" Sunshine Hits " director Zhong Menghong 's new work " Waterfall ", played by Alyssa Chia and Wang Jing , which runs through it: is a heart that is always held by a mother and a heart that is constantly stalked by a mother, and a family's eternal worry.
The story takes place in Taipei in the spring of 2020, and a special form impacts the lives of a mother and daughter.
Daughter Xiaojing was isolated at home because her classmate was diagnosed. Her mother Luo Pinwen also suffered pressure from work. She first received a salary reduction investigation, and then she couldn't go to work because she accompanied her daughter to be isolated at home. 's sense of insecurity about the future continues to overlap, and the atmosphere of mother and daughter getting along is getting worse and worse.
The first part of "The Waterfall" has a suspense and thriller, which even reminds people of the horror movie "The Ghost Knocks the Door". The child and his mother are trapped together and cannot escape each other, and all the suppressed psychological problems are gradually ignited.
However, as the plot outline of "Fallfall" becomes clear, you will find that its real "horror" comes from: The endless pressure of being a mother . And when she couldn't bear it, this overflow of emotions began to affect her daughter.
Pinwen's life is simple, only work and family. As a single mother, she is her daughter's only financial and emotional support. I realized that I must not fall, but everything around me was about to collapse, so she collapsed quietly.
All this disintegration comes from her perspective without any warning, but the director uses many skills to hint to the audience about his mother's psychological dilemma.
In the company, her colleague was surprised by her excited reaction to the salary cut; when she returned home, the residential building was renovating the exterior walls, hanging blue canvas, making the living room a dark gray-blue tone, and the mother and daughter seemed to live behind a waterfall; the house should be a place for family to get along and communicate, , but what the audience saw was an impenetrable pattern and a series of doors , and the mother and daughter could be at home at the same time but had no idea what the other party was doing; when the mother found that the child ran away from home and rushed out of the house to look for it on a rainy night, she didn't know where to go on the sidewalk, and the background was a whole gray wall, with no direction and no hope...
The general situation cut off normal social and stable finances, and condensed the pressure into a psychological and physical prison, surrounding the mother and daughter. should have provided a warm home, but now, in addition to being wrapped in blue canvas, it is not only the blue canvas that are airtight and melancholy, but the administrators who cannot escape from the house are staring at them like jailers, reminding them at any time of the owed management fees and the exterior walls of the building. The notice of loan urgency sent by the bank cannot escape the administrator's palm.
Family members have secrets and suspicions of each other. They don’t get along like family members but instead like inmates. Xiao Jing's biological father, the only one who can come to "visit prison", has formed another family and is determined to leave the mother and daughter.
In Pinwen's strange dream, a tall building without guardrails appeared, and a child was crawling around inside. Seeing that the child was about to fall, the mother rushed forward, but the child was on the edge, but the mother didn't have time to stop and fell down. This may imply Pinwen's subconscious: She loves her daughter deeply, and the one who is worried about in her mind is always her daughter, and she even wants to die for her daughter, but she can't help but resent that she wants to die for her child. It's the child who is obviously disobedient and crawling around !
So as her mental state became worse and worse, the daughter in her eyes became more and more rebellious and evil, just like the child crawling everywhere, one day she would kill her mother. Maternal love and worry are like a tide, like the soundtrack of Lu Luming , which is sometimes gentle and sometimes thrilling. It can be soft and stable, but if it cannot be controlled, it will also become a destructive weapon with great lethality.
In the past, I was very angry when I saw the news of "mother committing suicide with her young son". I don't understand why I didn't leave a way out for my children? Maybe he can and is willing to survive.But after I had a child, I began to understand that some subtle state of mind were really unimaginable to outsiders. Perhaps from the perspective of a desperate mother, what I saw was: "I am the only hope for the child", "Without me, the child will be finished ". If I can't live, I have to take him to free himself for the sake of the child, and get rid of suffering and happiness.
I believe that many mothers, especially single mothers, have had similar concerns: "I can't fall, if I fall, the child will fall." During the years when her husband had an affair and divorced and depended on her daughter, Pinwen should have been emotionally and financially supported, and she had no spare time. Only then would firmly fantasize that her ex-husband would eventually turn back, or she would rationally disconnect from the line when she heard that the company wanted the supervisor to voluntarily reduce his salary.
She believes that she must hold on to the status quo for her child no matter what. When she can't hold on, she constructs an illusion in her heart, and gradually cannot recognize reality and fiction. Therefore, when the worries of maternal love are like a tide, how can we avoid it from flooding everything? I think the answer is given in the movie
, but what Pinwen didn't notice is that Xiaojing has grown up long ago and the child can do it.
