Freud said: "Man's life is always making up for the lack of childhood. ”
The color of childhood will become the background color of life. Happy people, with childhood to warm a lifetime. The unfortunate person, with a lifetime to heal childhood.
The film "Kikujiro's Summer", directed and starring Takeshi Kitano, a "Chaplin-like wizard", can be said to be an interpretation of this point of view.
This film with a touch of sadness, but also full of warmth and comedy, tells the story of a young boy's journey to find his mother. Looking deeper, it is the old boy's spiritual journey to find himself.
Looking out of the movie, the core of the work is a way for a person to reconcile with himself. The years are long, and in this life, we must finally reconcile with the past, reconcile with our loved ones, and reconcile with everything in our lives.
Having a happy childhood is certainly lucky. If unfortunate, at least, you can learn to heal yourself when you grow up, which should be another wonderful thing.
The little boy's heart knot
It's summer vacation, and the little boy is running all the way with his school bag on his back, running into the movie shot.
The background music is the work of the soundtrack master Hisaishi Jean, fresh and bright, like the breath of summer.
And so the story begins...
When Masao was very young, his father died in a car accident, and his mother is said to have gone to work in a distant place to earn money, and he grew up with his grandmother.
Such a life prompts Masao to form an introverted and lonely personality, who does not like to talk, looks like a tiger, and looks cute and stupid.
Masao goes to play with his classmates, and he is preparing to go on a vacation to the beach with his parents. He went home and changed into his jersey, carried a soccer ball, and went to the training ground alone.
It was a holiday, and the field was empty. Empty playground, small figure, written with great loneliness.
Although Masao doesn't like to talk, he definitely has confusion in his heart.
He asked Grandma about Mommy's whereabouts. What he got was a response that was difficult to distinguish between true and false, and this became a knot in his heart.
One day, Masao inadvertently flipped through a photo from a drawer. He is still very small, held in the arms of his grandmother, and his mother standing next to him is young and sweet.
Along with the photo, there is also the mother's current address.
Children think about problems is always very simple, maybe unrealistic, in fact, it is also a momentary decision, unlike adults, not looking ahead and backward, indecisive.
After seeing his mother's photo and residential address, Masao did not hesitate, immediately got up and went out, and began to run, because he was going to follow that direction to find his mother.
Not far from the door, Masao met an aunt who lived nearby, and she told him that the distance was too far and it was dangerous to go on the road alone. Masao bowed his head and said nothing.
This aunt is a person with a hot sausage, she looks at masao, sends her husband to accompany masao to find his mother, anyway, he has nothing to do all day long.
And just like that, a little boy, an old boy, set off in a group.
This is a road to find relatives, but also a journey to appreciate the vicissitudes of life.
Unreliable uncle
This old boy was named Kikujiro.
In middle age, Kikujiro achieved nothing and wandered the streets all day. He was always dejected, sometimes scolding and grinning, eating soft and afraid of hard, and being fiercely inward.
If you go back to childhood, you can understand a person's virtues.
When Kikujiro was a child, his mother ran away with others, and what his father did to him is a blank slate of the story. After marriage, he was very dependent on his righteous and kind wife.
For Masao, Kikujiro is a unreliable uncle.
After the two set off, Kikujiro indulged in lottery gambling and quickly lost the money his wife gave him.
For this reason, he was depressed, went to the store to drink and skewers, and left masao outside the door, so that masao was abducted by a pervert to a secret corner and almost sexually harassed.
Staying in the hotel, Kikujiro obviously can't swim, and for the sake of face, he jumped into the pool with a lifebuoy, and as a result, he planted a four-legged figure.
He led Masao fishing in the landscape pool, turning a deaf ear to the waiter's discouragement. It's always messy.
When he checked out, he bargained with the front desk and forced them to give them a ride and then hitchhike.
On the way, Kikujiro sees a picture of Masao's mother, learns of his death, and discovers that the little boy has the same fate as himself.
In Masao, Kikujiro sees his own shadow, which arouses his sympathy and responsibility, and he looks like an adult.
Different road sections, different hitchhiking, meet different people and things.
There are indifferent people, there are enthusiastic people, there are cute and humorous acrobats, and there are poets who roam the country in motorhomes - they warm the right man with the beauty and kindness of human nature, and accompany each other on a journey.
These passers-by from the south to the north, these wanderers from east to west, these various states of existence, just like Wang Zengqi's words:
"Everyone walks down the street with a lifetime of history, half a month of mourning. The wind intertwines the busy, panicked, lonely and mediocre life of each of us. ”
Finally, they found their destination.
She had a new life and looked like a happy family of three.
Masao looked at his mother from a distance, wiped his tears, and turned away.
Kikujiro put his arm around his shoulder and walked back as he comforted, "Let's go, I must have found something wrong." ”
"I found you."
