"This is a story about the secrets of the world that only she and I know"
"Weather Child" as a movie released in 2019, feels very far away. Whenever the hot summer comes, there is always an urge to see it again. This time, I looked at the occasional blue sky, and then I couldn't resist opening the movie and watching it myself. Weather Child is a very special set of films, and at each time, each stage of re-watching will have a different feeling. Maybe that's because we're all growing up. In the cruel world, in the light and shadow of the movie, in those summers that cannot be forgotten.
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Sound distribution: Daigo Torataro, Mori Nana, Oguri Shun
Release year: 2019
Remarks: 1. Represented Japan in the 92nd Academy Award for Best International Film
Synopsis
"Do you remember that summer?" Now that I think about it, everything was so incredible."
"Well, that summer, we changed the world and made it happen."
On an ordinary summer day, Fan Gao resolutely chose to run away from home and come to Tokyo alone. In order to survive, he eventually chose to work for Mr. Suga's company as a magazine columnist. During this time, in order to investigate the abnormal weather phenomena, Fan Gao meets Yang Cai, a girl who lives alone with her younger brother Kai and has the ability to let the weather clear anytime and anywhere. In order to earn more money, Sail High is decided to accompany yang vegetables and kai, everywhere for those who need it to bring sunny days. Unfortunately, in the case of continuous use of her ability, Yang Cai found the price of becoming a Haruhi. At the same time, Fan Gao was chased by the police for illegally possessing firearms and leaving home alone, and the living conditions of Yang Cai and his brother were also noticed by social welfare agencies. The three had no choice but to flee. However, Yang Cai's physical abnormality is becoming more and more serious, and in the face of his beloved Yang Cai and the gradually abnormal world, Fan Gao is forced to grow and make a choice...
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"Weather Child" as a new work after "Your Name" by Makoto Shinkai, although it did not disappoint. However, what is even more surprising is that Makoto Shinkai did not change his original style for the public, and continued to create a story that belonged to his eyes with a beautiful painting style and delicate brushstrokes. If "Your Name" is the love of Taki and Mitsuba through time and space, then "Weather Child" is a grander pattern, depicting the love that belongs to Fan Gao and Yang Cai, which transcends the world. Whether it is "The Other Side of the Clouds, the Agreed Place" or others like "The Child Chasing the Stars", Makoto Shinkai describes the love in his heart with his unique vision. However, the feeling that "Weather Child" brings to me is completely different. And, for me, maybe it's closer to love itself.
It's not a deliberate comparison here, but the description of feelings in Weather Child is really profound. Of course, this may also be thanks to the help of the band Radwimps, who created such a close theme song, which made the film sublimate again. But back to the story itself, I believe that what moved me the most was the sentence that Fan Gao said to Yang Cai in the sky: "Even if you can't let it go anymore, it doesn't matter, I want you to be around more than the blue sky." 」 Such a simple sentence is the truest portrayal of love in each of our hearts. Compared to the world, to the laws of society that we can't change, to the unsettling future, we all want to embrace and love every moment of our lives. Even if the world continues to crumble, as long as we have that person around, we can do anything. It cannot be described in words, nor can it be described by images, but it is simply believed that the other party has the same fantasy as himself. "I want to stay by your side and live well."
Our distance from the world - "With you, what about losing the world?"
Although we don't know why Fan Gao left home in the first place, it should be roughly the choice That Fan Gao made in order to get out of a life that never returned. For a "kid" who has just left his familiar environment and is eager to step into a big city, Tokyo is a beautiful imagination. He envisions freedom, a life that can be unrestrained, and a future where he can be an adult on his own. However, in the face of reality, the bubble of dreams has always burst. Fan Gao was forced into the city of nothing and continued to live. At this time, he did not choose to live on his own, but purely, to live for the sake of living. One of the Easter eggs in the movie is "The Catcher In The Rye" that Fan Gao used to press the cup noodles. "The Catcher In The Rye", a must-read book for American students, describes the confusion and helplessness of teenagers before stepping into society. In the face of life, but helplessly powerless. This place echoes the feeling of Fan Gao at that time - confusion. He wandered aimlessly, looking for a home, and longing to find a glimmer of soul comfort in this "society of adults." And this time, it is the time when Yang Cai appears. Like a ray of light, she sprinkled on Fan Gao's body, allowing him to rely on and be stable. Their desire for each other is not only to relieve loneliness, but also to become each other's light and achieve each other. In the face of such a crazy world, they become each other's sunshine, soft and brilliant warm each other, and become the most dependent existence of each other.
