How to evaluate the movie Stealing Time?

Not long ago, I interviewed Athena Chu and talked about the decline of Hong Kong films in the past 20 years. She accidentally mentioned the film Thieves in Those Years, saying that winning the prize in Berlin made everyone very happy.

I was confused at the time. On the one hand, the Crystal Bear is just a trivial small reward for the non-competition unit; on the other hand, the film has nothing to do with Athena Chu himself. But today, when I watched the film completely, I realized that for generations of Hong Kong people, it meant a feeling and a memory.

Romantic feelings

The film is adapted from director Alex Law's own anthology and his family story. Flowers bloom at dusk, seeing the big from the small. What I want to express behind such a poetic name is: "In change.

In life, time is the biggest thief ... "It is said that 90% of the films are directors' personal experiences, such as falling in love with rich girls and losing their brothers, and also commemorating their loved ones in the form of movies.

As an ordinary movie fan, I can't verify whether Alex Law's background is as bad as that of Luo Jinji in the film, but what is certain is that he graduated from HKU in the 1970s, studied in the United States in the 1980s and studied at best.

NYU, one of the three major film academies, has long been synonymous with elite culture in Hong Kong. He,, and others have the same life track, so their films have the same characteristics, namely

While not forgetting to reflect on the cruelty of reality, it is inevitable to do romantic treatment. They will never see a severe criticism of reality, but highlight the unique romantic feelings of the middle class.

The same is true of "The Thief of the Years", which also cleverly chooses a child's perspective to look at the frustrations experienced by this ordinary family in Hong Kong in the late 1960s. film

Also known as "1969 Space Roaming", 1969 is the darkest and most turbulent period in Hong Kong society. Officials are corrupt, the police collect protection fees indiscriminately, hospital nurses collect money by injecting water, and mainlanders.

With the spread of the revolution, the life of Hong Kong people is very difficult, which can be clearly seen in the movies. However, the abnormal society seen through the sight of children wearing fish tanks has greatly alleviated the pain of facing a bleak life.

Chu, it seems that collecting protection money can be regarded as a 26-letter game in which a ghost sends someone to make a child go backwards. The terrible thing about losing relatives is that the child will fill all the stolen luminous cups, rice flags and the Monkey King.

The role of the ocean is the most romantic solution. After his death, my brother was buried in a beautiful and quiet western cemetery. Of course, this is not the same grassroots feelings as Xilu Lane, but the warmth of Days and Nights in Tin Shui Wai. Maybe it's just

Kind human nature can't solve the indifference and pain of reality at all, but just like Lu Xun planted wild flowers at the end of the grave, movies also need such a bright tail to add a touch of romantic feelings to our lives.

Long-lost love

The pure feeling like white paper in The Thief of the Years has never been seen in Hong Kong movies for many years. Look at Hong Kong movies in recent years. Represented by Ye Nianchen's "Love Trilogy", women in Hong Kong are usually annoying.

Angry. In Lin Yihua's words: "The appearance can only be described by the doctrine of the mean, but when dealing with suitors, they all put on the faces and figures of princesses and queens." The leading actors Sammy and Wang Zu didn't show up either.

Blue, which looks obscene, often appears on the screen, pretending to be a rich boy, and there are few playboys.

The thief of the years is different. Even though there is an insurmountable class gap between grass-roots men and rich girls, this film leaves enough space for boys and girls to express themselves. Not only "double"

"Rainbow" and "The Memory of Tropical Fish", even the princess left, the prince fell, and blood dripped down the emotional bridge of white roses, which made people feel that they were watching Korean dramas. At this point, Alex Law's middle-class elite consciousness awakens again.

Once highlighted, let love throw off the shackles of reality and leave only the best side for the audience to see. Such pure love can be said to be unattainable in today's society. Not to mention Hong Kong, even the mainland has long been in one.

The turbulent wave has changed its face under the erosion of another commercial wave. Too many programs, such as Jiangsu Satellite TV's If You Are the One, make a fuss about "a woman sitting in the back seat of a BMW wants to cry", which has proved the current social price.

The degeneration of values. Because there is no, it is precious, which makes the love in the thief of the years so touching.

The warmth of mutual concern

But the thief of the years is not a love story in the end. What makes this movie more touching is the mutual help and love between the family and neighbors.

Although Gu Dezhao's Shanghai dialect is not standard, it has invisibly revealed a message: they are Shanghai immigrants. From the mid-1940s to the early 1950s, due to the turbulent situation, a large number of

Skilled Shanghai tailors and hairdressers have moved to Hong Kong, and their dress names have been popular in Hong Kong for 50 years, such as the famous Peromont, W.W. Chan &; Son, etc. , and

Shanghai hair salons used to be all over the streets of Hong Kong. These new immigrants get along well with their local neighbors. At night, they sit under one roof and eat in the open air, and watch movies with the "five big and seven small", which reminds me of Tony Leung Ka Fai and Liang many years ago.

Wei Chao's "He is my brother" is also the slogan of a group of neighbors shouting "All for me, all for me" all day. The Thieves of Those Years didn't shout slogans loudly, but shared details such as food.

After that, the human touch in the neighborhood that gradually disappeared in the indifference of the iron gate in Urban Forest has just reappeared.

Feelings are tear gas. The mother took her son with hematologic cancer to seek medical treatment everywhere, and the father pawned his wedding ring for many years in order to make his brother lose fresh blood. When Wu Junru gently touched the deep ring mark on Yam Tat-wah's finger, the scene also made the family deeply engraved in the hearts of the audience like a knife.

The spirit of Hong Kong's return

Without technology and magic, The Thief of the Years only tells the story of a grassroots family in Hong Kong. However, in the face of a hard life, the Hong Kong spirit of striving for self-improvement has been fully reflected in those little people.

Alex Law said that in recent years, Hong Kong society has been full of negative energy. The post-80s generation was confused when faced with difficulties, or just complained, which reminded him of the 1960s and faced more difficulties than just faith.

Read and try to tide over the difficulties. The signboard of "Luoji Shoe Store" in the film is his obvious hint to these young people-the word "shoe" is half "difficult" and half "good". Like Wu Junru.

As my mother used to say, "One step is difficult, one step is good; It is in this optimistic spirit that Hong Kong people have gone through decades, experienced economic take-off, financial crisis and SARS.

Plunder. "Always believe in being a man." Alex Law told people this truth through his mother.

The old song of the pop rock band Monkees in the 1960s sounded many times in the film, "I want to be free, just like a bluebird flying in the sky …" At the end of the film, it also appeared in the sky.

"Double!

Rainbow "to mourn an era that has passed away. Then, in the impetuous air, we once again breathed a long-lost sense of belonging to Hong Kong. At this point, a city finally found something stolen by years.

Taste.

Finally, I want to say that "The Thief of the Years" is definitely the best Hong Kong film after "Tin Shui Wai".