The story took place in a once heavy industry town in the northeast, but now it has become barren and desolate, with abandoned heavy industry factories everywhere. In a state-owned enterprise reform, the protagonist Wang Guilin and many people in the town lost their jobs and livelihoods. Wang Guilin organized several colleagues to form a small band and played and sang in the street all day to make a living. But it rained all night, and Wang Guilin's wife wanted to divorce him again, transfer the money to a wealthy businessman selling fake drugs, and take her daughter Xiao Yuan away. In order to keep her daughter who loves playing the piano, Chen Guilin, who can't afford a piano and was arrested for stealing it, found a retired engineer, a retired thief, a street thug, a factory owner and a pork dealer.
A group of down-and-out brothers started a "passion project" in an almost abandoned steel plant-making a real upright piano with sound out of steel.
This story is quite simple, without complicated characters and twists and turns; Yes, it's just people's slightly bitter northeast humor and some nonsense soundtracks that have been implemented from beginning to end. But what makes it different is that it is not an inspirational theme, nor an exciting event like StarCraft or Cosmic Wars-it only tells about a group of laid-off workers.
A little thing happened in the movie. For these laid-off workers, motivation is meaningless, and they don't expect to make a comeback and do something big again; Nothing can make their blood boil. They just want to live in the street for the rest of their lives. Just as they were sinking, Chen Guilin gave them a chance to rekindle their passion: to build a "steel" piano and keep their daughter Xiao Yuan, who was about to die with his ex-wife. Under the old friendship and Wang Guilin's "fool", these loafers were kneaded into a united whole. What they want is that their father, Wang Guilin, keeps a little man's dignity in front of his ex-wife and daughter.
In the process of piano building, I saw great changes in laid-off workers: retired engineers resumed their old jobs, while guiding everyone to build pianos, they planned to transform two large chimneys into works of art of "Long March 1 rocket" or "giraffe" to protect them from being blown up (although it didn't happen in the end); At first, the retired thief only joined for money, but in the process of making the piano, he found the feeling of home and gradually changed his outlook on life. Brother Ji in the factory has a gangland-like "Jianghu spirit", but seeing his seriousness and determination in piano production, I feel that he has become an out-and-out leader. Especially when the police finally came to arrest him, he said to the police, "I'll go with you after I finish my work." He checked his work, and after reporting to Chen Guilin, he was taken away by two policemen-looking at his back, he felt helpless and sad. With the unity of all, the "Piano Music" was finally made, but Wang Guilin's ex-wife still got the caress of her daughter Xiao Yuan.
Support rights. The film ends with Xiao Yuan playing "Piano Music". As the piano gradually disappeared from our sight, the film slowly came to an end. What is left to people is not the joy after success, but the complicated feelings inside.
Piano music reflects the helplessness and pain of laid-off workers. In the face of his wife's departure, Wang Guilin was helpless. In the face of hard life, the workers were also suffering. Even after trying to build a piano, her daughter left, which made Wang Guilin even more sad. As you can see, at the end of the film, when Xiao Yuan plays the piano, Wang Guilin's face is not gratified as a father, and there is no excitement of "after the rain clears up"-he just looks blankly. Because for him, even if his wife left, his daughter left and the piano was made, his life would go on. Although his optimistic attitude and humorous personality made the whole movie full of jokes and was named "comedy", this kind of "happiness" still carries the bitterness of life. Love and friendship are diluted by the plot of the film. It only truly reflects the lives of workers who have made sacrifices for the country, without any falsehood, so it can resonate with the audience and touch people deeply.
The piano of steel reflects the real life and inner world of laid-off workers in laughter and abuse, which is also its success.