Text 丨Mr. Infamous
Directed by Heo Qinhao and starring Jeon Do-yeon and Yoo Joon-yeol, the Korean drama "Human Disqualification" boldly bumped into the title of Dazaiji's book. It has the ability to use a modern story from a foreign country to cut through the bottomless pathos of Japan more than seventy years ago.
Such a story is inseparable from a "mourning" word.
Fu Qing (Quan Du Yan), 40 years old, ghostwrote for the celebrity Zheng Yalan in the publishing house, but was blatantly humiliated by the other party many times, and finally the job was not saved. Coupled with the miscarriage of five months of pregnancy, she suffered from depression and became a "neuropathy" in the eyes of her mother-in-law, which added another layer of blockage. Her full of hatred can only be vented on Zheng Yalan on the Internet, and as a result, she is involved in legal disputes, and life urges her to end this life with ridiculous malice.
Kang Jae (Yoo Joon Yee), 27 years old, runs a secret business of public relations services in the name of "agent", pinching the time to go back and forth between various women. He saved a sum of money and lent it to his good brother Zhengyu, but the other party suddenly committed suicide, causing him not only to suffer the loss of both people and money, but also to be hit by the collapse of the spiritual pillar.
One night, at the bus stop, the woman cried silently next to her father, who was picking up rags for a living, because she felt that she had failed, that she would be poorer than her father in the future, that is, the so-called "can't become anyone, or can't do anything." And the man listens, every sentence seems to be determining his own wandering, and predicting his own trend, his current psychological state is "afraid that he can't be anyone, or can't do anything."
These are two such characters. The evaporation of wealth, or the poverty of the past; the sloppiness of feelings, or the inability to sustenance; seeing more snobbery, hypocrisy and emptiness in a particular world, the thoughts that have no meaning anymore...
Dazai's novel collection is full of characters with such a state of mind, bustling all the way, more and more bleak to the world around them, so it is reasonable that they choose to go to the end.
In the episode, Zheng Yu also wrapped his hands around the woman with a silk scarf and committed suicide by throwing water together, as if for other characters, he first "Dazai Osamu". It is also like the suicide protagonist in the novel, which has become the background of the follow-up events, called the undead characters, who can never get rid of the impact of this incident.
Then, what they have uncovered by Fu Qing and Kang Jae is the dilemma of urban men and women who are not limited to Japan and South Korea, that is, in a generation full of depressive factors, their dreams have been broken, their once pure good has been hurt, and they have finally seen through the dangers of others, the injustice of society, the tedium of life, and their fate of achieving nothing.
Such a spiral of emotion, the depression of affection, and the paralysis of Kang Zai clearly allude to the pathology of society.
And the many characters who are closely related to them also have this or that problem. For example, the heroine's husband Jeong-soo, who survives between his mother and his wife, is always bound by "loyalty and honesty", and the ex-girlfriend who appears at the right time is likely to become an opening for him. While Jeong-so's mother is putting pressure on her son and daughter-in-law, she is also under too much pressure. The rich father is worried about his daughter's situation, and he deeply blames himself for his incompetence...
There are restless old people on the top and young people with low expectations below, and in the cool colors, they form a very low group portrait. Behind this group portrait is the real situation of the current ecology. In recent years, there have been many works in South Korea, such as "The Beautiful Sister Who Often Invites to Dinner" three years ago, etc., which have constantly emphasized the economic depression, which has directly penetrated into the national mood and become a consideration for everyone's choices, such as whether to leave the job, divorce, or whether to let yourself go a little in life.
"The Pretty Sister Who Often Invites to Dinner"
It is not difficult to imagine that the answer is mostly "no". As a result, the low pressure formed by the story is lowered by another layer.
