"Drama comes from life and is higher than life"!
"Mo Sanmei", a mortician who has just been released from prison, seems to be very open to life and death, but on the outside she looks like a child, and has no ambitions.
Until a funeral, he met "Wu Xiaowen", a "difficult" orphan, and the two rebel characters met and collided. Engaged in funeral work, the death of her father has made great changes in the funeral industry and life.
The movie naturally cuts into the topic of "death" in a poetic, warm, marketable, and comedic way, and the wonderful interpretation of Zhu Yilong and the little actor Yang En makes the two topics of "funeral" and "life and death" less obscure and cruel, and also makes this story of laughter and tears more credible and infectious.
This scene moved everyone, this is the warmest feeling in the world......
"The Concept of Life and Death" from the Perspective of Innocence
In film and television works, the traditional expression of the theme of death is mainly expressed in the pain, pressure and choices brought by death, or the death space left to the viewer's imagination in a certain psychological way.
"Life Events" breaks the traditional way of expression, innovates the expression strategy of death from the perspective of children, and avoids sad pictures and cruel shots, adding a touch of innocence to the film, which has a certain educational significance.
In the movie, Xiaowen is a seven-year-old girl, and when she woke up, she found that her grandmother had not "woken up", she kept shouting, but her grandmother had passed away in her sleep.
Then the third brother of the funeral home put his grandmother in the coffin and left. At that time, Xiaowen naively thought that as long as he found the third brother and got the "big box", his grandmother would come back. The story of Xiaowen and the third brother began like this, and it also paved the way for Xiaowen to make a big fuss at the funeral.
Death itself has a mysterious flavor, so children are curious about it. At present, there are more and more literary works and film and television works with the theme of death, but most literary creators, film and television creators tend to integrate the image of death into their works.
"Life Events" presents death from the perspective of "Xiaowen" children, shifts taboo topics in a witty and humorous way, and uses easy-to-understand language and the context of life as the main line.
What's even better is Wu Xiaowen's character setting, she painted stars and other patterns on the columbarium, and in the seemingly unrelated picture, she revealed an innocent childlike innocence, and the embellishment of black humor added warmth and romance to the film.
A unique "life and death lesson", "Life Events", not only effectively alleviates the heavy atmosphere of death and funeral, but also carries out positive "life education" for children, so that they have a correct cognition, face and acceptance of death.
Use animation elements
"Life Events" is supervised by Han Yan, who has been committed to the creation of realistic themes for many years, and the previous film "Get Out! "I love you!" ", "Send You a Little Red Flower", and then to this "Life Events", each of Han Yan's works shows his thoughts on life and his cherishing of the warmth of the world.
At the same time, we can also see the appropriateness and flexibility of Han Yan's metaphorical techniques used in the animated image, and at the same time, we can also see that he pays attention to the exploration of life, showing the expression of love and hope.
Han Yan's use of "Life Events" is very clever, he uses Nezha and Sun Wukong in Chinese mythology to compare Mo Sanmei and Wu Xiaowen, Wu Xiaowen wears two braids and holds a red tassel gun, and the third brother wears a gold ring bracelet and often wears tiger shorts, these two legendary characters complement each other.
In addition, mythological characters such as Monkey King and Nezha are typical representatives of their own behavior and wantonness.
For example, Mo Sanmei, such as Wu Xiaowen. Mo Sanjie's rebellion made him make a living person's funeral, and Wu Xiaowen made a big fuss in the funeral home.
In "Journey to the West", Nezha was ordered by the Jade Emperor to capture Sun Wukong, and after a vicious battle, Sun Wukong won a complete victory.
On the contrary, the Monkey King in "Life Events" is the one who is healed, as time goes by, Mo Sanmei's heart begins to become gentle, when Old Man Mo beats the third brother, Xiaowen will wave a red tassel gun to protect the third brother, at the family gathering, she told Mo Sanmei that she has a father.
This ingenious innovation, which connects reality with myth, gives the audience another possible understanding of traditional mythological stories. Judging from the film "Life Events", Han Yan has made some breakthroughs in the use of animation elements.
He not only portrays the characters from the external image, but also corresponds the personality characteristics of the characters to the animation elements, so that the connotation of the animation is from shallow to deep, clearly showing the personality characteristics of the characters, which invisibly resonates with the audience, and to a certain extent weakens the heaviness of funeral, life and death, reflecting Han Yan's unique insights in "Life Events" and the refinement of photography skills.
Incorporate elements of local culture
(1) The linguistic characteristics of Fang films
The use of dialect symbols is not accidental, and has its own specific historical and cultural background. As a symbol, the role of dialect in cultural narrative is mainly manifested in the following aspects: it is conducive to the shaping of character images, the creation of comedic effects, and the regionality of regional culture.
In addition, dialects can also help film and television works break through the sense of estrangement and distance between them and the audience, and make the audience feel the vividness of the film and television characters in a more intimate and easy-to-understand way, thus further arousing the emotional resonance of the audience.
The representation of dialects in movies can be roughly divided into two categories, one is the integration of dialect vocabulary or dialect tones into Mandarin. For example, in the movie "No One is Missing" directed by Zhang Yimou, the dialogues of the characters are all based on Mandarin, and appropriately integrate the Hebei dialect, showing the simplicity and sincerity of the remote rural people in Hebei to the fullest.
The other is a pure dialect, such as "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit", all of which are spoken in northern Shaanxi dialect, presenting the audience with a strong picture of northern Shaanxi style and a strong local flavor. Obviously, the show "Life Events" chose the latter. "Life Events" is mainly based on the Wuhan dialect.
