"Life is like a book, everyone has to turn to the last page, some people draw a full end, some people draw an ellipsis...
There is no big deal in life except death."
It seems that this father's monologue has set the tone for the entire film, but strangely enough, in the next few tens of minutes of the film, until the death of the old man, the focus of the camera is deflected from the funeral industry itself.
Because the real "big things in life" are not just about life and death.
01 Metamorphosis
Mo Sanmei, obviously in her thirties, has nothing to do with the word Erli, and her style of behavior is full of impulsiveness, market well and rogue spirit.
But if you only use one word to summarize his life, it is probably waste firewood, or resignation.
In the first scene of the film, the third sister uses skillful and gentle techniques to help the stiff deceased to look upright and dress, but before she can finish her busy work, she is stopped by the hostess, and publicly buckles a hat of "stealing dead people's things";
Back in the shop, my father always used the transfer of the house as a chip, constantly testing his love for this work, and always secretly comparing himself with his dead second brother;
However, the straw that crushed the third sister was still love after all.
A few years ago, I got into a fight with someone for my girlfriend and ended up putting myself in jail.
A few years later, he thought he was still a man, but he watched his "girlfriend" throw himself into the arms of others, allowing the man who put on his green hat to throw a bunch of money in his face...
Hold back?
It's too much to hold back.
Wang Xiaobo once said, "Life is a slow process of being hammered", and at this moment, Mo Sanmei seems to have been "hammered down" by life.
After a long period of hard life, it will slowly fall into a state of paralysis and weakness, and after a long period of paralysis, it will not be able to withstand the toss, and instinctively want to stay away from those tosses.
However, people who are deeply trapped in a miserable life are always unable to do so everywhere.
A girl named Xiaowen came to him without warning, disrupting his confused but also peaceful life.
From XiaoWen's body, the third sister saw the innocence and kindness that she had not seen for a long time in life, and also saw the thoughts and love for her family.
His icy interior began to show signs of melting—he had one more person he really cared about.
Therefore, when the third sister held the repaired red gun and listened to the little girl's serious self-blame, she could not help but murmur - "It is the third brother who has no ability."
It is a kind of judgment and reflection on the chaotic life of the self by people who have tried and failed.
And when a person who is at the bottom of the valley learns to think, it often means that he has to climb up.
So the third sister transformed - he began to think about how he should live to be more like a decent person, more like a filial son, more like a qualified "father".
After walking through the funerals with Xiaowen, he used actions to find the answers to these questions.
"Metamorphosis" itself has no temperature, which is the original intention that drives you to "metamorphosis" and gives it the meaning of love.
It is worth mentioning that this "transformation" of Mo Sanmei is also reflected in his interpreter, Zhu Yilong.
In previous works, Zhu Yilong's habitual role is always calm and transparent, at least it should not be so untrimmed.
Therefore, if he wants to play Mo Sanmei well, he must first subvert himself.
So he really "lived" in the "Shangtian" store at the filming location for several months, until he had become acquainted, and the uncles and aunts around him would naturally greet him, and Mo Sanmei really "became".
Therefore, I think that it is not so much that Zhu Yilong created the role of Mo Sanmei, but rather that Mo Sanmei was adsorbed on Zhu Yilong's body, so Zhu Yilong's performance is always flowing and flowing.
Not deliberate, but also really textured.
02 Bondage
The third sister's telephone note to Xiaowen was "Xiao Nezha".
Indeed, from the head of the pill to the red gun, to a face that never timidly, is anxious and bites people, the exposure of this "rebellious spirit" is really like Nezha.
But when we talk about Nezha, in addition to the rebellion of "my life is up to me", the tragic trick of that self-murder is also an unavoidable topic.
When Mo Sanmei watched her father smash the shop while counting himself, he finally burst out the "truth" that may have been held in his heart for a long time——
"You beat me to death, I'll go down and replace the second brother"
At this moment, he seemed to be no different from Nezha.
Therefore, the bond between Mo Sanmei and Xiaowen was almost imprinted at the moment of encounter, which was a kind of mutual pity that could be felt empathy.
