Preface:
"To do what you should do at this age, no matter whether you are sick or not, you have the courage or not, you live a spirit", this classic line comes from the movie "Send You a Little Red Flower", and it is also an exhortation to everyone.
The film "Send You a Little Red Flower" can be said to be the second part of director Han Yan's life "trilogy", with the life of a family fighting cancer as the main line, and the youth story of Ma Xiaoyuan and Wei Yihang as the protagonists, guiding the audience to face and think about the proposition of death. As soon as the film was released, the box office exceeded 1.4 billion.
1. Family stories
After the 80s and 90s of the twentieth century, youth films depicted family life in a personal and everyday way, such as "Sunny Days". In recent years, young people's films have also focused on daily life when constructing family space. However, in such films, the emotional attributes of "home" are always missing, presenting a deformed family ecology.
However, what is refreshing is that "Send You a Little Red Flower" does not adopt a grand narrative strategy, nor does it exaggerate the deformities and deficiencies in the family, but returns to the warm attributes of the family, depicting daily family life with "non-daily" techniques, and realizing the reconstruction of family space.
In the film, her mother Tao Hui repeatedly mentioned the "anti-cancer vegetable ranking", and her father Wei Jiang carved all kinds of vegetables into exquisite handicrafts; At a family gathering, Wei Jiang's brother kept telling Wei Jiang to "pay attention to his body", and his grandmother proposed to sell the house to Wei Yihang for treatment.
There is no vow, and there is no grandiose rhetoric, it is such an ordinary sentence, but in the special context of "anti-cancer", it seems to be particularly "non-routine", what is conveyed behind this is the inseparable family affection, and the strength and optimism of ordinary people in the face of suffering.
In the film, Wei Yihang wanted to travel far away with Ma Xiao, but he didn't want his parents to burden him too much, so he did not hesitate to try the medicine to raise funds. His parents were furious when they learned about it, and the family had a big fight. During the quarrel, Wei Jiang said to Wei Yihang: "This body is not only yours, but also ours!" This sentence may seem simple, but it contains the love of parents for their children, and also reflects the Confucian tradition, that is, the human body is a human being.
Wei Yihang was reluctant to repair his father's mobile phone screen when it was broken, and ran to work as a driver after work, the table on the dinner table was no longer obedient, and his mother bargained with others in order to save money, making a mess of the family's life. Especially Wei Yihang's sentence "Looking at you like this, I would rather die than live", Wei Jiang, a father, could no longer control his emotions and started beating people.
Youth is often accompanied by rebellion, Wei Yihang rebelled against the authority of his parents with his rebellious words and deeds, and there was a conflict between the family members because of this, but it is worth noting that everyone sincerely considers each other; It is this kind of empathy that makes this tense theatrical atmosphere even more gripping.
In the movie, Wei Yihang mentioned the word "death", but Wei Jiang still gave him a slap in the face. Wei Jiang and Tao Hui still didn't dare to discuss death with the children in the end, and could only use video as an indirect way to express their thoughts, but being able to say it can be regarded as an improvement.
There are also no shocking pictures or sensational lines, the director skillfully intercepts the daily life of Wei Jiang and his wife watching movies, shopping, dancing, participating in patient gatherings, and eating hot pot, and responds to the grand proposition of "life and death" in a moisturizing and silent way. At the end of the video, there is a picture of parents kissing their son.
At the end, Tao Hui said: "Everyone has times of loss and loss, but the best way is to live well." This is also the process of Wei Jiang and his wife from avoiding death to facing death.
2. Social space
Wu Xiaoyu used to be a family member of the patient, and he was also the leader of the "Anti-Cancer Patient Group". "Magic Hair House" is not just an ordinary hairdresser, but a place where people remember Ako's death after her death, a place where cancer patients exchange ideas, and a place where Wu Xiaoyu takes patients and shouts slogans to fight against the disease.
At the same time, "Magic Hair House" is also a witness to Wei Yihang's growth: at the beginning of the movie, Wei Yihang closed himself because he had a brain tumor, and met Ma Xiaoyuan, a girl who was also sick, in "Magic Hair House", and the two began an unforgettable love; In the movie, Wei Yihang returned to the "magic house" after a big quarrel with his parents due to drug abuse, and gradually understood the hardships and difficulties of his parents under the guidance of Wu Xiaoyi.
At the end of the movie, when Wu Xiaowu decided to close the "magic house", Wei Yihang had fully integrated into this circle, he was optimistic about his own and other people's diseases, and he believed that he would be able to defeat the disease. In the movie, Wu Xiaoyu lost her love, and after experiencing despair, her hair became thinning, but she still persevered to light a faint light for those who were fighting against the disease; His "magic hair house" is not only a symbol of life and hope, but also a witness to Wei Yihang's spiritual growth.
