Released in 2018, "Survival Family" is one of the masterpieces of the famous Japanese director Yaguchi Shijing. The film tells the story of the Suzuki family living in the city against the background of the global indefinite power outage, who decide to flee the city and run to their grandfather who lives in the fishing village of Kagoshima.
The film's theme is novel and refreshing. In the context of the disaster of indefinite power outages, mobile phones, refrigerators, airplanes, high-speed rails and other things that need power support can not be used, the Suzuki family has become accustomed to urban life, and the sudden power outage caught the family off guard. The film does not continue the "heroic" character setting of previous disaster films, but starts from an ordinary family and focuses on the coping strategies of ordinary people.
The film has a good reputation in China, nominating the highest-rated Japanese film on the Douban Movies Annual List, and more than 110,000 people have seen and scored a high score of 8.1, better than 88% of comedies. The director critiques reality through his usual comedic style, and people who have lived in the city for a long time have lost their skills to survive in the wild, and staged an absurd and bizarre but healing comedy in the face of disaster.
If we only watch this movie from the perspective of the storyline and the bridge of jokes, we can only harvest a comedy story of apocalyptic escape and rich audiovisual enjoyment, and the deeper connotation that the director wants to express through the film will be ignored. Therefore, I will start from three aspects to interpret the film's concern and charm of family, family, and social environment.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >01, an absurd and bizarre family story in the context of a disaster comedy</h1>
The film begins with a panoramic view of Tokyo's nighttime exuberance, with neon lights everywhere in the commercial streets and lights from urban residential buildings showing the development and convenience of modern civilization.
Cars shuttle through the streets and alleys, tail lights, signal lights, street lights provide a light source for what should be a quiet night, and also hint that the prosperity of the city is inseparable from the support of electricity.
The Suzuki family is an ordinary working class in Tokyo, with dad having a decent job in an office building, mom being a full-time housewife, and siblings still studying.
The visual image at the beginning of the film shows us the inner relationship of this ordinary family, the father sits on the sofa after work to watch TV and eat, the daughter dislikes the fish sent by the grandfather, the son hides in the room as soon as he comes home, and only the mother is busy taking care of everything in the family. The Suzuki family is actually the epitome of a modern urban family, with a convenient life, but a lack of family affection.
One very ordinary morning, Dad slept until he woke up naturally and found that the alarm clock did not ring, Mom found that the refrigerator was blackout, and the food was smelly.
Next, the lights and mobile phones cannot be used, and the subway that needs to be used to work cannot be passed. Although everyone thinks that the power outage is very troublesome, but always think that it is good to wait for the call, they do not know that the real challenge has just begun.
Without exaggerated scenes and conflicts, bland and watery shots recount everything that happened in Suzuki's house, where the crowd's hands and feet and the failure of electrical appliances mean chaos. Through the scenes of life, the director allows the audience to substitute into the film and experience it with the characters.
Next, through the perspective of the Suzuki family, we see that the whole society has stopped, and the city has been hit days without electricity. People's travel is no longer convenient, losing the support of modern civilization, and the Suzuki family is difficult to achieve even the most basic food and clothing.
On the third day of the blackout, people began to leave the city one after another to go to the countryside with water and food, and the Suzuki family decided to turn to their grandfather, who lived in kagoshima fishing village. The film narrates from the two dimensions of time and space, counting time according to the day of the power outage, and spatially calculated according to the place where the Suzuki family needs to go from Tokyo to Kagoshima.
The journey is more like an escape, tokyo to Kagoshima by plane takes 2 hours, and the Suzuki family can only move forward by bicycle in the event of a power outage, which is equivalent to riding a bicycle from Beijing to Shanghai, a playground of 400 meters to run 2500 laps. At the same time, you also have to find food and get a place to stay, and some decent things are called tourism, and the status quo of the Suzuki family can only be called escape.
Faced with the threat of lack of water, food, torrential rain and high winds, the Suzuki family has experienced the dilemma of sleeping on the streets and eating canned cat food. Along the way, the family began to face up to each other's contradictions, once accused each other, but also relied on each other to warm each other, experienced parting, but also felt warm. Eventually, after a few dozen days of walking, the Suzuki family managed to reach Kagoshima.
The film captures the audience's attention through a gamified journey and a refreshing style of disaster comedy, focusing on what happened to the Suzuki family and resonating and thinking from their stories. Because each of us enjoys the benefits of modern civilization, but we forget how to develop our survival skills in the face of danger.
The trouble caused by the indefinite power outage seems to be the chaos of social order, and it is also a metaphor for the disorder and indifference of the Suzuki family's intimate relationship. Along the way, the Suzuki family is not only looking for a chance to survive, but also looking for long-lost family affection and warmth.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02, the healing action of reconstructing family relations was completed in the escape from the city to nature</h1>
The detailed depiction of the Suzuki family at the beginning of the film shows the family's emotional lack, the family that should be closely dependent on each other is closed inside, the father refuses to take responsibility outside of work, and the children are already dissatisfied with the dominance of patriarchy.
This disaster magnifies the family's contradictions and shows it in another form, a journey that is not only a journey of survival but also a journey of healing.
(1) In the face of the existential crisis, the concept of family affection was awakened for the first time, and the family finally chose to face it together.
On the night after the power outage, my mother bought candles at the supermarket and came back, and the family ate under the flickering candles. Then my mother stood on the balcony, looking at the galaxy in the sky in a daze, and the family members also came to watch the stars together.
