Mirage
Mirage
The movie starts with Tom walking alone on a street. He says nothing, but instead, he hears someone calling his name and sees someone wearing white dress running across the street. After a blink, these shadows are gone. He then shifts to his memory about his mother and his sister. He lived in a family which the father left with nothing but a smile. He had to work in a warehouse to take care the whole family. He had an annoying mother who tries to control everything in the family, at the same time, he also had a meek sister who feels inferior because she has plurosis. Laura, the sister, lied that she goes to business school everyday. Laura has no strength on living on her own but treasures the glass animals a lot. When Amanda, the mother, finally found out Laura’s lie, she decided to find a gentleman caller for Laura. She wants the gentleman caller to replace Tom in the family because she also knew Tom was unwilling to stay in the family. Thus Amanda asked Tom to find a gentleman caller in the warehouse. The gentleman caller, Jim, came to the dinner. The family did not know that Jim has an engagement already. After the conversation, Jim asked Laura to dance. During the dancing, Jim knocked down and broke the glass unicorn that is Laura’s favorite. Jim felt sorry but then led on Laura and kissed her. However, he then stated that he cannot call again because his engagement. Laura was depressed. After Jim left, Amanda started another argue with Tom. Tom then left the family. When Tom is back from his memory, he speaks his regret to Laura and he heads to the next destination.
The majority of the play is Tom’s memory. It is the past that Tom sees through his smoke. The scene behind the smoke is unrealistic and colorful. The reason says it is colorful is because the color of the memory will be effected by Tom’s mood. At the end of the movie, Tom gives a monologue that indicates that he is regretting his leaving of the family. Thus the whole memory is underlying a filter of regret. The memory is a mono color painting, but different kind of sadness from the present provides different kinds of blue paints and enrich the whole scene.
Besides colorful, another theme of the movie is lies. Everyone in the movie lies to themselves. Tom might lie to himself about the real situation in the family because he regrets too much, Amanda might lie to herself that she has a glory past and can live in her own imagination, Laura might lie to herself that everyone dislikes her because her limb leg, and Jim might lie to himself that he will come back as a star again… Everyone has their illusion but nobody wants to wake up. Just like people looking at a mirage, everyone is so stunning and colorful that they all think it is real.
When I was reading the script, one thing I would do if I am the director is I will make the character in the past look as miserable as they can. Because if Tom is regretting about the family, he might exaggerate the poor situation of the family. But I found there is nothing much I can do about the setting to make the family poor. However, the movie uses a clever tricks to accomplish this goal. It let every character make a perfect smile when they talked about their past, in contrast, make a miserable face when they come back and talk about reality. It is heart broking. Laura sinks into her memory of Jim in high school when Amanda asks if she had a boy she likes. Her smile plus the sunlight is beautiful but also fragile. However, after a while, she goes back to her slightly gloomy face. The whole family in Tom’s memory was like this. It makes the family become a family living in the past. It also makes the family become dispossessed when it shows seldom connection with the present. It further leads to the conclusion that Tom’s leaving can destroy the family.
There is a unexpected element that I did not think of but is done really well by the movie. The relationship between Tom and Laura is better than I thought. When Tom drunk at night and came back from the “movies”, Laura treated Tom so well. They interacted in that scene a lot. It even seems that they were husband and wife for me. Their eyes were locked, Laura helped Tom to undo his shoes, and Tom brought the scarf for Laura as a husband brought gift for wife when he returned from trips. The most importantly, Laura waited for Tom. All signs show that their relationship were so close. The leaving of Tom will be a crash to Laura. On the other hand, this “happiness” leaks out from the scene make the whole memory of Laura worse. In present time of the movie, Tom is sitting in a dark, cold night; while in the memory, he and Laura were under comforting orange light, and they were home. It seems like Laura is a sweet memory of him that he can never goes back.
The music of the movie is also interesting. There is a same piece of melody that being played again and again. Every time that Tom thinks his regret, or when he does not do enough for Laura, the same music plays. The music also plays when Laura shows her fragility. For instance, when Laura showed and talked about her glass menagerie to Jim, the music plays. It is one of the moments that Laura shows her beauty, but the music also indicates that the beauty is just like glass that can be easily broken. The repetition and the thoughtfully chosen melody made the movie more like a memory, far and beautiful.
I like the Laura in the movie the best. In the script, she has the least description on how to act this character. However, the actress did well on expressing Laura’s fragility. She tries to be kind to everybody. She speaks softly. The actress also acts Laura’s nerves well. When she talks to Jim, she also gradually opening herself. It is her existent that makes the memory become like a mirage.
The movie is covered by a atmosphere of sadness. The altering of the reality that Tom has and his memory makes all the happiness in the past bitter. Every time Tom goes back to reality, the memory is like a knife stabbing into the audience’s heart. All Tom is smoking now, is his loneliness. The memory is also like a mirage for Tom. He knows it is fake and fragile, even a wave of wind can blow it away. However, it is so engaging that everyone wants one more glance of the memory. One more, and then sinking into it.
