Recently watched an Indian movie called "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle". I have to say that this title is still quite attractive to translate, the combination of Lolita + Uncle is very special, and the word monkey god is quite hunting. It is an Indian film in 2015, and currently has a rating of 8.4 on Douban, and also ranks among the top 250 Douban movies. The popular word-of-mouth rating does seem to be a good movie, but I have some different views after watching it. Next, let's talk about "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle".
From "This Killer Is Not Too Cold" to "Fury Rescue" and "Heidi and Grandpa", the combination of "Lori + Uncle" is actually not uncommon, and there are quite a few excellent works. Before the deep impression is "Very Father and Daughter File", it will be between the Uncle Lori group of laughter, emotions dug very thoroughly. And "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" also makes good use of the classic combination of "Lolita + Uncle", and the viewing experience is actually good.
In the movie, the 6-year-old girl is very cute, smiling sweetly, and her expression is cute. Coupled with a gentle and kind uncle, this combination is very friendly. Just the two of them standing together, people can't help but like it. In terms of plot, the Indian uncle nicknamed "Monkey God" picks up a Pakistani little girl from a cross-country, and the classic drama of "first acquaintance- acceptance- abandonment - intimacy" occurs between the two, which further increases the audience's love for the movie.
At the same time, "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" also introduces a more "tall" contradiction and conflict, setting the story set between India and Pakistan, which are hostile to each other. Due to the contradictions at the national level and the difference in religious beliefs, it is easy for an Indian to be used as a spy in Pakistan, and it is difficult to move forward; a Pakistani person will also be excluded in India. However, because most domestic audiences are not familiar with the contradictions between India and Pakistan, they can indirectly ignore the cruelty behind the ethnic and religious contradictions and turn to more relaxed appreciation of the beautiful pictures of the film. This makes the film more aesthetically pleasing and indirectly enhances the audience's viewing experience. Of course, there are also common song and dance scenes in Indian movies, and the viewing process is full of joy.
With the classic combination of "Lolita + Uncle" and the concept of resolving the hatred of the religious family and the goodness of human nature conveyed by the movie, many people have expressed good after watching "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle". I also recognize these beautiful parts, but in terms of story design, I think there are still many debatable points.
For stories, "dream" is not a positive word. The basic requirement of a good story is truth, even if it is a fictional story, it must be emotionally true and logically true. However, "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" is not a very real movie, and many twists and characters are somewhat taken for granted, so that the whole story is like a dream adult fairy tale. Of course, it is not that the development direction of the film plot is not good, but that the story design needs to be considered.
First of all, the protagonist appears to be in the air.
The importance of the protagonist cannot be overemphasized, and many times the story design revolves around the protagonist. When the plot is advancing, it is also when shaping the protagonist. In "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle", the protagonist seems to be very friendly, kind and honest, these qualities are indeed very good, but he also appears too flat. Not to mention that this monkey god uncle did not have too many inner conflicts, it is said that his piety to religious beliefs is somewhat immature.
For the religious beliefs of the male protagonist, the monkey is a holy spirit-like existence, and when he sees the monkey male protagonist, he will bow and salute, and there are many such scenes in the film. In the movie, the heroine saw this scene and said a sentence: "There are many monkeys here, do you want to bow to them all day?" It can be seen from this sentence that the religious concept of the heroine is relatively mature, faith and piety are one thing, life is another, and cannot live too much in religious belief. This is a relatively mature concept, especially the modern social science concept prevails, and it is almost impossible to be as fanatical and religious as it was a hundred years ago.
In order to adhere to his religious beliefs, the male protagonist even did a lot of outrageous things. When smuggling into Pakistan, the protagonist, in order to uphold the honesty preached by religion, said that he would never sneak into the tunnel and would rather wait for the consent of the border soldiers to enter Pakistan. This is equivalent to the anti-Japanese period, when a Chinese wanted to smuggle into Japan, but preferred to wait for the enemy's consent rather than sneak into Japan. The absurdity of this needs no more.
Of course, this is to shape the male protagonist's piety to religious beliefs, even if the behavior is grotesque, it can be understood. However, the biggest question is, why does the male protagonist be so religious to religion? If the corresponding scenes are added to the film to reveal what religious beliefs mean to him and how they change him with the unique experience of the male protagonist, then the male protagonist's actions can barely be justified. You know, religious beliefs are not so fanatical and pious, and some special event must have happened to reach this level. It is also because of the lack of such events and plots that many of the action choices of the male protagonist in "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" are unconvincing.
