After the intensive bombardment in November, the film market in December is still hot, vowing to draw a successful end to 2018.
So many good movies, it is really eye-catching
The strong films took turns to attack, and which one was the most vocal
Is it Wen Ziren's DC masterpiece "Aquaman"?
Or "The Last Night on Earth", which is set to cross the Chinese New Year's Eve?
There is a group of viewers, the most wanted to see in the whole of December, is this 30 years of birth, everyone loves -
Totoro
My Neighbor Totoro
On the new film list, the number of "want to see" "Totoro" exceeded 110,000, hanging a number of high-profile opponents.
Unlike these films with visual effects and awards as the selling point, the audience of "Totoro" is so good that it relies on two words: "classic".
Douban scored 9.1, ranking 18th in the Top250, second only to Spirited Away (No.7) and Robot Wall-E (No.10) in animation.
Growing up watching Ghibli animation, you can't forget their iconic logo:
"Movie Emperor" Akira Kurosawa has selected 100 of his favorite films, and "Totoro" became the only animation film to be selected.
Among the top 100 Japanese films of the century rated by the japanese authoritative film magazine "Movie Shunbao", "Totoro" ranked 13th, which is the first among animated films.
Crossing the ocean to Hollywood, Totoro also has a high popularity, and once made a cameo appearance in the form of an Easter egg in "Toy Story 3":
The main servant cp of the cos of the same poster is even more numerous:
"Natsume's Friend's Account", "Super Marines" (Part 1 & 2)
All of the above confirms the milestone significance of this cute thing to the old owner.
On September 12 this year, Studio Ghibli announced that it plans to convert the original film of the "Totoro" movie into a digital restoration for re-screening worldwide.
The news has not yet been warmed up, and the poster of the domestic file has officially flowed out:
What a lifetime! The crowd rushed to tell each other, so happy that their mouths could not be closed.
For hundreds of millions of people, this is not only the first time they have seen Grandpa Gong's works on the big screen, but also a time machine to return to the beautiful childhood of the past.
In a blink of an eye, "Totoro" is 30 years old.
At the time of the project, the 47-year-old Hayao Miyazaki made a name for himself in Japan with "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" (1984) and "Castle in the Sky" (1986).
Hayao Miyazaki (first from left), who made Totoro in 1988
A sensitive and strong sense of crisis was the main feature of his work at that time.
From the Valley of the Winds' critique of industrial civilization:
To the anti-war tendencies revealed in "Castle in the Sky":
Each frame is imbued with a strong metaphorical color.
Unlike these grand and profound themes, Totoro tells a simple and tender story:
Xiao yue's mother fell ill and was hospitalized, and her father took her and her four-year-old sister Xiaomei to live in the countryside. Everything new there is attracting them.
During this time, they meet magical elves and become friends with a round totoro cat, which leads to a series of wonderful experiences.
From today's point of view, such a thin setting is no different from a toddler comic strip, not to mention the so-called "depth".
But that's perhaps its greatest strength — purity.
What is pure?
In the complex adult world, it is still possible to stick to the original intention and get rid of unnecessary distractions and troubles, which is the most intelligent philosophy of life.
The recently released Disney film "Christopher Robin", also based on a well-known story, depicts a journey to find a child's heart.
Robin, a little boy who left the hundred acres of forest, gradually became a step-by-step adult, overwhelmed by the trivialities of life.
When he was disoriented, his childhood playmate Winnie came to his side, and the golden sentences flew all over the place:
We were all carefree children who refused to grow up and were more afraid of drifting away from that simple, happy self as the years passed.
But the real childlike heart has nothing to do with age, but a skill to retract freely.
Like a seedling that has absorbed the rain, it is both strong and soft.
"Totoro" conveys to the world the same message: recognize the world, and then love it.
There is also a little-known story about this old film.
On April 16, 1988, the day of the movie's release, two posters were posted in front of the Tokyo Cinema, the other being "Grave of the Fireflies".
Director Takahata, who is on a par with Miyazaki in Japan, single-handedly discovered the animation giant, who was also the founder of Ghibli and had just died in the first half of the year.
Grave of the Fireflies is his masterpiece.
Compared with the silly and cute "Totoro", the latter is one word: abuse.
Xiaobian still remembers that after the first brush, it was uncomfortable for half a day.
The two films were "positive", and the audience was dumbfounded.
Coincidence? Not.
From the interview with toshio Suzuki, a well-known producer in Ghibli, "The Winds of Ghibli", we can learn a little bit.
After the box office success of "Castle in the Sky", Gong Laozi had the intention of making "Totoro", and excitedly presented the project, but unfortunately he ate the closed door.
The reason is that the script is set in Japan in the Showa 1930s (1955-1965), and folklore has it that this was an era of "Hundred Ghosts Nocturnal Walking".
Investors frowned: such a terrible story, will anyone come to see it?
Studio Ghibli was originally attached to Tokuma Shoten and separated in 2005
Not tolerating the old man's efforts to be denied, Suzuki thought of a way: let Takahata shoot "Tomb of the Fireflies" at the same time, and the two films were packaged and released in order to stir up the topic.
Tatsumi Yamashita, the manager of tokuma Bookstore, listened, and the anger rose:
"I thought there were only youkai, but I didn't expect to build a tombstone!"
