"Little Princess" is a 2017 movie, I have always wanted to see, I have not watched, until yesterday, I don't know what kind of psychology, sometimes good things want to keep, as if watching it is gone.
Anyway, I finally watched this movie last night, and it did not live up to my expectations, and I have seen a lot of new films recently, but this "old film" is definitely my favorite in recent months.
The protagonist of "Little Princess" is called "Smile", in the Korean pronunciation, "smile" and "tiny" are homophonous, and "tiny" also corresponds to the English title of this film", "Microhabitat" can be translated as small ecology, small habitat.
For Microhabitat, National Geographic gives the explanation of "A microhabitat is a small area which differs somehow from the surrounding habitat. Its unique conditions may be home to unique species that may not be found in the larger region.” (A niche is a small area that is somewhat different from its surroundings, and its unique conditions may provide living space for some unique species that cannot survive in the surrounding environment.)
The protagonist "Smile" is such a unique species that is incompatible with the environment of Seoul.
She was about 30 years old, her parents died early, she rented a cheap apartment alone, she needed to take medicine for a long time due to a certain disease, one of the symptoms was that once the drug was stopped, her hair would turn white, so her cool white hair was not provoked, but caused by illness.
Perhaps because of this disease, she has not been able to find a stable workplace like most people, but as a domestic worker, she has lived on a daily salary of 45,000 yuan (about 240 yuan).
Living without debt is one of her philosophies of life, so she calculates income and expenditure every day, the income is a fixed 45,000 yuan, and the expenditure is also fixed, tobacco, alcohol, medicine, diet and rent.
And tobacco and alcohol are the necessities of her life, she is not an alcoholic, nor is she a smoker, just a few cigarettes a day and a small glass of high-quality whiskey, a life she cannot give up. This also runs counter to the discipline of women in East Asian societies.
She was generous, and though not in the form of money, she worked hard and did well, but her income was not moving, and the fixed expenses were rising.
When the South Korean government raised the price of cigarettes in the name of encouraging smoking cessation, when the landlord wanted to raise the rent, her balance of payments was broken.
So, to stay debt-free, Smile has to choose between several fixed expenses.
At this time, her special place began to show, and the first thing she gave up was not tobacco and alcohol, but a place to live.
She found the landlord and said she wanted to check out, paid the rent for the month, packed her bags, cleaned the room again, and left.
It should be said that this moment is the beginning of the positive film, and her plan is to take turns in several friends' homes, and save a deposit for rent during this period, so as to find a cheaper place to live again.
The friends, who were classmates of the "Smile" college band they had formed together, visited one by one, some rejected her, and the others took her in for a period of varying lengths.
These friends are normal members of this society in the ordinary sense, there are company employees, housewives, and rich wives who marry into the rich, and everyone walking on the street is decent, in stark contrast to the "smile" sloppiness.
Through the borrowing of "smile", we see the other side of each person's inhumanity, compared with "smile", they have so much materially, but when they return home to face themselves, their emptiness, depression, unwillingness, and fear are so huge.
"Smile" is like a mirror, illuminating everyone's heart, some people welcome the arrival of "smile", so that they can recall the happy times when they had nothing but fearless in college, some people thank "smile" for allowing themselves to eat a long-lost home-cooked meal, and feel the temperature of life again, some people resent "smile", why do you have nothing, but the clouds are light, and my wide house compound, but trembling.
In the end, "Smile" met all his friends, cleaned the room for the drummer who lived alone, cooked a hot meal for the keyboard player who was not good at housework but had to take care of his in-laws, did what he could do for each friend, and then left.
"Smile" appeared again, is sitting in the frequent bar, she ordered a glass of whiskey, the waiter apologetically said, because the rent has risen, the price of wine has to rise, "Smile" helplessly smiled, said "here also rose", but still ordered a glass of wine, while drinking while looking at the snow outside the window, as if all the troubles also drifted away.
Finally, at the funeral of the lead singer's mother, several friends reunited, only "smile" did not arrive, they chatted and chatted, the topic came to "smile", they said "smile" laugh is still so good-looking, they said "smile" The food is delicious, they say that they don't know how "smile" is doing now, they say that every time they think of "smile", they will smile unconsciously...
As soon as the camera turns, we reach the bar where "Smile" often goes, and as the camera moves, we only see a white hair, putting down the empty wine glass and preparing to leave.
Apparently, the second expense she gave up after the residence was medicine.
There are many film and television works about urban homeless people, before there is "No Land" about a group of people in the United States who choose to live in a place without a fixed place to live, and then there is the American drama "Nanny" that just came out a while ago, accusing the cruelty of the social system to the bottom, how difficult it is for a single mother to gain a foothold in this society.
These are all good works, but in contrast, my favorite is this "Little Duchess", which does not indict anything, just lets you see the cost of modern urban life, and there is no shortage of comedy, often making you smile and present heavy things in a light way.
When I watched the whole movie and recalled the whole film, I suddenly realized that the "smile" reminded me of Shakya in "The Great Buddha Plus", as if the Buddha incarnated as a mortal walking in the world, not disturbing, not participating, just seeing that all beings are suffering, it is inevitable that they will occasionally show sadness.
And "Smile" is more like a spirit who has strayed into the city, but she is more into the world than Shakya, she cares about every friend, but does not evaluate, does not intervene, does not help as much as she can, and when she becomes a drag, she quietly leaves.
She just lived seriously, in a way that was not socially accepted, and for her only tobacco, alcohol, and love could not be compromised, and these three things were not addictive here, perhaps closer to the moon opposite sixpence.
"Smile" wanders the city in this way, allowing her to exist in less and less space, the last scene of the film, she set up a small tent in the open space by the river, her small tent is the small ecology in the title, is a warm, swaying, inconspicuous candlelight surrounded by high-rise buildings and cars.