Don't sell miserably
Similarly, when the two girls gradually find themselves in love with the same sex, they are not worried about the worldly eyes around them, but how to break through this layer of window paper. This kind of LGBT theme that does not sell miserably and does not engage in bitterness and revenge is really too comfortable for the audience.
As for the living conditions of the first generation of Chinese immigrants, the director did not handle it with a sense of stagnation. Chu Chu's mother died very early, and his father was a decadent loser. The family often can't make ends meet, and Chuchu needs to help his classmates write homework to supplement the family.
When the director shows her family atmosphere, it is not bitter at all. Not only because ChuChu is set up as an independent and strong girl, but also because the texture of youth is "teenagers do not know the taste of sorrow".
Kung Fu star Zou Zhaolong starred as Chu Chu's father, but he spent most of his time lying on the couch
Not dull
In order to make the narrative rhythm more bright, the director implanted a sense of the game of spy movies in the film. For example, in the restaurant, Paul and Astor are dating, and Chuchu sits in the car outside the restaurant to listen and remotely control the conversation between the two. While genre fusion is nothing new, it can make some of the humble little things of adolescence seem more ritualistic.
Chu Chu designed a whole set of love pursuit plans
Chuchu was outside messaging Astor and Paul at the same time, and Astor thought Paul was too shy
The protagonists of "True Heart Half Solution" stumble, are full of adventure, and eventually find their true selves. The director is well versed in the genre structure and narrative strategy of youth films, and has a mature artistic grasp without appearing old-fashioned.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > wonderful audiovisual presentation</h1>
Audiovisual presentation is the decisive factor affecting the quality of the film. "True Heart Half Solution" also has bright spots in this regard.
Audiovisual presentation of text
ChuChu and Astor establish communication through letters and text messages. Such a large amount of text information, if not well presented audiovisually, will become old-fashioned, dull and lack of cinematic sense.
In order to encourage Astor to paint, ChuChu and her agreed on a graffiti wall, and the two took turns to add a few strokes and completed a small work together. This set of montage passages, accompanied by the voiceover of the contents of the duo's letters, is full of audiovisual pleasure.
In this way, Chuchu encouraged Astor to bravely pursue art, but Astor always thought that this person was Paul
ChuChu teaches Paul how to chat with girls, and this set of conversations is played at the same time as a table tennis game for two people. The picture is full of verbal information and visual information of movement, avoiding the boring feeling of shooting dialogue between the front and back.
Compare dialogue to playing table tennis, wonderful!
Use camera scheduling to create a psychological space for the characters
Another passage in the film that amazes me is a scene in the church where two people secretly text during worship.
In the shot, Chu Chu and Astor chat on their mobile phones, and the two eyes are pointed at the camera that misleads the two people for looking at each other. Just as the audience was amazed, Astor looked back, and the focus drifted to paul's face a few rows behind her. After that, the camera slowly shakes up, explaining the real spatial relationship between Chuchu and Astor. It turned out that all this was Chu Chu's unrequited love.
At this time, Astor did not know that the person who texted her every day was not Paul, but Chuchu
This paragraph does not have a single nonsense, and all uses the language of the film to explain the triangle relationship. In order to present this small "hoax", the director has never fully shown the spatial structure of the church before this.
This scene shows the director's outstanding ability. Because it is not enough to write a good story, using images and sounds to present information is the essence of film art.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the legendary Ang Lee successor</h1>
Chinese female director Wu Siwei has always been seen as Ang Lee's successor. Before becoming a director, her dream was to be a writer. Earlier, she earned her Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University and worked at Microsoft for a while.
Chu Chu had a lot of Wu Siwei's own shadow on him
Her debut novel, Face (2004), was involved in Chinese immigration and LGBT issues. This will naturally be compared to Ang Lee. It can be imagined that with her educational background, it is likely that like Ang Lee, she will complete the technical docking with the Hollywood industrial system.
And "True Heart Half Solution" is indeed a work that Wu Siwei can get her hands on. It has completed the double gorgeous upgrade of youth films and same-sex themes, and deserves to be one of the best films of the summer.
Text/possible or not
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