Of course, in addition, the "father-son bond" between the third sister and her father is also one of the cores that runs through the entire film.
The film uses the funeral industry of "those who have the ability to look at it, and those who can't do it" as a cloak, and also superficially discuss the dilemma of "patriarchal suppression" that is unique to the Chinese era.
The root cause of the contradiction between the third sister and the father in the film lies in the lack of real communication and understanding.
The son believes that he will always live in the shadow of the "second brother", and the father does not care about his feelings, but only wants himself to catch up with the shadow of his brother.
But in my father's heart, this is not the case—
The son's wish to inherit his father's business is naturally important, but what he expects more is that the third sister, the most worrying "mixed-up", can really live a personal life.
Therefore, even though he followed his son to the flesh-and-blood body that had been killed in a car accident, he did not do it himself as he said, but put a hand on the shoulder of the three girls - "This time you come, you can do it."
The old man knew in his heart that only by helping the third sister to pass this hurdle could he truly become a qualified funeralist, and he could truly resonate with this family industry.
The director still chooses to be perfect in the film very gently.
Therefore, the dizziness in the funeral home did not take away the life of the old man, so that he could see the love of the third sister for Xiaowen and see that his son really learned how to live with dignity and dignity.
Only in this way, as a father, can you walk frankly and walk with peace of mind.
Rifted paternity often has to be repaired by "losing" or "getting."
"Sunshine" chose the former, relying on the brother's leap, in exchange for Arwen (father's) real attention to Ah He (younger brother);
"Life Events" favors the latter, relying on Xiaowen's "disaster" and "making up", building a bridge of communication for the father and son who are estranged.
After her father died, the third sister took over the "father's banner" in the city well, under the "gaze" of the old man.
Two car chases, one identity replacement, what remains unchanged is the sincerity and determination of the car chasers.
Love can never be hidden, and so can the bondage of affection-
Because that is the only existence that allows us to do "righteousness" in our lives.
03 Shortcomings
In 2008, the Japanese movie "The Mortician" came out, winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and also put the "death education" that is easily forgotten by society on the screen.
And we waited for nearly 15 years to finally wait for this "Life Events" that focuses on the theme of domestic funerals.
Photographing a funeral requires courage, and it takes time – to take root downwards in order to restore true authenticity and respect.
Based on real life memories, director Liu Jiangjiang composed a story that fills the gap of Chinese-style "death education" and heals all those who have (or are) staring at the stars.
But... Just like the titles of the above two paragraphs basically contain two meanings, "defective" is no exception.
From the perspective of the film, we can roughly divide "Life Events" into three parts.
The protagonist of the first part is "Xiao Nezha" Xiaowen - the little girl uses a red gun with a sentence of "return my grandmother", almost single-handedly promoting the development of the plot (deriving branches, refreshing the crisis, advancing the main line), the rhythm is bright and fascinating.
After gradually becoming harmonious with Xiaowen, the dominance of the film returned to the protagonist Mo Sanmei, who explored the meaning of death through the contradiction between father and son, and pushed the film to the soft place in the depths of people's hearts.
But the last part of the film is really a bit unbearably worthy of the foreshadowing and efforts of the previous article.
The sudden appearance of Xiaowen's biological mother broke the original script logic and gradually led the film to a "crash" with an incomparably deliberate bridge section.
From sending Xiao Wen directly away despite the idea of the nominal adopter, to the replica version of the rainy night car chase, to the death of his father, the fireworks funeral, Xiao Wen's return home (you and I both know that Xiao Wen will go to heaven but also have to watch the protagonist tuan tuan find it all over the world) and the ending of the reunion...
Inadvertently destroyed the sense of realistic city life created in the first 90 minutes, as well as the arc of the gradual maturity of the third sister.
Although the fireworks are still impressive, although Xiaowen's monologue with a crying voice is still touching, it is still deliberate in the end, and makes the film seem to end in a forced closing posture.
But in the final analysis, in the theater that has been in the "cold winter" for a long time, it is a happy and exciting thing to be able to harvest such a warm story.
The idea of "life events" has also given us a little comfort in life in the epidemic environment full of sadness and helplessness.