Speaking of Korean actor Cha Tae-hyun, it is well known to the audience that he and Jeon Ji-hyun's "My Savage Girlfriend" was the same year, and the image of the "male and evil woman" played by the two subverted the traditional Korean culture, and a "barbaric" wind blew up for a while. Cha Tae-hyun also won the Best Newcomer Actor Award at the 22nd Korea Film Blue Dragon Awards for his role as a simple college student in the film.
Stills from the movie "My Savage Girlfriend"
In 2010, the comedy film "Happy Family" starring him made him nominated for both the Korean Film Grand Bell Award and the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor in a Movie. The film has also become another masterpiece of his after "My Savage Girlfriend" and "Very Anchor".
At first glance, this film sounds similar to the Hong Kong series of movies "Happy Ghost", but it is different from the nonsensical funny in Hong Kong-style comedy films, but continues the eclectic style of various types of Korean comedy, and integrates the constant family affection into a humorous and funny plot.
Stills from the movie "Happy Family"
The movie "Happy Family" tells the story of a young light-hearted person who uses the power of family affection to impress and rekindle his hope in life. The protagonist of the story, Shang Wan, was orphaned due to a huge blow to his childhood and lost his memory, and years of loneliness and depression made him loveless, and after repeated suicide attempts, he found that he could see ghosts. From then on, he would share his body with four ghosts at the same time, and the only way to take these four ghosts away was to help them fulfill their unfulfilled wishes in the human world.
Through the perspective of the unfortunate male protagonist possessed by ghosts, this film uses the narrative structure and style of unique Korean comedy to hide the tragic elements under the comedic elements, condenses the narrative characteristics of joy to sorrow, tragedy and joy, and triggers people's exploration and thinking on the topic of family affection with the unreal story of the ghost constructed.
"Family affection" focuses on the word "affection", whether there is blood relationship is not the only criterion for judging family affection, only true love can express the most beautiful emotions between people, it is embodied in the daily life bit by bit, but also in the embodiment of major events, is even if life and death can not be blocked by the love between relatives.
The film "Happy Family" depicts a family relationship about the yin and yang, the original four ghosts that have been entangled with the male protagonist are his family members who were killed in a car accident when he was a child, although due to major injuries and stimulation, the male protagonist forgot this memory, but he is actually not as lonely as he thinks, in all his growth experiences from childhood to adulthood, the original family has participated, but a different way of companionship.
In another comedy film, Strange Her, the setting of the grandmother who returns to her youth at the age of 20 has a conflict at the beginning of the film. Then, in the choice of being an old man who is old and weak and not valued by his children, or a young man who can dream of youth, the choice between the two sublimates the film to the main theme of family affection that is difficult to give up.
Stills from the movie "Strange Her"
Compared with "Strange Her", "Happy Family" does not create ups and downs of dramatic conflicts in the ever-expanding plot, but uses a relatively lengthy, even unrelated large number of plots to prepare for the early stages, such as the male protagonist needs to help a ghost drive to the beach, help another ghost return the camera, take the gluttonous ghost to see childish cartoons, and finally help the crying female ghost to cook a meal for his beloved.
When these seemingly fragmented and illogical storylines occupy a large number of films in the film, just when people unconsciously think that the film is about to end in such a funny atmosphere, the end of the film takes a 180-degree turn, and all the previous fragments are connected at this moment, forming a complete causal chain, and those plots that are ignored and seemingly unrelated have reasonable explanations.
The four ghosts are the parents, brothers and grandfathers who died in the car accident, and they fulfilled their promises to the young male protagonist before their deaths in the process of asking the male protagonist to help them return the wish. Dad taught his son to drive and swim, mom made food for his son, brother promised to take his brother to watch cartoons, and grandpa borrowed a camera to help his grandson leave beautiful photos.
These fragments of family affection hidden in the details of the plot, laughter with tears, sadness and joy, on the main axis of comedy style, are not blindly pure funny, but integrate strong emotions into the details of the film, with tear-inducing family affection power to influence young people who are mentally collapsed and tend to commit suicide.
The director performed blandly in the prelude plot, and it was not until the finale that the core of the warmth under the surface of the comedy was unveiled, and the family affection was deeply explored with the suspenseful setting and the reverse narrative, which was suddenly cheerful and tear-inducing.
"Happy Family" makes the audience suddenly reminisce after laughing and crying: a person from birth, everyone who appears in his life will be tied to form a spider web, they teach him to love and be loved, to understand and perceive. Love does not dissipate because of death, those distant family members never really leave, they are always in our memory, just a different way of companionship, and what we have to do is not to give up on ourselves, because the people who love us are always there.