If there are gods in Japanese directors, the ancient Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu are two gods.
If there is still a god in the current generation of directors living in Japan, it must be Hayao Miyazaki.
Unexpectedly, at the age of 83, Hayao Miyazaki actually made a new height in his career, "What kind of life do you want to live?" won the Oscar for Best Animated Film, and it has been compared to "Spirited Away" in terms of awards alone. But in reality, it is a masterpiece that goes further than Spirited Away, the culmination of Miyazaki's career.
Hayao Miyazaki, who filmed "What kind of life do you want to live?", not only does not get old at all, but returns to the state when "Spirited Away" and "My Neighbor Totoro", and maintains his original intention, is still young, and more importantly, he can still improve, which is really not mortal.
Feng Xiaogang, 66, Spielberg, 77, Martin Scorsese, 81, Polanski, 90, Clint Eastwood, 93...... These directors have also not retired, but in recent years, compared with their peak, their works have not dropped by a star and a half, which is embarrassing.
Only the great Miyazaki, the great god. There is nothing to say but worship.
Some people say: "What kind of life do you want to live" is Miyazaki's most obscure, difficult to understand, and most stream-of-consciousness work.
So, let's walk into this movie together and see what kind of story Miyazaki tells and what kind of feelings are expressed?
First of all, it follows the consistent elements of Miyazaki's work, and the imagination is as wild as ever, continuing the typical Miyazaki-esque fairy tale style, that is, the adventure of a teenager/girl in a fantasy world.
"What kind of life do you want to live?" takes place in 1944, when World War II is about to end, the Allies have begun to bomb the Japanese mainland, and the Japanese finally taste the bomb falling on their heads. In the Pacific theater, the Allies have launched a counteroffensive, and Saipan is in danger. Japan, as an imperialist, is already crumbling and on the verge of collapse.
The protagonist of the film, Hisako, the mother of the young boy Makima, died in the flames caused by the bombing. His father married Hisako's sister Natsuko. Natsuko is already pregnant and needs to be pregnant.
Zhenren's father sent Zhenren and Natsuko to the countryside, hoping to escape the war there and live a more peaceful life.
However, the real person who witnessed the death of his mother Hisako was seriously hurt and could not accept the fact that his mother Hisako had died, could not accept Natsuko as his stepmother, and could not accept the living environment in the countryside.
He would rather have himself stoned than fit into a country school. For Natsuko, he never called Mom.
Moreover, in his eyes, those obscene-looking country servants are nothing more than mediocre and greedy people, and they are boring.
However, the arrival of a heron has been luring him to another world.
The heron tells him that your mother is not dead and is waiting for you to come to your rescue. Of course, he didn't believe the herons' nonsense, and just wanted to kill the guy who had seduced him.
Later, Majin saw her stepmother and sister-in-law Natsuko walking into the depths of the jungle. When the people of the whole mountain villa launched a search for Natsuko, the real person joined in as an eyewitness. After all, he didn't want to admit that Natsuko was his new mother, but he still treated her as family.
So, the real person and the maid Granny Misty walk through the jungle and set foot on the other world, that is, the world of the undead.
For the Chinese audience, incomprehensible points begin to emerge from here. Because in the Chinese-speaking environment, the world of the undead is the underworld, and the ruler of the underworld is the king of Yama, and the undead souls of human beings are only managed. In Japanese culture, the world of the dead is much more complicated.
In Japanese Buddhism, there is a big difference between the underworld and the Confucian cultural circle, there are also Yama kings, hells, and the river Styx. However, Japanese folk are more heavily influenced by Shintoism, and there is a unique yokai culture, as well as onmyoji who specialize in managing yokai.
I won't talk about the details here, we just need to know that in "What kind of life do you want to live?", the uncle of the protagonist little boy created an independent exotic world, and he became a small underworld dominated by him. In Chinese culture, a local wealthy man or a local celebrity can become a local protector after his death, and be promoted to a minor god, rather than a ghost. The cultural differences between China and Japan can be seen.
In this small underworld created by Zhenren's uncle, Zhenren first accepts the help of Kiriko, a brave and sturdy young woman. Then, with the help of the heron who was rebelled by him, he went deeper into this world step by step, all the way to find Natsuko.
Then, with the help of Huo Mei, who has mana, he fights against Daigo and Parrot, who are greedy for human flesh, and while getting closer to Natsuko step by step, he also unlocks the truth of this other world step by step.
In the process, Majin is tempted from time to time, but he is also constantly growing.
Looking at his clothes, you can see that he is wearing a school uniform, from the initial fit, gradually to exposing his wrists and ankles, and finally to the top that he can't wear, the real person's physique is constantly growing, and his personality is constantly changing.
