Reflection on roadside picnic: an exotic domestic film

Lead: Recently, a movie received rave reviews, but it will be painted soon, and that is "Picnic by the Road". I collected and sorted out the feedback of this film, hoping to help everyone.

Comment on roadside picnics;

The roadside picnic directed by Bi Gan is a very typical author's film (literary film). The film has the common labels of ordinary authors' films, telling the life of the bottom people, nonlinear narration, long shots and so on. At the same time, there are also many authors who give the impression to the general audience that they just don't understand.

Not understanding is the first reaction of quite a few viewers after watching the author's film, which is also a very interesting thing.

First, what is it? Do you understand? I think it should be two levels. The surface layer is what the film tells, and the inner layer is what the director wants to express through this story. In fact, you don't need to understand these two layers, not to say that there are 1000 Hamlet in the eyes of 1000 readers. Just like the recent topic "Big Fish Begonia", some people saw a love triangle/green tea bitch/spare tire, some people saw naive and desperate love, and some people saw the basic feelings of thousands of people.

Secondly, why should we do this? Do you understand? I think there are two reasons. First, the vast majority of viewers grew up watching highly narrative commercial films. Secondly, our Chinese teacher always summed up the main ideological paragraphs when we were young. It's our kind, isn't it? Do you understand? The strong demand made Lu Xun almost come back to life, and also made Korean director Hong-jin Na constantly explain his "Shout" in China.

This article passed? What story did you tell? And then what? What theme is expressed? Let's talk about roadside picnics from these two levels. It is not difficult to understand the story, just concentrate or read it several times. It seems impossible to understand the content of the expression, because what I see can only be what I see, not necessarily what the director wants to express, nor what you will see. So the purpose of this article is to help you understand the film, try to tell you what kind of story the film tells, and by the way, talk about my personal interpretation of some key information with bootleg goods in the film.

In order to better understand this story, it is necessary to explain the concepts of time and space first.

First of all, most of the details in the story are not shown in the film through images, but pieced together through dialogues and self-reports of some characters. The story is not told in chronological order, but there are various flashbacks.

Secondly, the story happened in Kaili/Dangmai/Zhenyuan, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province. Kaili is the capital of the autonomous prefecture, while Dangmai is a township and Zhenyuan is a county.

The first part, the story of Carey.

In a small clinic in Kaili, there are only two doctors, one is a middle-aged male doctor, that is, the protagonist of the film, Bobby Chen, and the other is an elderly female doctor.

Bobby Chen can unlock the lock. He was a gangster, during which time his wife met him in a ballroom. One day, when his wife was ill, Bobby Chen asked the gangster's eldest brother, Buddhist monk Hua, to lend him money to treat his illness. Later, because of gambling debts, the son of monk Hua was chopped and buried alive by creditors in Doyle. In order to repay the kindness of the Buddhist monk, Bobby Chen went to the gang for an explanation, so he went to prison. After Bobby Chen was released from prison, his wife has been dead for two years, and so has his old mother. For the sake of his mother, he failed to support the elderly or die. However, since Bobby Chen was fostered in other people's homes in neighboring cities when he was a child, his mother felt indebted to him. I got him a job as a doctor in a small town clinic and left him the house. Bobby Chen also has a half-brother, who was raised by his mother. My brother and Chen Sheng have a deep contradiction because of his mother's death and property distribution.

Bobby Chen's younger brother is an idle single father, and his son Weiwei has not taken good care of him. He often locks him at home and goes out to play by himself. Bobby Chen is very kind to Vivian, because he feels indebted to his mother and brother, and he also discusses with his brother to let Vivian live with him. But my brother didn't accept this feeling and threatened to sell Weiwei.

Hua is the oldest monk. He became a watchmaker in Zhenyuan because his dead son always made him burn clocks in his dreams. Monk Hua also heard that his younger brother threatened to sell Vivian, so he took Vivian on summer vacation to Zhenyuan. Bobby Chen mistakenly thought that his younger brother had sold Vivian to Zhenyuan, so he went to Zhenyuan to find Vivian.

