Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2018, Thief Family is about a marginal family whose members are abandoned by a society who, although not related by blood, have found a sense of belonging in this family. The movie "Big River Love" to be introduced in this article is also a family movie, unlike Kore-eda's social perspective, "Big River Love" focuses on personal character development, which is very typical in American culture.
After watching this movie, I believe that many people are in tears, especially for families with many children, the light and shadow of the characters in the movie will surely evoke many adults' memories of growing up - about brothers and sisters, about parents.
The family in "Big River Love" is a family of four who raised two boys, and although the film recalls his family story from the perspective of the eldest Norman, the protagonist is actually the second paul. To me, Paul's family is like a warm sponge, and even though he has many artist "problems" with him, this sponge always cares for him. Although Paul's life was short, he received care and affection that many people could not enjoy in their long lives. If you can summarize the main theme of this movie in one sentence, it should be "the affectionate background under artistic humanity".
When Paul was dying, his father said that he was a perfect work of art. Just like a fairy fetus descended on this family, when he grew up, he naturally did not want to be subject to the etiquette and restraint of mortals, so he would do some unworldly things, and his personality was more sensitive than ordinary people. This is almost always the case with geniuses in the world, and Paul is no exception.
However, there are also two kinds of fairy fetuses, one is to become a genius the day after tomorrow, and the other is to be invisible to everyone, and geniuses and idiots sometimes have only one thought.
There are no shortage of artistic human beings like Paul, but people like Van Gogh, Mozart, leonardo da Vinci, no matter how unfortunate their lives are, there is only one fortunate thing, that is, the name has been passed down through the ages. But there are also some geniuses who are very unlucky compared with these great figures, and their unique artistic personalities make them grow up under the reproach of society and family, and when they grow up, because their genius is not accepted by the world, they are naturally sensitive and full of doubts about the world, and eventually go to extinction. Living in this world, everyone is looking for a sense of belonging, and for these "freaks", the world's disapproval of them obviously makes them unable to get this sense of belonging.
Paul certainly belonged to the latter, having the illness of an artist, but not the life of an artist. He's not good at literature, art, music, it's interesting that he's good at fishing. When Paul was a child, the ideal that Paul said--growing up to be a professional angler, which seemed like a simple joke like no other, had actually doomed him to his later tragic fate. After all, there has never been a profession or art called "angler" in this world.
If the director only wants to express the art of personality, he can make a biography of Mozart, and the focus of the film is actually on the affectionate background under the artistic humanity. When we see two children in a family— one conformist and one deviant, put on the back of other families who may have been quarreling for a long time, but there is no discord in this family. Whether Paul is in the family or in Paul, they have given each other the warmest tolerance and care, and we will be deeply moved.
Paul did become addicted to alcoholism, gambling, and eventually died of death. His parents were also blaming themselves, but they, as faithful believers in Christ, understood best that giving Paul love was the greatest help. Paul's short life was his destiny, and it wasn't something anyone could change, to use the lines in the movie, which was called "God's Grace."
There are still all kinds of contradictions in our ordinary families, and Paul's character is placed in other families or regarded as "contrarian sons", and what impresses us is that in the face of such a deviant child, the family members reveal the opposite side - warm people. It is precisely because the director has treated Paul's family in a very different way from the world's views, and the affectionate background created makes us cry.
Specifically, what I call "the affectionate background under artistic humanity" lies in the following aspects.
The film, accompanied by the warm notes of the violin, takes us into an American town, where yellowed old images begin to spread out the things that have already passed. Childhood smiles, muddy countryside, horse-drawn carriages, occasional Indians, and other elements constitute the light and shadow of Norman's memories. So Norman began to tell stories about his upbringing.
Why is the movie called "Big River Love"? I think it is most appropriate to answer with a poem by Ai Qing, "Why do my eyes often contain tears, because of the depth of my love for this land." At the tail end of the movie, Norman is dying of old age, but still throwing a line fishing by the big river of his childhood. The dappled sunlight shines through the branches and sprinkles on the rushing water, which has appeared in childhood and youth, but at that time it was still a father and son, and at this time only Norman himself was left, and things were not human.
