Text/Ye Qiuchen
Choosing to be released on the first day of the resumption of business in cinemas across the country, Wang Lina's work "The First Parting" has this kind of one-size-fits-all confidence. As expected, the film successfully won the box office on the first day, and movie lovers also went to punch cards to support this high-quality masterpiece.
In the director's beautiful hometown of Xinjiang, she profoundly interpreted the deep meaning behind the parting through the perspective of the children, and how to grow up from the parting. After watching the movie, I feel that the whole person's soul is like being baptized, and the purest experience and perception have emerged.
1. Parting does not have to be vigorous to be unforgettable
The so-called "feast of the whole world" means that the reunion is only relative, and the parting is absolute. "Gathering less and leaving more" will be a norm, and "long-term sharing" is also the helplessness we often need to face, and everyone grows up slowly in helplessness.
It is precisely because of the universality of "parting" that this word has almost become an inevitable choice in the long river of life, and it is also a propositional composition that must go through the road in life. Therefore, we often see the crying scenes that soar to tear up the lungs under the parting in various film and television drama works, or hysterical roars. For the emotional interpretation of the word, more people may be accustomed to finding a sense of security and belonging in tears and collapses.
But Director Wang Lina's approach is different, she is completely indifferent, because the bits and pieces of life are the most natural melodies to carve. The whole story is filmed in a simple and unpretentious way, the plot is just right to wake up the soul, coupled with gentle and melodious music, through the innocent child's perspective to tell the parting, in fact, more touching.
In the film, we often feel the endless warmth of life because of a simple scene, the boys grab the grapes and naans on the tree and send them to the entrance, they drive the car under the sunset, as if just sitting there quietly, a look or an action, has been worth a thousand words.
It is this kind of "silence is better than sound at this time" that allows director Wang Lina to complete the harvest of major international awards with her debut.
Grand Jury Prize and Best Film for the New Generation of Children at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival;
Best Film in the Asian Future Section of the 31st Tokyo International Film Festival;
Best Film Firebird Award in the Rookie Film Competition Section of the 43rd Hong Kong International Film Festival;
Best Director at the 2nd Hainan Island International Film Festival;
Director Wang Lina uses gentle and delicate brushstrokes to write a poetic story, which contains the philosophy and true meaning of life that attracts people's infinite thoughts under the unique narrative technique.
2. Parting is the only way for all people to grow up and mature
In the story, there are a pair of inseparable friends who live in two different families, the boy is called Isa and the girl is called Kelly.
They play together, raise lambs together, and feel the pure childhood unique to their youth. However, life is not always static, and in the midst of change, it is inevitable to face saying goodbye to the past life and the past self, so the good past is destined to become only a memory.
Isa must face the separation from the lamb, the parting from her mother, the parting with her friends, although unexpected, but it is all a necessity. Maybe he didn't know which parting was the first in the true sense, but they had begun to learn how to accept the feeling of parting.
Before the "first parting", they are still just children; but after the "first parting", they are on the road to adulthood and maturity.
The first parting is the most important turning point from childhood to adulthood.
When Isa shouts "Where are you," he's not looking for people who have wandered away or missed things, but his past self, because he wants to go back to his old life.
This just right sense of obscurity in the picture also happens to set off the child's inner confusion at this time, because we all know too well that no one can stop the quiet arrival of "parting", and no one can stop the inevitable trend of "growing up".
Isa can't, Kelly can't, neither of us.
When the film comes to an end, many people say that they are crying, and it is not clear whether the feeling of crying is because of the story or whether they see themselves in the story.
This sadness is slowly diluted with the quiet flow of time, until one day we will finally get used to the feeling of parting, and then gradually grow up in parting, becoming what we are familiar with now.
Although this is a sad transformation, after watching "The First Parting", we will awaken this numbness and return to the place where we were originally touched.
3. Parting, only by learning to part ways can you really grow up
When Kelly pleads with the adults to take Isa away as well, the answer is "everyone has to learn to part" as well.
Because, only by learning to part can you really grow up.
Although this is a sad emotion, we should be grateful for every parting, especially the shock and transformation that the first parting has brought us. From that moment on, we are no longer just willful children, but adults who need to learn to accept the world.
Parting is a compulsory lesson for growth, and the parting of children in the movie seems to be about the choices that everyone around us needs to face. Just like the answer that Kelly got, the answer is not limited to one question, but an answer to all the questions in the rest of her life. Things may be different, but the results are similar and the same destination.
The director depicts the parting and growing up of the children's world, their feelings are pure and simple, putting aside all kinds of complexities and speculations in the adult world, but at the same time, there are very few things that children can change, so their perspective highlights this sense of parting helplessness and the powerlessness of accepting growing up.
Without a life full of feelings, you may not understand the real meaning behind "The First Parting".
We don't just have to face parting, but we also have to thank those who say goodbye to the people and things who accompany us at a specific stage of life. Because in the long river of years, we will experience many passers-by in our lives, and each passer-by has its own unique existence significance. Some people choose to leave on their own initiative, and some people can only passively accept the status quo and drive to a confused faraway place that does not know the future, like Isa and Kelly.
But each of us has been Isa and Kelly.
We all open the whole world from the perspective of children, because with the first parting, we will inevitably usher in the transformation brought about by growing up.
Even if we don't want to face it, we still have to face it, so we calmly say goodbye, thank the person who left each time, and then continue to wait for the next growth.
Every parting in life is the hardest goodbye to say.
Thank you for every parting, you can accompany us to grow up together.
———————
—The copyright of this article belongs to the original author (@Ye Qiuchen), commercial reprint please contact the author to obtain authorization, non-commercial reprint please indicate the source - plagiarism must be investigated - welcome to forward comments -