In the end, two works with very different styles of painting were released on the same day, and the box office revenue was dismal, with a total of less than 600 million yen.
Fortunately, after a long period of testing, they have all gone all the way up in evaluation and become masterpieces of famous film history.
Today we can meet "Totoro", thanks to Suzuki, the driving force behind the "deep hidden merit and name".
The Big Three of Ghibli (toshio Suzuki in the middle)
If you walk into a theater on the streets of Tokyo, you will most likely encounter such a spectacle:
After watching "Totoro", the audience said and laughed and moved to the next door, crying bitterly, or vice versa.
According to statistics, at that time, 400,000 people watched the two animations at the same time, and the registration rate of psychiatry rose sharply.
Of course, this is just a joke.
Whether it is the theme of "life" in "Totoro", highlighting the beauty of the countryside, or the straightforward portrayal of war in "Tomb of the Fireflies", so as to set off the heaviness of "death", it is in addition to the contrast, deepening people's understanding of the tortuous reality.
When the totoro held up an umbrella and worshipped in front of the rubber seeds, the small buds instantly grew into a towering tree, which was impressive.
This is the animism that Japanese culture firmly believes in, and it is also a subconscious celebration of the original vitality.
Animism, also known as animism, was a philosophical thought that originated and flourished in the 17th century, and was later widely expanded and interpreted as pantheism, gradually evolving into one of the types of religious beliefs. Animism holds that everything under the heavens has a soul or natural spirit and influences other natural phenomena in control. Advocates of this theory argue that the natural phenomenon and spirit also deeply affect human social behavior, and that a tree and a stone have the same values and rights as human beings.
In contrast, Xiaomei and Xiaoyue inadvertently grew.
Because Mommy is seriously ill, Xiaomei has to take the corn she picked by her own hand to the hospital and deliver it to her.
This bear child, who looks bold, actually has a weak, pitiful, and helpless side.
Xiao Yue ran all over the mountain and did not find her sister's shadow, so she had to wipe her tears and go to find totoro.
"Please! Help me find Xiaomei!! Right now... She must have been crying somewhere..."
The climactic scene in the film is that the big totoro summons the cat bus and retrieves the missing Xiaomei. They sat on the branches outside the hospital and smiled happily.
What a good cat to help others.
However, even this thick fat guy has not been able to get rid of the entanglement of urban legends for many years.
Among them, it is the "messenger of the underworld" that has been most widely circulated.
According to this view, "Totoro" is set in the murder of a female high school student in the 1960s, that is, the "Sayama Incident" that shocked all of Japan.
The Japanese media reported on the "Sayama Incident" that year
What's more, a lot of details and clues in the film are also brought out to compare with the prototype case.
It's terrifying to think about.
I believe that everyone, like Xiaobian, when they first heard this interpretation, their hearts were 100 rejections.
Totoro = Grim Reaper? Cat bus = a means of transport for the soul?
Was my childhood cursed by the Forgotten Curse??!
Although Ghibli officials denied this claim as early as May 2007, many people still firmly believe that Totoro is a "ghost story".
After all, the dark corners of reality tend to be more attractive than fantasy lands.
This reminds me of the suspense thrown at the audience at the end of "The Fantasy Drifting of Young Pi".
Between A and B, the answer seems important, but it doesn't.
Because fairy tales always exist most truly in the hearts of those who believe in them.
And a good work, know how to leave a moderate blank, extend the broad reverie space, in order to be able to be relished by future generations, the aftertaste is endless.
In 2002, Ghibli released a short sequel to Totoro, Plum and kitten Bus, which lasted 14 minutes.
Clams, didn't expect it
In the film, there is a 1-person kitten bus and a super-large grandma bus, and Miyazaki also voices Totoro himself.
Sure enough, it was a real old boy.
However, this short film is limited to the Mitaka No Mori Museum, and can only be seen in the museum, and you have to check the screening date online in advance.
Walk into this art museum designed by Hayao Miyazaki himself, and you can take a look at the cute totoro in the guard booth.
As a witness to the myth of Ghibli, and the lucky charm of the Japanese animation industry, to this day, the various derivatives of Totoro are still selling well around the world, not only redeeming the sins and making up for the regret of the blood loss of the year, but also promoted to the longest-lived ATM machine in Ghibli.
Keychains, dolls, throw pillows, T-shirts... Who doesn't have a totoro in their home?
Why this image can be so successful, it is really difficult to explain in three words.
Perhaps many of the halos are also attributed to Miyazaki Hayao, the "big liar" who announced his retirement seven times.
In the 2016 special program "No Myth: Hayao Miyazaki", produced by NHK, he once said this tearful sentence:
It is precisely because of the respect for natural beings and the attitude of devout craftsmen that anime is regarded as a lifelong faith that can give birth to heart-warming stories that have captured generations.
Such a pure animation deserves all our touching and greetings.
On December 14th, go to the theater to catch Totoro.
As long as you have a totoro in your heart, childhood will not disappear
Related movie recommendations
The kingdom of dreams and rhapsody
Mei bus with kittens
No myth: Hayao Miyazaki
*Author: A midsummer's Gate
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