Zeng Yuli
This article contains spoilers
"Spending Money at the End of the Road" uses a story template that can be called a "change of life". In this template, the protagonist is suddenly found to be terminally ill, and in his limited life, he wants to fulfill several last wishes and completely change his way of life...... This is the beginning of a final journey of life, which may be self-liberating, perhaps ridiculous, or touching. Whether the protagonist is really terminally ill, or he is just misdiagnosed, in the process of "changing the way of living", the protagonist will gain a full new understanding of life.
"The End of the Road Crazy Money" poster
Many film and television works have adopted this narrative template before. For example, "The Last Holiday" (2006) and "Bucket List" (2007), South Korea's "Sunshine Sisters" (2011), and domestic "Rat Guts Hero" (2019) and "I Am Yu Huanshui" (2020). The same template, but different stories can be deduced. I'm not afraid to use the same template, I'm afraid that the story will not be told well. In the setting of "Spending Money at the End of the Road", the middle-aged protagonist Jia Youwei (played by Jia Bing), who has achieved nothing, is a person who picks the door to the extreme, a "miser" general existence, and he saves money in order to complete a "million lying flat plan". But God played a joke with him, Jia Youwei was diagnosed with a brain tumor and only had ten days to live.
Jia Youwei (played by Jia Bing)
In order to avoid the tragedy of "people die, money is not spent", Jia Youwei sold his old house, his savings just exceeded one million, and he found his brothers Sha Baihu (played by Xiao Shenyang), Xu Dali (played by Yu Yang), and Dong Jianfeng (played by Dong Baobao) in the family home, and decided to fulfill his youthful vows with his brothers in the last ten years of his life, and have a chic time with the old iron while he is alive!
The four brothers were reunited
"Change the way of life" constitutes the direct driving force of the film's plot. Jia Youwei thought that he only had ten days left to live, and how to spend this million in ten days and enjoy the life of a rich man has become an urgent task. Jia Youwei lived in the presidential suite with his brothers, rented luxury cars, and ate, drank and had fun...... also patronized the funeral home where the childhood goddess Wang Xiaoqian (played by Tan Zhuo) was, asked her to buy all kinds of things that might be used underground, and became a domineering president by the way, and took Wang Xiaoqian to the mall to experience a "dress show" and buy.
Wang Xiaoqian (played by Tan Zhuo)
The process of "changing the way of living" is also the process of creating a comedic effect. Jia Youwei was originally a miser and was extremely stingy with money, and such an extremely frugal person suddenly began to squander extravagantly, which formed a stark contrast. The movie uses exaggerated techniques to show this huge contrast between before and after, forming a comedic gap, making the audience feel ridiculous and funny. The misdiagnosed plot setting creates a false cognitive basis, which misaligns Jia Youwei's profligacy with Scrooge's nature. The audience knows the truth, but Jia Youwei is "wrong again and again" because he doesn't know, and the audience not only has a subtle sense of superiority over Jia Youwei's ignorance and misunderstanding, but also has a sense of sympathy and empathy - we can foresee Jia Youwei's collapse when he knows the truth, and this complex emotional interweaving is also part of the comedic effect.
Jia Youwei, who knew the truth, collapsed
The portrayal of Jia Youwei's miser scene also has a hint of irony and comedy. Jia Youwei mistakenly thought that he would soon die, but he began to enjoy life and spend money generously, and such a concept of wealth is not uncommon in real life. The movie satirizes the miser mentality: always thinking about enjoying it in the future, but if you can't enjoy it now, you may not be blessed in the future.
