If I had to recommend a movie that was being shown in theaters, I would recommend Diary of a Youth.
It's a moving and heartbreaking movie. Sitting in the dark of a movie theater can make people cry and feel painful before you know it.
To put it simply, this is a Hong Kong version of "Atonement".
"Atonement" is a 2007 British film co-starring James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, Keira Knightley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juno Temple, and others. It tells the story of James McAvoy, the servant's son, who falls in love with Keira Knightley, the daughter of the owner, on a manor in a manor in the English countryside in 1935. But this kind of love that is not the right door is destined to be full of ups and downs.
At a party at the estate, Keira Knightley's cousin, Juno Temple, claims to have been raped. In fact, it was she and Benedict Cumberbatch who were broken and forced to lie under the face. But Keira Knightley's 13-year-old sister, Saoirse Ronan, insists she witnessed the servant James McAvoy doing it. Because before that, she had witnessed a date between James McAvoy and Keira Knightley, and also saw a love letter written by James McAvoy.
Because there are facts of the crime, and there are eyewitnesses. The servant, James McAvoy, was arrested and imprisoned.
In 1939, World War II broke out. James McAvoy was faced with a choice, either to put his time in prison or to write off his military history. In order to clear his innocence and for the sake of his country, James McAvoy joined the army and was sent to the European continent. Then, after the Dunkirk retreat, a lover, James McAvoy, married Keira Knightley and lived a peaceful life.
Is that the truth?
If that's the case, then it's going to be an extremely mediocre romance.
The truth is that everything above, except that James McAvoy and Keira Knightley's love is real, the rest is not true.
Benedict Cumberbatch was indeed a rotten man, but he did not rape Juno Temple. But a lie by the molested Juno Temple killed James McAvoy because 13-year-old Saoirse Ronan lied.
Because of her indiscretion, because of her whimsy, she framed a good person as a rapist, and was arrested and imprisoned.
Moreover, after being released from prison, James McAvoy did join the army, but died on the beach of Dunkirk, and did not return to England and did not return to his lover. His beloved Keira Knightley was also killed in the Nazi bombing of London.
Two people who love each other deeply, because of a lie made up by a 13-year-old girl, both fell into the quagmire of life and gave their lives.
The so-called "Atonement" is actually a little girl atoning for her sins, and she used her own pen to write the story of her sister, so that she is still alive in the novel and living well.
Truth and fiction are heartbreaking, the death of my sister and brother-in-law is actually related to the big era, even if there is no sister's frame, it will inevitably be involved in World War II, and it may still face death. But the little girl took everything over, feeling that everything was of her own making, and that she had to carry it all her life and have to atone for her sins all the time. That's where the story really touches.
"Diary of a Youth" is not about love, or even about war, but it is still touching and still touching like "Atonement".
The story of "Diary of a Youth" is about:
There are a pair of brothers in Hong Kong, including the 10-year-old brother Cheng Youjie and the 9-year-old brother Cheng Youjun. Their father is Zheng Zixiong (played by Zheng Zhongji), an accomplished barrister.
Between brothers, the younger brother Youjun is very smart, he can learn math as soon as he learns, and he can play the whole tune in music, and he has always been a top student in school. My brother can't do it if he has a master, he can't learn mathematics, and it's hard to play the whole tune when he learns music, so he's a proper scumbag. The lawyer's father has very high requirements for his sons, hoping that they can become lawyers and doctors when they become adults. The father loves his youngest son very much, is willing to meet all his needs, and also transfers schools for him to seek a better education. As for his brother Youjie, he will scold and educate him, and he will beat him at every turn.
For 10-year-old Youjie, he feels that he is an outcast from his family and school, and has become an inconsequential person, no matter how hard he tries, he cannot get the approval of his father and teachers. Even if he repeats a grade and reads in the same class as his younger brother, he is still not as good as his younger brother in learning.
Actually, Youjie has always worked hard, but he is not a genius, he has always been serious about writing a diary, has been pursuing progress, has been pursuing recognition, and has always wanted to be a very important person.
But his father's differential treatment of him still made him unbearable and chose to jump off the building.
Zheng Youjie committed suicide.
The first half of "Youth Diary" has been dominated by Youjie's diary, and it seems that Youjie is reminiscing about his upbringing as an adult.
But suddenly the camera turned halfway, in fact, this adult is Zheng Youjun. It's the younger brother, who has been remembering and feeling the presence of the elder brother. It's like the sister in "Atonement" who has been feeling the existence of her sister and brother-in-law.
The younger sister in "Atonement" has been suffering from her false accusation of her brother-in-law, and has been atoning for her actions. The younger brother in "Youth Diary" has always been very cold to his brother when his brother was alive. Influenced by the family and society, my father's attitude towards my brother has always been hateful and scolding. People in the school also disapprove of my brother in various ways. The younger brother was affected by this attitude, and he did not accept his brother from the bottom of his heart, and he looked down on his brother at all.
Until his brother jumped from the stairs and chose to end his life. It was only then that the younger brother suddenly woke up, and began to stop being obedient to his father, and began to read the diary left by his brother, to feel his brother's thoughts, and to feel the traces of his brother's existence.
Zheng Youjun blamed his brother's death on his indifference and neglect of his brother, and this thought became a burden on his mind, and he reached adulthood as soon as he carried it. Even, even when I met love, I couldn't afford it, and I was always evading responsibility.
The younger brother Youjun as an adult did not become the lawyer or doctor that his father wanted to be, but an ordinary teacher, taking the college entrance examination students who were about to take it.
The story was triggered by the fact that before the college entrance examination, a child in Youjun's class wrote a suicide note, saying that he was just an ordinary person who no one paid attention to, and even if he died, no one would remember it.