Under this depression, groups such as women, the elderly, the youth, the poor, and the sick are particularly depressed. These so-called weak genders, ages, economic conditions, and physical conditions bear the specific contempt of many tool-type supporting characters in the story, and the residents of high-end apartments will dislike the foreign cleaners for enjoying public facilities, which is a very typical kind of arrogance. Bit by bit of negative emotions converge in the story, and the depressing and even sad taste rises.
Not only that, director Xu Qinhao also used a very literary tone to amplify this gray texture. Through continuous cross-editing, he lets the people in the valley superimpose their own encounters, refining the unbearable commonalities, and it just so happens that the series is shrouded in a cool tone, with a lingering grayness. At the same time, the story is interspersed with affectionate recitations, which are a letter to the so-called "teacher", full of resentment, sadness and self-pity, but the reading is quiet and frustrated, and this kind of heart-dead tone summarizes the pain of the people in the play.
Stories that are soaked in the low tide inevitably have many dramatic settings when they are concentrated, but Xu Qinhao retains a lot of necessary reality, which is the criterion for maintaining the story from going to a disease-free groan. Or at least, give a very realistic story, retaining the necessary decency.
In the role of the male and female protagonists, the arrangement of the first two episodes is very reasonable. They met downstairs at FuQing's father's house, the father and daughter dragged the cardboard suitcase, Kang Zai helped hold the door, and then Fu Qing nodded his head in thanks, and Kang Zai, who was talking on the phone, just walked indifferently.
The father and daughter made a discussion about the number of etiquette, and the disrespect seemed to tie out Xiao En, saying that Seoul people were no longer accustomed to greeting each other, and now they no longer had the full human touch of the past, and the essence was still lamenting that people's communication with people had also become depressed.
For Kang Zai, the word "little white face" came out of his mouth of his good-natured father, and there was also a certain clear estrangement between the people at the bottom. Or is the daughter in the circle, and things related to private, she knows the meaning of proportions.
In such a contrast, the dialogue between the male and female protagonists is more interesting. After complaining to his father, Fu Qing cried uncontrollably on the bus, and Kang Zai, who witnessed the scene at the station, handed over the Hermès silk scarf that the female guest had given him, and added, "Generally speaking, I will give it away directly... I'm just afraid you'll lose it when you run out of it, so I'll tell you it's expensive." Again, this is a reality, and even an economic argument.
Friendliness is placed on such awkwardness and embarrassment, and the series is very playful. A pair of men and women who are destined to comfort each other do not let the feelings immediately heat up at this time, and do not even leave a particularly clear aftermath, which cuts off the so-called hopes or fantasies that the audience likes to see, but this is more in line with the logic of people who are no longer accustomed to expectations.
Such restraint, together with dimness and heaviness, brings more sticky fatigue, making the series, even if it is occasionally stimulated by a strong plot, it is still flat and loose on the whole. As a result, it has a rather "middle-aged" mark, left and right, lifeless.
No wonder it picks the audience. It is very understandable that users who play a star on Douban say, "I can't watch an episode!" Depression is going to be committed! Why make such a suffocating drama ????" Or, "A TV series would rather have a big-going drama than a movie-free groaning art."
"Human Disqualification", which fell to 8.0, is precisely these reprimanded shortcomings. It is more like writing to the same fallen people, who have been played, robbed, and hurt, and have been more patient to find common emotions in these cold and cold stratospheres.
Admittedly, people who cannot empathize are happy. If not, in Fu Qing, he will feel that kind of autumn feeling especially strongly. Although the series begins with two protagonists, whether it is the plot or the performance, Fu Qing is brought out of the meaning of the absolute heroine by Quan Duyan. This has nothing to do with the position, but with the narrative value and meaning of the story itself.
Fuqing undoubtedly carries the private perspective and even personal feelings of middle-aged creators such as Xu Qinhao. And Quan Du Yan's interpretation, done a good radiation. She gathered herself up completely, the costume was mainly black, the dress was almost dull, she tended to look up and squint at others, and the cowardice and chagrin inside had entered the wood in form.
