Wen Zhou Wei.
The author, Zhou Wei, is a special commentator of LIZHI News and a national second-level psychological counselorThis article is an exclusive request from the LIZHI News client and LIZHI.com, **Please indicate the source. ）
Over the years, a lot of domestic movies with pet themes have been made, but there are not many good works, the main problem is that the story lacks dramatic tension, and the relationship between people and pets seems stiff. In fact, it is a good story that can be logical and self-consistent, so that the audience, especially the pet people, can empathize with them. Measured by this standard, "Goodbye, Li Kele" can be regarded as the better performance of the same genre.
The main plot of the movie is not complicated, and the foundation is still the framework of a youth trauma literature. The background of the story is the sudden change of the family, and a carelessness of Li Yan (played by Tan Songyun) caused her father Li Boyu (played by Wu Jing) to fall off a cliff and have no hope of waking up. Mother Pan Yanqiu (played by Yan Ni) was forced to face the reality and, on the advice of the doctor, terminated the maintenance **. And Li Yan has to face both herself who has been in trouble in the past and her future self.
The film's interpretation of the value and growth of family affection is based on love and understanding, without excessive sensationalism, and avoids the vulgar routine of moral kidnapping. The film uses the song "Shana" to express the feeling of "guilt" that the father brought his daughter into this world, but brought many unsolvable problems to the child, and she needed to face it herself. The film focuses more on the obligations and responsibilities of parents, as well as the "expression of love".
Li Yan's growth has a typical adolescent brand, but when the puppy "Li Kele" had advanced brain cancer, Li Yan took over the decision to euthanize "Cola" from her mother, and with the courage to bear the pain, she finally understood her mother. This plot echoes her mother's decision to "extubate" her hopeless father, who does not understand or accept it. Pan Yanqiu has many commonalities among Chinese mothers, but in general, she respects her daughter's personality independence. This value is also reflected in the role shaping of "Li Kele", the most important partner for Li Yan.
Compared with an earlier work of the same type earlier this year, which simply promoted the dog's "loyalty" to people, but ignored the responsibility of people to dogs, the relationship between people and pets in this film is one of mutual attachment, and dogs also have richer emotional expressions. This is consistent with the value orientation of dealing with family affection in the film.
Dogs don't actually "perform" in the human sense, and any reaction they make is real. In order to show intimacy, actors really have to develop a relationship with them. A research result from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2022 showed that when dogs are excited and happy, their tails are facing strangers and acquaintances in different directions, and they will be more to the right for familiar and close people. The puppies who play "Li Kele" at different stages in this film, when interacting with actors such as Yan Ni and Tan Songyun who play "family", many times their tails are wagging to the right, so you can pay attention to it when watching the movie. This reflects the friendly attitude of the behind-the-scenes training team and the actors towards the participating dogs.
The fly in the ointment is that the dog's performance in the film is too intelligent and somewhat distorted, such as repeatedly saving the mother and daughter at critical moments. This dilutes the simple feelings between people and dogs, and makes people wonder, if "Li Kele" does not have these "superpowers", will the mother agree to her daughter to have a dog?If the film is a little subtracted, it may be better and more realistic.
At the same time, since it is a youth literary style, how to interpret the protagonist's growth is a test for the actors. Jiang Long and Tan Songyun, two actors who are actually in their thirties, will feel a little old when they play high school students again. This kind of character building problem also appears in the dog's body.
The adult "Coke" in the film is played by the 11-year-old dog star "Xiao Qi". According to the plot setting, "Coke" should be around seven years old, which is the prime of the dog. This setting, I personally understand, is a metaphor for "Coke" to some extent is the "obsession" of his father Li Boyu to stay in the world and protect his mother and daughter, and there are many other hints in the film, you can find it yourself. Although this treatment is a bit deliberate, it is not a big problem, that is, an 11-year-old dog plays a year-old dog, which is equivalent to a 70-year-old person playing a 40-year-old person, which makes the image of adult Coke too old, and a senior dog friend like me will be a little dramatic when he sees it.
Overall, although there are some flaws, "Goodbye, Li Kele" is considered to be a good completion among domestic pet movies, and it is worth buying tickets for audiences who love such movies.
With the pet fever, the chaos of uncivilized dog breeding has also become the focus. Literary and artistic works on the theme of pets should also assume the responsibility of promoting civilized pet raising and treating animals well. The footage of the dog going out in this film is basically leashed, and the respect for animal rights in the filming mentioned earlier is a good demonstration. If at the beginning or end of the film, you can add eye-catching civilized dog breeding prompts, it can be better.