Wen | three pounds of emotion
The film is based on the eponymous work of Sparks, the godfather of the pure love novel, and won the 2016 People's Choice Award. As a niche film, the film reached a high score of 7.1 on Douban, and the meaning and influence it contains are really not low. American director George Tillman Jr. interpreted the ordinary life of two generations into a touch in the bone marrow, and then integrated a strong sense of art into the film, intersecting real life and memories, reflecting the original essence of love, which was one of the most popular movies at that time.
Released in 2015, The Longest Journey is different from most love films in that it has no dog blood encounters and no hero's story of saving the United States. On the contrary, it uses the memories of an old man to let two young boys and girls from different worlds learn the true meaning of love, and stir up ripples in the hearts of moviegoers.
Just starting from the content of the film, it is impossible to interpret the charm of this film. Therefore, today I analyze the brilliance of this niche love film from three aspects: the narrative structure, expression methods, and emotional expression of real life and memory. In the third part of the article, I will talk about my thoughts on love and emotions in combination with real life.
The most surprising thing about the film "The Longest Journey" is that the director intertwines the real dilemma and the beautiful story of the past, which is the love experience of the elderly and the young people in different time and space. The first line director shows the moviegoers the pursuit of love and the choice of ideals by a pair of ordinary people through the love growth process of the protagonist Luke and Sophia.
In the second line, the director focuses on the poignant love story of the old man Ella after the car accident and his wife. The contradictory art and the interlaced narrative structure of time and space make the viewer curious about the development of the plot and want to find the final answer to love with Luke and Sophia.
This narrative structure is different from direct narration and flashbacks, and it is difficult to use an interpolation structure, because it not only needs to echo the main line, but also cannot make the viewer feel messy when watching. The reality dilemma and the beauty of the past are cleverly connected, making the plot more full and rich.
So how does "The Longest Journey" carefully distinguish between the real dilemma and the beauty of the past, cleverly expand the amount of plot information, and enhance the value of this film?
(1) Reality dilemma: Luke and Sophia's troubled love, a realistic way to tell the two people's ideals and future obstacles
In the real life of the film, Luke and Sophia are depicted falling in love at first sight, but find that obstacles prevent them from going together. The direct manifestation of the reality dilemma brings more inner feelings to the viewers, eager to find a solution with them.
At the beginning of the film, professional cowboy Luke and college student Sophia meet at the Cowboy Arena, similar to the fateful scene in other films, Luke's hat flies to Sophia's feet, and Sophia picks it up and returns it to him. Originally thought to be a Mary Sue plot in which the two fell in love, but the truth is that Luke really wanted to have a candlelit dinner with her, but Sophia said that she would go to New York for an internship in a month, and the two seemed to have finished before they started.
In the real dilemma, the way the director tells the story is like a cup of bitter coffee, so that the viewer unconsciously follows the protagonist to pain and find a hint of sweetness together.
The story of Luke and Sophia continues, they save the old man in the car accident, the poignant love between the old man and his wife Ruth runs through the film, and in the bland narrative, an elderly man teaches the young man how to treat love and how to maintain a long-term relationship.
In my opinion, with such a narrative structure, the director bid farewell to brilliant and colorful techniques, impressed the viewers with the most simple and clean language, and touched the deepest softness of everyone. I think that's the great thing about this movie. The story of the real dilemma is clearly presented, allowing the viewer to reminisce about his life, and the plot becomes more and more intriguing, attracting people to find the best solution.
(2) The past is beautiful: The moving love story between the old man Ella and his late wife encourages the protagonist to grow up in the face of contradictions and conflicts
In the past memories of the film, the description is more about the love story of Ella and his wife Ruth, the two people also belong to the type of love at first sight, although there are many ups and downs, pain, but the loyalty of the two insists, and finally let them love each other white head and old age. The expression of past memories shows the old man Ella's thoughts about his wife in front of the moviegoer, allowing the moviegoer to experience that ordinary love is so precious that it will not come again if it is lost.
In the second half of the film, the sincere feelings of the old man Ella and Ruth inspire the modern couple to grow all the way, and the unfinished continuation of the past finally has a perfect result, and the contradictions and conflicts of the past finally have an answer. It turns out that in the long years, only by embracing each other and making sacrifices can we bring our hearts closer and closer.
At this time, a faint sense of happiness lingers in reality and the past, glad that I have not given up, and the layers of problems set in the movie have finally been unveiled. The old man Ella used his own personal experience to leave the last gift for Luke and Sophia, it turned out that loyalty and sacrifice are the essence of love and sunshine, after so many storms and tribulations are still together, just because I love you.
Countless realities and past growth shots are all cut together, which is not only the reality that modern people need to learn love, but also the regret that people in the past miss the past. In the interweaving of time and space, the affectionate plot presentation allows viewers to immerse themselves in the story created by the director wholeheartedly, which may be the reason why this film was selected for the People's Choice Award.
(1) Handwritten letters are the bearers of love
Although the movie "The Longest Journey" is based on the story of Luke and Sophia, the nostalgic little iron box in the hospital carries the hottest love that another generation has ever had. Sophia stumbles upon the small tin box, and with the consent of the old man Ella, whose vision is blurred, Sophia reads the letter, Ella listens, and the story of the memory gradually unfolds.
