Love, is what matters the process of pursuit, or is it the result of being together? At what stage of love does it make you love yourself the most? Or, at what point in your life do you love yourself the most?
▲ For me, Imatoshi's works are bitter, but they are also extremely important, and Imatoshi, who died young at the age of 48, has directed only six works in his lifetime.
1997's "Blue Fear", 2001's "Millennium Actress", 2003's "Tokyo Godfather", 2004's "Delusional Agent", 2006's "Inception", 2007's "Good Morning", and another "Dream Machine" that died before it was too late.
The vitality and uniqueness of Imatoshi's works are no less than the works of the three major mountains of Japanese animation, Miyazaki Hayao, Oshii Mori and Otomo Katsuyo, and Imatoshi himself has participated in Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira", "Old Man Z", "Mobile Police Theater Edition Episode 2" and "MEMORIES", if God is willing to give Imatoshi more time.
The main axis soundtrack of "Millennium Actress" is derived from "Hirazawa Jin" "ロタティオン (LOTUS-2)", which is an electronic music with a very special texture, and at the same time combines elements of traditional Japanese music in it, which is very special and has memory points.
▲ The animation visual of the plot is meticulous in the body movements of the characters, the posture is vivid, the animation style is presented from the realistic, freehand to the ukiyo-e style side scroll, very meticulously chimera with the plot, the flow of time is not only an important plot element, but also a visual element, the ukiyo-e style fragments, the composition of the elements condensed on the screen, when rolled to provide a beautiful and detailed dynamic sense.
At the beginning of the film, the boundary between reality and the film begins to blur, some are film clips watched by lotus studio director Tachibana, and some are like the real life of Chiyoko Fujiwara.
The important imagery of the whole animation: time and space, is actually presented at this time, the city that became a ruin in wartime, the crane that rebuilt the city after the war, the plane flying in the sky, and finally the spaceship and the universe.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > this is the era experienced by the heroine Fujiwara Chiyoko, and it is also her life of continuous running and chasing</h1>
The earthquake is an important symbol in "Millennium Actress", a confirmation of the current state, and a wake-up call. Each earthquake affected the life of Chiyoko Fujiwara, marking a turning point in her life, Fujiwara Chiyoko was born during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and her father died because of the earthquake.
Director Tachibana, who came to visit for the production of the documentary, and the photographer Ida broke the line between reality and imagination, and ran into Chiyoko's memories, side-photographing the process of young Kuniko's pursuit of young and unrequited love.
▲ Chiyoko meets a man who is being chased by scar police, he is a painter, holding an unfinished painting in his hand, and wants to complete it when he returns to his hometown, where the winter is a white snow, and he wants to paint in that biting cold, because the snow scene is like in a strange world.
When peace is made, he will take Chiyoko with him, and the painter will give Chiyoko a key, saying that the key can open something very important, and the next day he will tell Chiyoko what it is. But before the man could explain to Chiyoko, the police had come to the house, and the man fled to the station, where Chiyoko quickly chased after him and ran with the train, but did not catch the train.
At this time Chiyoko shouted that she must reunite with you, and the photographer Ida originally thought that this scene was Chiyoko's true memory, but it turned out to be a movie, and director Tachibana said that he had seen it 53 times in the cinema, and the fourth wall of Chiyoko's life continued to be broken in the film.
Chiyoko pursues the painter to make a movie, and meets director Otaki and actress Shimao on the Ginei set, and Ohtaki asks Shimaio about the key, and hears Chiyoko say that he doesn't know the painter's name or what kind of painting he paints.
Chiyoko began to show her talent as an actress during filming, making Yongzi worried that her position on the set was threatened, so she set up a situation for Chiyoko to put down the shooting and run to a distant place to find the painter, the train encountered bandits in the middle of the road to rob and derail, Chiyoko managed to escape the train, but suddenly jumped into the Sengoku era and became a princess.
In the burning castle tower, the princess ran to the castle tower to look for the lord, when she saw that the lord had died on the ground.
I wonder if, in reality, Chiyoko at this time would have been aware, to some extent, that the painter might no longer be alive? Many of the next chases are just for their own years of suspense and fascination, coming up with alternative solutions.