This scene also hints that the relationship between the family is beginning to change, before everyone is busy with their own business and does not care about the actions of others at all. After the power outage, the family rarely appreciates the night, and the relationship is closer than the previous indifference.
After that, the family rode to Kagoshima, and the Suzuki family chose to face the disaster together. The film does not over-render the disaster special effects, but realistically reproduces real life, simulates the real actions of people after the power outage, and allows the audience to enter the situation and worry about the future of the Suzuki family.
At the same time, the director did not deliberately show the subtle relationship changes of the family, but expressed from some details, such as the father riding a bicycle with the mother, the family taking turns to look at the wind, brainstorming, without explicitly, the viewer can naturally feel.
(2) The contradictions during the journey escalate, and the long-standing dissatisfaction breaks out in full swing.
If the Suzuki family's relationship was able to maintain the original balance at the beginning, then in the later journey, the problems between the family members became more and more prominent. In the journey of survival, the son still does not forget to carry a mobile phone that has no battery, the daughter is still wearing gorgeous clothes and false eyelashes, the father still exercises the authority of the father, and the mother is still timid and afraid. They resent each other, but they don't break the status quo.
Until there was less and less food, the family's clothes and luggage were blown away by the wind during the rainstorm, and after experiencing the rainstorm, sun and food shortages, Dad proposed to go to another city, and when the whole family arrived at the destination full of hope, they found that the local area was in a mess.
So all the contradictions broke out here, the children accused the father of always shirking responsibility and asking for face, the father vigorously refuted, the mother turned against the timid look, and said loudly, Do you know him on the first day? That's how your dad is.
I think the peak of contradiction in the whole drama broke out here, and the book "Original Family" mentioned that the problematic family will have a set of internal rules and models, and no one will come out to formulate it, but everyone will abide by this problematic system.
In the past, children confronted this contradiction in their own way in confusion and confusion, or escaped, or ignored it, until everyone pointed out the contradiction and the whole family began to examine the wrong system, and the change began.
(3) After experiencing various hardships, the people realized the preciousness of family affection and took the initiative to choose to return to the family.
After the conflict broke out, the Suzuki family ushered in a process of reconciliation, they cooperated in the wheat field to catch pigs, helped in the farm uncle's home, several people began to change, the father no longer shirked responsibility, and the children also took the initiative to join the family cooperation. The bizarre and exaggerated story, but let everyone see a different side of the Suzuki family.
When the whole family saw the scene of the farm uncle waiting for his son to return, they also thought that grandpa who was far away in Kagoshima must have missed them. From being forced to embark on a journey at the beginning, to choosing to go to Kagoshima later. I believe that the Suzuki family realized the preciousness of family affection and took the initiative to choose to return to the family.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03, gather family perspectives, and think about the lack of family affection in modern society</h1>
Through the background of the global indefinite power outage, the film shows the every move of ordinary families to cope with disasters in front of the audience, and there are many details in the film that metaphorically have different meanings, such as the change in the attitude of the family and the emotional sustenance of the director, even if it is a small person, as long as they try to face life optimistically, they can also change a lot.
Eventually, the Suzuki family reunites with Kagoshima's grandfather, and the outpouring of affection reaches its peak. After reading this story, I can't help but reflect: How is the lack of family affection of the Suzuki family not a common phenomenon?
(1) The convenience of life and the busyness of work make us ignore the existence of family.
Why did the director choose the Suzuki family as the starting point? I think that because the Suzuki family is more representative of most families, the father is busy at work and is absent from the education and companionship of the children; the mother works for the family but does not get the respect she deserves; and the children are immersed in electronic products and ignore the emotional needs of their parents. Each of us can find our own shadow in it.
Obviously the closest person, but like a stranger living under the same roof. The invention of modern technology was originally to provide convenience for life, but it has become an accomplice to diluting family affection, in fact, it is not technology that is wrong, but our neglect of our families. The story of the Suzuki family makes us more aware of the meaning of our relatives and the preciousness of family affection.
(2) The lack of affection also means the beginning of a lack of love and security.
The love of parents will affect the growth of children and the establishment of concepts, and the father in the film always shirks responsibility, does not assume the responsibility of educating his children and always points fingers at the children, which causes the brothers and sisters to be very annoyed by the father's hypocrisy and power. Children who lack care will gradually lose the ability to love others, and will also reduce their sense of security. Both siblings were initially immersed in the virtual network, precisely to escape reality.
Later, the Suzuki family returned to family affection, everyone helped each other, and the lost ability was regained. All this shows that a loving environment is conducive to the development of the family and the growth of the family.
(3) Returning to family affection can reconstruct intimate relationships and let us grow in love.
The film is finally a happy ending, the family in Kagoshima live a sunrise and sunset life, their relationship with their grandfather has eased a lot, although after the call, the Suzuki family chose to return to the city, but the family has completed the spiritual growth, reconstructed the intimate relationship.
The photo received at the end also reminds the Suzuki family of this special experience, reminding them not to forget the preciousness of family affection.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the last words:</h1>
"Survival Family" is a film that reverses the characteristics of previous disaster films, without a grand narrative theme and special effects that have been invested heavily, but uses delicate shooting techniques to show the experience of the Suzuki family, and also let the audience get reflection from the gamified plot: If we experience a long power outage, how can we protect ourselves and our families? Do we also face a lack of affection?
Director Yaguchi Shijing did not have sharp criticism, nor did he blindly deny, but left the feeling to the audience. From the film, you can not only feel the convenience and importance of modern civilization, but also appreciate the necessity of survival skills and the preciousness of family affection.