story
A-ho life can be reflected in the story that the brother mentions, where Sima Guang is set out to look for a missing child, even when the local children are saying everyone is here. But when they saw a water tank sitting under a tree, and broke it. they found a child sitting in the darkness. It was Sima Guang himself. https://lingncschinese.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/0/5/40052917/sima_guang.pdf
the original story, however, the brother tells a twist, where when Sima Guang broke the tank and the kids were expecting water to leak, but only found the young Sima Guang
the original story message was nice, saying that one must always remain calm in dire situations. but what does the story his brother tells? To me, I feel like when Sima Guang was saving himself, it shows that A-ho needs to be calm in his situation in order to save himself.
Cinematography
I think the style of the cinematography fitted really well with what the story was conveying. There was no intense zooming in and out of beautiful transitions. The camera just showed the point of view of what it would be like to walk with them through the streets. the camera shots made it feel like you were there with them, you didn't see many cameras work, but shots at human eye level which made it feel raw.
There were also surreal shots that were just beautiful. Some scenes where it had straight out neon colours in the dark, such as the death of A-Hao.
The ending scene
When the mother and A-ho were riding on a stolen bike, you see the mom's point of view, gazing up the sun that's peeking through the tree leaves. You and the mother start to realize why A-Ho would always make his mother ride the bike for hours when he was a kid. Just gazing up at the sun as it's warmth sinks into your skin.
review
from the father who never viewed his second child as his until his first son died. It makes me wonder if this would've happened if the first son didn't commit suicide. Would the father view his second son in a different light if A-Hao was still alive? But in the end, he killed Radish, showing the extend he would go just to have A-Ho live a life that's normal. It's only at the end clip where the father explains that he would watch A-Ho work, watching him for 24 hours to make sure he wouldn't do anything wrong again. You see a family that experiences so many problems and you see them struggle with it, how the mother still cries for her first son after all these years, how A-Ho works day and night shifts at two different jobs to support his new family, how the father seems to be alone.
Do I believe the fairest thing in the world would be the sun?
It makes sense why A-Hao would say that, and if I wasn't an over-thinker I would think that would be a great line. But after watching Parasite, I wouldn't say that everyone gets to see the same amount of sun like everyone else. But I do agree that on a hot day, most would go find shade and everyone can find shade. I think metaphorically he meant that everyone has their own setbacks that make them imperfect and others don't expect much more than them. But I see what A-Hao means when he said he has no shadow to go to. This may be wrong, but perhaps he meant that he is always viewed as the golden child, and all this weight and expectations on him made the spotlight shine on him 24/7, never giving him a chance to mess up freely. Perhaps that's why he committed suicide. If we look at it from this lens it shows that even the person who we expect to be the happiest and nicest would be the most depressed and hopeless. Throughout the movie, you learn that A-Hao has been nothing but nice. I read a quote once, it said the ones who smile the most are usually the ones who cry the most. Maybe because they are naturally emotional? I don't know, everyone is different. But it shows that not everyone is who they are when they present themselves to others.
The film deserves all the awards that it earned and overall I really enjoyed watching it, especially the satisfying ending.
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