Wen Wang Zhongzhong
I'd rather not reconcile for the rest of my life than let others let go of my feelings
Recently there was a small discovery, I don't know if everyone feels the same way, the debut of the new generation of Taiwanese directors are quite eye-catching.
In February, Netflix launched two Taiwanese movies, "Lonely Taste" and "Classmate Mai Nasi". Needless to say, director Huang Xinyao's debut work "Big Buddha Plus" can still be selected as my personal favorite Chinese film Top 20.
Huang Xinyao's two films, in my heart, are very film-like. "Big Buddha Plus" is addition (plus), "Classmate Mynas" is a pity to do subtraction (minus), can only blame themselves after watching "Big Buddha" after the expectation is too high.
Quite right, ready-made after-effects. / Classmate Manas
Like "Big Buddha Plus", "Lonely Taste" is also a feature film adapted by director Xu Chengjie based on the script of the short film he has made. The source of inspiration and character archetype for the story of "Lonely Taste" is his grandmother.
At a time when everyone pays more attention to exploring their own inner universe, such a "mother-in-law family drama" like this kind of dog blood eight o'clock file is actually rare.
Lin Xiuying is a well-known restaurant owner in Tainan, after her husband left home silently, she raised her three daughters alone by selling shrimp rolls, not only selling shrimp rolls from roadside stalls to opening restaurants, but also achieving extraordinary results for her three daughters.
Interestingly, the mother, both called "Ying Zi", points to two very different stories and lives.
Seeing that she was about to suffer hardships, Lin Xiuying received the bad news of her husband's death on the day of her 70th birthday, and while preparing a funeral for her husband in name only, she unexpectedly ushered in another woman who accompanied her husband through her old age, so that she had to face the long-buried resentment in her heart again.
Beginning with a funeral, farce continues to play out. This is a film that can be simply and rudely labeled with countless "labels", or it is the epitome of mapping the problems of the original family: the scumbag abandons his wife and abandons his daughter, the original match fights the little three, and the daughter all joins the "parents are a scourge" group...
The visual sense of "Lonely Taste" is everywhere. The plot development is like "Eating Men and Women", the narrative style is like "Sea Street Diary", the character relationship is also a bit like "Blood Guanyin", and even the core sublimation of the ending is very familiar: let go of obsession and resentment, and reach a reconciliation with yourself.
Some scenes are also like Yasujiro Ozu.
As Taiwan's highest-grossing local film in 2020, the promotional reviews of "Lonely Taste" usually have a sentence: This is a story that every family has had, and everyone who walks into the theater can find the epitome of their family life.
Xu Chengjie wrote "Lonely Taste" because he missed his deceased grandmother, and it can be said that this story pinned on his wish. And "Lonely Taste" finally unconsciously presents the resentment of women in different generations under the vision of men's complete absence.
The reputation of "Lonely Taste" wins in "body and feeling", which is also the point that makes me feel the most in my throat.
"It's all for your own good."
In reality, Xu Chengjie's grandmother was indeed a funeral with his grandfather's lover. Different from the plot of the movie, grandma has not been able to calm the resentment, can not forgive the grandfather who has been away from home for many years, just on the morning of the farewell ceremony, the grandmother called Xu Chengjie's mother, saying that she did not want to participate in the grandfather's farewell ceremony, so she let the grandfather's lover to participate.
Many years later, by chance, her grandmother confessed to Xu Chengjie that the phone call she made was actually hoping that someone would persuade her to go. "By the time my grandmother told us that, I thought she should have figured it out, and she felt like it was all over."
So at the end of the movie, the "relieved" grandmother sang a song to herself: the taste of life is sour and sweet, and the spring, summer, autumn and winter go with the wind. The breeze blows teardrops, and the flowers blossom and the fragrance remains.
"Dear Miss Xiuying, the weather is clear today, and a butterfly is flying in front of my eyes, and I hope it can bring my gentle sunshine to your window."
But as the scolding war that erupts between the daughters and the strong mother in the film, "we have no way to apologize to you on behalf of the father." In reality, the grandmother who hopes to turn the page of the past can really simply put it down, instead of being sad and helpless?
The consummation of "Lonely Taste" is the reconciliation between director Xu Chengjie and himself, and he also has no way to replace his grandmother to put down the love and hatred that has been entangled for a lifetime.
There are countless ways to fill up regrets, and reaching a settlement is not the only perfect ending.
We have the right not to forgive, to let go of self-emotion, this is true freedom.
Choosing to let go or not has nothing to do with the outcome.