The most moving scene in the movie is the scene where Fan Gao runs all the way to the torii gate in order to save Yang Cai. Yang Cai chose to sacrifice himself because Fan Gao wanted to see the blue sky again, and achieved Fan Gao. In fact, if we take a closer look, it is not difficult to find that Yang Cai has always ignored the idea of wanting to live for herself in her heart. Like Fan Gao, she became Haruo in the absence of a way for her brother and others, and has always believed that "Haruo" is her ultimate goal in life. However, as she watched her body gradually become transparent, she gradually understood that if she continued like this, she would disappear and leave her beloved Sail Heights and Kai. However, even so, when she heard Fan Gao express her desire to see the blue sky, she still did not hesitate to sacrifice herself in exchange for a rare sunny day for the world. However, it wasn't until she actually disappeared that she realized that her true wish was to stay with the person she loved. Therefore, when Fan Gao later chose to save Yang Cai, although she had some doubts, she finally chose to join Fan Gao and gave up the world. At that time, when I watched the movie, I kept discussing with my friends whether Yang Cai's behavior was selfish. However, listening to my friend's arguments, I gradually understood that what the director really wanted us to discuss was not selfishness, but rather, how great love is.
To say that Yang Cai sacrificed the world in exchange for the days of continuing to live with Fan Gao was the only choice she made for herself. Similarly, Fan Gao's choice to go to the sky above Yang Cai and risk his life to save Yang Cai is also a rare choice he makes in movies. Yang Cai on the clouds was originally transparent, but the moment she heard the sound of the sail, she returned to her original appearance again. If the gradually transparent body is because she has been paying for others, then it is Yang Cai's redemption to learn that Fan Gao is willing to go into the unknown at all costs to save herself. Because at that moment, she knew that there were people in this world who were willing to love her unconditionally, even sacrificing the world. "I made a choice, I chose her, I chose to survive together in this world." In the world and each other, they chose each other. You may still think that this is a selfish act, but if you think about it, aren't we in love also selfish? Because we love each other, we want to value each other more than anyone else. Because we love each other, it is easier for us to sacrifice and give for each other than others. It is precisely because we love each other that we become both selfish and great. Turning your mind around, is it true that the choice of Yang Caifan's superior person is selfish? They sacrificed the precious and cherished world, allowed the city where they once lived to collapse, but instead completed each other, so that the other party can continue to live in the world of each other, for me, is the greatest thing they can do.
"Pray for yourself." While the two were getting rid of the shackles of fate, Fan Gao said to Yang Cai. In the face of life, they are forced to sacrifice all kinds of things, but in the face of the loved ones, they also make their only choice - they want the other party to continue to stay by their side. Love is full of choices, but we still sacrifice all kinds of things for the sake of the people we love. In order to see each other, the rest time was sacrificed. In order to continue to accompany each other, he sacrificed time with other relatives and friends. Similarly, didn't Fan Gao and Yang Cai just choose to sacrifice the world in order to keep each other alive? "I chased the light, and at the end of the light, I found you." Maybe we are all children chasing the light in the world, but it just happens that in the collapsed world, we find each other as a ray of sunshine that we are looking for.
Life is simple and complex – "Just because the sky is blue, it feels so good to be alive."
"You obviously don't know anything, or you pretend you don't know anything. I just want to see that person again!" Before saving Yang Cai, Fan Gao said to a group of police officers who wanted to arrest him. "I want to see you" is such a humble but selfish thought. Because you love someone, even if you have to sacrifice everything, you only want to see the other person more. Because I love someone, I hope to go to each other's side as soon as possible no matter what, and then face each other well. The love in Shinkai Makoto's eyes is such a simple and unpretentious love, but it is also sincere and incomparable. You might think that's just a fantasy that happens in a storybook. However, in retrospect, isn't that also the case with the love that sprouted in the midst of youth? In order to see each other, choose to leave everything around you, just to rush to the other side. Or for the sake of the other party's phone call, choose to run to the door of the other party's house immediately, just to give the other party a gentlest hug. In love, we all learn how to love in sacrifice, and learn how to grow in love. As previous articles have said, we are just stumbling around the world, learning how to rank them. Choose to catch the irreplaceable opponent in front of you, and then live well. "As long as people reach certain ages, it is difficult to change the order of important things in their minds." Growing up, nothing was the same. Money and face are gradually more important than everything else, but there will be a moment when you will find that the people in front of you are the ones you love the most compared to those illusory things. After all, being able to meet each other when each other is the most brilliant time is the greatest blessing in a lifetime. It is true that many things disappear when I grow up, but there are still some things that cannot be changed. It's like the feeling of the first heartbeat, the moment of holding hands for the first time, and the desire to want the other party to stay by their side forever. Perhaps in the relationship, we are all each other's "imaginary community". Imagine that we have the same longing and expectation for each other, and even if we are separated by time and space, we also bless each other.
