After its release in the first weekend, "Gentle Shell" grossed just over 7 million, and its total box office was predicted to be less than 15 million.
Probably, the box office of this small film is basically like this.
And this is also the fate of such domestic small films, which were snubbed in the first week of release, and then basically disappeared. It's even hard to find a theater where you can see it.
However, it is also the norm.
At the same time, the film's Douban score has also been scored, and now the Douban score is 7.6 points.
In recent theatrical films, this score is actually quite good, at least it shows that this is not a bad film.
The first thing that attracted me to the movie "Gentle Shell" was its title, which is very nice and literary title.
And the final film basically satisfies the various assumptions you make through this title: it is powerful and full of affection; It is cruel, but there is a hint of tenderness.
Looking at the comments before, some people compared it to Li Cangdong's "Oasis". There is such an idea because the protagonists of both films are marginalized people who are ostracized by mainstream society. Therefore, they can only show each other tenderness and kindness to hug each other to keep warm.
Yes, the two protagonists in "Gentle Shell" are marginal characters, or rather, they are not normal people in mainstream perception. Because their acquaintance came from a rehabilitation hospital, which is a hospital for the rehabilitation of people with mental illness.
At this point, everyone should understand the meaning of marginal roles. The girl Juexiao had major depression, while the boy Dai Chun had a more serious mental illness.
This movie is actually about the love story of these two people.
In fact, just from the perspective of this material, this movie is rare enough. After all, this is really a group that is rarely paid attention to in current movies, especially in Chinese-language films.
What is even more rare is the perspective and attitude adopted by the film.
There have been some films similar to the description of people with mental illness before, but it is inevitable that there will be a little curiosity or exaggeration, depicting them as a special group.
But in "Gentle Shell", these two young people are viewed in a relatively equal manner. When the handheld camera shakes with the two characters, you feel the vitality that belongs to them, they are not patients, just two young people who long for love.
And the reason why the curiosity in the past is still due to strangeness. In fact, even patients with mental illness are very normal in many cases. Even, sometimes you simply can't tell that they are any different from other normal people.
As a result, they will also have times of emptiness, times of longing for love, and times of wanting to be warmed.
But the problem is that after all, it is a marginalized group, and it is rarely listened to and paid attention to. Their emotional needs are obviously difficult to meet.
Therefore, the girl in the film Juexiao expressed her liking for the boy Dai Chun for the first time because she found that this was the first person who really cared about herself.
That's why she said, "You're the first person willing to help me find my family." ”
Such an emotional relationship is basically the theme of the entire film. When marginalized by the world, they can only warm each other and be each other's "gentle shells".
It's really a romantic description, which is why the title of the film. In order to explain this gentle shell, the film also uses the passage of the dream to explain that the crab needs to be protected by the shell to strengthen the concept of the gentle shell.
Moreover, in the director's self-statement, it can also be learned that such a relationship is actually often seen in rehabilitation hospitals, and they do not shy away from these things, and they will not do anything out of the ordinary. It can also be seen from this that in fact, everyone has such emotional needs, and it is really just emotional needs.
At the same time, the director's self-report also mentioned that such a relationship will generally end abruptly with one of them being discharged from the hospital.
Why is that?
In fact, the family does not agree, although the family rarely visits them, but after returning home, they are not allowed to have relationships with other mentally ill people.
It's just that it's not allowed, doesn't mean you don't need it!
In particular, it is possible that only each other who is the same patient will not look at each other with different eyes, it is easier to look at each other, and just want to care about each other.
Feeling this, you will feel that this movie is really extremely gentle.
Of course, this is really not a particularly mainstream, or very popular movie.
Because it is not a narrative-driven film, the plot of the entire film is actually a little thin, and it is more about emotions and emotions to drive the plot, which will make some audiences slightly less patient.
However, I still feel that such movies actually have commonalities. Especially in the current world, in fact, many people, to a greater or lesser extent, have a little spiritual condition, so everyone actually intends to be cured, and they will also want to give themselves a "gentle shell".
Especially, when talking about the conditions of the two protagonists. The film also tries to help them find the reason from the original family. The heroine Juexiao's depression obviously comes from her mother's abandonment of her when she was a child, and the search for her mother all the way also aggravated her depression.
The boy Dai Chun's mental problems, on the one hand, seem to have family inheritance problems, but on the other hand, it is also because of his father's continuous domestic violence, and the suicide of his mother caused by these conditions. Obviously, these terrible childhood experiences became the trigger for his mental breakdown.
And this setting is actually to lead these two marginalized characters to a relatively public category to obtain the emotional resonance of more audiences.
In addition, Yin Fang is indeed a good actor.
In fact, I had a good impression of him before, but this time, I was still surprised.
I always feel that there is a strength in an actor like Yin Fang.
How to say it?
It's a little flute, or direct, it's called simple.
In short, such a vigor makes him more suitable for playing the role of such a patient, you will believe it, feel that it should be like him.
In this way, the film is half the battle.
Back to the movie, in fact, "Gentle Shell" is quite romantic, because the core of its discussion is actually whether love and tenderness can overcome those painful experiences and mental illnesses, so that they can enjoy the happiness of ordinary people.
In particular, the film's handling in the back is actually quite ruthless and dark.
In other words, even if it is called "Gentle Shell", it is always a little bloody, which is quite uncomfortable.
But, even so, I still want to see this "Gentle Shell" as a contemporary love fairy tale.
Yes, in fact, this is a fairy tale.
That's because, in real life, everything may be difficult to go so smoothly, and it is difficult for two people to live together so happily.
This is more of a good wish of the creator, a fairytale imagination.
It's like, in many audience evaluations, they will be very entangled in the fact that two people want to have children. Moreover, everyone is keen to explore the ethical issues involved in this plot from a realistic point of view.
This matter, to look at it this way.
First of all, the film uses the obstetrician gynecologist to explain the medical feasibility of this decision, intentionally mentioning that both have undergone premarital tests and proved that they can have children.
What's more, it's just a movie!
It's a movie with some love fairy tale temperament!
It is clear that the pregnancy here, and the desire for the two to have children, is more of a beautiful blessing, a somewhat symbolic setting.
To understand, the core question of the movie is not really whether the two are really suitable to have children, and whether the child will be healthy if it is born.
Because, in the movie, this child must be particularly happy and healthy.
Yes, it's just a good blessing, a good blessing to two marginalized people who have suffered so much.
Because, people like this, in reality, are already hard enough. Therefore, the creators hope that they can be happy in the movie, and have a happy and healthy future that belongs to them.
It would be boring to look at such a treatment from a very realistic point of view.
Actually, this is precisely the reason for the movie.
Movies are just for dreaming, and there are some wishes that are difficult for us to achieve, but they can be realized in movies.
However, movies can't really solve the problem.
Movies can just try to influence the audience, and eventually, change some audiences little by little, and radiate a little bit to the larger world.
So, even a little, a movie like "Gentle Shell" has its meaning.