When people lamented the difficult life in beijing, Pixar used a "Spiritual Journey" that explored the meaning of life, bringing a different kind of comfort to the turbulent 2020.
Wen 丨 Campos
Edited by 丨 Reyes
Produced by Pixar, the premiere day is less than 3%, and now Douban has 9.1 points... It can be said that "Spiritual Journey" almost relied on the appeal of tap water little by little to squeeze into the eyes of domestic audiences.
But it is not enough, this is not just an animated film for children, it is worth entering the hearts and minds of more people.
Inside and outside the play, "Spiritual Journey" is a story born to death. Gardner, who dreams of music, is a nine-to-five worker who teaches music in middle school to earn a living, and he is eager to perform with idol musicians.
But when he really got the coveted performance opportunity, he went out and turned left and fell into the sewers.
From being just one step away from his dream to being unsurpassed and his soul ascending to heaven, the only thing Gardner wants to do is to return to the world. In "Where He Was Born," he saw the past and present lives of being born as human beings.
There, each soul acquires a unique character and interest, similar to some kind of innate character. Then, under the guidance of the mentor, try music, art, sports and other activities, similar to the nine-year compulsory education. After the spark is ignited, the soul will also be eligible for birth on Earth.
That is, every human being is born with a purese (purpose).
Sounds quite exciting. When Gardner, who firmly believes that he was born as a jazz player, returns to the human world, he enters the wrong body in a panic and the soul "22" who thinks he has no meaning.
To tell the truth, the trick of the soul entering the wrong body has long been tired of the audience. If the film stops at a person's setbacks in the process of chasing dreams, and after overcoming setbacks, the dream is successful, then "Spiritual Journey" and the dream-making story on the industrial assembly line are not much different.
But the best part of this movie is that it "escapes" out of the norm.
When Gardner changed back to his body, the sky and the earth kept running, and finally realized his dream of performing on the same stage with his idol, he felt that the life after realizing his dream was simple and unpretentious, and even a little boring.
The philosopher Schopenhauer said: Life is a mass of desires, desires cannot be satisfied, suffering, satisfaction is boring, life is oscillating between pain and boredom.
If life is just a pendulum of pain and boredom, then what is the meaning of life?
The lead singer tells the story of a fish to Gardner, who has changed from pain to boredom. The little fish hoped to find the ocean, and the old fish said to the little fish: You are now in the ocean.
This is like the parable of Sima Guang smashing the cylinder in this year's highest-rated Chinese movie "Sunshine". A fable supports the spirit of the entire film.
As for the signifier of this little fish fable, I think it falls on two characters.
One is Tony's teacher who rescued Gardner's hairstyle before the performance.
This scene is a passage that I really like. At this time, Gardner still has 22 living in his body, a despondent soul that Archimedes and Mother Teresa cannot save.
22 who have lived for thousands of years, have heard the teachings of countless sages and great philosophers, but still spring breezes through the ears of donkeys. At this time in the barbershop, 22 borrowed the mouth of gardner, talked about metaphysics, and also led the barbershop to discuss what is "born to do".
Teacher Tony recounts his dream. When he was younger, he wanted to be a veterinarian, but because his daughter was ill, he eventually chose a cheaper barber school.
22 The wound was sprinkled with salt and said: So you are not happy now.
But Tony's teacher repeatedly denied. First of all, he felt that not everyone could invent blood transfusions like Drew; second, as a hairdresser, he could meet someone as interesting as Gardner. Making these people happier and more handsome is the meaning of his life.
The metaphysics of 22 stands in stark contrast to the mundane speech of Teacher Tony. Teacher Tony represents a wider range of sentient beings. After all, genius is always a minority, but it is the "little fish" like Tony Teacher who finds meaning in ordinary life, and finds and gathers into the sea of life.
22 is another small lost fish.
She could not find the purpose until she entered the gardner body, and after a circle in the human world, it seemed that she had done nothing, but found a spark.
At this point, the film raises another touching question: If a person just likes to walk, eat pizza, and see the blue sky and fallen leaves, can this constitute the meaning of his life?
The film answers with a romantic, wordless shot. 22 who lived in Gardner's body, looking at the autumn colors on the streets of Manhattan, watching the light and beauty of the falling leaves, the soul that had been lost for a thousand years finally found its place to live.
There is no doubt that this is her "spark".
Living in the precious human world, this thing itself already constitutes your spark and meaning.
This beautiful leaf fall clip is reminiscent of the famous Korean director Lee Cang-dong's film "Poetry". In the film, Miko, an old man with Alzheimer's disease, sees the light and shadow of the treetops, hears the wind between the leaves, and begins to learn to describe all this in the language of poetry, and to find the lost nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Whether it is Miko or 22, they have completed their journey to death.
As the writer Stetson said, refuge is not in one place, refuge is on the way. The news of division must be reconnected, and the souls of isolation must be re-aggregated, so that there is heaven on the road.
It's hard to imagine that Pixar, with an animation, has reached such a deep philosophical discussion.
Moreover, Journey of the Mind perfectly places serious discussion in the midst of a colorful story.
From an audiovisual point of view, Journey of the Mind highlights Pixar's remarkable legacy. New York in the film is a subway, a crowd, a high-rise building, a noisy place that can realize and engulf everyone's dreams.
The picture texture of this part is not inferior to any realist blockbuster.
And in the "place of birth", the soul becomes abstract, becomes bright, becomes a line.
Between light and shade, complexity and simplicity change, and the visual contrast can not be described as distinct. In terms of hearing, jazz that penetrates deep into the soul, with its free and casual nature, not only supports the aesthetic formal layer, but also echoes the value and meaning to be explored in this film.
It can be said that Pixar wrote the most moving fable of the mind in 2020 with "Psychic Journey". It is a gift for all souls. Every hit worker will be hit by the stagnant subway space in the film, the endless disputes with his family, and the unsatisfactory daily life; every dreamer will also be touched by the cute souls such as Gardner, 22 and the barber.
Because this is a film that makes the "distant similarity" of our souls, the way all the souls find the spark in the film is to tell us: born to be human, do not have to be sorry. I hope that you and I who have watched this film, in the turbulent 2020, in every "place of birth", still dare to make a leap and fly to the earth.