Another old lady doctor in the small clinic is also a storyteller. There is an old lover named Irene Ren, who is also far away from the town. She heard that Chen Sheng was going to Zhenyuan, so she asked him to bring something, a photo, a tape and a flowered shirt to her old lover.

The second part, the story of jilting wheat. This story is mainly presented through that 42-minute long shot.

First of all, Bobby Chen came to Dangmai to find the old doctor's old lover, a Miao who can sing folk songs and play lusheng. Yes, this young man driving a motorcycle is also called Weiwei. Bobby Chen couldn't find the Miao people, and he had to get to Zhenyuan before dark, so he hitched a ride with a band. This car can take him to a dock, where there is a boat going to Zhenyuan. On the road, Bobby Chen saw the guy riding a motorcycle standing in a plastic bucket with a plastic bucket on his head, and the motorcycle was pushed to the side of the road. It turned out that other motorcycle drivers bullied him and tried to grab his telescope. Wei Weishun handed the telescope to Bobby Chen. Chen Sheng helped Weiwei repair the motorcycle that had been stalled and asked him to take himself to the dock.

The two first came to a small stockade near the mountains and rivers, where the band was going to perform. Two people ate a bowl of powder, and Bobby Chen had to go to the tailor's shop to mend the buttoned clothes. The girl in the tailor's shop is Yang Yang, who is Vivian's sweetheart. Yang Yang is going to be a tour guide in Kaili. She has been trying to recite the tour guide words. The girl from the barber shop next door came to see Yang Yang, and went to see a band performance together. This girl is the spitting image of Bobby Chen's dead wife. Chen Sheng changed into a floral shirt that was originally given to her old lover by an old doctor and went to the barber shop to wash the girl's hair. Yang Yang wandered around, recited the tour guide's words over and over again, walked along the steps to the river, got on the boat, walked to the other side and bought a small windmill. Wei Wei, a young man from motorcycle, went after him, but Yang Yang ignored him. They walked back to the other side along the suspension bridge. At this time, Bobby Chen was washing her hair in the barber shop and told the story of herself and her wife to the girl in the barber shop in the third person.

Barber girls Bobby Chen, Weiwei and Yang Yang all came to see the band's performance. Bobby Chen said he would sing a song for the girl in the barber shop, so he went up and sang "Little Jasmine". After the song, Vivian asked Bobby Chen to go, or she would miss Carey's boat. Vivian conveniently gave Yang Yang a small windmill that had just been made, and Bobby Chen gave the girl in the barber shop the tape that the old doctor gave her old lover. When they left by motorcycle, Wei Wei told Bobby Chen that he wanted to draw a clock on the freight train in the opposite direction of the train to Kaili, so that Yang Yang who took the train to Kaili could see that the clock was reversed when the two trains met. Bobby Chen was also told to tie a stick to his arm. This way, when the savage comes from behind, he can block it with his arm and not be caught off guard.

The third part, the story of Zhenyuan.

Bobby Chen arrived in Zhenyuan and was trapped in the car? Repair the clock? I saw the monk next to the propaganda van. Monk Hua said that he would buy buttons for the handicraft class of Weiwei School, and he would send Weiwei back to Kaili when the school started, so that he wouldn't have to worry. Throw a button into the monk's car, look at his little nephew Weiwei with Mo's young man's telescope, and then leave. Bobby Chen also found the old doctor's old lover's son. The Miao who can sing folk songs and play lusheng has passed away. Bobby Chen gave Miao Zi the flowered shirt and photos. As for the tape, he said that he lost it on the way.

Chen Sheng is sitting on the train back to Kaili. When the two trains met, the clock went backwards.

I think most viewers will notice these key elements when watching roadside picnics, such as poetry/music/savage/clock/long lens. The first time after watching the movie, I will feel that many details in the film are full of design sense, and I can also feel that I seem to be saying something fatalistic.