This was Jia Youwei's "pain"
"A different way of living" ultimately leads to a reflection on life or life. Thinking that his time is running out, the protagonist re-examines his past life and thinks about what is the most important thing in life. This is actually a discussion of the philosophy of life, trying to make the audience cherish life, clarify the purpose of life, and live more courageously and arbitrarily. "The Last Holiday", "I Am Yu Huanshui" and "Rat Guts Hero" all have this level of expression. The threat of death will also stimulate deep emotional exchanges between characters, release the power of family, friendship and love, and show the warmth and brilliance of human nature. The expression of "Bucket List" and "Sunshine Sisters" has been highlighted. For "Spending Money at the End of the Road", friendship is its core idea, and it can be described as the Northeast version of "Sunshine Brothers". It can be boldly inferred: if "Spending Money at the End of the Road" is not set in the Northeast, and the four brothers are not the children of laid-off workers, this story is actually difficult to convince the audience. In the movie, the four brothers grew up in a factory family, they went to the children's school of the locomotive and rolling stock factory, their parents just experienced that wave of layoffs, and they also grew up in the context of the great decline in the quality of life, and have become lonely and frustrated middle-aged men (except for Sha Baihu, whose wife made a fortune by engaging in live broadcasting...... As long as the movie explains their lives in a few shots, the audience can get the information of the characters at once and empathize with the characters' experiences. This is the natural advantage of the theme of the Northeast laid-off tide (or even just using the laid-off tide as an element). The audience can naturally associate with the complex situations of that era, such as economic difficulties, family changes, and social transformations, through the background of the Northeast laid-off tide, and the audience can feel the hardships and difficulties of the environment in which the characters live without too much explanation, and it is easy to resonate and sympathize. Of course, if the movie repeatedly uses the advantages of geography and subject matter, rather than impressing the audience through the portrayal of the characters themselves, it is somewhat suspected of being "lazy". The four brothers had a close past, but they parted ways because of the conflict between their fathers in the wave of layoffs. After many years, when Jia Youwei thought that his time was short, the four brothers were able to reunite, and the old love was not dimmed because of the passage of time, but still shining. It's about the power of camaraderie. Friendship is a powerful and pure human relationship that transcends blood and geography and is based on shared experiences and mutual understanding. Even though the four brothers have not seen each other for many years, even if they face different frustrations and challenges in their lives, their friendship with each other is still deep. Whether it is the weight of life or the challenges of life and death, the reunion and mutual support of the four brothers provides a strong spiritual backbone, and the love and help between friends can bring strength and change even in the face of adversity. This beautiful presentation of friendship can touch the audience's cherishing of friendship.
Friendship Hikuya Arata
This shows the power of human beauty. Sha Baihu, Xu Dali, and Dong Jianfeng sincerely accompanied Jia Youwei on the last journey of his life (although there was an oolong); after the four brothers "broke up" in a quarrel, Jia Youwei, who suddenly woke up, did his best to help the other three brothers realize their respective life aspirations...... Their mutual companionship, mutual cherishment, and mutual fulfillment are the most beautiful parts of friendship and the beautiful parts of human nature. The movie celebrates the true, good, and beautiful parts of human nature. At this point, "Spending Money at the End of the Road" has the baseline that a commercial comedy should have: a skillful interpretation of familiar templates, relatively natural dramatic conflicts, plenty of laughs, music for the occasion ("Arms"), and positive emotional output and family story...... Director Uzhna, who directed a film for the first time, reflects her maturity and sophistication. However, "Spending Money at the End of the Road" is probably just the kind of movie that can be watched, but it is also a laugh-off. Whether it is the portrayal of the characters, the presentation of friendship, the observation of the plight of the little people in the Northeast, or the thinking about life and death, it is basically "enough", and there is no need to study it in detail. The film uses too much ink on the comedic effect of "changing the way of life" (the rhythm is still a bit chaotic, and it is a bit filmed where it is), resulting in relatively limited space to dig deep into the inner world of the characters, complex interpersonal relationships, and profound issues of life and death. For director Uzhina, the commercial success of her first work is very important, which is an important prerequisite for female directors to gain a firm foothold in the industry and obtain more resources. In "The End of the Road", the audience can hardly see the traces of this being directed by a female director. This makes people wonder if director Urina would have performed more prominently if he had directed a female-oriented work like "Sunshine Sisters"?
This issue is edited by Xing Tan