Text/Tomato Queen
Traditional Hong Kong movies are mostly nonsensical comedies, tough police dramas, fast-food love dramas, horror dramas that can't scare people to laugh and turn over, in recent years, more and more films that embody humanistic care and dig into deep connotations have emerged, "The Thief of Time" is another story describing the life of hong Kong civilians after "The Night and Fog of Tin Shui Wai". The title of the film comes from the title of the anthology written by director Luo Qirui that year, and the prototype of the protagonist in the film is more or less inseparable from Luo Qirui. Although this is only a memoir about life in Hong Kong in the 1960s, it makes us lose ourselves in this memory of others.
Hong Kong's development from a small fishing village to today's international metropolis has carried the dreams and expectations of countless people. It is also an alternative city of immigrants, and whether passers-by migrate here by conventional or unconventional means, Hong Kong's fate and development are closely linked to them. Sometimes we think Hong Kong is too small, we think it's a city with no memory. Luo Qirui used his own images to restore to us the spiritual world that was once very Hong Kong. At that time, Hong Kong did not have the intrusion of war, but the whole society was covered with a layer of filth. Although there are policemen who are cheeky to collect protection money, and there are also cold and ruthless nurses, this does not prevent mutual help and mutual love between ordinary people and harmonious coexistence between families.
The film depicts the family life of an ordinary shoemaker, with the father maintaining the family by his skill, the mother relying on the woman's husband and son, and the children being active in this world that makes them novel from their own perspective. Everything is a bland detail clue, and it is this kind of ordinary story that moves us after it is deeply rooted in people's hearts. In the trailer of the film, the rival plot of Ren Dahua and Wu Junru is highlighted, and their perception of life is revealed - to be a man, always believe! But in the film, two veteran actors willingly play supporting roles, and the story basically highlights the growth history of the two brothers of the Luo family, one is the brother who is both good at character and excellent in learning meets the troubles of the young Werther, the other is that the elf's eccentric brother has become the preservative in the family, and the warmth of the family emerges in the scolding and is revealed in the storm.
The most touching clip of the film lies in an accident of Luo Boss, Luo Xiaodi's instantaneous spiritual communication, and an inexplicable sense of loss. Perhaps he did not understand the facts he was about to face at the moment, but in his running and crying, the last line of defense in everyone's heart was completely broken, and the outstanding performance of the young actor Zhong Shaotu had formed the most direct tear-jerking weapon. "Grandma said that if you are willing to give up your most beloved things, throw them all into the sea of suffering, and fill the sea of suffering, you can reunite with your loved ones." Luo Xiaodi believed this sentence, when he endured the pain of cutting love and throwing away his most cherished things, I think his heart has calmed down, which is also the message conveyed to us at the end of the film: we are sad to lose, we miss so relieved.
"Perhaps because distance creates a sense of beauty, places that cannot be returned are particularly easy to make people look forward to and miss, because all imagination and memories stay at non-real points in time." Sometimes we can only lament the helplessness of the changes of the years, due to the transformation of the city, many memories have disappeared, and even familiar buildings and house numbers have been replaced. Yes, who doesn't miss the years of youth and ignorance and the things that once belonged to us? Most of the time, we are just passers-by walking on land, and those old footprints have disappeared in the wind and rain. The former public telephone, mooncake party, and attic almost no longer exist, and some close relatives have also left, leaving behind the feelings of later generations, which is what "The Thief of Time" wants to appeal to.
People always say that when you start to reminisce about the past, it means that you are already aging. "The Thief of Time" awakens the memories of many people who once had a storm, but it also takes us into another lost swamp, lost not by movies, but by our time.