The director uses the "big river" as a figurative to make a simple division of the film narrative - three kinds of fishing scenes along the river of childhood, youth and old age, in order to unfold the story narrative at different stages. I think memory is actually a lead, and when we stand on a bridge, we may recall the story of what happened on the bridge. The lead in the film is the local flavor of the "Big River", which connects Norman's memories.
Norman's father is a priest, and at the beginning of the film, when his father reads the Bible, he looks like he is serious, and the director seems to show us the stereotype of a priest. But after watching the whole movie, when I think about it, my father has the devotion that a priest should have, but it is not stereotyped. On the contrary, he is very close to his children's education, and sometimes even very tolerant.
Like many families, patriarchy reigns supreme, but the role of father in norman families is just right. I think that at the end of the film, my brother Paul is killed for gambling money, and as an audience, we don't blame our father for his dereliction of duty, which is why.
As a child, Norman loved to write, and his father taught him to write concisely, so he asked him to delete and delete again. It's easy to mistake my father for a conformist guy, but I didn't expect to write it and then let Norman throw it in the trash. This shows that fathers pay more attention to the cultivation of ability, rather than holding a kind of vanity towards their children like other parents, as long as the children have some achievements, they will show off everywhere.
On the other hand, the younger brother Paul shows from an early age the faults of the artist, the resistance and destruction of inherent forms, and his own re-creation.
When I was a child, everyone ate cereal, and Paul didn't eat it. In the end, the stalemate was over, and instead of blaming him, his father chose to compromise. He made the whole family kneel down and pray and thank God for his grace, which further shows that his educational philosophy is open. The two children in the family, one is a well-behaved man, the other is a "destruction king", and the fathers of both children give the greatest care and teach according to their aptitudes.
When he was young, father and son fished together, and Paul unexpectedly did not follow the fishing rules taught him by his father, but created another set of fishing rules himself. In this case, the father happily left with the fish basket on his back, and he also said that he was a very lucky person today. I think that combined with the characteristics of Paul not eating cereal when he was a child, at this time the father already knew the artistic character of Paul's child.
Growing up under this warm educational background, Paul was happy. It was only when he became an adult that he fell into confusion. I remember that when he was a child, he said that he wanted to be a "professional angler", but unfortunately there are musicians, artists, writers, and other artists in this world, but there is no art of "professional angler".
Paul is still honing his fishing skills, and although the film does not directly show the confusion in his life, we can also see it from the side. He gambled, drank heavily, and raced aimlessly like a wild horse on the prairie. If he likes music, maybe becomes a musician and is recognized by everyone, he will be more comfortable and find a sense of belonging. But his artistic talent lies in "fishing", which seems to be unattainable. This life without a sense of belonging made him depressed for a while.
In his early years, his father was happy to see Paul's artistry; but later this artistic character led Paul to destruction, and his father was deeply sad. His father had many reasons to rebuke Paul for gambling and drinking, but he did not do so. During a meal for a family of four, Paul was laughing but suddenly got up and left, and the whole family was very disappointed. It can be seen that his father knew that he was going to gamble, but did not publicly criticize.
I guess that's love, but not coddling. Because his father knew Paul, he knew that Paul had his own way of solving problems, and if he participated in his private life, he could help him or scold him, which would only increase the pain of his confusion.
After Paul's death, his father blamed himself for not helping him. But what I want to ask is, what kind of help is called a help? When Paul was out, his father scolded Paul, did this really work? Perhaps Paul's father knew best of his own children, and for Paul's sensitive character, scolding him would only lead to Paul's hasty demise.
The film uses Paul to express the sense of fatalism in life. In life, in the face of relatives and friends around you, more love, less harsh responsibility, no matter how short life is, this life has not been in vain.
