news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Some time ago, the foreign entertainment magazine "Variety" selected the top ten films in the first half of 2024.

In addition to the visual effects blockbuster "Dune 2" and the box office record-breaking "Inside Out 2", there is also a relatively low-key film.

Although there are only one male and one female actor, and the story takes place in a single scene, the plot is not monotonous at all, and even has some healing atmosphere——"Hitchhiking"。

The film's script was selected for the 2017 "Script Blacklist" (high-quality unproduced scripts) and was originally planned to be filmed that year, but due to various reasons, it was not officially announced until 2021 that "Dakota Johnson" would star in the film.

When the creators were selecting the male lead, they wanted to find an actor "similar to Sean Penn", mature, sophisticated, and insightful. Coincidentally, Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn are neighbors in real life. With her recommendation, the creators finally decided on Sean Penn as the male lead.

In this way, this pair of actors who are real neighbors presented the audience with a story that took place in a taxi.

Late at night, the heroine's plane landed at Kennedy Airport. She was exhausted from dragging her luggage and just wanted to take a taxi back home as soon as possible.

After getting in the car, she skillfully turned off the in-car advertisements, reported her whereabouts to the person on the other end of the phone, and then looked out the window thoughtfully.

At this time, the taxi driver in the front row suddenly started a conversation, chatting casually. He complained that he had bad luck today, as most of the passengers he picked up were short-distance ones. Not only did he not make much money, but the passengers also paid online, so he didn't get much tips.

Following this topic, he began to complain about the current pace of technological development and worried that he would be unemployed in the near future...

Although the heroine was tired, she did not resist the driver's talk. Even the sadness on her face just now disappeared because of the driver's chatter.

She decided to put her phone down for a while and chat with the stranger in front of her.

The driver's name is Clark. He lives in Queens, New York, and has been driving a taxi for 20 years. His most proud skill is that he can quickly determine what kind of people the passengers who get on the car are.

At this moment, the heroine could not escape his keen observation from the moment she got on the car. Just from the heroine's clothes and her detailed movements after getting on the car, he could tell that she was an outstanding woman who was calm and self-satisfied.

Clark even emphasized twice meaningfully - you can take care of yourself.

In fact, he could tell at a glance that the heroine was experiencing emotional distress.

The person on the other end of her phone was a married man. She couldn't extricate herself from this relationship. On the one hand, she was obsessed with his deep affection, but on the other hand, she felt disgusted by his dirty talk when he was horny. The tug of war between reason and emotion eventually turned into that hesitant message.

And all this did not escape the eyes of veteran driver Clark.

He didn't want to pry into the heroine's personal privacy hastily, so he started with topics such as hometown, family, and occupation, allowing the heroine to slowly let down her guard.

She began by introducing herself as a programmer, talking about her hometown, and her special experience of being tied to the bathtub by her sister many times when she was a child and struggling to escape. This time she was traveling far away to visit her sister who she had not contacted for a long time.

The opportunity for the topic to turn from homely to in-depth is that while driving, the road was blocked due to a car accident, and the two were trapped in the taxi and unable to move.

Clark observed the heroine's evasive attitude and pointed out that she was in love with a married man. He immediately gave the heroine a piece of advice with the attitude of a veteran:

Thus, a bold discussion on gender relations began in the taxi.

Although Clark's words were vulgar, they revealed the true nature of most men in the world - their requirement for women is always to be a pleasing "plaything" and a capital to show off.

Although women today are trying their best to fight for their rights and status, they ultimately cannot escape the traps set by men.

The reason why he tried so hard to persuade the heroine to get out of this relationship as soon as possible was because he was also a scumbag who hurt women's feelings.

At this point in the plot, the relationship between the male and female protagonists becomes subtle.

At the beginning, the heroine and Clark had a simple employment relationship. He drove and she paid the bill. After the transaction was completed, the two were still strangers.

However, the traffic jam during this long-distance passenger journey turned the ordinary taxi into a psychological clinic in an instant. The heroine was the patient with various childhood traumas, and Clark was the psychologist who was good at Freud's psychoanalysis and could enlighten the patient.

Although the heroine is facing strangers, this simple interpersonal relationship makes it easier for her to recall and discuss everything about herself without any precautions, especially in the current social environment, where everyone becomes an island and it is easier for strangers to quickly gain unscrupulous trust.

The English title of the film, Daddio, means "Dad" in spoken English, and also hints at the three "dads" the heroine has met from her childhood to the present.

The first is her biological father, whose memory becomes increasingly blurred. In the heroine's childhood impression, her father always seemed distant, never close to her, and there was no intimate interaction between father and daughter.

This lack of childhood has led to her choosing a partner in her adulthood, which is increasingly inclined towards men who are old enough to be her father. The married man on the other end of the phone is a way of making up for the lack of childhood.

The heroine even had to admit to the perceptive Clark that she did call this lover "Dad".

The third "father" the heroine encountered was Clark, who had a very experienced eye for people and even had a bit of "daddy flavor".

He never beats around the bush, his words are vulgar and casual, and he doesn't think twice about the fact that the heroine is a new-age working woman.

He naturally put himself in the position of a "mentor", pointing out the heroine's current predicament without hesitation, talking about everything from the heroine's original family to her current emotional dilemma, and even using his own past as a "teaching material" to persuade the heroine to get out of it as soon as possible, just like a "father".

Clark's sincerity made the heroine feel an unprecedented sense of trust. When the taxi was about to arrive at the destination, she confessed that she was pregnant with her lover's child, but when she returned home this time, the child unfortunately miscarried.

When it comes to emotions, Clark can't help but feel sorry for this special passenger...

Although the story of the entire film is supported by the dialogue between the male and female protagonists and the scene is fixed in the taxi, the plot of "Hitchhiking" is not boring. Instead, it constructs a possible scenario for the audience that they have never thought about carefully in life - having a heart-to-heart talk with strangers.

We live in an age of information overload. An app or a game can create distance between people. This rapid change catches people off guard and also carries some risk of backlash.

Just as the male protagonist in the film said, the currency that was once visible and tangible has now become a light and airy "concept" and will one day turn into a dark cloud that brings acid rain.

What’s strange is that in an era of greater convenience and information overload, we are becoming more and more self-enclosed, with everyone immersed in their own world. This development has gradually affected communication between people.

The most realistic plot in "The Hitchhiker" is that the heroine sends a message to her lover in the car. She expects a sweet and warm response from the other party, but the other party only cares about his own physiological needs, which makes the heroine who was originally immersed in it instantly lose her appetite.

However, she still played the role of the caring lover in the message until the other party came to his senses, put down the phone and took care of his family...

This plot accurately points out the truth about love between men and women in contemporary cities. Even though the way people communicate has changed, the gap and unequal demands between the two sexes still exist in this society.

In the digital world constructed by 0 and 1, some people boldly pursue their desires, while others look forward to true love. Perhaps they can all get what they want in the virtual world, but people still yearn for the kind of trusting communication between people shown in the film.

At the end of the film, Clark finally drove the heroine to her destination.

Clark encourages the heroine who is struggling in her relationship like an old friend, and tells her that she will definitely get through this difficult period.

This may be the warmest care in this fast-paced world.