Film Review "New York Real Man": The Whisper Of "Millennials"

Wen / Liu Ying

Chinese American girl Raleigh's college career is coming to an end. However, she looks around in a daze and doesn't know where her future is going. She tried to find fun in endless parties, but she was often tortured by her classmates' soul of "where to stand next" when she was drunk. Walking in the bustling Chinatown, she finally packed up and went back to Philadelphia, where she grew up. Surrounded by her parents and family, she tried to clear the fog and see herself

Raleigh is the main character in the movie "the real man in New York.". Her fate sounds so familiar that it could be met by anyone. This seemingly impromptu feature film was created by a young Asian American director, kit zauhar, who wrote, directed and acted in the film, bringing together a group of family and friends, and produced it for only $10000. At the 74th Locarno International Film Festival, the film was shortlisted for the "contemporary filmmaker competition unit" focusing on new directors, and received a lot of praise after its premiere《 Probably all the people who have experienced it will resonate with the confusion of youth shown in "New York real people". Although the story takes place in the United States, it has strong universality. Raleigh and her friends are typical samples of the times, as well as vivid slices of the "millennials". In the fragments of seemingly ordinary daily life, we can observe the real living appearance of a group of young people.

The rough and spontaneous style of "New York real man" reminds people of the once popular "Whispering core". After 2000, the grassroots North American directors took up the non high-end photography equipment, aimed at the people around them, and shot realistic films with extremely low cost, forming an influential school for a time. The director never evades the influence of these films on her, but for a woman of Asian descent who grew up in the North American environment, the "Whispering core" dominated by white men can not meet her expression needs. So, she simply started her own writing and wrote a script that could make the ethnic minorities feel the same way《 The same is true of the novel "New York real people" - it sincerely analyzes the protagonist's temporary failure, and does not hide her cowardice and predicament. But at the same time, the story shows her resistance in a very delicate way: in dealing with people, in the face of other people's sometimes even unconscious discrimination, she always argues for her position. We can clearly appreciate the blessing of director's own experience on creation in the film. Instead of touching on the issues of race and gender, she skillfully creates her daily life into a stage for debate. The disputes between her friends in the bar and her ambiguous game with her roommate Anderson remind us how many invisible misunderstandings people of color in western mainstream culture will suffer in their life, How much prejudice can't be traced back.

Of course, the more emphasized identity of Raleigh in the film is a college student who is about to step into society. The week before graduation, she had the biggest panic of her life. Unable to know how to choose the road ahead, she fell into depression. This is probably a familiar experience for all the audience on the screen. Perhaps because of his Asian identity, the director finally chose to let his characters return to his hometown of Philadelphia, which is rarely seen in the "Whispering core" works in the usual sense. The sister she ran into at the party and went home to her strict parents made her more disappointed. The film stops abruptly when she returns to class, implying her failure in graduation, but also gives her another chance to cheer up.

The moving point of "New York real human" is that the director gives herself to the audience without reservation. Through intensive dialogue, she asks questions about people and things around her. Restless scenes, which simulate the anxiety of the characters, also represent the security of the Millennials. Raleigh is not a single individual. She represents a broader group of young people, and the desperate moment they are experiencing. However, it is precisely because the director can create from the experience of great body sense that "the real man of New York" shows a rare pity: it is reflective, but also gentle, and it is an affectionate glance at every immature individual.

?