On such a body that had already run to the twilight, she was distracted to keep a "young girl". Especially when talking to his father, a grievance does not know where to pour out, he can only shout "Dad", in the courage, but also in the escape, but also in the search for the shade of childhood. Therefore, even across the screen, you can detect the catharsis that she is about to collapse. The reason why communication with my father is so moving is in the comprehensive treatment of such complex emotions.
Quan Duyan will still pick the script. This kind of character who suppresses emotions but has infinite space for expression is very suitable for her and also needs her. Over the years, the actress, who has been famous for "Miyang", "The Next Girl" and "The Way Home", has subtracted the number of works, but "Human Disqualification" still adds to her taste and value very well.
"Miyang"
Five years ago, she and Kong Liu cooperated in the film "Man and Woman", which tells the story of two men and women who deviated from their respective suffocating married lives and tried to go to each other, coincidentally, the actor who played her husband, both of which are Park Byung-eun. In the movie, she is full of struggle, despair and hope, this character is a little bloody, and Quan Duyan shows a posture of blossoming in this suppressed text.
"Men and Women"
This may be a lot like the trajectory that rich people want to take. After staying alone in a pool of stagnant water for a long time, she will probably regain the warmth and expectation of some life in the process of giving to Kang Zai.
In this way, she is also a "middle-aged" role representing the director's perspective. To mention, this has nothing to do with age, after all, Kang Jae has also smeared this twilight earlier. But it is clear that fuqin is a future form that Kangzai is likely to be unable to escape, and she is more likely to be able to describe the stage when life begins to fade, closer to the dry life forms in Dazai's writings that have survived the suicidal impulse.
What Xu Qinhao wants is this lyrical carrier.
Imagining the late nineties and early new century, he made a name for himself through a series of stories from a relatively young perspective. In the early days, the light and elegant love of "August Photo Studio" and "Spring Death" all made people feel a ripple in their hearts, and they were about to start reminiscing about the aftertaste that seemed to have nothing. Movies such as "Happiness", "Sunrise City", and "Dangerous Relationship" gradually have more and more thick backgrounds of agitation. By five years ago, "Lord Dehui Ong" focused on the ups and downs of the life of the last princess.
"Lord Dehui Ong"
Recently, the number of works has been greatly reduced, and he just borrowed the longer length of "Human Disqualification" to talk about these setbacks and ups and downs, these confusions and bitterness.
Although the wind is getting worse and worse, the series has his usual characteristics. Xu Qinhao, a graduate of the Department of Philosophy, still presents the teasing of life, the flow of feelings and the essence of death in the delicate and soothing stories that are close to reality. His greater interest in people is reflected here. And the accumulation of his thoughts on life is also reflected here.
Now that the perspective of "middle age" has intensified, Su Ya has a more intense hurt. He pushed the subject he had been thinking about to a new stage, to find the slight heat of the world in the sadness that could not be dissolved, to find a simple reason to live. The proportion of realism has increased, and along the lines of his narrative over the years, a certain nerve of the audience has also aged.
South Korea is more to create a beautiful image or young vision of the emotional drama, as well as the irony of the needle and the disadvantages of the irony of the story, Xu Qinhao's literary and artistic works aimed at people's own sadness, can be regarded as a certain outlier. In the domestic noisy and high-spirited domestic drama atmosphere, it is also very different.
After watching two episodes of "Human Disqualification", I feel Xu Qinhao's "cruelty" even more, which lies in ruthlessly forcing the character to a dead corner, but not giving an answer easily, and not casually giving a turnaround. He revealed the message that things may be so broken, but you still have to accept it.
Such a low story direction does not seem to give people hope, but without mass production hope, especially the story of cheap hope, it is more likely to be close to the realistic texture we need. So, although it is heavy, there is an ease in this heaviness that makes people unload the burden of disguise. Then, even if the human world is out of character, man is not yet.