I have thought long and hard about this unique drama, but I still feel the need to write about it, because it is the director’s greatest trust and respect to us, the audience.The name of this film, The Good Heart, has several meanings, and they are all very pleasing.One, it is not called A good heart, indicating that it is not just about finding a good heart, but the first meaning of The Good Heart is the story of that healthy heart, which is prominent in the name, but hidden in the film.
The second meaning can be said to be translated as “a good heart”, but it is not called The good mind or The good will or The sweet heart, in the name is derived, in the film is the appearance, that is, Zach’s good heart and Lucas’s good heart.
the third meaning, the film’s pseudo-open ending, that is, the understanding of the entire plot, the audience with the world’s good intentions or insight into the persistence of human nature.
Finally, the fourth meaning, is the director’s piece of good intentions, he wants people to see the first meaning, he wants the audience to see this story not only as a manifestation of God, good people’s good deeds and life’s sighs, but bravely face the silent judgment on human nature, hoping that more viewers will honestly point out the complete conspiracy.
Next, let’s take a look at why I call this film “pseudo-open ending”.
When Zach and Lucas are in the same hospital room, Zach is first angry and then thoughtful when he learns that Lucas committed suicide.
Zach never showed Lucas any fondness or affection for him at the hospital, and as a man close to death, he was disgusted that a healthy, young man would seek his own death. The hospital chart only records the patient’s medical history and physical basics, so Zach peeked at the chart rather than the resume, and it is unlikely that Zach was determining Lucas’s character and deciding whether to give him the bar. So the medical records mainly wrote Lucas’s blood type, physical condition, there may also be Lucas’s willingness to donate organs attached to the note.
Then Lucas returned to the slums to distribute money, after the money was distributed, the cat was hanged, with the most far-fetched and the most well-intentioned understanding, is to accept Lucas’s money of the same homeless people want to motivate Lucas while young to inspire the love of life and passion, so hang the cat, forcing him to get out of the shack and garbage, but this good mood does not make sense (so, here for the first time, the director (So, here for the first time, the director “a piece of good heart”, warning the audience: Just the good heart is not gonna be worked), because, the cat died, Lucas and hold a dog sleeping in the shack, and, the cat is not the reason for Lucas healthy young but light.
Zach picked up Lucas to the tavern, the director also gave enough hints and details – the road in front of the tavern is very narrow, not the main road, Zach savagely squeezed through between two cars, immediately after their tavern, so the road in front of the tavern is an alley with not many cars, and are used for residential parking. This is a huge ambush, completely dispel a suspicion – if it is Zach planning to Lucas’s heart, why can he can be sure to receive Lucas’s heart, an accident or a deliberate car accident can guarantee all this?
Then there was the duck that Zach went to pick out. Zach says that the duck is for Christmas, and Lucas asks in amazement how he can eat a live animal; then there is the release of the duck from the cage, and the duck walks back on its own; then the duck walks down the road for the first time.
We then look at the people who frequent the bar. There are three or four people whose main characteristics are portrayed, but of course I can’t be sure if these bar regulars are also Zach’s arrangement. And about the silent coffee drinker and a few other people who always disappear from the picture at key moments, I’m not sure if they are the ones who train the ducks or lead them to the road, the ones who wait for the opportunity to drive a car and speed into Lucas.
But there are a few characters whose plots the director is explicit about. The first is that Zach has friends and he wants Lucas to take his friend’s black daughter, so if Zach really just wants to keep the bar afloat in order to keep the old patrons from rippling through their habitual bar life because of their own passing (which can be seen as a far-fetched assumption), Lucas is not his only choice. The second is the accidental appearance of an unemployed flight attendant. The following few clues given by the director indicate that she is Zach hired or collusion: when first coming upstairs, it looks like sleeping Zach, in fact, listening to the ears of the tape that made Zach annoyed manic at the beginning of the film, so, do not fall asleep, this accomplice can not reasonably join in. Then is rolled away (of course, Lucas from the refrigerator to give) Zach’s money, and then back to ask and Lucas to marry, which is completely inconsistent with the style of Zach who is greedy for money and afraid to steal to put the money in the refrigerator and easy to freak out. Next is the unemployed stewardess and bar regulars flirt, according to our “a piece of good intentions” to understand, it does not make sense, if she was touched by the request to marry Lucas is also her, Lucas went to Zach to fight for the stewardess to stay and work in the bar beneficiary is also her, then why would she have this perverse behavior? Sleeping in a room when she seduced Lucas? Let’s just say that she was acting according to Zach’s request. In the end, Zach in the calm and victory in waiting for the heart, that is, when the bar in celebration (this celebration should be suggested by the stewardess), the duck disappeared from the bar, Lucas chased to the road, the high-speed car hit him, and then the noisy bar, can not hear the sound of this “accident” stewardess, but sad and slightly guilty and sympathetic out of the window to look at the location of Lucas accident.
Finally, let’s look at why, if the film is a “bloodbath caused by a healthy heart,” Zucker will live the rest of his life without guilt and guilt:For one thing, Zucker did not see all this as his own conspiracy, but rather a sense of accomplishment that he had made a God. Because in his view, Lucas is a young man who is eager to die without serious contact and experience of society, while he is a man who wants to live and lust or lust. One is a man who wants to give up his life and wants to donate his organs, and the other is a man who wants to live and will die. God gave Zach this opportunity.
Second, Zach seems to have given Lucas a miniature version of a rich life: learning the various skills of the bar, interacting with people, getting married, understanding the behavior of others, becoming worldly from naivety and ignorance , he arranged Lucas’ marriage, got Lucas excited to drive over the convertible, and even pretended to give away Half of the bar, he believes that Lucas’s final death in a car accident is far better than the result of Lucas’s own lightness of life, because Lucas has experienced life before completing the initial will to stay away from the world, so he not only accomplished himself, but also accomplished others.
Third, Zach’s last laugh, in addition to the victor, peace of mind and comfort, there is a kind of getaway smug, because he already knows that after a miniature life he designed, Lucas has not wanted to kill himself, but his well-thought-out plan, or let himself get the heart as he wished.
At this point, the whole film is activated by a story of “that healthy heart” throughout the film.
What the director expects the audience to realize, that is, the director’s good intentions is: Just the good heart is not gonna be worked. We must look at human nature and society, a murder film without conspiracy voiceovers and tense plot hints does not mean that it is not a murder film, a seemingly warm narrative does not mean that it is not a conspiracy.There is good will, but also screening and judgment.
