Not long ago, "Toilet Hero" brought Indian toilet culture to the big screen.
Not only did it break into the top ten of the year at the Indian box office, but it was also selected by Bill Gates as one of the top ten inspiring films of the year.
Affected by this, the Indian government began to pay attention to the problem of "the general lack of toilets in rural areas".
In order to improve the situation, it is even stipulated that if civil servants do not take selfies with their own toilets, they will not be paid, so that they can play a role in taking the lead in building toilets for their families.
As a result, the coverage of rural toilets has been effectively improved, and the toilet problem of Indian women has also been improved.
Recently, a new Indian film has been released, which is also related to "toileting".
This time it was a "toilet paper" revolution.
Although the reform failed in the end, it contributed a full 2 hours of laughter.
I haven't seen such a black and humorous Indian film for a long time, so Xiangyu will talk about not playing cards according to the routine——
"Extortion"
Blackmail
Black humor is different from traditional humor, and the undertone is sad.
For example, a chestnut, a man sentenced to death, before going to the gallows, pointed to the gallows and asked the executioner, "Are you sure this thing is strong?" ”
"Black" represents a terrible reality, and "humor" represents a ridiculous attitude towards a terrible reality, and this "humor under the gallows" is given a charming contradictory attribute.
Indian black humor films are often closely linked to real-world issues.
In "Suicide Live", because the relatives of the suicide victims can receive high government allowances, the protagonist staged a suicide farce, reflecting the problem of inequality between rich and poor in society.
Kabul Express, a road trip through a magical combination of Indian journalists, American journalists, and Taliban, reflects on the problems of terrorism and racial prejudice.
"Extortion" forces an honest person to become a blackmailer under the pressure of life, expressing general social anxiety.
The male protagonist, Dave, is a toilet paper salesman, carrying the burden of car loans and mortgages, and has been hopeless to raise wages due to the company's poor performance.
Toilet paper sales are dismal for two reasons.
1, Indians go to the toilet, many do not use toilet paper, but use their hands.
In India, eating, greeting, and even handing over money with the right hand is a necessary ritual habit.
Because, the left hand is used to wipe the butt.
When they go to the toilet, they prepare a bucket of water next to the toilet to clean their butt-wiping left hand.
2, toilet paper encountered a strong competitor, jet seating.
With this kind of sitting, you don't need to use your left hand, you can wash your ass directly.
Due to these two factors, toilet paper sales have not been able to go up, for this reason, the company invented a new type of toilet paper, compared to the previous products are softer, more absorbent, more beautiful.
On top of that, this toilet paper is the closest to that feel.
The boss pinned all his hopes on this product, which is bound to start this toilet paper revolution.
In order to ensure that the product is a sensation on the day of the release, there is an important task entrusted to Dave.
This is also the most crucial part of this new toilet paper battle -
Secretly turn off the sluice gates in the city, and in the absence of water, people can only choose to wipe their butts with toilet paper!
But to the surprise of the boss, after the water was cut off, the sales of toilet paper did not increase, but the sales of mineral water climbed sharply.
Dave's pay raise plan is also failing again.
In addition to career frustration, married life is also unsatisfactory.
His wife was very beautiful, but cold to him. The two are on the verge of a seven-year itch.
So much so that Dave would rather play single-player games at work than go home and face his wife.
In his words, "Marriage is a celebration in the countryside, a regret in the city."
On this day, he was ordered by a colleague, he wanted to relive the old love with his wife, and specially went home early to prepare for a surprise for her.
Unexpectedly, when I came home, I found that my wife and other men were secretly having an affair.
Hearing the cheating wife and the adulterer talking about their own words, the heart is really full of mixed feelings.
He instantly made up a scene of pain and squash of the dog man and woman, but just thinking about it, he finally chose to quietly exit the door.
"Blackmail" adopts a two-line narrative, with a career crisis on one side and a marriage crisis on the other.
Due to the increase in the monthly mortgage payment, the expected salary did not increase, and there was a debt problem, so Dave thought of extortion, and the next plot began to enter the full high energy.
Interject, Dave's actor Irfan Khan, everyone should be familiar with it.
The adult faction in "The Fantasy Drift of Pi", the owner of dinosaur park in "Jurassic World", the villain in "The Amazing Spider-Man", and the police station chief in "Slumdog Millionaire" are all him.
Arguably, he is one of the most international Indian actors today.
In recent years, he has starred in Indian conscience films such as "Starting Line" and "Lunchbox", which reflect social reality.
He was described by Academy Award director Danny Boyle as " having the innate intuition to find the mental core of any character , like an athlete who can repeat the exact perfection " .
This time starring in the comedy film "Blackmail" is an attempt by him to broaden the path of the play.
The second half of the film is really black humor, entering a circular structure of deception and deception.
He anonymously texts the adulterer, ready to extort a sum of money, both as revenge and as a solution to his own financial crisis.
Honest by nature, he added up the monthly payment of the mortgage and car loan, as well as the arrears of the credit card, and found that it did not need so much, so he reduced it by one zero, as long as 100,000 rubles (equivalent to 10,000 yuan).
Unexpectedly, the adulterer was not a rich man with a lot of money, but a small white face provided by his wife.
He was also intimidated by his wife every day, and he did not have any dignity in life.
Unable to cheat his wife's money, the adulterer had a plan.
Deliberately using the exact same words, pretending to be a blackmailer, to blackmail his lover Rena 120,000, this time he also made a net profit of 20,000.
This is Extortion 2.0.
However, Rena is only a housewife, and she does not have so many savings, except for her only 30,000 savings, there is still a difference of 90,000.
What to do?
I had to find an excuse to lie that my father had a physical examination and went to her husband Dave to ask for money.
This becomes Blackmail 3.0 in Disguise.
The money Dave had so hard to extort was lost.
Depressed, he went to talk to his colleagues and told them about the blackmail.
Who knew that this colleague not only did not play a comforting role, but also accidentally said this matter when he was flirting with his sister, and sold Dave as soon as he turned around.
This is good, the sister immediately launched a blackmail 4.0, and asked Dave for 60,000 sealing fees.
The mantis catching cicadas and yellow finches is behind, which is the essence of this movie.
Soon, after the sister → Dave → the adulterer→ wife → Dave's blackmail cycle, the adulterer, who could not stand the extortion, called in a private detective.
Private investigators have also joined the ranks of blackmail, contributing to a new cycle of detective → Dave → adulterer → wife → Dave.
The whole film is full of absurd feelings, and the final killing scene is seamlessly connected with the "water stopping stem" of the toilet paper battle.
This time the derailment actually triggered three murders, which three were killed? Who killed them? Who is killing people with a knife? How did their deaths break the cycle?
Xiangyu reserves a little suspense for all aquarists, and everyone can guess as much as they want.
The ending of the film is very realistic, the toilet paper revolution is just the obscenity of businessmen, and the revenge blackmail is just a bamboo basket to draw water.
After a farce, only the word "mourning" in capital letters of life remains.
To be honest, the plot of "Blackmail" is not much brain-burning, and there are many logic bugs, but it is still the most recent Indian film worth watching, enough to pierce the heart.
If it weren't for a little early home, Dave wouldn't have discovered the dark side of life; if he hadn't been forced by his livelihood, he wouldn't have gone from victim to blackmail.
Everyone's life will encounter unsatisfactory, swallowing bitter water into the stomach, or venting it, is everyone's choice.
But don't try to tease human nature, the ending is often something you can't handle.
Life, from a distance, is a comedy, and a close look is a tragedy.
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