2020 is the year of the outbreak of Japanese gay movies!
This year, well-known young Japanese actors have almost devoted themselves to the shooting of gay films, such as Miyazawa Icefish, Fujiwara Yoshi starring in "His", Okura Tadao and Narita Ling starring in "The Cheese Dream of the Poor Rat", Yuki Furukawa, Ryu Hoshiryo "Starting Over After Returning Home", Okada Shosei starring in "The Night Outside the Triangle Window" and so on.
Stills from "The Cheese Dream of the Poor Rat"
Of these films, one of them is particularly connotative, a serious drama film, that is, this —
"In the Shadows"
"Shadow" is directed by the famous Japanese director Keishi Otomo, born in 1966. Keishi Otomo has directed Japanese drama masterpieces such as Hideyoshi, Ryoma Legend, and Vulture, as well as the 2014 high-profile Japanese film "Ranger Sword Heart: The End of the Legend", and won the Best Director Award at the 11th Japanese Drama Academy Awards in 1996 for "Hideyoshi".
The starring lineup of "Shadow" is even more luxurious.
One of the male lead actors, Tsuyoshi Ayano, born in Gifu, Japan in 1982, has won the Best Actor Award at the 69th Mainichi Pictures Awards, the Best Actor Award at the 88th HonbunBun Awards, and the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 41st Honichi Awards. "Shadow" is not Ayano's first time to play a same-sex role, in 2016, he starred in a tragic same-sex couple with his wife, Mu Satoshi, in the crime suspense film "Fury" directed by Lee Sang-il.
Tsuyoshi Ayano in "Shadow"
Another male lead actor of "Shadow", Matsuda Ryuhei, born in Tokyo in 1983, has starred in classic Japanese dramas such as "Haenyeo", "Quartet", "Mahoku Station Front Fan Field", as well as Japanese film masterpieces such as "Choi Boat Chronicle" and "Masahiro Ekimae Tada Convenience House", and won the best actor at the 38th Hochi Film Awards, the best actor at the 37th Japan Academy Film Awards, the best supporting actor at the 56th Japanese Drama Academy Awards, and this time in the gay film "Shadow", It helped him win the Best Actor Award at the Golden Coconut Award at the 2nd Hainan Island International Film Festival in Chinese mainland.
Ryuhei Matsuda in "Shadow"
In fact, in the film "Shadow", Ayano's performance is not inferior to Matsuda Ryuhei, so it is understandable that the Hainan Island International Film Festival awarded the Best Actor Award to either of them.
In addition, the korean film Blue Dragon Award for Best Supporting Actor Kunimura Hayabusa, the famous Japanese actress Mariko Tsutsui, the Yomiuri Drama Awards Outstanding Actor Award Nakamura Ryuya and other people joined, so that the entire film in the performance, have a charm that can not be ignored.
Ryuya Nakamura in "Shadow"
The story prototype of "Shadow" is also not small! The film is based on the novel "Shadow" by writer Masayuki Numata, the 157th winner of the Wasagawa Prize , Japan's most famous pure literary award (not one of them), and the author Masayuki Numata. All along, the Wasagawa Award has provided a steady stream of high-quality themes for Japanese film and television, and film and television masterpieces such as Moriyama Mirai, Kengo Takara starring in "Hard Labor Train", Hayashi Shutsu, and Munwaki Mai starring in "Spark" are all from the Wasagawa Prize novels.
"Shadow" tells a slightly mysterious same-sex story:
Imano, a 30-year-old young man, transferred to Iwate Prefecture, Japan, for work and emotional reasons, originally lived a nine-to-five work life in a state of stasis, until a man who was in the same company but in a different department broke into his life. The man's name was Hinata. Hinata takes Imano to go fishing outdoors and drinks with Imano on a rainy night, and gradually Imano develops a strong desire for Hinata and can't help but kiss Hinata. Although Hinata resisted, she did not leave Imano immediately. Later, when Hinata suddenly left her job and the two met again, Hinata asked Imano to sign a mutual aid contract for himself (similar in nature to Chinese insurance, credit card contracts, etc.), and the relationship between the two gradually changed. After the earthquake, Hinata disappears completely, and in the process of pursuing Hinata, Imano finally discovers that Hinata is nothing more than a despicable man who cheats everywhere.
This 134-minute film, the narrative is quite stable, the director continues to show the actor Ayano Tsuyoshi's body and performance charm through details, seeing that in the end, what really makes the audience have a taste is not the same-sex theme and the hazy and ambiguous emotions in it, but the human analysis presented by the film through the relationship between Imano and Hinata, so "Shadow" is actually a very in-depth film.
The title "Shadow Inside" is also intriguing. The so-called "shadow", that is, "shadow", is derived from a line in the film by Matsuda Ryuhei's character Hinata.
Hinata invites Imano to fish at night, and the two raise a bonfire by the river, and in the light of the fire, Hinata tells Imano:
Bonfire, no matter how fierce the fire can not come chaotically, can not be reckless, if you are in a hurry at the beginning, the fire can not be lit, the preliminary preparation must be done well... What you see is only the part that is illuminated in an instant, and the person who looks at his inside, the darkest part of his shadow.
The so-called "fierce fire" refers to Imano's feelings for Hinata, and Hinata's reminder is: You don't only see the bright part of me, you should see the darkest part of me (so that you don't love me so much). This line is the only place in the whole movie where Hinata expresses sincere concern for Imano, so it can be seen that Hinata does not necessarily have no feelings for Imano, but only because of his deceitful nature and unbearable life, he has to reject Imano.
In the subsequent plot, What Imano pursues is Hinata's "Shadow", and the darkest part of Hinata's shadow is really shocking, and even makes Hinata's father (Played by Hayabusa Kunimura) break off the father-son relationship with him.
The movie "Shadow" has a lot of intriguing places in addition to the success of character and emotional shaping.
For example, one of the most important plots in the film, fishing. "Fishing" has a double meaning, on the one hand, "fishing" itself, "fishing" is one of the most important acts of Imano and Hinata to maintain a relationship; on the other hand, "fishing" metaphor Forayasa gradually lures Imano into his own trap, and the kind and simple Imano is actually the "fish" in the river.
Because "Shadow" has the basis of the original text of the Wasagawa Award, its internal emotional tension and human nature are incomparable to other gay films that only focus on appearance or desire, which also makes this Japanese film, which was nominated for the Golden Coconut Award for Best Film at the Hainan Island International Film Festival, one of the most important gay films this year.