I was a little confused in the third act. Maybe it was because it's the future, or maybe it's a cultural difference, but I didn't fully understand the father's obsession with guns. It was more than a little shocking to see what looked like an assault rifle just sitting on the coffee table. What am I missing here?
shareHe explains it briefly in the scene with the translator. In China, individuals were not allowed to buy guns, but now in Australia, he is. He's obsessed with guns because they are a new luxury and freedom to him, however he complains that he is allowed to have them but not allowed to shoot anyone with them. So, the father uses the guns as a metaphor to explain to Dollar that freedom isn't all it's cracked up to be. A lot of promise but it ultimately doesn't satisfy. The translator interprets what he says by saying "freedom can be seen in many ways". Dollar thinks its silly and petty and sees more potential in freedom. I think the film itself uses the guns to warn of the superficial appeals of more Western societies.
shareThat makes sense. Thank you!
shareDo you remember his father(Zhang Jinsheng)'s old friend who turned out to be his enemy because of the love triangle between Tao--Liang Zi?And there's a scene back in the 1990s when Zhang drove a car to ask a friend for a gun on the construction site,and because Zhang hated Liang Zi so much at the time,he wanted to kill Liang by a gun.I think that becomes a seed for Zhang's later obsession for guns.So when the timeline went to 2025,there's no friend around Zhang,not even an enemy,of course he's missing his old frienemy "Liang Zi".He doesn't even know what happens to Liang Zi right now--is he still alive or what.So the "gun" also is a symbol of "nastalgia" .
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