Frankly speaking, if the first thing I saw was a screenshot of the collage of "Beef" that went viral on social networks, then I would most likely not watch this American drama, and the "East Asian concentration" in the screenshot is too high: the heroine's eyes are empty and ask: "Do you really think that you can love someone unconditionally?" My parents loved me and proved it to me through personal sacrifice"; The heroine yelled at her husband: "You don't realize that only rich people say that money is not important, Buddha can become Buddha because he is a prince, he has something to give up." ”
Native families, successful wealth, and a happy life, East Asians are trapped in their lives.
I came across this show by chance. Late at night on the magazine's publication day last week, I was as usual looking for a drama to brainwash myself after finishing the manuscript, and I found that the updated "Angry Life" that day. The actress Ali Wong is an Asian-American stand-up comedian whose stand-up comedy has become very popular in recent years. The male protagonist Steven Yeun (Steven Yeun) is a Korean actor who became popular with the American drama "The Walking Dead", and once played a murderous rich man in director Lee Cangdong's movie "Burning".
With the desire to relax and relax, I opened "Angry Life" late at night. But as soon as there were a few shots in the opening, the Korean actor Danny and the Chinese actress Amy began to scold each other because of the reversing problem, and the two strange drivers honked their horns wildly, accelerating the car in a rage, wanting to force each other into a dangerous position, and did not forget to raise the middle finger in drag racing. Compared with "angry road syndrome", their loss of control is more like finally finding a crack in life, and they can't wait to go crazy and rush all the way. When the drag racing scene was over, I felt numb by the noise.
The black comedy is a collaboration between streaming platform Netflix and independent film and television production company A24, which favors the work of cult subcultures and marginalized groups. At the recent Oscars, A24 with the movie "Instantaneous Universe", similar to "Instantaneous Universe", "Angry Life" also unfolds with Asian stories, which looks full of noise, but in essence it is a sword to itself.
This American drama with the background of Asian-American creators knows very well how to drive East Asians crazy. When Amy finished drag racing in the play, returned home, and was ready to return to the gentle daily life of a female entrepreneur and a good wife and mother, a bunch of work information popped up on her mobile phone, and she became angry again. Japanese husband George noticed everything, and he asked his wife with concern. But before Amy could get down to business, George interrupted her in a softer voice, and the tall and handsome husband looked affectionately: "Baby, before you go crazy, I want you to stop now and take a deep breath... Oh my God, you need a little positive energy, okay? ”
Amy's expression froze for a few seconds, and then a set of happy expressions appeared performatively, and she also smiled.
From the beginning of the drag racing meeting, a series of revenge between the successful female entrepreneur Amy and the failed male contractor Danny, the two search for each other and constantly set traps, the screws of their relationship are constantly tightened, and the screws of their respective lives are constantly tightening. It looks like they do have to go crazy, and both Amy and Danny live in a group of daydreamers. Amy started from scratch and is the breadwinner of the entire family, her husband was born into an artistic family, mainly responsible for raising children and creating at home; Amy plays the role of a businesswoman, a good mother, and a good wife at the same time, while enduring her husband's "positive energy" education and her mother-in-law's contempt. Danny, on the other hand, toiled but accomplished, he was burdened by his cousin, the family's business went bankrupt, and his own brother was like the world's most common brainless young man with high eyes and low hands, who wanted to rebel but relied on his family everywhere. As the eldest son in an East Asian family, Danny always weighed the burden of "bringing his parents back to the United States" in his heart.
No one dares to let go of that breath, and they live with a string in a posture of "having to be positive and happy". The first two episodes give people a sense of imminent high pressure, and the third episode finally loosens, and the person Amy chats with for a long time on the dating app is actually Danny's own brother, and in this episode, there is a little romance, ease and sweetness. Several characters show a little vulnerability, and they finally have a sense of breathing. It seems that life is not so doomed, right?
The sudden relaxation of this episode gave me a wonderful feeling, like something was broken. I think of the Beijing Zoo with friends in early spring a few years ago, when the evening sun quickly disappeared, and we sat by the lake, listening to the sound of ice floes being blown to the shore by the wind and grinding by stones little by little.
After the third episode, in the following episodes, no matter how the two protagonists fight each other and involve more people, my feelings about the show have changed, it has become quiet. Several characters emerge in their own more complete stories, Amy's husband, Amy's mother-in-law, Amy's "good friend", Danny's brother, Danny's first love girlfriend's husband... Everyone is in their own broken life, carefully tiptoeing, lest they step on something, they try to support themselves, into a very beautiful "life" to live.
The struggle between Amy and Danny is more like their own struggle. What they want to get angry with most may be their loved ones, but they are always trapped in the family identities of good daughters, good wives, good brothers, and good sons, sometimes hurting the people around them fiercely, but they also continue to consolidate these identities in patience. They need worldly success and suffer from it, but they don't want to break free. Only with the help of external contingencies can they vent and gain freedom.
They have the courage to go crazy and die, but they do not have the courage to break the framework of family and society to live another life.
The final episode is after the whole show is extremely crazy, the screws are screwed to the end, and Amy and Danny roll over in drag racing. Under the scorching sun, in the wilderness, they lay under trees, stripped of all social identity, and two-for-tat men finally had a long time to speak—this belated conversation. Death is approaching, consciousness is gradually blurred, they talk about their lives, where they came from, how they grew up, those regrets and sorrows, happiness, everything can be confessed.
This is the closest moment to happiness in the entire TV series. It is related to love, but it has little to do with it, and the most real mutual induction between life is actually about life itself, the turbulent waves that a physical body bears in such an ordinary and peaceful life.
I watched the whole drama in one night, and it was like seeing two stones hit a spark, but when I think back, it was more like an early spring evening, listening to the sound of ice floes gently chiseling themselves.