This is a film about love, loyalty, understanding and death.
Frankly, as soon as I entered the cinema, I made up my mind to leave early. Given past experience, it's hard to expect much from so-called "localized" films (e.g., "Relief Grocery Store" and "Late Night Cafeteria"). However, this film starred By Ren Dahua, a few days ago Mr. suddenly encountered a major disaster, as his iron fans are still determined to buy tickets to effectively "support". If the quality of the film is worrying, I will not have the slightest nostalgia, after all, the "heart" has been sent, and whether I watch it or not belongs to the personal will.
Perhaps it is really difficult for human beings to escape the law of "true incense". After 100 minutes, I was still deeply immersed in my seat, watching the image of Xiao Q without distraction, and did not even want to wipe the tears from my cheeks. Needless to say, it is difficult for us to classify this film as a god work, which is really unfair, but it is definitely a recent masterpiece. Today, let's talk about this movie with animals as the absolute protagonists. The specific article structure is as follows:
Little Q's past and present lives
Opening
Middle
finale
Special conclusion
Before I begin, I would like to solemnly remind you that this article contains a lot of spoilers, please read it carefully.
The movie "Little Q" is based on the Japanese bestseller "Goodbye, Koru". Unlike the so-called "popular books", the writer Kengo Ishiguro did not use flowery rhetoric or chase the social hot spots of the time. He only used simple and real language to tell the life of the guide dog "Kelu". In addition to the elegant text, coupled with the gentle lens language of photographer Akimoto Ryohei. There is no deliberate "tear point" in the whole book, but few people can control the tear glands at the moment when Kelu goes to heaven. Human beings have searched for loyal friends all their lives, and a Labrador has done it, but it can't accompany us all the way.
The pain of having it and then losing it hits the heart so hard. "Goodbye, Kolu" was published and listed in 2001, and in just one year, sales exceeded one million, setting a record of 13 consecutive brushes. In 2004, the film "Guide Dog Q" adapted from this book was released in Japan, the film continued the good performance of the original book, won 2 billion yen at the box office, the number of local viewers exceeded 1.75 million, known as a "heavy tear gas", and then Xiao Q swept the Asian film industry and was deeply rooted in the hearts of the audience.
On September 20, 2019, the local version of the guide dog "Little Q" landed in domestic theaters, and director Luo Yongchang hoped to use more Chinese elements and more sunny techniques to arouse the audience's attention to the guide dog.
To put it bluntly, the opening of "Little Q" is a disaster. The film first explains - Li Baoting, a genius pastry chef played by Ren Dahua, is about to go blind due to an eye disease. At the same time, Xiao Q has just arrived in the world, and the two echo each other to lay the groundwork for the subsequent plot. Subsequently, the film quickly advanced to the "formative period". Xiao Q enters the foster family and is accompanied by the little master Chen Zhiqiao. For Little Q, this may be the most carefree time in his "dog life". Any excellent director will not let go of this "moment", the joy of Xiao Q's childhood and the toil of adulthood, the pampering of the first owner and the abuse of the "vicious" pastry chef, under the strong contrast, it is easy to mobilize the audience's emotions.
But life is not satisfactory nine times out of ten, the dog's performance is decent, and the little actor has dropped the chain. In this long 20 minutes, Liu Chutian (played by Chen Zhiqiao) told us about the importance of "acting". She tried her best to show her love for the puppy, but even if the audience's eyes were on the screen, this feeling could not be conveyed. Especially on the occasion of parting, when the little master hugged Xiao Q tightly, tried to squeeze out tears, and "jumped" out the lines word by word, you seemed to see the two words "deliberate", tightly glued to the movie screen. The incongruity between the performance intention and the inner feeling also reached its peak at this moment. I shook the ice coke in my hand and prepared to leave after 5 minutes.
It was this brief hesitation that reversed my poor viewing experience and ultimately saved the film. Because the immature Liu Chutian is preparing to hand over the "baton" to Ren Dahua, the story of the guide dog is slowly returning to the right track.
As mentioned above, the pastry chef Li Baoting has forever lost the right to look at the world again, and has begun to become harsh, gloomy, and irritable, and anyone's kindness in his eyes is a punishment for his own incompetence, he resists, he escapes, he wants to vent his dissatisfaction with the ruthless fate. After the arrival of Xiao Q, he gave selflessly again and again, constantly touching the weakness of the male protagonist - in a vain attempt to prove that he was still like a normal person, but in fact he was incompetent. He mercilessly threw The Little Q into the street. Back inside the house, sitting in front of the window, repeatedly pulling the light switch, outside the house is drifting heavy rain.