Throughout the film, when the director shows the unbridled personality of his younger brother Paul, he always gives his brother a worried or joyful look and look from time to time.
When they were young, when their younger brother Paul rushed up to fight with others, his older brother Norman went up to fight for his younger brother without thinking. When Paul and Norman went to see the dancer, the younger brother ran out to dance for the dancer, and Norman quickly took the younger brother away.
As they grew older, Paul offered to paddle a wooden boat to surf, and when all his friends were reluctant to go into the water with him, he turned his gaze to his brother Norman. It could be seen that Norman was actually reluctant to go into the water, but when the smile on his brother's face faded, the brother smiled slightly and took off his clothes, because he did not want to disappoint his brother. Later, the two were punished by their father for this matter, the younger brother said that he was alone, and the older brother Norman finally broke out.
This was the only fight between their brothers in their lives, and some people think that the older brother did not want the younger brother to bear the consequences, which is not the case in my opinion. In fact, when the older brother started the surfing game, he was worried about his younger brother, and after accompanying his younger brother home, he was reprimanded by his parents, and he immediately realized the seriousness of the consequences. He was afraid that his brother would be hurt if he disobeyed, but he didn't know how to blame him, so he made a big fight.
In "Thief Family", Nobuyoshi says to the friends he picked up, don't believe those people telling you, beating you is loving you, and loving you should hold you. The same is true in this movie, love is not blame, but reluctance to blame.
By the time Norman returned home from college, his brother had become an adult. But his wayward childishness still worried Norman.
When Paul found an Indian girlfriend, Norman began to worry. Later, because of this girlfriend Paul going to jail, Norman picked them up when he drove in silence. The younger brother did nothing wrong, he could not blame, but his brother's unruly personality made him full of doubts about Paul's future. As he had feared, the day had come. The so-called eldest brother is like a father, and the self-blame for Paul's death must be that the brother Norman is no less than the father.
In the face of the warmth of his family, Paul also considers the feelings of his family. After his brother Norman left his hometown, Paul lived around his parents. He went to college and later found a job as a journalist, almost all in his hometown. On the one hand, he is nostalgic for his hometown, on the other hand, he understands that when his brother leaves his hometown, the burden of taking care of his parents falls on him.
At the end of the film, Norman tells Paul to leave here with him and go to the big city and tell him how tempting it is. The director only gave Paul a back, and under the long shot, he was very sad. We can guess what Paul thought, if he and his brother were gone, who would his parents take care of? Paul refused his brother's request to go to the big city. When his brother was not at home, Paul accompanied his parents, he was the pistachio of the family, so the two old men did not feel lonely.
At the same time, Paul was equally concerned with his brother. After his brother found Jessie as a girlfriend, Paul actually disliked Jessie as a girl. On the one hand, she has a ridiculous brother, and on the other hand, because of Jessie's brother's mistake, Jessie also misunderstands Paul and the Norman brothers. It's just that his brother likes it, and Paul can only pretend to laugh and accompany Jessie's brother to go fishing.
As for Paul's later gambling debts, he was reluctant to tell his brother and parents. He would rather bear it alone than implicate his family and let his family worry. Based on this, he did not choose to let his family go through the difficulties with him. Of course, the reason is very simple, because of love, I would rather be scarred than disappoint my family, and I would not let my family suffer a little hurt.
The whole movie is like a warm sponge, although it squeezes Paul in the center of the sponge, it is full of love, and at the same time, Paul spreads warmth to the surroundings.
In watching this movie, we can't help but wonder, for a child, what is the most important thing in a family? Is it important to shape the child as the parent wants it to be, or is it important to give the child love? I think in real society, many families may have chosen the former. I believe that if Paul lived in many modern families, he would have been portrayed as a negative archetype of a "contrarian son". Although the film "Big River Love" has been around for twenty years, the way families educate their children in the movie is still worthy of modern people's reflection.