Editor's note: Japan is a veritable film powerhouse. According to the Japan Film Producers Alliance, in 2015, a total of 1136 movies were released in Japan with 3437 screens, of which 581 were local films. More than 160 million moviegoers (120 million in Japan) grossed more than 200 million yen and grossed 38 local films that grossed more than 200 billion yen and grossed more than 1 billion yen.
From any point of view, Japanese cinema should not be overlooked. However, in recent years, the Japanese films introduced by China every year can be described as "rare", and ordinary people other than professionals know very little about Japanese films. Therefore, I would like to introduce you to some representative Japanese films, and I hope that through these films, you can understand a more colorful Japan.
(1) This is the original appearance of life - "Moving Forward by Train" directed by Morita Yoshimitsu
What is comedy? The definition of comedy is complex and bizarre, but one thing won't change: make the audience laugh. There is also a kind of comedy that makes the audience laugh heartily by showing the beauty of life and giving people positive energy.
Comedies directed by Yoshimitsu Morita fall into this category.
Stills from "Moving Forward by Train" (file image)
Morita is an all-round director who is handy in all genres, and comedy is one of his representative films. His comedy does not rely on plot promotion, does not rely on the shaping of characters, but starts from daily life, captures the common but easily overlooked comedy elements in life, enlarges them, and uses the inner core connection of comedy to make the plot coherent. On the surface, things that are not compatible with each other have the same comedic core, and there is no sense of delay in connecting them, which makes people feel comfortable after watching them. Morita's posthumous work "Moving Forward by Train" is such a comfortable movie that is like drinking honey.
"Traveling by Train" is a feature film about "railway fans". The film has almost no plot to speak of. Kenichi Matsuyama plays a real estate company employee who "lost" his girlfriend because he was obsessed with railways; the son of a factory owner played by Eita, who is good at mechanical design but is extremely blunt in love; the two become friends because of their common hobbies. After Kenichi Matsuyama was transferred to Kyushu, Eita went to visit and not only met a new railway fan friend, but also unexpectedly solved their work and emotional troubles.
If you're watching movies for thrills, "Moving On the Train" is obviously not a good fit. However, this is a film that depicts the original appearance of life. In real life, there can be so many dramatic conflicts.
Morita's genius lies in capturing comedic elements from the details of life and recreating many of the things in life that are simple enough to make people feel happy. Morita's sense of rhythm in his films is first-rate, and when he shows these comedic elements, the pace slows down and the camera quiets down, forcing the audience to re-examine life.
For example, there is a stubborn old man in the film, whose daily hobby is to put on the Spanish football team uniform and do football training actions along the field. Like the grandfathers in our park practicing various traditional martial arts, it is a very ordinary scenery. However, when the camera focuses on the old man for a long time, the audience will turn from ignoring it to discovering the inexplicable joy in his body; and when the protagonist joins in order to beg the old man to sell the land, the audience will turn from joy to laughter.
This is what life is. In today's society, there is no pain of frostbite and no risk of war. After watching Morita Yoshimitsu's movie, I found that life itself is so interesting, but we have been turning a blind eye.
Just as Japanese cuisine has always focused on the original taste of ingredients, Morita Yoshimitsu tells us that an authentic life is good enough without the need for deliberate thrill-seeking. Sunshine, trains, music, friends, these are enough to constitute great joy.
The entire film revolves around "railroad fans". But the railway is only a shell, and the core of the film borrows YingTai's mouth to say that the fate between people is the most important.
American scientists have done statistics, a person knows an average of 2,000 people in their lifetime. If you think about it, the number of people I know, that is, relatives, classmates, and colleagues, is definitely not more than 2,000.
Thinking like this, Kenichi Matsuyama and Eita became friends because of the same hobbies, and this fate is simply the favor of heaven. At the same time, the film uses a dramatic approach, so that the characters in the play have formed a wonderful fate due to various coincidences.
The director is telling us that the fate between people is very beautiful and worth cherishing, which is the gift of life. "Forward by Train" is a film full of human touch, a film that restores the authenticity of life.
Unfortunately, Morita left this world forever in 2011 due to acute liver disease.
"Moving Forward by Train" poster (file image)
Background fee: The front line of the row (Let's go by our express - A train)
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
Starring: Kenichi Matsuyama / Eita / Kanjiya Shiho / Keiko Matsusaka
Length / Genre: 117 minutes / Drama, Comedy
Screening date: March 24, 2012 (Japan)