Slowly, he realizes that Kiriko is the mother of the misty when he was young, and Huomei is the mother of the youth. He also realized his responsibility and strengthened his belief that he must save Natsuko. Moreover, he finally opened his mouth and called out "Mom" to Natsuko.
Rescuing the new mother, waving goodbye to the dead mother, and returning to the original world, the real person is growing up, and he has also made a choice in the process of growing up, choosing to live his own life.
Uncle Tai wanted him to inherit the small underworld he had built, and he became the leader of this small underworld. The heron is the messenger sent by the uncle to guide the real person to come to his side and inherit this underworld.
However, the real person made his own choice, strengthened his beliefs, and had greater love.
At first, he only accepted his mother, not even himself, preferring to smash himself. Later, he realized the simplicity and fearlessness of the countrymen represented by Kiriko, and also realized the sacrifice made by his mother for him and his aunt, which prompted him to accept the countryman who had been guarding him, and also began to accept Natsuko as his new mother, and he finally dared to face himself, accepted himself, and finally decided to live the courage to choose not to be afraid of life.
What kind of life do you want to live?
As the title of the movie, this sentence is still very pointed, although "The Boy and the Heron" is easier to remember, but after watching it, I still find that "What kind of life do you want to live" will be better and more pertinent.
"What kind of life do you want to live" is good, and you need to make a comparison to better understand it.
Hayao Miyazaki's creative peak period was a time, the first was around 1987, in which he directed "Castle in the Sky" in 1986 and "My Neighbor Totoro" in 1988. Then, the second peak was Spirited Away in 2001.
"My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away" are Miyazaki's two peaks. And "What kind of life do you want to live" concentrates the advantages of these two films, and goes one step further and reaches new heights. The 83-year-old Hayao Miyazaki is really powerful.
"What kind of life do you want to live" is similar to "My Neighbor Totoro" in terms of story. Also in 1988, Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, released "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Grave of the Fireflies" respectively.
We all know that "Grave of the Fireflies" is a work of extreme sadness. Actually, My Neighbor Totoro too.
Most viewers like "My Neighbor Totoro" because they think Totoro is so cute and very cute. But in fact, the prototype story of this film is an extremely sad story--- the "Sayama Murder Case" that shocked Japan.
The "Sayama Murder Case" occurred in May 1963, when a 16-year-old girl from Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, was kidnapped. But the Nakata family still chose to call the police. Then, under the arrangement of the police, her sister Mie Nakata was responsible for bringing 200,000 counterfeit bills to make a transaction, and the police set up an ambush.
However, the kidnappers saw through what the police were doing. He chose to tear up the ticket, and the little girl Yoshieda Nakata was raped first and then killed.
Despite the efforts of the police, it was soon announced that the culprit Kazuo Ishikawa had been caught and sentenced to death. However, Kazuo Ishikawa claimed that he was tortured to extract a confession, appealed, and was later sentenced to life imprisonment.
Although the case has been closed, the mystery about the case already exists, and it has become a famous "murder mystery case" among the people. What's even more unexpected is that a series of deaths occurred in the follow-up this time, which made the case even more confusing. In the following 20 years, 13 people died in connection with the case. Among them, the victim's sister, Mie Nakata, committed suicide by drinking pesticides.
Later, when sorting out Mie Nakata's relics, the transcript of her life attracted the attention of many people.
"I met the cat demon. "Met a giant tanuki. ”
Then, everyone saw "My Neighbor Totoro", which was adapted from "Sayama Murder". Hayao Miyazaki uses a healing story to tell a tragic truth. It uses the father's imagination to imagine another ending for reality, like a parallel world, where both daughters are still alive, and they are alive and well, and they are living happily.
Although Miyazaki was noncommittal about what the prototype of My Neighbor Totoro was, even Ghibli issued a statement denying that Totoro had a prototype. But there are still more readers who believe that it is just Ghibli's act of self-preservation, and many people believe that "My Neighbor Totoro" is the Japanese folklore of the Grim Reaper Demon Cat, and the story told in the film is the process of the Grim Reaper taking away the child.
Moreover, the story of "My Neighbor Totoro" is also set in the mother's serious illness, and a pair of children are fostered in the countryside, and then they meet Totoro and enter a foreign land with him. Hayao Miyazaki replaces the sadness of the archetypal story with a heartwarming fairy tale, and he uses his own love to make the story full of love.
Then there is "Spirited Away", in this story, the little girl Chihiro is on her way to her new home with her parents, and she passes through a cave and enters another world. As a result, due to the greed of her parents, she turned into a pig. In order to save her parents, Chihiro has to go through many hardships, and even almost forgets her own name and becomes Xiaoqian.