Chiyoko raised her sword and was about to die with the lord, but a white-haired witch sitting in front of the loom appeared and said to Chiyoko, "Drink this cup of tea, even if you can't be united in the world, you can fulfill your wish to be together in the underworld." 〉
This cup of tea is a kind of magic spell, maybe the key in reality, or the obsession of Chiyoko's lifelong pursuit of the painter's back, even if it can't be combined in the world, you must continue to run to you in your heart and dreams.
Seeing here suddenly found that although the heroine's face shape has no special memory points, it is very likely to collide with other women in the play, but because of the tear mole in the corner of the eye, no matter what kind of makeup, it is very easy to identify, it can be said that it is the same as the knife scar of the knife scar police, which is the ingenuity of Imatoshi!
After Chiyoko drank the tea, the witch said that it was a thousand years of longevity tea, not only will not die, but will live forever to suffer the fire of love, at this time the witch suddenly said that she actually loves Chiyoko, but loves to see Chiyoko suffer forever.
Will the witch be chiyoko of the future? I'd rather let myself be tormented by this fruitless love forever than give up the love for the object of my youth.
▲ Chiyoko has made a lot of movies in which there is an object that needs to be rescued, but it is always unsuccessful.
In "Seven Changes of Ninjutsu", she becomes a female ninja, breaks the cage to save the male protagonist, but finds that what is hidden inside is the hostile female ninja played by Yongzi, and the martial arts scene that appears here is a wonderful Japanese drama classic martial arts shot and action.
It's actually hard to tell which side of Chiyoko's real life and which part of Chiyoko's film are, and I don't think it's just the audience, I'm afraid Chiyoko herself can't tell the difference.
The scene comes to Kyoto at the end of the curtain, Chiyoko and Yongzi are both Kyoto Hanaku, Chiyoko is annoyed by forgetting the grace of Ayako's cultivation, whether it is talking about Hanaku, or about the real world of the film, young actresses and older actresses, often have such a sense of competition.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > no matter how many thousands of years have passed, from young to old, Chiyoko continues to chase</h1>
Chiyoko meets the man again at the end of the shogunate in Kyoto, but the mystery of the key is not solved, by this time the catchers have caught up, the man has disappeared, and Chiyoko escapes on a fast horse, and the transition scene in this section is extremely exciting.
Chiyoko ran past the late-shogunate ukiyo-e, ran through the Southwest War, got into a European-style carriage, passed the road train and the 19th-century Japanese classic imitation baroque architecture, passed through the Russo-Japanese War, the Taisho era, rode down the slope on a bicycle, and then met a scar policeman wearing a 19th century police uniform, and set out Chiyoko's words, knowing that she knew the pro-democracy activist.
Chiyoko was tortured, and somehow Yongko, who was also in prison, asked why she refused to confess, and Chiyoko said, "Where do you start with things you don't know, even if you know I won't say it, I will never betray him, and I love him more and more every day."
This is the torture of the police, but it is also like Chiyoko questioning her own heart, a man with only one side, why can Chiyoko be infatuated for so long?
At this time, Tachibana appears and uses the power of money to rescue Chiyoko, and the scar policeman appears, saying that he has already caught someone, and it is useless to continue to close Chiyoko, Chiyoko looks at the back of the man who was caught, but he can't catch up.
Chiyoko arrives in Tokyo, which has become a ruin, Natsuki shouts, chiyoko's cake shop sign becomes a broken piece of wood on the ground, Chiyoko picks up the red shoes in the ruins, and finds that on the warehouse wall, the painter painted his young face, next to it, hoping to see each other again one day.
The textile cart and the white-haired witch appeared again, the wheels of the textile cart reminded people of the circle of time, the real Chiyoko fell, then the director of Tachibana asked her, are you too tired, do you want to revisit later, Chiyoko said, it doesn't matter, maybe after tomorrow, she will not remember anything.
After a lifetime of obsession, when you are old, all thoughts are more likely to be fleeting, and when you are old, you are the closest to eternity, but also the closest to the Buddhist concept of moments.
