The whole film runs through and is based on "conflict". The conflict between Lao Zhu's master and his daughter-in-law Martha, the conflict between Lao Zhu and his son, the conflict between Lao Zhu and society (Lao Zhu once got lost near his home and went out to work in a restaurant in China after a conflict with his son's family) and the cultural conflict between China and the United States. Of course, the film itself has been pushed to the end from the conflicts again and again. But in my interpretation, conflict is the means of film, and the final outcome expresses such a thinking: people are lonely. This may be my very personal interpretation, but the charm of works of art lies in that it acts on different appreciation individuals and produces different artistic meanings, just like "a thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets". The story with Lao Zhu as the protagonist is mainly unfolded by two narrative clues: one is the contradiction and conflict between Lao Zhu and his son's family, and the other is the emotional development between Lao Zhu and Mrs. Chen. The contradiction between Lao Zhu and his son's family was expressed in professional film language from the beginning of the film. Since then, the film has arranged several escalating conflicts, pushing the story to an irreversible climax that must be changed. At the beginning of the film, the conflict between Lao Zhu and his American daughter-in-law was directly expressed in the picture language without the help of dialogue or music narration. Ang Lee's wonderful use of audio-visual language here shows his solid skill. Through these pictures, we can see the Chinese calligraphy and painting on the wall in the set and the English on the computer screen. The contrast montage between the old man in China and the American woman is very mild at first. Putting two completely different people in the depth-of-field lens, the people in the foreground and the people in the background naturally have some connection, and the strong conflict and silent contradiction are fully expressed in the picture.
There was a conflict climax in the kitchen "microwave oven explosion". In this painting, in order to attract the attention of the audience, the light in the foreground is dim, and the light is concentrated on the background of two people in a narrow kitchen. The characters are framed in a narrow door, and the space is cramped, which indicates the irreconcilable contradiction between the two. The dietary differences between China and the West also participate in the construction of the conflict. Although two people are under the same roof, they are two different worlds.
This conflict montage escalated the "war" between two people. The sound of Zhu cutting onions and Martha washing dishes sounded as fierce as a gun battle, and the two men cut their faces together to emphasize this conflict. The inner contradictions and conflicts of the characters are externalized through actions. This kitchen conflict scene is both reasonable and wonderful, which is admirable. The contradiction at the dinner table is more prominent, and the son is in a dilemma between his father and his wife. I have always admired director Ang Lee's skill in designing lines. It seems casual and natural, but the effect is outstanding and the strength is just right. In the picture, three people clashed at the Chinese table. The background sound is the sound of cartoon characters fighting in the cartoon watched by grandson Jamie. This combination of sound and picture skillfully conveys the meaning of "dining table battlefield" This can be regarded as the first conflict climax of the film. In Chinese school, Lao Zhu and Mrs. Chen "don't know each other", which is a very common acquaintance scene design, and at the same time it makes people feel impressive and unique. In the next few paragraphs, we can also see that we didn't say a word about "love", but Lao Zhu knew Mrs. Chen's "love" audience at a glance. Martha was frustrated at work, and Zhu helped her see a doctor. The scene of treatment failure can be regarded as the climax of the second conflict. Lao Zhu helped Martha to see a doctor. In the end, Martha's stomach bleeding, flustered pictures, unstable composition, shaking seat movement and vague focus all strengthened the climax of this conflict.