There are many poems in the film, all written by the director Bi Gan himself. These poems, which puzzled the audience, were read out through the Guizhou dialect of the protagonist Bobby Chen, which matched the gloomy and humid climate in the subtropical southeast where the movie story took place. The soundtrack of this film was produced by Lin Qiang for free after the completion of Nie Yinniang, and it was Hou Xiaoxian's royal soundtrack. The film also selected a number of Taiwanese music, perhaps because they also come from subtropical climate areas, and these music are very suitable for the film, which also makes the film present a very similar tone to Hou Xiaoxian's "South China, Goodbye South China".

Savage, this magical element appears many times in the film. The drunkard in the street shop threatened Xiao Wei with a savage for the first time, saying that he would be taken away by the savage. The second time, Bobby Chen was lying on the sofa. Nine years ago, a savage news was broadcast on the radio. It said there was a traffic accident. The driver said that he hit someone because he saw a savage in the rearview mirror, and his red eyes were scary. The third time, it was the real-time news broadcast on the radio, which was the traffic accident caused by the savage mentioned earlier. For the fourth time, Wei Wei, a motorcycle driver, told Chen Sheng, who was about to leave Dangmai for Zhenyuan, to pay attention to prevent savages from attacking from behind and tie his arm with a wooden stick. What does the savage want to express? Let's listen to the director himself.

1. Movies are nonlinear narratives. The savage broadcast in the news and the narration in the characters' mouths are all time stamps, which is convenient for the audience to perceive the time point of each paragraph in the movie.

2. You can even take the long shot of the last 42 minutes as a savage perspective. Because the savage mentioned in the film will follow people, which can give the audience a psychological support when experiencing the long shot.

One of the most important elements in the film is the ubiquitous clock and the disordered concept of time in the film.

Xiao Weiwei, his nephew, has the habit of drawing clocks and watches on the arm/wall, and David Wei, a motorcycle driver who met Mai, also draws clocks and watches on his arm. David Wei also thinks that if time can go back, his sweetheart will not go to Kaili, so he should draw a clock in the opposite direction on the truck to Kaili. At the end of the film, Bobby Chen also saw the reverse clock on the opposite train.

The narrative of the film itself confuses the concept of time, and there are many flashbacks and interpolation. There are many particularly critical details, which further confuse the audience's concept of time and even doubt whether these things really happened. For example, the news about a car accident caused by a savage was broadcast on the news network nine years ago for the first time and real-time news for the second time. For example, David Wei, a motorcycle boy who met in Dangmai, has the same hobby as his nephew. Is this an adult Vivian? For example, Bobby Chen met a barber shop girl who looked exactly like his dead wife. He also told the story of Bobby Chen and his wife in the third person. He also explained to the girl a small detail about the flashlight, which was linked by the old doctor and his old lover. The sense of chaos in time makes this story of Dangmai seem to be in a parallel time and space. This time and space is the future of Bobby Chen. He met Vivian, who has grown up. This time and space is Bobby Chen's past. She met her dead wife. If the audience carefully thinks about the whole story of the film, it is easy to doubt the truth of the story that happened in Dammai. Moreover, the film presents the story through a 42-minute long shot. Follow-up subjective perspective, like a dream, makes this story more unreal and true. It seems that if this paragraph is removed, the whole story will be established.

There are all kinds of ingenious designs in the film that exude the director's talent, whether it is the story details or the image skills. In the details of the story, in addition to those mentioned above that upset the concept of time, there are some examples, such as David Wei gave Xiao Weiwei the telescope at last, and the buttons thrown into the monk's car were taken in the tailor's shop, and so on. In terms of influencing skills, the first thing is the 42-minute long-range shot. Long shots are nothing new, and audiences see more, especially in the author's movies. Mao Jian, a famous film critic, has combed and summarized the works of the sixth generation directors. One of the characteristics is? Out of thin air? . However, it is also a long shot, and the difference is quite big. Bi Gan's 42-minute long-range shot is obviously not because of the length. First of all, it plays a great role in integrating into the plot, promoting narrative and highlighting the theme. As mentioned earlier, it is this long shot that adds an illusion and realism to the story. Secondly, this long lens is very stereoscopic and layered. The camera doesn't follow a certain person, but changes with the development of the terrain and plot of this small village. As a pub owner, the director also missed a face. When the camera is following, don't blindly follow, and when you are tired, you will take shortcuts. There is a stunning detail design. It turns out that the camera has been following Wei Wei and Bobby Chen on motorcycles. Suddenly, it became a narrow and dark alley. After coming out from here, the motorcycle in the distance was carrying two people. What a stroke of genius! In addition, there is a subtle design that affects skills, which is about a lens transition through time and space. Chen Sheng took his younger brother to find the man who killed the monk's son. The camera left the figure, pulled down and swept a pool of water on the ground. When the camera rises again, time and space have changed, and Bobby Chen and his younger brother are pushing and shoving in the same place.

