"Totoro": Life is beautiful, and it can be expected to meet

Totoro is an animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and voiced by Noriko Hidaka, Chisa Sakamoto, and Shigeto Itoi, released in Japan on April 16, 1988. A high-definition remake was released in China on December 14, 2018. The style of the film is fresh and full of warmth, with nature as the background and family affection as the main line, fully portraying the beautiful time when the Xiaoyue sisters and the forest owner Totoro met and helped each other.

This is a very infectious cartoon, which can not only awaken the innocent memories of childhood for adults, but also make people empathize with the carefree childhood time, and the aesthetic painting style allows people to maintain an innocence in the complex world.

At the same time, "Totoro" is also a film with pain points, a father in order to facilitate his wife's illness, with two daughters Xiaoyue and Mei moved to the countryside near the wife's nursing home, living in an old house that fell into disrepair, this old house is like a "haunted house" that he did not dare to enter in his childhood.

The father shouldered the burden of the family, and the young sister Xiaoyue also became a "surrogate mother", not only to assist the father in taking care of the housework, arranging the family's living and eating, taking care of the younger sister, but also having to complete her education.

And the younger sister Mei is the most carefree presence in the film, the sister went to school, she "explored" near the home, catching tadpoles by the small waterhole, running happily behind the house in front of the door, tracking mysterious animals, crossing the dense forest and meeting the totoro.

Although she was happy, she was lonely inside. Playing alone, eating alone, living without the company of her peers and without the love of her mother.

Children of this age are undoubtedly the ones who need the most parental love, but the lack of maternal love is obviously cruel.

Of course, the director is also warm.

The morning sun shines through the dense forest on the fields, country roads, and bluestone slabs by the creek, and the warm colors outline the picture of people and nature living in harmony.

The amiable old woman soaks the freshly picked cucumber in the stream to relieve Mei; the kind and shy little boy gives his umbrella to the little sister to shield himself from the rain when it rains; the neighbors who work in the field do not forget to greet each other...

All the beautiful pictures heal the lack of emotion.

Miyazaki said: "In our country, there is a kind of magical little elf, who lives around us like our neighbors and plays and plays. But ordinary people can't see them, and it is said that only the innocent minds of children can capture their signs. If you calm down and listen, the sound of their running can be faintly heard in the wind. ”

Totoro in the film is exactly what Hayao Miyazaki calls a "magical elf".

In the film, the totoro appears four times, the first time is when Xiaomei goes to the countryside to play alone, she goes into a mysterious tree hole to meet a large and sleeping totoro; the second time is when Xiaoyue stands by the bus stop with her sleeping sister on her back in the evening rain to deliver an umbrella to her father; the third time is when the oak seeds planted by the sisters in the courtyard sprout; the fourth time is Xiaoyue looking for the lost Mei.

It does not appear all the time, but each appearance is just right, bringing happiness and help to the little sisters. It is a symbol of innocence and beauty, a link between man and nature in harmony.

As adults, our eyes are full of complex and busy real life, but "Totoro" reminds us to stop, discover the beauty of life, appreciate the scenery around us, and you will find that life is still beautiful and can be expected.