When it comes to comic movies, perhaps many people's first reaction is that they are superheroes and fantasy adventures. But manga movies are much more than that. We are familiar with "Get Out!"."Tumor", "Take My Brother Away", etc., are actually adapted from comics. This week, another domestic live-action comic film with a unique style is ushered in, which is "Lighting Store", which was released from December 15 to yesterday. 
"Illumination Store" is a newcomer's new work adapted from the work of the same name by popular Korean cartoonist Kang Cao. In the past ten years, Jiang Cao can be said to be the most popular Korean cartoonist in the film and television industry, his "Fool", "Innocent Comics", "Neighbors" and so on have been adapted into movies, this year's hit drama "Super Alien Clan" and Han Yan's "I Love You!".The original work is also from his hand. 
As a high-reputation comic that ended 6 years ago, the "horror + warmth" style of "Illumination Store" has captured a large number of readers, and Korean filmmakers are also preparing for the production of corresponding film dramas, and the Chinese version has rarely become the earliest adaptation of this comic. 
The film is co-starring Zhang Ruonan, Bai Yufan, Liu Yijun, Liu Yan, etc., and the story follows the original context, and it is more appropriate to carry out local transformation. Since "Lighting Store" involves a certain amount of soul, "ghost" and life and death topics, it can be regarded as another domestic film and television work that mixes fantasy and thriller elements after "Soul Ferry". 
The story is introduced from the perspective of the young ** Xu Nian (played by Zhang Ruonan).
Xu Nian and her boyfriend Zheng Man (played by Bai Yufan) moved into an apartment building, which is always in an eerie atmosphere, and there are few residents in the building. 
In addition to Xu Nian and her boyfriend, the residents also have a pair of mother and daughter who call themselves Sister Xiaomei (played by Liu Yan) and Zhuzhu, and a girl Liu Yushan who has just moved in. 
In the dark alley downstairs, there is always an old man holding a yellow umbrella singing children's songs, and a middle-aged man covered in sand is looking for someone. 
To Xu Nian, everyone here is very strange. Sister Xiaomei wears gloves at all times, Yushan has two shadows alone, the old man keeps saying that he wants to pick up his son but he can't get out of the alley, and the middle-aged man is looking for someone who seems to be familiar. 
Everything is weird. The only warm, bright place here is the illuminated shop at the end of the alley. Xu Nian walked into the store, but the store owner (played by Liu Yijun) told her: You shouldn't come here. 
Such a story makes "The Lighting Store" a domestic apartment weird movie with a scarce genre. The director arranged a lot of horror scenes, which enhanced the sense of suspense and effectively stimulated the audience's audio-visual. The indoor lights that flickered and went out, Sister Xiaomei who suddenly appeared on the stairs on a rainstorm day, Zhuzhu was dragged into the apartment from the corridor, and the hand ...... that came from behind in the darkAll of these made Xu Nian want to uncover the secrets hidden behind the apartment.
And she and her boyfriend Zheng Man also have a lot of unsolved mysteries. There was no shadow of Xu Nian under the bright lights of the shop;Sometimes Zheng Man was by his side, but Xu Nian couldn't see him;The apartment where the two of them live often has large water stains on the floor for no apparent reason......
Through this kind of foreshadowing, the film provides four sets of emotional relationships for the later plot reversal: Xu Nian and her boyfriend, Xiaomei Zhuzhu's mother and daughter, Yushan and her other shadow, the old man and his son. The middle-aged man covered in sand linked these four sets of relationships together.
In addition to these sets of relationships, the film also uses the echo of the opening and easter eggs to arrange a tragic "extra" separated by yin and yang, that is, the story of the fiancée performed by Zheng Kai and Hailu, one of the two exists in the form of a ghost. After experiencing all kinds of weird and "haunted" experiences in the early part of the film, the latter part of "The Lighting Store" turns to revealing the truth about the apartment, and the tone is warmed up and warm** At the same time, the weird atmosphere in the first half of the film is also completely subverted.
Looking back at the setting of the previous paragraph after revealing the truth, I can't help but think of "I Love You!", which was released in the middle of this year and directed by Han YanThe "Netherworld" mentioned in the book. In this film, which is also adapted from ginger grass comics, when the husband and wife played by Liang Jiahui and Ye Tong decided to commit suicide, they said in their last words to their friends: After a person dies, he will pass through a netherworld.
I love you!The apartment building in "The Lighting Store" is a lingering space similar to the netherworld, and the lighting store at the end of the alley is a place of life and deathWithout a light bulb, you can only die with regret.
This kind of setting entrusts the romantic imagination of human beings on life and death, and there is no lack of precedents before. For example, Ryan Gosling's 2005 psychological thriller "Life and Death Stay" designed a fantasy world on the verge of death. Henry, a college student played by "High Commander", fills the unfinished regrets of his life in this world, which is similar to Xu Nian's obsession with the apartment world in "Lighting Store".
In "Life and Death Stay", the "interaction" between the real world and the dying world is also impressive, such as the flashlight of the doctor shining on Henry's face in reality, which is imagined by Henry as a predictable hailstorm. This kind of "interaction" is also not uncommon in "The Lighting Store". The ringing that Xu Nian heard in the apartment building and the roller used to paint the apartment room were all things that were explored from the real world into the lingering world.
In the film, everyone who is hovering on the verge of dying and unable to cross the boundary between life and death is because their obsession has not disappeared, and only by eliminating their obsession can they decide whether to enter the lighting store. In the first half of this year, the high-scoring Taiwan drama "Bad Obsession Eliminator" also took the obsession of the deceased as the theme. In the play, all kinds of weird characters such as the general teacher who died of loneliness, the window doll who expressed his sorrow, and the tattooed lady with an unfinished front edge all got a good death after the obsession was eliminated.
The people who are stranded on the boundary between life and death in "Bad Obsession Eliminator" and "Lighting Store" also have a loving ending due to the dissolution of obsession. Love is one of the most important themes in Jiang Cao's stories. Jiang Cao is good at exploring the true feelings that break through the constraints of the world from a unique perspective in the genre narratives of fantasy, thriller and horror. I love you!", the two widowed old men burst out with youthful innocence;In "Super Alien Race", the alien people who are on opposite ethnic sides cherish each other.
In this "Lighting Store", there are many sets of emotional relationships oppressed by reality, which hesitate in the alienated space, and in the later part of the film to reveal the truth, it can be said that there are constant tears.
The first sentence of the old man with the yellow umbrella when he reunited with his son was "I'm sorry for your trouble", which tells the careful love of elderly parents for their children;Yu Shan, a girl who lives alone, finally received the secret words of love, "Always be together, forever and forever", which makes people sigh that intimacy is hard-won ......
A bizarre experience, a poignant ending. The end of the year is approaching, the weather is cold, this "warm ** thriller" may be a good choice.