After being dormant in domestic theaters for a long time, "Life Events" has become a rare highlight. Since its release on June 24, the film's Douban score has stabilized at around 7.3 points. Overall, it is a new film worthy of recognition.

Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Gao Qian

After being dormant in domestic theaters for a long time, " Life Events" has become a rare highlight. Since its release on June 24, the film's Douban score has stabilized at around 7.3 points. Overall, it is a new film worthy of recognition.

"Life Events" focuses on the end of everyone's life journey - funeral. Mo Sanmei, a funeral director who "went to heaven", met Wu Xiaowen, an orphan, during a funeral shortly after his release from prison. In a "match of wits and courage" with Xiaowen, Mo Sanmei's understanding of the funeral industry, family and life Attitudes quietly changed. "Life Events" is based on "The Undertaker". Many viewers will involuntarily connect and compare it with the Japanese movie "The Undertaker ". However, unlike the tenderness in the bones of "The Undertaker", the temperament of "The Events in Life" It is more rough and vigorous.

This film is set in the fictional Yanjiang City. The strong Hubei dialect spoken by the protagonists such as Mo Sanmei gives the film a strong Jianghu atmosphere from the beginning. When faced with grand and serious themes such as funerals and death, "Life Events" is interpreted with Chinese-style black humor - "Farewell", which is somewhat funny with fancy variations, and filial sons beating flags throwing basins and other quite performances. The "ritual sense" of sex, the slightly scary yet cute paper dolls, the loud and desolate chants when carrying the coffin... everything is so bizarre. The audience has experienced funerals to some extent in their lives, but at the same time they subconsciously stay away from the funeral industry. In the beginning of the film, the rich colors, shaky camera, frequent close-ups, fast pace, and the confrontation between Mo Sanmei and Xiao Wen can actually create a strange, absurd, and familiar atmosphere. If it can continue to interpret the heavy topic of death and the value inheritance of the funeral industry under this premise in a seemingly relaxed and even comedic tone, "Life Events" must be a very outstanding movie.

Somewhat regrettably, the further back the film goes, the looser its core seems to become. The confused Mo Sanmei had several important changes: "nemesis" Xiao Wen taught him to love; his love rival who had cuckolded him died in a car accident, and his body was hit so hard that he could no longer look like a human being. However, in line with the professional ethics of a mortician, He had to send the deceased to finish the last journey with dignity; after fighting with his father for half his life, the old man suddenly passed away, and his last wish was that his once incompetent son would organize an original funeral for himself... But in these important paragraphs, In terms of performance, the processing of the film is a bit rough.

The story between Mo Sanmei and Xiao Wen is suspected of being sensationalized. Many of the lines are like suddenly inserted golden sentences, which is quite abrupt in appearance. The scene where Xiao Wen’s biological mother shows up again to get her child back is even more "bloody". ", conflict for the sake of conflict, so that the last half hour of the film became quite boring and off-topic, and could be streamlined or cut off; the relationship between Mo Sanmei and her father deserves more ink. How on earth did he get the idea to turn his father's ashes into fireworks? This "rebellious and unethical" idea came up somewhat deliberately. In addition, judging from my father’s description, the funeral industry has a set of craftsmanship and beliefs that have been passed down from generation to generation. If it can be shown in depth and reflect the Chinese funeral culture and view of life and death, the depth of the film will be greatly enhanced instead of stopping there. A simple and heart-warming feature film.

But in general, it is still a blessing to see such a film at the end of the first half of the year. At least the cast, represented by the transformational performance of "Flow" Zhu Yilong , has made a collective contribution Quite a surprise. The concept of "Life Events" is very good, and the initial atmosphere is also right. Unfortunately, the handling of the script is a bit slow. There is too much to say, so everything must be a bit scattered.