Pessimistic character: the main character doesn’t push the storyline. He just sits indoors and people come to him. He doesn’t seek a goal. The story is pushed by other characters. But in traditional script structure, all stories are pushed by the main character, who seeks something or avoids something.
Pessimistic storytelling: Story is told by other people, not the main character. He never tells his story by himself, it’s always people around him tell the parts of stories they know to each other.
Ending: the only sunshine shines on his daughter’s face, then his face, and the whole room. It’s the only sunshine in the whole film, which makes it extremely powerful.
This ending can be interpreted in two ways. Practically, he couldn’t stand up. He just dreams of standing up and embracing the sunshine while sitting in the sofa. Creatively, cuz his daughter asked him to come to the door, he doesn’t want to disappoint her. So he practices and finally comes to her.
The movie is like an exaggerated version of different people we encountered when needing help. Most people are just like the missionary and pizza guy. Missionary guy is kind and eager to help, but he never thinks about things from Charlie’s perspective. He only thinks from his own point of view and just selfishly wants to convince him how important God is. Pizza guy is also kind and wants to know more about Charlie, but was in shock and ran away when he saw the truth.
They are all kind, but either selfish or can’t shoulder more responsibility. Missionary guy are like people who show they’re warmhearted but actually just care about themselves and want to make themselves look good and smart. Pizza guy is a kind coward.
