丨This article was first published in the Pippi movie
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Death, a word that seems too heavy.
Some people are eager to die and see death as relief, just like the Japanese actor Haruma Miura who recently committed suicide.
More people are afraid of death because there are too many things in the world that cannot be discarded and let go.
In Japanese culture, death is life.
The Japanese painter Harue Koga once said, "There is no art higher than death." In his view, "death is a kind of beauty", even more beautiful than life.
Haruki Murakami also wrote in The Norwegian Forest: "Death is not the opposite of life, but eternal life as a part of life." ”
In Japanese culture, which is deeply influenced by the Buddhist concepts of "reincarnation" and "the unity of all things", there is a "pure and beautiful" concept of life and death:
As early as the Nara period, the Pure Land Sect advocated "feasting away from the dirt and seeking the Pure Land", which had an important impact on future generations; in the Japanese Bushido spirit, death is regarded as the most sacred thing, and suicide by cutting the abdomen is an act of oath of loyalty; the Japanese love cherry blossoms, love the splendor when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and also love the brevity of the cherry blossom life and the poignancy when it falls. Therefore, death is also called "the beauty of falling cherry blossoms".
The movie we're going to talk about today reflects the Japanese view of life and death very well.
"The Mortician"
Released in 2008, the Japanese film was directed by Yojiro Takita and starred Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hiromi, and Tsutomu Yamazaki.
This is a film that represents the face of the Japanese nation internationally.
At the 81st Academy Awards in 2009, The Mortician successfully beat the highly popular film "Waltz with Bashir" and the Cannes Palme d'Or winner "High School Classroom" to win the best foreign language film, the first time a Japanese film has won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in the 1950s.
One of the reasons for the great success of "The Mortician" is that it captures what everyone in the world has to face.
death.
As the Chinese scholar He Xianming summed up: Death is the most intrinsic possibility of man, and no one can deny or escape death.
Mortician, also known as funeral rites, is a profession that "specializes in makeup and grooming for the dead and incorporating them into coffins."
How does this work sound, just to sound like a piapia, after all, most normal people still avoid death.
But as long as death exists, the profession of mortician will certainly exist.
In recent years, Japan has developed a kind of "worker film", that is, a film that praises a serious spirit of work, such as "Which Ah Na Na God Goes to the Village", "The Chronicle of the Boat", and "Entering the Mortician" are undoubtedly among them.
The protagonist of the movie, Daigo Kobayashi, is engaged in this profession.
The film opens with a scene of burial.
Only to see Daigo dressed in a suit and leather shoes, kneeling in front of the body, with a serious, solemn, elegant and orderly manner to complete all the actions of the burial:
Organize the remains of the deceased, move the arms and knuckles, and strip, wipe, dress, make up, and bury the deceased through the sheets.
"The purpose of wiping the body is to wash away the fatigue, pain, and troubles of the deceased's life, and the water that wipes the body also symbolizes the birth water that enters the world of the afterlife", "Wearing a life jacket for him is to protect the dignity of the deceased".
Wash the faces and makeup of female deceased people, shave the beards of male deceased people, and then place the hands of the deceased with ten fingers crossed on the chest and put Buddhist beads on them into a coffin.
Every movement is meticulous, refined, measured, pious and humble, full of respect for the dead.
"To resurrect those who have been cold and to give them eternal beauty, it takes calmness, it needs to be right, but more important than anything it needs to be filled with kindness and warm love".
The funeral scene at the beginning is sacred and solemn, which makes people awe-inspired by the profession of "mortician".
Then, the film returns to the life of Daigo Kobayashi, according to the obstruction of the cello career, the husband and wife return to their hometown - mistakenly hit and become a mortician - accept their profession - for the main clue of the father's burial, supplemented by his wife Mika's incomprehension of Daigo's profession to accept and Daigo's emotional changes in his father, two volt lines, three-dimensional and complete expression of the Japanese concept of life and death.
That's right, Daigo was originally a cellist.
"Cello, what an elegant and tall profession, and the mortician is... That's a big difference! ”
Presumably, many people will make such an exclamation when they understand the setting of the movie.
The "NK(nokan Coffin) Agent" in "The Funeral Master" is the work of entering the funeral coffin from the funeral procedure undertaken by the funeral society, and in modern Japanese society, it is a "super seam industry", while the cello belongs to the list of arts, and it is often something that the middle and upper classes have leisure to appreciate.
"The Mortician" shows the gap between dreams and reality.
Daigo, who studied cello from childhood, lives in Tokyo with his wife Mika after returning from studying abroad, and makes a living as a cellist in an unknown orchestra.