At the beginning of the story, Ella fell in love with Ruth, a young literary and artistic woman who loves painting, at first sight, and the two knew each other, admired each other, and met into the palace of marriage. Ruth, who married her, confessed that she wanted a family, but she did not think that Ella had lost her fertility in the war. As Sophia reads the letters, each memory is presented in front of the viewer's eyes, and finally Ruth does not care about the previous suspicions, adhering to the most important principles of being with the people she loves, and growing up with her grandfather Ella.
The director uses handwritten letters as a carrier to unfold the changes in the plot in the form of this memory, and the precise and emotional lens language hits the hearts of the viewers. In the shot, Ruth and Sophia are young women pursuing their dreams, which is actually the director's common point of conveying love through different time and space pictures like moviegoers.
In my opinion, the director uses handwriting as the simplest carrier, using simple and plain language, naturally implanting an ordinary story into the hearts of moviegoers, simple and meaningful, but not boring the viewers. The atmosphere of the whole film is also a little sweet under the heavy tribulations, such a simple shot, so that the viewer ignores the lack of technology, pay attention to the full emotional expression.
(2) Handwriting is a ritual sense of the Age of Fragments
Over the years, these handwritten letters have always been the lifeblood of Grandpa Ella, even if there was a car accident, he did not forget to tell him not to forget to take them. In my opinion, handwriting is the most ritualistic return that has ever been, and in today's era of fragmentation, handwriting is no longer the primary means of recording, and even some people have never written a letter. The director of "The Longest Journey" wrote a letter with his hand to lead to the story of Ella and his wife, with a strong sense of nostalgia, and in today's unrealistic writing, it has refined a different kind of interest.
In today's era of technology, people use WeChat, open the camera to think of each other, complain about the intestines, all the text can also be through the keyboard to each other in front of each other... All the fast pace is prompting handwritten letters to no longer be precious.
I never think that handwriting is a thing of the past, it is not only a sense of ritual in the era of fragmentation, but also a state of contemplation and non-arrogance. At some point, feel the ancient touch of paper, the friction of paper and pencil, the ink gradually fading, like a sacred ritual performed in a church, and handwriting should be so!
The overall style of "The Longest Journey" is simple and plain, and the whole film has always maintained a sense of emotion in the audiovisual language. In simple language, it tells the gap between the real dilemma and the beauty of the past, and the emotional entanglement of people in different generations for love.
So how should we modern youth deal with the emotional expression of love? Through the love experience of several protagonists in the film, I have a deeper understanding of love and emotion, which is mainly reflected in the following three aspects:
(1) Express yourself bravely and defend your right to pursue love
In the movie, Ella and Luke are both warriors who dare to pursue love, they fall in love with the heroine at first sight, and go to great lengths to make the heroine their wife. They don't know what's going to happen in the future, or what the obstacles will be, but I've pursued you, and that's the happiest thing.
"Brave" and "express" are never unfamiliar words, and in the face of the girl of their choice, they always dare not bravely express their hearts, or are afraid of rejection, or because of cowardice. If you are not like Luke and Ella, choosing silence to escape, you will only end up being a lone leaf of tragedy in love.
Love should not be silent, for yourself, for her, you should be brave to express it, open your love embrace, meet the beautiful love, even if it is not successful, it will not become a regret.
(2) True love is priceless, but companionship is the longest confession
The hidden theme of the film "The Longest Journey" is companionship, whether in reality or in the past, Sophia and Ruth choose to be with the people they love most. Ella is infertile, and Luke loves the cowboy business, and they never give up on the person they love most.
In my opinion, passionate love is not as good as ordinary life, and the choices made by Ella and Luke are the best destination, and they are luckier than the countless people in real life. Life is always constantly trial and error and solution, many things often can not be achieved, many regrets are difficult to blurt out, but the only principle: do not give up, companionship is my long-term confession to you.
(3) Timely sacrifice will usher in unswerving love until death
In the main film, what is constantly is the contradiction between Luke and Sophia's reality, the conflict of ideals, this contradiction is very strange, like the love of urban women and rural men, you can't understand what I'm saying, I don't understand what you're doing, but I love you, so I'm willing to accept you. Infected by the old man Ella's view of love, Sophia and Luke finally learn how to treat love: let go of the fame and fortune in front of them, sacrifice themselves to Go to New York, dream of being cowboys, and stop for the people they love.
In my opinion, modern youth can't avoid being young and vigorous when they fall in love, and always want to spread their wings and run to the distance, but if you look back at the people behind you like Sophia, let go of your prejudice against your lover, for love, learn to sacrifice and tolerate, you will usher in a love that will not be fought until death. Just like Qian Zhongshu said to Yang Dai: From now on, we only have to die and not live and leave.
If you want to truly understand the feelings that the movie "The Longest Journey" brings to love, you must not only analyze the storyline, but also start from the formal techniques used in the film, but also start from yourself to find the most loved him and her around you. It will allow us to dig out more of the charm of this People's Choice Award film.
Therefore, today's article introduces my views on the protagonist's story in the film "The Longest Journey", and also gets some thoughts and inspirations outside the film.