She can actuate household expenses and make better income and expenditure decisions. She can even break off relations with her father who has long been ruthless and has formed a new family with her partner. During the most miserable period of Pinwen, Xiaojing was no longer a child who could only follow the "fall" but a girl who could "sustain" together. The relationship between the two changed and became more stable.
Another key change that helped Pinwen stand up again was that she "can't bear it anymore". The director uses a humorous and funny "Aoke" plot in the grocery store to present how Pinwen expresses his "no longer patient" self.
The growth experience of women often includes this kind of "from tolerance to unbearable". Since childhood, elders have always reminded girls to "be forgiving" and "gentle". When they grow up, girls are used to continuing to adopt the same philosophy of life until they realize that being tolerant is not a solution, or that some people can't afford it and will bring disaster with a completely flood discharge attitude.
One day Pinwen suddenly came to her senses. Every time she felt overflowing and unable to bear it, the rumbling sound heard in her ears was not the sound of a machine, but the sound of a waterfall. After the mysterious source was revealed, she could finally guide the violent sound of a waterfall away and instead hear the gurgling stream.
Director here integrates sound design into a part of the narrative, allowing the audience to listen to the sounds heard in Pianwen's ears and experience the comfort of her doubts being eliminated and suddenly enlightened. To master life, you have to adjust and control your emotional flow and not squeeze until the day when temporary flood discharge is needed.
"Flowers" provides many wonderful opportunities for the two heroines to play:
Jia Jingwen's role is the most difficult. In addition to interpreting the various faces of "mother" identity from loving, worrying to emotional collapse, after experiencing mental disorder, she walked slightly hunched and her steps slightly staggered, her reaction to things around her slowed down, and her eyes were relatively hollow. She was a very comprehensive and careful performance;
plays Wang Jing, who is her daughter, and her performance is also very amazing. Facing the other side of her mother, her worries, panic and precocious puberty make people feel distressed.
Wei Ruxuan's role is almost as unreal as an angel flying from the sky, which is a bit unreal, but she covers the song "Choen Tsai in the film, which is quite touching; Li Liren's father played by , calm and cold, and hypocrisy in elegance; Chen Yiwen's appearance in Chen Yiwen's appearance brings a lot of humor, and the sincerity and simplicity are reassuring; Liu Guanting's guest appearance makes audiences who have watched the Taiwanese drama "Tears of Vulcan" smile knowingly.
From my personal experience, "Flowers" solidly presents the anxiety brought by the mother's job. I am always afraid that if I can’t hold on with my body or mental health, I will not be able to take care of my children, and I am even more afraid that they will worry about the future when they see my mother’s fragile appearance. As a mother, you must not only make endless efforts, but also be responsible for the performance, so that the family environment can present a safe and stable image, and keep the children's food, clothing, housing and transportation normal.
When there were two major life and death crises in the film "Flowers" film, Pinwen was cooking, which is very real from the perspective of a mother. We are cooking all day long, or worrying about what to buy for our children, and even when Pinwen makes the house fire, she is not a mentally ignorant arsonist, she is just a mother who wants to cook dinner for her daughter. .
is really not an exaggeration. Even if you are tired and collapsed to the bottom, many mothers are still cooking... My friend once dozed off while preparing baby side food late at night, and almost burned the pot and the kitchen.
Perhaps, in addition to being an excellent movie, "The Waterfall" inadvertently becomes a real, natural and unpreached parent-child relationship template for teenagers. Many people who have experienced it have mentioned that the key to family disputes is not the truth itself, but the attitude: is said in one sentence, starting from the perspective of disgust or scolding, or from the same perspective? Does it feel like love and trust?
Too often, the difficulties and anxiety of middle-aged parents and the cruel reality they face are not understood by teenagers, while the children's restlessness and impatientness are so tired that their parents are unable to face them calmly, so both parties allow negative emotions to erupt and get farther and farther away.
As pointed out in the dialogue in the film, "understanding the other person" is the key point. understanding can produce patience and gentleness. If the attitude softens, the other person can feel accepted and then unblock each other's emotions. Only in this way can there be a possibility of continuing to communicate and generate trust . Children will grow up, mothers will grow old, and parents must learn to trust their children after all. Just like the trust game that falls back with their eyes closed, parents must be able to let go and believe that their children can pick them up.
When Pinwen and Xiaojing in "The Waterfall", they are willing to overcome all difficulties and firmly choose to trust and protect each other. This is the most beautiful and moving choice.
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