Under the camera, there is Ren Dahua's superb acting skills. In the almost silent performance, you can feel the "anger" emitted by the characters at all times. He put Li Baoting's state of mind of constantly fighting against life but repeatedly losing battles on the stage. Between the hands, there is a attachment to the past, anger at reality and confusion about the future. Because of the successful efforts of the actors, you seem to be able to see through the heart of the male protagonist. In the film, Li Baoting forcefully swept Xiao Q out of the door, but you and I both know that he is the weakest person in life.
After the rain passed, the kind neighbor took Xiao Q back to the man's house. Li Baoting sighed helplessly, and then the first cooperation between one person and one dog began. With countless incongruities, they finally came to the cake shop. After the stormy rebuke of his apprentices, the resentment was not released, and the whispers of the customers became the last straw that crushed the camels. Li Baoting came to the side of the road, let go of the blind saddle, and prepared to use the car accident to end his life. Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Q on the side bumped into the male protagonist and saved his life.
In my mind, this is the most wonderful passage in the whole story (see Note 1 for details). On the one hand, Xiao Q is constantly tormented by the new owner, but never forgets the mission. Even if she was hungry, she never ate the food given by others; even if the owner forgot to take her to the "toilet" because he did not care, Xiao Q only silently endured; even at the risk of losing her life, she did not hesitate to rush up. He proved his loyalty with his actions and laid a solid foundation for the narrative logic of the film.
On the other hand, Li Baoting's nature is not evil, he just loses the courage to live. Even when he was most angry, he never beat Xiao Q. When taking the step of suicide, the audience also let go of the hatred for the male protagonist in their hearts, after all, no one will harshly blame a blind person who has been abandoned by the world. Xiao Q finally opened Li Baoting's "shackles in his heart" with sincerity, and also made the most difficult but crucial part of the film- building a spiritual bond between the guide dog and the owner, completed without abruptness and natural refinement.
Telling a good story is never a simple thing. We've seen too many films, and there's always something inexplicable about the narrative. For example, the male protagonist falls in love with the female protagonist without warning, or one person hates another person for no reason. Insufficient preparation and lack of convincing enough "logo" events, unable to steadily advance the plot, is a common problem of screenwriters. Fortunately, "Little Q" did not make such a mistake, and the clip of Li Baoting's suicide being rescued truly became the turning point and memory point of the film.
*Note 1: I'm not trying to deny the ingenuity of the "Dog Theft" scene, but his role in the structure of the entire film is slightly inferior to that of "suicide".
When a man and a dog accept each other, the "beauty" that the audience expected finally began. They played and played intimately together. Li Baoting regained the courage to live, and Xiao Q also gained the favor of his master. However, the ruler is yin, happiness is easy to pass away - Xiao Q has come to the age of "retirement" in the blink of an eye, and the male protagonist has also fallen to the side of the road due to heart problems. One person and one dog are helpless to separate, the former went to the United States for treatment, while the latter returned to the starting point - the home of "little girl" Chen Zhiqiao. After a long wait, Xiao Q finally looked forward to Li Baoting's return, and his life was about to come to an end due to cancer.
This is a slightly "alternative" ending. The vast majority of films should place a "climax" here. But the director of this film is to let the audience gradually look at Xiao Q to death, and the heavy feeling of powerlessness is pressed on everyone's heart. We hope that Xiao Q will live, but the cycle of life and death. We can't bear tragedy, but there's nothing we can do about it.
Everything in front of me touches the "place" where you and I are weakest. At the beginning, the child in the back row who jumped up and down and kept shouting "go home" was sobbing loudly at the moment; the girl next door who loved to play with her mobile phone was wiping her tears with a tissue; there was no time to take care of others, because my tears were already waiting in my eyes.
Since this is a special story, there should be a special ending that allows us to jump out of the movie.
The training of guide dogs is harsh and cruel. In addition to the possible 14 months of strenuous training, guide dog trainers must raid these "fur boys," starting with kicking away their food; then waking them up in various ways while they are asleep, or even dragging them directly; and finally, the most intolerable one, the trainers will make the dogs lie on the ground and then twist their ears hard. In the above "bullying", only dogs that are not angry and do not make too much noise can eventually become qualified guide dogs, and their total elimination rate remains 80% all year round, or even higher.
I always want to complain about the inhumanity, but I am worried about falling into the vortex of "disregard for reality". At the beginning of 2019, according to the data of the Disabled Persons' Federation, there are currently at least 17.31 million blind people in China. Behind the numbers, there is a huge demand for guide dogs. In front of people and animals, the "Virgin's Heart" can only retreat into the background, if I have to do something, maybe I have the same wish as the director:
Whether you use them or come into contact with them, please be nice to these "hairy children", thank you!
The article is longer, thank you for reading, we will see you next time!