At this point in this paper, by retelling the story and explaining the key elements, we basically put? What story did you tell? Let's get this straight. Let's try to talk about it. What theme is expressed? .

A sentence from the Diamond Sutra appeared at the beginning of the film? I can't get my past experience, my present experience and my future experience.

The so-called past, present and future are actually just a description of the time we have defined under countless restrictions. Even in the most materialistic physics, what is the past, what is the present and what is the future will be different because of the different definition methods and observation scales. Life is even more so, just like time, it keeps passing and changing, and it can never be grasped. Can we have a word? Future? , this has become? Now? , what do we say? Now? , this has become? Past? There's nothing.

That's Bobby Chen, the hero of this movie! When I was a child, I was fostered in someone else's house. After a long time, I went into the underworld by mistake. I went to prison for my boss. After I got out of prison, my wife and mother both died. This is an unpredictable past. In order to make up for it, I want to repair the relationship with my brother, which is very good for my little nephew, but everything is in vain, and now it is impossible to grasp it. In the process of searching for my nephew, I seem to have entered a parallel time and space, and I saw David who belongs to the future and his dead wife who belongs to the past. It is also illusory and real, and I can't grasp it. As for the real future, if we can grasp it, then why did Bobby Chen see the inverted clock at the end of the film?

The roadside picnic is about an uncertain life.

This is the first time I have finished reading and writing.

After reading it for the second time, I found more details and more exquisite design.

Like an old doctor said? Kaili sewing machine can basically be inferred that Kaili was also a third-line construction city. The old doctor was a female educated youth who supported the third-line construction in those days, and fell in love with a local Miao who could play lusheng. This is a regrettable love story.

For example, when Bobby Chen was in Kaili, he unlocked Xiao Wei, took him out to eat powder, and took him to an amusement park to drive a small train. Xiao Wei counted the small trains, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... When Bobby Chen met David bullied by other motorcycle drivers, David was standing in a bucket with a bucket on his head, still counting, and Bobby Chen helped David.

It's certainly interesting to read more details and find more exquisite designs.

However, if we jump out of these details, I think this movie has two most awesome points.

First of all, the creator keeps the most suitable distance from the audience with various exquisite designs, which not only ensures the author's identity, but also gives the audience a large and relaxed reading space.

Secondly, the innovation of film theme, which literary film represented by the sixth generation works pays more attention to? Little people in the background of the great era? What is the focus of this film? Just in time? . The elements of the times are extremely weakened, and more attention is paid to people themselves. I think this is a great progress.

Introduction:

In the mysterious and humid subtropical countryside in southeastern Guizhou, in the foggy clinic in Kaili City, two doctors were preoccupied and lived like ghosts. For the sake of his mother's last wish, Bobby Chen set foot on the train to find the child abandoned by his brother; Another lonely old woman asked him to bring a photo, a shirt and a tape to her seriously ill old lover. On the way to zhenyuan county, Bobby Chen came to a place called Dangmai. The time here is not linear, and people's lives complement each other and dissolve each other. He seems to have experienced the past, present and future, rethinking his life.

Finally, Bobby Chen went to Zhenyuan and just looked at the child from a distance with a telescope. Gave the old woman's token to her old lover's son. A man stepped on the train again. I can't tell whether this world is my memory or my fantasy about this world.