Secondly, Lu Feiyan and Lu Feiyan lived in the hospital. The father and daughter don't have many roles in the movie, but every time they appear, they are moving. The father's lonely back, the daughter's innocent words, and the characteristic Sichuan accent are all indispensable parts of the film.
In fact, the three appearances of Lao Lu's father and daughter also witnessed the psychological changes of the protagonist Wei Yihang, at the beginning of the movie, Lao Lu breastfed his daughter, but Wei Yihang looked indifferent. Halfway through the movie, when Lao Lu's father and daughter appeared in the "Magic Hair House", Wei Yihang saw this scene and knew what wigs meant to cancer patients and learned more about the family.
At the end of the film, Lao Lu's daughter unfortunately passed away, and the figure with her back bent was sad, but the takeaway called by her "daughter" (actually a stranger) not only made him cry, but also made Wei Yihang deeply feel the warmth of the world. Lao Lu's father and daughter, as well as the patient group in the "Magic Hair House", not only laid the warm emotional tone of the film, but also showed the growth process of the protagonist Wei Yihang vividly. Finally, there is a mother and son, who are begging on the street.
Beggars are the most unpopular group of people, but in the movie, after being artistically processed and filtered, they have a special purpose. In the film, after Wei Yihang's follow-up treatment, he found that his condition was getting worse and worse, and the whole family fell into despair. At this moment, a woman begging with a child in her arms said in a trembling voice: "Boss, please." ”
This made Tao Hui very unhappy, and asked several times: "Is the child sick?" Is there something uncomfortable? This kind of "anger" vividly interprets the popular phrase "adults collapse only in an instant". In addition, the grandmother who looks forward to her grandson day and night, the food delivery man who runs around, and the three characters mentioned above constitute all kinds of hardships and misfortunes in life.
3. Role change
"Send You a Little Red Flower" uses the word "parallel time and space" at the beginning, and also uses two words. This is actually the symbol of "we" in another time and space. In "Parallel Time and Space", on the shore of Qinghai Lake, Wei Yihang and Ma Xiaoyuan sweetly held hands and frolicked; Wei Jiang and Tao Hui have a son, and their lives are quiet and happy.
Lao Ma's family opened a small shop and lived a life of firewood, rice, oil and salt. Lao Lu didn't lose his daughter, they tasted all the delicious food in the world; The old woman in the rain did not lose her grandchildren and enjoyed the joy of family; The "anti-cancer patient group" has never appeared, and Wu Xiaoyu has experienced the joy of life in the comic and comic.
Wei Yihang was an unfortunate young man, seriously ill, and from the beginning, he closed himself off and isolated himself from the world. Through "Hello, I'm Wei Yihang, would you like to see my brain tumor section?" This sentence is like a rebellious and helpless teenager with a serious illness, who has given up on himself and closed himself off before he met Ma Xiaoyuan.
Ma Xiaoyuan is a key figure in the movie, and he is also a "functional character" of Wei Yihang's "awakening" and "saving". Affected by the various behaviors of his family and Ma Xiaoyuan, Wei Yihang had to start to face up to his situation and face his own situation. Since then, Wei Yihang has truly faced the hardships and walked out of the predicament.
In the movie, Ma Xiaoyuan took Wei Yihang to climb the snow mountain, climbed over the iceberg, and completed Wei Yihang's "life journey", while Wei Yihang opened the knot in his heart and realized the liberation of his soul; In Wei Yihang's drunken plot, he uses a plausible language to show the cruel youth story and the inner world of the seriously ill patient.
Finally, Wei Yihang came out of the pain and regained his life. He and Ma Xiaoyuan traveled thousands of miles to Qinghai Lake to find the "holy land", but they didn't expect that accidents always come earlier than surprises, "Before young people have time to enjoy the happiness around them, fate has already sentenced them to death, and all happiness has a deadline, that is, it will come at any time." ”
Ma Xiaoyuan's sudden departure hit Wei Yihang very hard, he lost his spiritual comfort and emotional companionship. Ma Xiaoyuan's impact on Wei Yihang is not only at this stage, but lasting, Wei Yihang's attitude towards his life and fearlessness towards illness are like a small red flower, rooted in Wei Yihang's body.
Walking into the classroom, it marks Wei Yihang's return to normal life, and also represents Wei Yihang's replacement of Ma Xiaoyuan to complete his unfinished dream and life journey.
Epilogue:
"Send You a Little Red Flower" avoids the disease itself, downplays the pain caused by the disease, and does not use cancer and pain for marketing, but uses this as the background to convey a positive attitude towards life, telling "when encountering unsolvable problems, how to use strong willpower to rebuild your life and infect the people around you", which resonated with the audience.