The movie starts with Tom walking alone on a street. He says nothing, but instead, he hears someone calling his name and sees someone wearing white dress running across the street. After a blink, these shadows are gone. He then shifts to his memory about his mother and his sister. He lived in a family which the father left with nothing but a smile. He had to work in a warehouse to take care the whole family. He had an annoying mother who tries to control everything in the family, at the same time, he also had a meek sister who feels inferior because she has plurosis. Laura, the sister, lied that she goes to business school everyday. Laura has no strength on living on her own but treasures the glass animals a lot. When Amanda, the mother, finally found out Laura’s lie, she decided to find a gentleman caller for Laura. She wants the gentleman caller to replace Tom in the family because she also knew Tom was unwilling to stay in the family. Thus Amanda asked Tom to find a gentleman caller in the warehouse. The gentleman caller, Jim, came to the dinner. The family did not know that Jim has an engagement already. After the conversation, Jim asked Laura to dance. During the dancing, Jim knocked down and broke the glass unicorn that is Laura’s favorite. Jim felt sorry but then led on Laura and kissed her. However, he then stated that he cannot call again because his engagement. Laura was depressed. After Jim left, Amanda started another argue with Tom. Tom then left the family. When Tom is back from his memory, he speaks his regret to Laura and he heads to the next destination.
The majority of the play is Tom’s memory. It is the past that Tom sees through his smoke. The scene behind the smoke is unrealistic and colorful. The reason says it is colorful is because the color of the memory will be effected by Tom’s mood. At the end of the movie, Tom gives a monologue that indicates that he is regretting his leaving of the family. Thus the whole memory is underlying a filter of regret. The memory is a mono color painting, but different kind of sadness from the present provides different kinds of blue paints and enrich the whole scene.
Besides colorful, another theme of the movie is lies. Everyone in the movie lies to themselves. Tom might lie to himself about the real situation in the family because he regrets too much, Amanda might lie to herself that she has a glory past and can live in her own imagination, Laura might lie to herself that everyone dislikes her because her limb leg, and Jim might lie to himself that he will come back as a star again… Everyone has their illusion but nobody wants to wake up. Just like people looking at a mirage, everyone is so stunning and colorful that they all think it is real.
When I was reading the script, one thing I would do if I am the director is I will make the character in the past look as miserable as they can. Because if Tom is regretting about the family, he might exaggerate the poor situation of the family. But I found there is nothing much I can do about the setting to make the family poor. However, the movie uses a clever tricks to accomplish this goal. It let every character make a perfect smile when they talked about their past, in contrast, make a miserable face when they come back and talk about reality. It is heart broking. Laura sinks into her memory of Jim in high school when Amanda asks if she had a boy she likes. Her smile plus the sunlight is beautiful but also fragile. However, after a while, she goes back to her slightly gloomy face. The whole family in Tom’s memory was like this. It makes the family become a family living in the past. It also makes the family become dispossessed when it shows seldom connection with the present. It further leads to the conclusion that Tom’s leaving can destroy the family.
There is a unexpected element that I did not think of but is done really well by the movie. The relationship between Tom and Laura is better than I thought. When Tom drunk at night and came back from the “movies”, Laura treated Tom so well. They interacted in that scene a lot. It even seems that they were husband and wife for me. Their eyes were locked, Laura helped Tom to undo his shoes, and Tom brought the scarf for Laura as a husband brought gift for wife when he returned from trips. The most importantly, Laura waited for Tom. All signs show that their relationship were so close. The leaving of Tom will be a crash to Laura. On the other hand, this “happiness” leaks out from the scene make the whole memory of Laura worse. In present time of the movie, Tom is sitting in a dark, cold night; while in the memory, he and Laura were under comforting orange light, and they were home. It seems like Laura is a sweet memory of him that he can never goes back.
The music of the movie is also interesting. There is a same piece of melody that being played again and again. Every time that Tom thinks his regret, or when he does not do enough for Laura, the same music plays. The music also plays when Laura shows her fragility. For instance, when Laura showed and talked about her glass menagerie to Jim, the music plays. It is one of the moments that Laura shows her beauty, but the music also indicates that the beauty is just like glass that can be easily broken. The repetition and the thoughtfully chosen melody made the movie more like a memory, far and beautiful.
I like the Laura in the movie the best. In the script, she has the least description on how to act this character. However, the actress did well on expressing Laura’s fragility. She tries to be kind to everybody. She speaks softly. The actress also acts Laura’s nerves well. When she talks to Jim, she also gradually opening herself. It is her existent that makes the memory become like a mirage.
The movie is covered by a atmosphere of sadness. The altering of the reality that Tom has and his memory makes all the happiness in the past bitter. Every time Tom goes back to reality, the memory is like a knife stabbing into the audience’s heart. All Tom is smoking now, is his loneliness. The memory is also like a mirage for Tom. He knows it is fake and fragile, even a wave of wind can blow it away. However, it is so engaging that everyone wants one more glance of the memory. One more, and then sinking into it.
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