▲ At the end of the war, the Silver Photography Institute was opened again, Chiyoko filmed everything, and also filmed the monster "Ziggerra" in our world, like "Godzilla" in our world, Chiyoko still couldn't find any clues to the painter, always thinking that he had been shooting movies, maybe he would see it one day.
One day on the set, Chiyoko found that the key that always hung around her neck was missing, and when she searched all over the set, she found that the staff on the set asked what the key was, and Chiyoko said that the key was given by someone who was important to her, but she could no longer remember the look of his face.
Loving him so much, but losing the memory of being with him because of the long flow of time, Chiyoko cried uncontrollably.
The key is not found after all, and after the key is missing, Chiyoko soon marries Otaki, who has been pursuing her, and when she marries, her mother has passed away, and her heart seems to be completely hollowed out.
Around 1970, Chiyoko found the key hidden in the box while tidying up her home, but then the home suddenly became the set, and the scene switching here confused me, perhaps because Chiyoko's life was inseparable from the set at this time.
Otaki saw that the key was speechless, and Yongzi told Chiyoko the truth, it was Otaki who deliberately asked her to help hide the key, when the scar policeman came to visit, already an old man with a leg disability, confessed that he had been a lackey of the ruling faction before the war, and arrested the political dissident painter, the painter actually wrote a letter to chiyoko, chiyoko immediately opened it.
The painter said that he was a Hokkaido native, and he was angry that he could not repay Chiyoko, and although the war situation was deteriorating, he hoped that one day he would be able to wait for peace, return to his hometown of Hokkaido, and abide by the original agreement to watch the starry sky together.
Chiyoko grabbed the key and the letter, rushed out of the set, and continued to run, the train could not move because of the avalanche, Chiyoko rushed to the bus, the bus stopped because of heavy snow, Chiyoko crossed the snow alone.
The endless snow seems to be what the painter said decades ago.
Chiyoko's footsteps are photographed stepping onto the moon, and on a hillock I finally see the painter's easel, and the painting on it depicts a path that winds into the distance.
The painter at the end of the trail waved at her and disappeared.
Chiyoko returns to the moon base at the beginning of the film, and on the way to board the rocket, director Tachibana wants to tell Chiyoko not to go, she will not come back, Chiyoko said that she has promised to go to him.
Did Chiyoko always know that this is a road with no end and no end?
▲ Suddenly encountered a strong earthquake in space, the studio collapsed, the key that was hard to find fell between the wreckage, Chiyoko saw the white-haired witch in the reflection of the space helmet, screamed and fled the studio, after that, Chiyoko disappeared from the film and television circle and lived a peaceful life for thirty years.
Chiyoko confesses to Tachibana that the accident made her realize that she was no longer the little girl with short hair, and the painter would not remember herself, let alone let the painter see her aging face.
Tachibana told the photographer that he was also present when the old scar policeman went to visit, and the scar policeman said that because the pro-democracy activist painter still refused to open his mouth, tortured to the end, he died.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Chiyoko has been chasing a bubble all her life</h1>
Tachibana and the photographer go to Chiyoko's bedside, Chiyoko says that the visit is over, it is time to say goodbye, Chiyoko wants Tachibana not to be sad, because he can go after the person again, and the key has been found, opening Chiyoko's memory of the painter, in the process of talking with Tachibana, as if returning to her past self.
At least this time I will definitely see him, but in fact, it doesn't matter whether I see him or not.
The countdown to the rocket at the lunar base ends, and the jet engine points are sent out into the universe, leaving the world with a flash of light.
▲ Chiyoko muttered to herself, "Perhaps, what I like is that I keep pursuing myself."
This is the essence of the show.
In the process of life, there are always some unfinished regrets, which may be an unforgettable single love, may be a deceased love, even if we know that staying in this relationship or emotion, there will not be a conclusion, and often bring the pain of cutting the heart.
But perhaps what makes us remember and keep looking back is in that relationship.
Sometimes there are mixed joys and sorrows, and sometimes I am so happy that I am indescribably happy.
That way, the story doesn't end.