Life Lesson

Having been pretty busy on many fronts, I feel the work pressure again. To maintain work-life balance, I went to see a Japanese drama film "Shoplifters", which won the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival 2018. I just meant to compare the real specific stories that I came to know about in courts with the fictitious dramatic ones shown in the movie; but the movie is more than that.

As to the movie setting, I found the shabby scenes, the downcast characters and their ways of life refreshing. While social problems causing shoplifting were the same in real life and in the movie, I observed the contrast between over-correction in courts and sympathetic treatment in the movie. Anyhow, the movie is actually about family and hope, rather than shoplifting and correct social behaviour.

Recently, British scientists have categorized movies into six emotional profiles: (1) rags to riches, (2) riches to rags, (3) a fall followed by a rise, (4) a rise followed by a fall, (5) a rise followed by a fall followed by a rise, and (6) a fall followed by a rise followed by a fall. Basically, the literary and artistic plot twist techniques. Scientifically, the movie primarily falls into category (5).

While clues are given in the setting-up and in the B-story, what makes the A-story rich is its back story - the mystery as to how unrelated members come to live together initially. Revealing the suspense towards the end places the characters in different light. As to the final image, if I had a say in the film, I would let it fade out, so that the audience can have a breathing beat to absorb the life lesson!

#LifeLesson