The protagonist Mo Sanmei uses "Lao Tzu" instead of "I", which not only conforms to the language habits of Wuhan people, but also conforms to the character traits of the characters. The sentence that Xiaowen said at the dinner table, "If you eat noodles without garlic, the fragrance will be less than half", which well reflects the eating habits and slang rhymes of Wuhan locals.
Especially in a few scenes of quarrels, dialects make the picture more rhythmic and make it easier for the audience to immerse themselves.
Sound expression is an important part of film creation, and the use of dialects to express the sound of films can better highlight the characteristics of regional culture.
"Life Events" uses dialect as the keynote, which enhances the atmosphere of light comedy and creates vivid low-level characters. It is true that Chinese-language films still dominate the field of film and television, but with the diversification of film forms, "dialect films" will also construct different possibilities and become a new breakthrough for Chinese films.
(2) The context of local culture
"Life Events" is set in Wuhan, a city with a strong market atmosphere, based on poetic and romantic imagery with a strong local cultural atmosphere.
From the messy and cramped small thatched huts, narrow alleys, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, and the dancing crowds in the square, they all show a dynamic artistic expression, and the warm colors of the film also convey a bright, warm, and soothing image mood to the story.
The art of metaphorical storytelling
"Film, the art of metaphor" not only summarizes the ontology of film metaphor, but also theoretically shapes the ontology of film in the discourse of modern humanities.
This requires us to reconstruct the ontology of the image based on the characteristics of the film itself, in a broader academic vision, by finding new theoretical discourses.
The biggest feature of "Life Events" is the metaphorical narrative, which hides the theme through systematic metaphorical techniques, and romanticizes the plot.
(1) Poetic expression of "planting stars"
Chinese people are deeply influenced by the three cultures of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and their attitude towards death is very complicated. People use words like "deceased" and "immortal" instead of dead. When the children asked, the parents also romantically described the deceased turning into a star.
However, in real life, the funeral industry is still considered a profession of "eating the dead", giving people a sense of bad luck. This is reflected in the two films "The Undertaker" and "Life Events".
"The Undertaker" is a poem that shows the reconciliation between the protagonist and the undertaker, highlighting his noble personality charm.
"Life Events" uses light comedy to understate the theme of "life events", and uses the concept of "people who plant stars" to lead the audience to jump out of the barriers of the funeral industry.
The movie "Life Events", titled "Lighting Up the Stars", explains: "Every star in the sky is someone who has loved us, and the undertaker is the one who planted the star."
In the film, Xiaowen's attitude towards his grandmother's death has undergone four turns: "return my grandmother", "put it in a big box and burn it into smoke", "become a star in the sky", "people die and disappear, every star in the sky is someone who once loved us". Through these four twists, the film introduces the "star planter" and makes it naturally accepted by the audience.
In the traditional secular view, the legend of turning into stars after death has a long history, and it is often overlooked that the funeral director is actually "the one who planted the stars".
"Life Events" in the form of a movie, let the public have a new understanding of the funeral industry, with the way of "star-planters", to return the dignity of the funeral director, so that the profession of the funeral director is full of poetry and beauty, at the same time, let the audience in this film, feel the warmth beyond blood, so that people have the courage to face death and cherish life.
"Star" symbolizes hope, pinning the thoughts of the deceased on the stars, carrying thoughts and hopes, and living bravely.
(2) "Go to heaven" is a pun
"Life Events" also makes full use of the contrast of the scene setting, and chooses to express "life events" in a more enthusiastic external way.
The film is set in a small alley in the market, and the brightly lit and joyful wedding shops are juxtaposed with the dim and white funeral shops, with strong color contrast and strong visual impact. At the end of the film, Wang Jianren and Yin Baixue wore wedding dresses, walked out of the wedding shop, and entered the palace of "going to heaven".
Weddings and funerals, red events and funerals, correspond to two major events in life, metaphorically for the orderly development of life, and strengthen the theme of the film.
Combined with the connotation of the film, the public can also get a profound inspiration from the wedding shop and "Heaven" across the wall: there is nothing important in life except life and death.
There are also many metaphors in the film, such as the pun "go to heaven", which not only expresses the blessings of loved ones to the deceased, but also alludes to the fact that the deceased turns into stars, and the star planter is the funeral director.
The last brilliant firework and the "stars" complement each other. After Xixi's husband was in a car accident, Mo Sanmei and his father did a plastic surgery on her together, and Old Man Mo let his son call the shots, implying Mo Sanmei's understanding and acceptance of the funeral industry.
The father and son, who were originally like enemies, are now sitting on the chair, with one foot on the chair, and their movements are synchronized, reflecting the deep love between father and son, harmonious feelings, and career inheritance; Xiaowen's ashes painting, the colorful lines on the nails of the deceased's mother, are a metaphor for the child's innocence.
Mo Sanmei was lying on the sofa of "Five Finger Mountain", just like Sun Wukong's failure to resist Heaven. The film "Life Events" is a metaphor for death and survival, life and death are inseparable and a major event in life. The soft and hard body, the stitched and misplaced body, the coffin carried for cremation, and the small paper figures in the house all tell the story of funeral, burial, life and death.
The film uses more metaphors and contrasts to show the changes in Mo Sanmei's heart, and in the rhythm of the film, we see a kind person, he is full of hope, he finally turns his life around and finds the meaning of life, which also inspires people to rethink "living towards death".
Throughout the film and television industry, there are not many films involving funeral themes.
The advent of "Life Events" not only filled the gap in the mainland film and television industry in the theme of funerals, but also opened the door to the future development of films. One month after the film was released, the box office broke the 1.4 billion mark, and there is no doubt that this is a breakthrough in domestic funeral-themed films.