"I want you to live well so that I have the meaning of living." Whether it's love or friendship, we always think a lot. "Does he love me or not?" "What is my place in his mind?" "In his eyes, am I important?" Because I grew up, I always thought that everything became too fast, so I could no longer believe in what eternity was, and there was no way to believe in what was simple. However, in fact, the things that we cherish and value are gradually fading away between constant thoughts and thoughts. "What's important?" Maybe it's a matter of constant change. Liking someone is not just about the idea of "liking", but being able to enjoy every moment with each other. Because when a person becomes too important, even if you breathe in and out, you will find that the air is full of their shadows. At this time, you know that it is someone who is more important than the world. Because after this moment has passed, there is no way for us to start again. "Weather Child" is not only a set of fables about growth, but also the exhortation of director Makoto Shinkai: learn to find the truly important people and things in this world. Not a casual choice, but something you would sacrifice the world for them. Maybe the world's problems actually have a simple answer, but we don't want to see it. As the little prince's golden saying goes, "It is the time you spend on your roses that makes her so important." The people and things we seek are not uncommon, but because of the time we have with them, they are so unique.
At the end of the day, we're just kids learning to be adults. Stumbling and stumbling, occasionally losing its hoof, but still choosing to continue to move forward. Because we all believe that one day we will also meet people who are willing to stop and pay attention to care. In the end, we will find that we simply cannot argue whether love is selfish or great. The scale in everyone's heart judges the importance of everything in the world. And sometimes it's just that some people are just a little heavier than the world, so even at the expense of everything, we want to stay with that person. At the end of the movie, Yang Cai looks at the sunken Tokyo and prays. Exactly what she was thinking, we have no way of knowing. But the only thing that was credible was that she believed that this time, she had also learned to pray for herself. Or, for your own sake, choose to pray for your loved one. "Anyway, the world is crazy." The world is not going to revolve around us, and we can't change it anyway. So instead of that, embrace the person you love in front of you. Always, the world is not unimportant, but it just so happens that there is such a person around, and you find that they are more brilliant than the sun, more reliable than the flat earth, more gentle than the sea. If there is no world, then at least, we still have them around. It's selfish, it's great, and it's the only feeling that transcends everything. We don't have the superpower to change the weather, but we have the ability to continue to cherish everyone around us.
"Just because the sky is blue, it feels so good to be alive, and someone around me becomes more lovely." 」 If it could be simple, no one would want to be complicated. However, if we want to go a little deeper, in the end, we are not ourselves drilling the horns? Obviously, the most important thing is in front of you, and you choose to turn a blind eye. Obviously, I attach great importance to it, but I want to say that there is no such thing. Maybe the world is not complicated in the first place, but when we grow up, we habitually complicate everything and forget the original intention on the journey. Facing our own hearts well and facing up to the people and things we cherish may be the only thing we can do in this crazy world. After all, everyone walks on the road of life, and after experiencing suffering, they slowly practice with pain and sorrow on their backs. It wasn't until later that day that I fell, and occasionally looked up to find out how beautiful the scenery was and how blue the sky was.
The lost fairy tale - "O gods, please do not give us anything more, and do not take anything from us."
Weather Child is a very unique set of films that at first glance is thought to have made its meaning lighter in order to express the opinions of many authors. But if you think about it, you can see that everything is just a tool used by the director to tell the story. Whether the fan gao and yang cai in the movie are selfish or not we can't know, and even the director himself may not be able to explain. Each of us used to give a lot in love, but after too many injuries, we no longer loved each other as we used to. But what the film really wants us to do is learn to feel. Perhaps it was a simple attempt to remember how pure the desire to wish a person well was in the first place. It is these tiny things that make us realize that the world is bad, but fortunately there are still people who are willing to be gentle with us.
No longer believe in fairy tales, no longer believe in simple friendship, no longer believe in sincerity. The world is changing so fast that we don't even know that we ourselves have changed. But this is the law of the world, and we can only learn how to survive in this unpredictable world. On the road of life, each of us is an unknown in our own lives. Maybe tomorrow they will change, maybe the day after tomorrow we will change, and then we will no longer walk on the same path. However, even if it changes, the original desire to see each other and embrace each other's intentions will not change. Because before this moment came, we knew in our hearts that we had all loved some people like this.