In "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle", what does the male protagonist really want? What was he afraid of? What does he like? What is his obvious problem? None of this is accounted for. Even, the male protagonist's feelings for the female protagonist are not so real and profound, but the female protagonist is very emotional. In a way, the male protagonist of "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" appears in India like an airborne character, as if a human being is an incarnation of a religious god.
In addition, when the film portrays the male protagonist, it ignores the information about the work occupation. At the beginning of the movie, the male protagonist claims that he has achieved nothing and has no ability to be good at. Subsequently, he was asked by his father-in-law to earn money to buy a house, but this still did not explain what the male owner relied on to make a living. Why is work important? On the one hand, work can show the social identity and status of the male protagonist and further shape the character, just as intellectuals rarely ride tricycles and wrestlers rarely knock on computers; on the other hand, the protagonist's decision to go to the enemy country of Pakistan will affect the protagonist's work. If you don't portray taking a little girl to Pakistan as a major choice to completely change your life, then the real realization of this thing will seem light and powerless. As a result, the "love beyond borders" that the film wants to convey has not achieved the desired effect.
Secondly, the little girl is like a porcelain doll.
Indeed, Lori's little girl is very cute, quite "cute is justice". However, compared with other "Lolita + Uncle" movies, it is not difficult to find that the little girl of "Little Lolita's Monkey God Uncle" does not have much subjective initiative. The film designs her as a little girl who doesn't speak, making it harder to find the little girl's parents, but it also means that the little girl has no lines and has difficulty expressing emotions and thoughts.
I think it's an unsuccessful design that makes the "Lolita + Uncle" combination lose half of its fun because it's hard to reach another stage of interaction between the two. It is reasonable to say that "Lolita" and "Uncle" should have a considerable empathic effect. Look at "Very Father-Daughter File" and "This Killer Is Not Too Cold", the little girls in it are very recognizable, and the character image is very three-dimensional and plump. In contrast, in "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle", the little girl basically has no other characteristics except cuteness. At the same time, because little girls are difficult to express, this also makes it difficult for the film to turn when dealing with the relationship between the characters.
Third, the concept of the theme is too grand and empty, and the sub-plot is not organically integrated.
"Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" has a good intention, hoping to call on two hostile countries to put aside hatred and love boundlessly through a story of "love across borders". However, this idealism is very difficult to express in stories. Previously, Jackie Chan's "Big Soldier and Little General" also wanted to talk about peace, but it did not talk very well.
I don't think peace (boundless love) can be the focus of the story. The basic unit of music is the note, and the "note" of the story is a contradiction and conflict. Peace also means eliminating contradictions, and to some extent erasing the "notes" of the story will lead to no story. If you want to talk about peace, you must use white painting, contrast, contrast and other techniques. Just as the glare of the sun cannot be directly drawn on white paper, and must be reflected by shadows, if the concept of peace is to be conveyed, it must be based on war and conflict. It should be said that people do not seek peace from the beginning, but do not want war and are tired of conflict. From this point of view, "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" depicts so much beauty that the idea of peace that it wants to convey is very empty.
At the same time, "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" does not fully explore this lofty intention through the sub-plot. In the context of india-Pakistan contradictions, people of different identities and positions should have different views, and diversity should be richer than movies. If "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" can inject different concepts into the characters of the sub-plot, then it will form an almost "hundred schools of thought" effect, making the film more dialectical. In this way, with the fraternal story in the context of india-Pakistan contradictions as the axis, supplemented by a rich sub-plot, the movie will be more exciting. However, in "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle", many times the plot is relatively divided, most of which appear in response to the protagonist, rather than close to the theme of the movie. Therefore, the plot of "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle" is slightly scattered. Even the protagonist's sub-plot in Pakistan is repetitive, and the protagonist often gets through the difficulties with the enthusiastic help of local residents, which causes the plot of the second half of the film to be slightly flat.
The intention of "Little Lolita's Monkey God Uncle" is good, and the combination of "Lolita + Uncle" is also very attractive, but it is not perfected in the design of the story. Admittedly, many people say that this movie is very "healing", and the heart is warm after watching it. But to what extent is this due to the "cuteness" of the little girl? If you change to an ordinary-looking little girl to play, it is likely that there will be a different look and feel, at least the current plot is not enough.