Some people, it seems, often have crooked eyes, in fact, the bones are not bad, there is also a soft and delicate side.
A child, full of expectations, came to his mother, and it turned out to be like this. How can we comfort him? Kikujiro sat on the side of the road, not knowing what he could do.
He saw a motorcycle parked on the side with a bell hanging from the handlebars, jingling and cute.
Not good at words, he used a simple and rude way to ask for wind chimes from strangers, the vicious-looking but stupid motorcycle owner.
As he rang the bell, an idea came to his mind.
Kikujiro came to the beach and told Masao, who was waiting there:
"As I said, your mother moved away, but she thought you might come to her, so she left this wind chime for you."
When you are unhappy, or in trouble, shake this angel bell and an angel will come to you. ”
If a white lie can give innocent children a sustenance, why not?
Kikujiro gives Masao hope and keeps his grief to himself. Then, the two embark on their way home.
Life is a process of harvesting mulberry elm from a lost east corner, and Masao did not find his family affection as he wished, but he harvested a different kind of warmth on the way home.
The people who met would meet again, and they would meet those interesting well-wishers again.
Everyone had picnics, games, magic tricks, storytelling, and in indulging in indulgent play, they cured Masao, and several adults seemed to return to childhood.
Kikujiro remembered something and asked the motorcycle passengers to take him to a nursing home in a nearby town.
Through the glass window, Kikujiro saw his mother.
She sat alone by the window, very lonely. The loved one who gave birth to him did not nurture him, nor did he ever have warmth or communication.
He didn't go in and talk to his mother, he just looked from a distance, with understanding written in his eyes.
The wordless visit, for Kikujiro, is a relief from the past.
People came and went, and the clouds gathered, and at the end, only Masao and Kikujiro were left, and they played a game of hide-and-seek.
Going around and around, going around, adults coaxing children, children are also cooperating with adults.
"I found you." Masao said.
In a game of hide-and-seek, Masao finds Kikujiro.
In the journey of life, Kikujiro, or Takeshi Kitano outside the movie, finds his childhood self.
The journey is over, and before saying goodbye, Kikujiro hugs Masao.
Jumping out of the movie to see, it is actually Kitano Takeshi who embraced his childhood self.
The movie ends with Masao's run, just like the beginning, but not the same.
Reconcile with yourself
Kikujiro's Summer is one of Kitano Takeshi's most autobiographical works.
He was born into an ordinary family in Japan, where his mother was industrious and realistic, working odd jobs at construction sites during the day and odd jobs at night to support the family. Every aspect of the family depends on her.
His father was a craftsman with a rough temperament and a keen gambling habit, rotating between construction sites, taverns, and homes every day. Growing up, Kitano Never communicated with his father.
For a long time, the relationship between father and son was estranged and cold.
In the book, Takeru Kitano writes down his impressions of his father:
"He was usually a timid rat, but every night when he came home drunk, he would shake his fist at his mother.
He worked hard every day, but I think he basically contributed the little money he earned to the tavern. ”
When the years pass, the experience grows, and with the change of roles in life, a person will have a new understanding of life.
After his father's death, Kitano Saw several pieces of paper in the relics, filled with many words.
It turned out that my father had secretly practiced writing his own name. Although he is not a tool, he has also secretly worked hard!
The Si people have passed away, and in the face of the old things, Kitano Takeshi is in tears.
At the age of 52, Takeshi Kitano filmed the masterpiece of his film and television career: "Kikujiro's Summer".
In the film, Kikujiro has a tattoo of green fangs on his back, gambling and drinking, secretly practicing swimming postures, and taking Masao to the beach... These details and inspirations are derived from childhood memories and also project the shadow of the father.
In the face of reporters interviewed, Kitano Takeshi admitted that "Kikujiro" is the name of his father, and his father is the prototype of this character.
"It seems that I have no memory of speaking to him before I was alive. But looking back now, he was really lonely. The theme of the movie this time is a bit like the feeling of tomb sweeping filial piety, which is also considered to be an offering. ”
This belongs to the regret of the middle-aged Kitano Takeshi, and it is also his late realization.
The lack of childhood, a little bit into the knot of fate, only after adulthood, when you have the ability, can you slowly solve.
Regarding film and life, Takeshi Kitano said, "I made movies for myself. ”
Because of this, through the film, he healed his childhood self, and also used art to shake hands with his father in his heart and make peace, and also embraced his past self.
As he himself said, "One day, we will learn to reconcile with ourselves and with the world." Whether it looks beautiful or ugly to you. ”
Author | Jiang Xu, a post-80s woman, cooked characters to cure hunger and borrowed a pen to draw a heart
Image | Stills from Kikujiro's Summer