#影视杂谈 #
#影视解说 #
#影视赏析 #
#影视剧精彩片段 #
Poster of Silent Life
The movie "Silent Life" is a film with a peaceful narrative and a soothing rhythm, which makes people feel very warm after watching it. The background is played with a soft harp, throughout, just right. The protagonist, Mr. Mei, wearing a long trench coat and holding a brown briefcase in his hand, is an honest and meticulous, gentle and kind person. His job is to contact the deceased's relatives and friends, hoping that someone will participate in the deceased's funeral and hand over the deceased's belongings. However, the vast majority of people die lonely and alone. Mr. May was the only one to attend their funeral.
At the beginning of the film, there are several successive shots of different funerals, which were supposed to be witty black humor, but found that it was because no one participated, and despite the music and etiquette of different religions, Mr. Mei's attendance was still particularly abrupt. These deceased people are forgotten in the corner of time, so that no one is willing to accompany them at the end of their lives, and the loneliness is infinitely magnified at this moment.
Mr. May who lives alone
And Mr. Mei himself is a solitary person without relatives and friends. He was so lonely, alone in a quiet life. He had no one to talk to, and the only thing he had was a photo album. In the album is a collection of photographs of the deceased, which is the spiritual support that accompanies him. He often flipped through photo albums, stared at the old yellowed photos, and tried to recall the stories of each person in the photos. Every detail in the film reveals the meticulousness of Mr. Mei, when he went to sort out the relics of a female deceased, he carefully examined what she had used, the hair cream that had not been used much in the freshly opened, the newly changed pillowcase, and the photos taken for the cat. He wrote these details into letters in memory of the deceased, which were read by the priest at the funeral, which showed Mr. Mei's respect and mourning for the deceased.
After the funeral, Mr. Mei lay in his predetermined cemetery and looked up at the sky, this small ginkgo tree really happened to shield him from the sun, the wind blew the leaves, and he could hear the sound of breaking. It is also a clean place for Mr. Mei to temporarily escape the distractions of reality.
Mr. May with his own clean land
The rhythm of the film changes sharply from Mr. Mei's sudden layoffs, because of the shortage of funds, the government began to lay off a large number of employees, and his boss asked him to leave his job immediately after handling the last case. The ruthlessness of the boss is vividly expressed in the play. In his eyes, it was just a cold job. He has shiny hair and drives a limousine, which contrasts with Mr. May. The role of the boss represents those people in society who express indifference to death, and it is precisely because of their existence that Mr. Mei's character is more prominent.
The indifference of the boss stands in stark contrast to Mr. May
The final case of Mr. May's career was to find someone willing to participate in the funeral for a deceased named Billy Stocker. Unlike in the past, this time, Mr. May decided to visit in person. He finds Stocker's daughter, Kelly, who refuses to attend her father's funeral because of his irreconcilable conflict with her. This shattered Mr. Mei's hard-won hopes.
He gave Kelly the album left by his renovated deceased, and Kelly carefully looked through the album and began to shake in her heart. She found a picture of her father from her home and handed it to Mr. Mei. Faced with the fact that both of her parents have passed away, Kelly had an emotional breakdown for the first time. But she still can't make up her mind to attend her father's funeral, and Mr. May's job is in trouble. On the train, Mr. Mei was silent, holding his briefcase, and frustration suddenly emerged.
Broken Kelly and frustrated Mr. May
He also visited some of the friends he knew stocker, from colleagues who had worked together before, friends who had lived together, comrades who had gone to the battlefield together, and even homeless people begging in the square together. Everyone's evaluation of Stoke is very bad, such a troublesome person, no one wants to attend his funeral. However, Stocker was not a complete villain, and the sheriff who captured him remembered that he had challenged the charity record and won a lot of money for the poor. Comrades remember that he saved himself on the battlefield and allowed him to return home safely. The tramps remembered him fighting with others for protecting a woman. Such an evaluation also shows a vivid image of flesh and blood in front of people from the side. It also reflects the concept that the film has always instilled, that everyone has the meaning and value of existence, and everyone deserves to be commemorated.
Mr. May walked alone on the way to visit
In the end, Kelly agreed to attend her father's funeral, and confirmed the details of the funeral with Mr. Mei, and during the conversation, the two gradually became fond of each other. The closed door of life this time seemed to be open for Mr. May. However, the wheel of fate turned mercilessly again, and Mr. Mei was hit by a car on the way back from shopping and left this world without warning.
Mr. May and Kelly, who have a good feeling for each other
This time, it was Mr. May's turn for the funeral.
Mr. May's funeral was not attended, and the priest waited for a long time, and he kept looking at the door of the church, hoping that anyone would push the door and walk in. In desperation, the priest carried out Mr. May's funeral in accordance with the regulations. The hearse drove out of the church and drove to the cemetery that Mr. Mei had booked before his death. Meanwhile, on the cemetery where the hearse drove by, another funeral was taking place as scheduled. Mr. Stocker's funeral came with many people, and those who had previously refused Mr. May's invitation all came. Mr. May's efforts were not in vain, as if he were also watching all this on the spot. Everyone solemnly sprinkled a handful of dirt on Mr. Stocker and sent his last blessings to the deceased.
As the hearse passed, Kelly frequently looked at the hearse, wondering if she could feel that the thick and simple man could no longer see her. Time did not give the two people more opportunities to get to know each other, nor did it even give the audience a chance to get to know Mr. Mei. Whether he also has relatives and what stories are in him. All this became a silent secret, buried with him in the loess.
Mr. Stocker's funeral is in stark contrast to Mr. May's funeral
I thought the story should have ended here, but people began to appear next to Mr. May's grave, and everyone was very serious, and they were all mourning Mr. May. Slowly, more and more people, careful identification of these people, the discovery of the truth is tearful. They were the people who died in the photo album, and Mr. Mei once bid them farewell one by one. Today, they are gathered here to bid farewell to Mr. Mei. The sun shines through the gap on Mr. Mei's graveyard, at this moment, he is not lonely, and from now on, he will never be lonely.
Mr. May will never be alone
"Silent Life", also known as "The Farewell Style of Not Being Able to Attend", was released at the Venice Film Festival in 2013 and is the winner of the Best Director Award in the Horizon Unit of the 70th Venice Film Festival, with a Douban score of 8.9, which is a rare masterpiece.