However, Chihiro is still persistent in completing one task after another, that is, she is determined to save her parents. In the end, she succeeded.
The theme of "My Neighbor Totoro" is "Love", the theme of "Spirited Away" is "Faith", the theme of the two films is relatively single, and the theme of "What kind of life do you want to live" is "Love and Growth", the common theme of the two science fiction films, it accounts for all of them, and it performs extremely well.
The real person in "What kind of life do you want to live?", his growth line is extremely obvious, the changes in body shape and clothes are already an external manifestation, and the most important thing is that he despises the servant and does not accept his stepmother, to finally accept it wholeheartedly. In addition, for the young mother Huomei, he also supports his mother to make her choice. Faced with the temptation of his uncle, he is also willing to choose to return to the world full of holes and continue his life.
For love, real people learn to love others, love themselves, love stepmothers, and love ordinary people.
Not only that, since the story of "What kind of life do you want to live" takes place during World War II, the attitude towards the battlefield will definitely be part of everyone's attention.
A little bit of Miyazaki's understanding knows that he has always been a staunch anti-war film, and his works such as "Porco Rosso", "The Wind Rises", "Castle in the Sky", "Howl's Moving Castle", etc., are all full of criticism of war, and "What kind of life do you want to live" is also a Miyazaki-style anti-war film full of metaphors.
For his part, Miyazaki was not only a general opponent of the war, but also a clear and unequivocal critical of Japanese militarism. In "What kind of life do you want to live", the parrots with fat brains are the symbols of the Japanese militarists, and Miyazaki adopts a spicy satire and criticism of them. For Daigo, who also likes cannibalism, he is an ordinary person who is deeply influenced by militarism, and Miyazaki still takes a critical attitude towards them. For the white and round clamour, it is the soul that has been injured and died by the war. The militarists, even the souls, continue to devour.
In reality, Hayao Miyazaki was born in 1941, and the impact of the war on Japan is impressed in the hazy consciousness of his childhood. In particular, Miyazaki's mother suffered from an illness when he was a child and was bedridden for a long time, although he finally recovered to the extent that he could get out of bed and walk around, but according to the description of Miyazaki's younger brother Miyazaki Tokuro, Miyazaki's mother was actually absent during his adolescence.
Therefore, the mother in "My Neighbor Totoro" and the mother in "What kind of life do you want to live" are absent, and Miyazaki's own emotions are here in the film. In particular, "What kind of life do you want to live" has placed more shadows on Miyazaki.
In reality, Miyazaki's father did not go to the battlefield, but by running a factory for military supplies, Miyazaki's family economic conditions were quite considerable when he was a child. Miyazaki, who grew up in such an environment, has always felt deep guilt and self-blame for his "luck".
In "What kind of life do you want to live", after the protagonist real person moved to the countryside, his father also ran a military supplies production factory. And through the father driving the protagonist to school, the contrast with the school environment and other students can feel this gap between the rich and the poor.
The father of the real person in the film also said through lines that he originally thought that Saipan could support it for three years, but he didn't expect it to be able to do so soon, but it is also a good thing that his factory can take the opportunity to usher in more orders. Then, in the film, you can also see that a large number of "kamikaze attack aircraft" shells were transported by the real person's father to his home in the countryside as a temporary warehouse.
Therefore, Miyazaki makes him uneasy about what his father has brought to his life, and it is his endogenous pressure. Coupled with his mother's state and the alienation of life, it brought a huge impact to his young heart, and he always wanted an answer. But no one could give it to him.
Now, through the movie "What kind of life do you want to live", he finally gave himself an answer, that is, how to live, purely depends on how he makes choices.
Will he inherit his uncle and take over the dark and oppressive world of classicism? Or will he have the courage to take up the burden and return to his own world? Will he indulge in the old memories of his mother, or will he return to himself? Will he be in the company of the birds and beasts who have been brainwashed by militarism, or will he release them to return to the good side?
Generally speaking, young directors are more willing to bring themselves into their works, but I didn't expect Miyazaki, who is 83 years old, to bring his young self into his works and use a movie to tell his life. He was able to have such a wonderful life in the future, all because of the firm and correct choice at the beginning.
Including Kumi, she knew that if she chose to become a Hisako, she would be burned to death in the end, but she still moved forward, because then she could give birth to a real person and become his mother. Because, the son will always be his pride.
Miyazaki once said that when he was a child, he wanted to find his mother to hug, but his mother rejected him. Through the film, Miyazaki finally realizes the scene of hugging his mother when he was young.
What kind of life do you want to live?
Hayao Miyazaki gave the case with his choice. What about you?