Watching | On Fools and Idiots: Taiwan had five hurricanes in 1995, and it was also made into a movie

In 1995, Chen Yuxun was influenced by Hong Kong spy films and started his own film creation. Just different from the Hong Kong action movie that is full of killings, his romantic thoughts turned a kidnapping case into a summer daydream.

1. The silent poor student

The little boy Liu Zhiqiang in the film is sensitive, delicate, and imaginative. He likes to add a lot of colorful stories to the boring reality. In the face of a class teacher who loves to beat people, he can also imagine a pair of hands that are not afraid of being beaten.

In reality, director Chen Yuxun likes painting and heavy metal. He has read it over and over again, and is a "poor student" in the eyes of a teacher. In an interview, Chen Yuxun once said that he was thinking that he must make a movie about "poor students" in the future.

And this film is a rebellion against his youth.

Many children do not like to talk and are not good at math, but their rich inner world is often ignored. Because of the neglect and prejudice of others, their imagination is like the thorn of a hedgehog, a guardian of their soft heart. In fact, "poor students" are often just superficial labels in society. It seems that poor grades can deny a person's value, which is "poor".

In the film, Liu Zhiqiang is a bit "sloppy and bad" in northern dialect, which means that on the surface, the text is quiet and silent, and he always thinks of "bad ideas" secretly. This word obviously has a derogatory meaning, as if the public has a natural resistance to those who do not often express their own ideas.

The director deliberately set the boy's age as the final sprint from high school to college. It is also to show that when other children are sprinting hard to become useful people in society, Liu Zhiqiang chose another path - maintaining his heroism. After seeing the kidnappers who kidnapped children, he rushed forward without hesitation. go up.

The result, of course, was... also kidnapped.

But this seemingly "stupid" behavior by others has become the beginning of an adventure.

Perhaps Chen Yuxun has always had a voice in his heart, and it is also the thought he wants to convey to the audience: no matter what the society thinks of you, insist on being yourself, and it will bring you a different life experience.

2. The Helpful Fool

The second reflection the film brings to me is the choice of people's desires.

The plot begins to turn. The boss of the kidnapper died in a car accident, leaving the mess to a simple chubby who has no experience in kidnapping - A Qing.

In order to support his two children and himself, Ah Qing transported them back to his hometown, a poor seaside town. When there is a flood, the house fills with water.

Maybe the only worry of the villagers is: do it! Where have my slippers gone?

This family knows that if they leave two children, they can extort 5 million. This 5 million is enough for them to change to a better and bigger house, at least not to water again. But the life of Ah Qing's family is not coerced by material things.

Hearing from the TV that the kidnapped child will have his college entrance examination in a few days, they suddenly felt a sense of responsibility: "If I knew earlier, I would not have kidnapped you!"

Under the constant condemnation of conscience, they said 5 million, but they still sent the two children back the day before the joint entrance examination. They also gave Liu Zhiqiang money to buy review materials.

The choice of the Aqing family was also laughed at by others as "idiots", "the duck to the mouth flew away"... But at this moment their choice coincided with the little boy Liu Zhiqiang in the film - choosing the moon, instead of sixpence.

In "On Kafka," Benjamin once said, "Foolishness is at the center of Kafka's beloved characters."

"Kafka is absolutely sure about this: first, if anyone wants to help others, he must be a fool; second, only the help of a fool is real help." The refined egoist sees to the bottom at a glance, and is a kind of passive nihilism.

However, Chen Yuxun not only created such fools intentionally or unintentionally, which is in stark contrast with the wealthy urban (Taipei) people, but which one is the self-righteous urbanite and the simple and innocent countryman? ?

3. The sad fate is performed with comedy

A Juan, a girl from the same village, is a fantasist like Liu Zhiqiang.

She had fantasized about tropical fish in these waters. The family laughed at her stupid: Have you never read a book? Tropical fish can only be found in the south, in the Kenting area.

As it turns out, there is.

Even if Ah Juan is proven right, her dreams have been shattered in front of a group of family members who don't understand her inner thoughts.

Forced to stop education, forced to go to a factory to earn money to support a family, forced to have sex...

Perhaps at the moment when they saw Liu Zhiqiang going to the joint entrance examination, what A Juan's family saw was a series of tragic experiences that followed because A Juan had no chance to take the exam. Maybe they felt pity for Liu Zhiqiang because of A Juan...

Before Ah Qiang left, she wrote him a letter, which said:

"The road in life is long, and it is impossible to walk only with a dream."

The reality has already defeated A Juan and pulled out all the hedgehog thorns on her body.

Benjamin said that in the dark age, there are those who do not hold out hope but keep silent vigil, and those who see through the illusion of hope and despair and still dare to face nothingness... We are given hope, a A hope that accompanies salvation.

A Juan's sacrifice may be the achievement of Liu Zhiqiang. But in the same life, why must one sacrifice one in order to fulfill the other?

The film uses a comedy to tell the story of two lives. One, like Ajuan, is the victim; the other, like Liu Zhiqiang, is the lucky star of the stars.

I remember the beginning of the film, there was a gentle female voice on the radio, telling a strange fairy tale, which seemed confusing. The thousand-year-old golden shark, the king of saluman, the mermaid princess, they all seem to be characters in some bad fairy tale book. But these characters run through the whole movie and become the soul of the whole movie.

In a story, there are always heroes and princesses in distress, but not always happy endings.

"Tropical Fish" Interlude - Wu Bai

postscript:

After graduating from the Department of Educational Materials Science at Tamkang University, Chen Yuxun entered the TV drama filming industry and served as the director of several family TV dramas. Is Chen Yuxun in 1995 still the "poor student" who wants to prove himself by listening to heavy metal rock music? You and I don't know this. But what I want to tell you is that in 1995, Taiwan had five hurricanes in two months, and this movie called "Tropical Fish" was also made.

It's tough, maybe if there isn't a belief to back it up. is an impossible task. The film won the Golden Horse Award for Best Original Screenplay that year.

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