Road movies have always occupied an important position in the film genre, mainly a type of film that reflects life in the way.
Generally speaking, the protagonist of such films embarks on a journey for some reason, encounters people or things during the journey, and then pushes the plot with the tension of the journey, and finally grows through this journey.
For example, the well-known "My Heart Is Wild" starring Nicholas Cage, "The End of the Road" starring Susan Sarandon, and this year's Oscar winner "Green Book" are also considered one of the road movies.
"The End of the Road"
Today I would also recommend a road movie, Links of Like, a French-American co-production that Chinese translated as:
"Highway Enemies"
To tell the truth, this translated title directly lowered the film several notches, making it look like a popcorn comedy.
"Highway Enemy" is more like a philosophical film than a passionate or humorous and warm plot design, and every line in the film makes people want to take notes.
The heroine Marion is a strange French woman who suffers from problem obsessive-compulsive disorder.
For example, when she crosses the zebra crossing, she will deliberately only step on the white line, and every place in the house will use sticky note paper to label herself to remind herself, and she has an obsessive-compulsive disorder of water that cannot be overly full.
She is 50 years old, not married, has not had children, and has been living with her mum.
Life went on like this, but her mother was getting older and worried that she would not be able to live alone because of her obsessive-compulsive disorder in the future.
Like many road movies, Marion, in order to prove herself, decided to go to the National Park of the United States after the death of her mother, and also began this road trip.
However, when she first arrived in the United States, she encountered problems, and even if she reminded herself several times, she still couldn't muster up the courage to get out of the car and communicate with people.
It's either that she can't fit in with other people, or that she doesn't dare to get close to people, or that she's better at being alone.
From her background explained earlier in the film, she has always lived with her mother, and no other social relationships have appeared.
At this point, she meets Rob, who looks like a tramp.
He didn't have a car, he didn't have a camping tent, and every night he lit a campfire in the wilderness and slept directly on the ground.
Both Marion and Rob wanted to go to Wave Valley, but Wave Valley is a natural sandstone rock formation that, in order to protect its fragile landscape, can only be visited every day by buying lottery tickets and being drawn.
Neither Marion nor Rob was drawn, so Marion proposed that they go to another attraction together and try it out tomorrow at the next lottery point. Rob didn't agree at first, but agreed after Marion promised to add his name to the lottery as well.
Rob and Marion are two completely different people, Marion has the optimism and romance characteristic of the French, she is like a child, talking idly.
Rob, on the other hand, was a silent man, with no expectations for the scenery in front of him, and no requirements for food and accommodation.
During the journey, Rob discovers something different about Marion.
As a traveling person, she doesn't have a cell phone, no camera, and doesn't look like a modern person at all.
And she doesn't like to fill up the oil when she refuels, doesn't fill it when she fills it, and if the cup is full, she will even get out of control.
Marion told Rob that she had problem obsessive-compulsive disorder, and had always been.
The first day of the journey between the two, although not pleasant, was barely spent.
But the next day the conflict broke out, and they missed the next lottery point because of the long delay on the road.
Rob also said why he hadn't gone to Wave Valley: he wanted to go to Wave Valley to bury his son, who died in a car accident when he was 5 years old.
In order to move on to the next lottery point, they continue to travel together.
On this new journey, Rob was no longer wary of Marion, and the two had more conversations.
Rob lost his job in mourning his son, his wife did not understand him, and he suffered from his heart and even tried to commit suicide through a telephone line.
From Rob's point of view, all this was unfortunate, but from Marion's point of view, it was very fortunate.
"I can't have another Giselle because she's my mom, it's much easier for you, you can have another baby."
From this moment on, I thought to Rob that Marion was no longer just a noisy chatterer.
Their second outburst Robb thought that Marion had scattered his son's ashes, and Marion hoped to help Rob out of his son's shadow, and if this obsession persisted, Rob would never be able to get out.
Of course, these contradictions are not what the film wants to focus on, and in the subsequent relationship, they still slowly trust each other and untie the knot.
They watched the horses in the morning light together, and bravely faced the future together, Rob finally plucked up the courage to call his wife, and Marion finally understood what a useful person was.
In fact, the plot of the film is not complicated, there is no major contradiction and conflict, and there is no forced development of emotional drama.
The film brings every frame of beauty to the point of breath and philosophical lines.
As Marion says in the film:
"I'm not the only one who has a problem, you have it too, you have no imagination, you can't see the future;
I always look at things halfway, which is fine because I always see the good side of things."
"There are a bunch of snakes living below, and they wake up at night, crawl over the ground, leave traces on the ground, and if there are snakes, we have to talk, and it's time to let him rest during the day."
"Pigeons are worthless, but you are human, you are meaningful."
"Help others, even for a few days, hours, minutes."
For example, the sticky notes in this picture are written by Marion, and they are also her beliefs throughout the entire journey.
"Dream it Wish it Do it", because of this sentence, she embarked on a trip to America's national parks.
She believed that her mother had always been by her side, even though she couldn't see it.
"Always dance with the mood"
She didn't care if she jumped well or not, she just wanted to use her heartbeat.
"Keep smiling"
Marion loves to laugh, almost the whole time in the film, she is talking, laughing, not because she is very happy in life, but because she feels that she should live like this.
In one segment of the film, Rob asks her: Why are you so happy? You don't have a family, you're alone, why do you still feel good about life?
Marion's answer was: I just did it.
"I'm lucky", Marion is not a blind optimist, but feels lucky from the bottom of her heart, and she has such a grateful heart for Grace and Rob.
“Where are my answers?” I think she finally found the answer, when Rob posted her post-it notes, when she received Rob's letter.
Marion was a child who laughed, joked, and recorded beautiful scenery with her eyes as a camera. She is also a kind person, to help others, not why to help, but why not to help?
After watching this movie, I think I fell in love with Marion, this somewhat strangely cute French woman.
The film mentions the proposition of time many times, and the generous gift of time is the most mentioned sentence in the film.
When Marion first arrives in the United States, she sees a passage from Thoreau about time, and for the first time in the film, "time is a generous gift."
At this time she was a French woman, and she did not understand the American understanding of this sentence. She said this in front of the beautiful scenery in front of her. What she is thankful for is the beauty that time brings, which is the gift of time.
The second time was when Rob explained it as "don't force it", the gift of time is that everything goes with the flow, Rob knows the meaning, but he doesn't really understand it, and Marion does put it into action.
And the third time he said this sentence, it was Rob's satire of it, in the United States that Marion thought was beautiful, but he experienced nothing good.
He was forced not to be just an ordinary person, if he wanted to get ahead, the most important thing he needed to invest was time, and time brought not gifts, but pain.
But in the end, they all received gifts through the time they spent together.
Links of Life, which I don't think of as a road movie, is a philosophical film that is both Marion's optimism and the redemption of Rob's death, and Marion's awakening to herself to be a useful person, to help someone, is to be useful.
Movies aren't heavy, but they do require patience.
It's like giving you a lesson, a compulsory lesson in life, about time, about the ordinary, about life, about yourself.