Suicide before the college entrance examination will undoubtedly affect other students and will have a very bad impact on the school.
So, Youjun reported to the principal and tried to investigate the matter, wanting to find out the child who wrote the suicide note, so as to enlighten him.
And it was that suicide note that reminded Zheng Youjun of his brother, his brother's diary, and his brother's experience before his death. Then, Youjun unfolds his painful pursuit and search.
There are not many shots of the adult sister in "Atonement", the film uses a huge twist to shock the audience, and then the film ends, giving the audience a huge space for imagination in the form of blank space. Moreover, because the film involves World War II, the background of the story is magnificent and atmospheric, and the tragedy of love is particularly far-reaching. The first half of "Youth Diary" unfolds the story from the perspective of his brother, telling the sadness of a teenager who struggles to gain recognition, which is a coming-of-age story. In the second half, the camera suddenly turned, and began to tell the story from the perspective of his younger brother, about the torture and pressure endured by his younger brother, the film will leave a huge regretful brotherhood, a fragmented family relationship, and an unbearable love, portrayed in detail, listening to thunder in a silent place, shooting very well, it is a graceful version of "Atonement".
There are no big stars in "Youth Diary", only Zheng Zhongji, who plays a grumpy father, and the others are all young actors, but they all act well. In particular, Lu Zhenye played a teacher with a traumatic soul and a middle-aged man with a melancholy temperament, delicately and touchingly.
Lu Zhenye in "Diary of a Youth" is very similar to Paul Mescal in "Holiday After the Sun" and Cassie in "Manchester by the Sea". Affleck, on the surface, such a role is not worth mentioning, and even thinks that being shortlisted for the acting award is a luxury, but under a closer look, you can feel the character's extremely forbearant and extremely suppressed feelings, they have never exploded that kind of feeling in the whole film, and their acting skills have not contributed to that explosive emotional output, but their feelings still have their emotions, and the audience can clearly feel it, and they can breathe with it, suffer together, and grieve together, and the delicacy of the performance can be seen.
Lu Zhenye is fully qualified to win this year's Hong Kong Film Awards with "Diary of a Youth", as for not awarding it to him, it is just the sophistication of the Academy Awards, and it is the loss of the Academy Awards.
For the audience, there are not many films in "Youth Diary", so if you want to watch it, let's go and watch it quickly.
The English name of "Diary of a Youth" is "Time still turns the pages", which translates to "Time still turns the pages", which is a very interesting name.
Time is still flipping through the book.
“Time still turns the pages”，出自乐队A7X（Avenged Sevenfold）创作的歌曲《so far away》。 乐队A7X的鼓手The Rev在家逝世，享年28岁。 乐队为了纪念这名鼓手，于是写了《so far away》，以纪念已经去世的乐队成员，情真意切，动听感人。
A7X (Avenged Sevenfold) is a heavy metal rock band, but this "so far away" isn't that loud, its screams are very powerful, emotional, and worth listening to.
“Time still turns the pages”其实只是半句，全句是“Time still turns the pages of the book its burned”，翻译过来是“书已成灰，但时间依旧在翻阅”。 《年少日记》只用了前半句，其实用的挺好，有了留白的空间，充满了想象。
附：《So Far Away》
Never feared for anything
Never afraid of anything
Never shamed but never free
Never ashamed but never free
A life that healed a broken heart with all that it could
Heal a heartbroken life with everything possible
Lived a life so endlessly
Live a life that never ends
Saw beyond what others see
Go beyond the horizon of others
I tried to heal your broken heart with all that I could
I do everything in my power to heal your broken heart
Will you stay?
Will you stay
Will you stay away forever?
Will you leave forever
How do I live without the ones I love?
How can I live without the people I love
Time still turns the pages of the book its burned
Time will still turn the pages of a book to ashes
Place and time always on my mind
The place and time are always on my mind
I have so much to say but you're so far away
I have a lot to say, but you're too far away from me
Plans of what our futures hold
Our plans for the future
Foolish lies of growing old
The stupid lie of growing old
It seems we're so invincible
It seems that we are invincible
The truth is so cold
The truth is so cold
A final song, a last request
One last song, one last request
A perfect chapter laid to rest
A good chapter is coming to an end
Now and then I try to find a place in my mind
Every now and then, I want to find a place in my mind
Where you can stay
Where you can stay
You can stay awake forever
You can stay awake forever
How do I live without the ones I love?
How can I live without the people I love
Time still turns the pages of the book its burned
Time will still turn the pages of a book to ashes
Place and time always on my mind
The place and time are always on my mind
I have so much to say but you're so far away
I have a lot to say, but you're too far away from me
Sleep tight, I'm not afraid
Sleep well, I'm not afraid
The ones that we love are here with me
The people we love are with me
Lay away a place for me
Leave me a place
Cause as soon as I'm done I'll be on my way
Because once I'm done, I'm on my way
To live eternally
eternal life
How do I live without the ones I love?
How can I live without the people I love
Time still turns the pages of the book its burned
Time will still turn the pages of a book to ashes
Place and time always on my mind
The place and time are always on my mind
And the light you left remains but it's so hard to stay
The light you left behind is still there, but it's hard to stay
When I have so much to say and you're so far away
When I have so much to say and you are so far away
The Rev R.I.P
Rev goes all the way
Jimmy forever.
Jimmy forever
I love you, you were ready
I love you and you're ready
The pain is strong enough despite
Still, the pain is intense
But I'll see you when he lets me
But I'll see you when he tells me to come
Your pain is gone, your hands are tied
Your pain is gone, and your hands are tied
So far away
So far away
And I need you to know
I need you to know
So far away
So far away
And I need you to, need you to know
I need you to know