Never, Seldom, Sometimes, Always Win The Jury Award Of The Berlin International Film Festival.

2miao/ text

The new work of American female director Eliza Shitman has a wonderful title: "never, seldom, sometimes, always". The film tells the story of a pregnant girl in Pennsylvania town who went to New York to seek abortion treatment accompanied by her cousin. The heroine Otam went through several tests, conducted different kinds of consultation, signed his name on various forms, until the middle of the film, four of the titles in the questionnaire appeared in the questionnaire, so that Otam, who had always been indifferent, had her first eye and red voice.

Never, seldom, sometimes, always. Data map

Why Otam and how to be violated in intimate relationships are unknown. It is equally important that the perpetrators are not, and the father of the child has not been explicitly mentioned and discussed. Shitman gave the protagonist Otam absolute subjectivity in her own self guided story - Otam was not defined by her relationship with any male, she did not appear as a daughter or whose girlfriend appeared; she dominated the control of her body and possessed the right to tell her personal history. The little girl did not tell her adviser about her past experience, and she rejected the audience's prying desire at the same time.

"Never, seldom, sometimes, always" won the jury award of this year's Berlin International Film Festival. In life, such stories are not uncommon. Rather than finding a new breakthrough point, the film has left behind complex ideas, chosen to play smoothly and dramatize an experience. Eliza Shitman's boldness is that she does not deliberately ask the audience to be empathy with the protagonist. She sets the story on a bleak winter day, chooses a cool line to match with a few lines, and makes a girl who is worried but unwilling to talk about it as the protagonist. She doesn't make any noise about pain and fear, avoids the possibility of emotional catharsis, and does not intend to force onlookers. Identify or understand.

The goodwill and danger of the world have not suddenly appeared to girls, but men's unconscious aggression and conscious aggression are common in the nuances of life. There may be the largest icebergs under the calm water surface, and the emergent edges and corners on the water surface are limited but enough clues. Men who only have two or three lenses do not have too many stops in Otam's daily life, but they deeply influence and even constitute a social environment for her. It is these regular and delicate disturbances that make girls' lives full of obstacles and troubles.

Tolerance and departure are the most common measures taken by Otam. Compared with the beautiful sisters, she is gentle in coping with men. The boy who talked to Skela on the bus to New York was the only male actor who had been fully developed. His dynamic relationship with Skela prevented the film from accusing the opposite sex. It is difficult for us to distinguish Skela's intention of giving the telephone number. The financial help provided by the boy is also hard to be identified. In the boy's mouth, New York is full of opportunities to meet strangers. It also hides interesting secrets and adventures. But the wonderful New York and the real New York they encounter are totally two. There is no plan to explore such a big city. Otam and Skela, who always wear large luggage, frequently go to various indoor spaces. Stations and subways provide temporary shelter for them, but they also emphasize vagabond and insecure. Nowhere did they ever imagine staying overnight in New York, but due to the requirements of surgery, a short trip turned into a tour of three days and two nights.

The large suitcase is puzzling but full of interpretation space. Even if tourists are everywhere in New York, dragging large luggage can not hide their purpose. Two, they made preparations for the excursion on the short journey. They could not afford to use their luggage to metaphor the weight they could not throw away. This very physical pressure of existence, which was more visible, highlighted their psychological burden. Skela did not complain about her luggage. Is it not always obvious? Women's mutual help is not to be publicized or put into words.