Due to the dissolution of the orchestra, the high pressure to rent a house, and the difficulty of finding a job, Daigo had to return to his hometown of Yamagata with his wife.
Here's a look at the social context of the film:
Beginning in the late 20th century, Japan's bubble economy collapsed, and the Heisei Great Depression lasted for 20 years, and the cultural and artistic industries that needed strong economic support were in decline and unemployment remained high.
"The Mortician" is a product of Japan's economic downturn and reflects the current reality of Japanese society.
The unemployment of the protagonist Kobayashi also announces the end of the Japanese-style life-long employment and annual labor policy established since World War II.
In order to find a job, Daigo stared at the newspaper all day. Suddenly, one day, he found a "tourism agency" job that was "more troublesome and less close to home":
"Age is not limited, high salary guaranteed! Billed based on actual working hours. Travel assistant, NK agent! ”
"And such a good thing?" Daigo didn't even think about it and rushed to the address written in the newspaper.
Unexpectedly, the so-called "help with the trip". The so-called "NK agent" is nothing more than a blindfold method used by the funeral club president, Old Man Sasaki.
Daigo saw that it was a funeral, and he wanted to pull out his leg and run, but the president turned around and paid 20,000 yen and said that it was today's daily salary.
Helplessly, the money given by the other party is too much! Seeing that he was about to run out of water, Daigo had to accept the money and reluctantly do the job, thinking that as soon as he found other jobs, he would immediately jump ship.
In this way, Daigo "went into the pit."
For the sake of money, Daigo acts as a corpse in the funeral instruction video.
The first time Daigo actually saw the corpse was a highly decayed, foul-smelling corpse, and for the sake of money, he had to persevere. Later, on the bus back, he was disgusted by the students in the same bus for the huge smell that emanated from his body.
Five minutes late for burial, he was to be blamed by the family of the deceased:
"You eat the bowl of rice of the dead."
"Do you want that person to atone for your sins?"
Of course, he hid this job from his wife, and he was afraid that she would not accept it, but only said that he worked in a travel agency.
But the paper can't contain the fire, and when the wife discovers the truth, she decides to go back to her mother's house and yells at Daigo, "Your hands are dirty!" ”
When Daigo's childhood friends learned of his job, they didn't even let the child greet Daigo and said, "You can find a stronger job."
When all kinds of huge pressures came from all directions, Daigo gradually felt the meaning and value of the job of "mortician".
Put on beautiful makeup for the male deceased who loved women's clothing; paint the deceased hostess with her favorite lipstick; tie her favorite yellow silk scarf for the bathhouse lady who died suddenly; when the face of a grandfather was cleaned, all the women in the family gathered together and printed several fiery red lip prints on the grandfather's face...
In the face of death, there is sadness, there is reluctance, there is anger, there is humor and joy.
Funeral home cremator Hirata said as he bid farewell to the bathhouse owner's wife, Yanzi: "Death may be a door, and death is not the end, but transcendence, to the next part of the journey." As a janitor, I sent away a lot of people here, saying that if I go all the way, I will always see you again. ”
It was also at the time of the funeral for Yanzi that Daigo's wife and friends finally changed their minds about his profession. Anyone who has witnessed such a scene of infinite respect for the deceased will no longer be discriminatory.
Taoist Cloud: Life goes on and on.
Death is only part of life, another form of birth.
Daigo always had a grudge against his father who had left home with his lover in his early years, and when he finally buried his father, he found that his father had been holding the small stone that Daigo had given him, and the resentment was finally solved.
At the end of the film, Daigo places the small stone on the abdomen of his pregnant wife to show that the dead father is connected to the blood of his soon-to-be-born child, and also reflects the theme of the film's alternating cycles of life and death.
At this point, a main line supplemented by two emotional lines has finally come to a perfect end.
The film's excellence is not only the narrative, but also the use of music.
Throughout the film, The Mortician uses three kinds of music, namely cello, piano and strings, to match the plot and the emotional transformation of the characters.
The famous Japanese musician Hisagi composed three theme music for the film, Memory, On Record and Ending, which are quiet and warm, and thought-provoking.
The film montages the scene of Daigo playing the cello against the backdrop of Mt. Fuji and the scene of the burial, which is full of rhythm and dynamic while showing the contrast and fusion of "life and death".
Plucking the strings on the green grass is "life", burying the dead is "dead", and beneath the surface of the seeming contrast is actually the same way -
Whether it is playing the cello or entering the funeral, as long as you are conscientious, you are the best student.
The Mortician is a film that examines death, and burial is a ritual that belongs to the living.
When the deceased dies, the funeral soothes the fear and grief of the living, so that the living can say goodbye and then embark on their own life path again.
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Tong Yunxi
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