Summer is here, recommend a road music movie, "Goodbye, Lips", one of the top ten local films in 2019 selected by Japan's veteran film magazine "Movie Shunbun".
An off-road vehicle, two guitars, three buddies, and music, sunshine, and short hair, driving through hakodate's Côte d'Azur, make people feel like a story of youth and warmth, mixed with the smell of the summer sea breeze.
Unfortunately, such a beautiful handsome and beautiful configuration, the movie is a bit sad, telling the story of an independent band before disbanding the last tour.
Haru (played by Mai Munwaki) and Reo (played by Naina Komatsu) formed an independent band called Harureo, they released an album, they were famous in the underground music circle, but because of disagreements, they decided to hold a final national tour and disbanded, so they embarked on a tour with their agent and assistant Shima (Played by Narita Ling).
Because the band had decided to disband and there was a clear estrangement between the two members, the atmosphere of the tour was tense from the start. The two ladies are not small-tempered, one smoking on the car, one drinking, ignoring each other, the gas station on the toilet must pretend to be an enemy, Shima sandwiched in the middle of the embarrassing situation, but also a lazy look.
Silent and tired, everyone seemed to be barely operating, if it were not for the task of touring, several seemed to be eager to become strangers immediately.
Reo left at the gas station with a man he had just met, saying he would be back before the show.
Watching Reo leave, haru complained about why Shima did not stop it, and said that if Reo did not come back, the band would immediately disband, but both of them looked strange, and it is estimated that it was not the first time to witness Reo looking for a man.
On the night of the first day of the performance, reo did not appear with a wound on his face until the last moment before the opening, and under Haru's questioning, he smiled and said the reason for the tardiness, which was also just a fight with the man who was dating.
However, when she came back with a bruise, she did not forget to bring a gift to Haru, mentioning that today was a special day, and she did not forget.
The band successfully completed the performance of the night, the first stop, the two people have their own hearts, even the lyrics seem to mean.
After the show, driving to the next city, Haru unwrapped the gift, a bracelet, that Reo had handed her before taking the stage.
Shima mistakenly thought it was her birthday, but it turned out not to be, and Haru recalls that it was the anniversary of his acquaintance with Reo.
They met in the place where the laundry worked, Haru was usually alone, saw the eccentric Reo who was taught by the manager and had a disdainful face, and for the first time she had the idea of taking the initiative to talk, and she invited her to play music together. One dared to ask, one dared to pick up, and two lonely girls came together like this.
Haru is mature and talented, can write and sing, and teaches Reo to start playing guitar.
Let Reo, who has always lived at will, feel warm, and gradually change from worship to dependence on Haru.
The two began working as road singers together, on a street where they could often see the same homeless man.
Shima appeared when they were not famous, he used to be a cowboy, suddenly one day tired of pleasing women, began to think about the meaning of life, after listening to Haru and Reo singing, took the initiative to become the band's manager, the assistant's job does not matter.
So the two combined and became a three-person team, and the painting style at the beginning was also very bright, and all three of them were enthusiastic and expressed their efforts towards a bigger goal.
However, the scene turns to the second tour before the dissolution.
The first shot is still fantasizing about rushing out of Japan to the Grammys, and the latter shot is the live scene with few audiences, and even the bar owner comes to complain about the dismal income, and can't help but talk to Shima gossip about the dissolution of HARUREO.
After this performance, the estrangement between the three seemed to increase a little.
On the drive to a third city, the film is interspersed with a scene of Harureo being interviewed when he was just becoming famous. The host sat next to Reo and boasted about how good and talented Haru was, even though Haru played the round field because he wrote a song because he thought of Reo's voice, the host still kept praising Haru, and Reo directly patted the table and left the table. The origin of the two people's hearts and minds finally surfaced.
Seeing here finally roughly understand the context of the movie, the original tour is just a cover, the ultimate goal of the movie is to slowly flashback through each tour, slowly restore the protagonists' present and past, the original family of three people, the personality and transformation of three people, the love of three people, how three people come together, and how to fall apart...
As these subtle, subtle, and fatalistic puzzles are solved, the reasons for the dissolution of the band that are explained at the beginning of the film are finally solved at the end. "Goodbye, lips", the person who sings, but to say goodbye to the lips, and the lips that want to say goodbye, which lip is it.
On the surface, it is a road music film, but in fact it is also an analysis of human nature. I have to say that Japanese directors are really good at portraying the complex relationship between people who are close and confrontational, like the cabin is always smokey. There is no climactic ups and downs, it is a calm narrative, but there is a feeling like reading a speculative novel, and when the subtle and open secrets are finally clarified, it seems that they can reach a reconciliation with the protagonists.
The most critical reason for the band's dissolution is not spoilers, everyone can search for themselves, these three people still have their own hidden identities, and what will be their direction after the tour, leaving it for everyone to unlock.
In addition, since it is a musical film, especially the story of the band, the description of the Japanese underground music ecology and the situation of independent bands in "Goodbye, Lips" is also worth seeing.
There is also an interlude in the film, the director invited two singers who are currently very active in the Japanese music scene, Qin Kibo and Aimyon, to write songs for HARUREO, the main three capitals are very good, I bet you will loop the single.
It is worth mentioning that Qin Jibo and Aimyon, although their debut time is far apart, are both independent singers. In particular, Aimyon, a bit like the road singer depicted in the movie, broke out in Japan in 2018, and a video that was very out of the circle at that time was that she was singing in the street, the tram roared over the bridge above her head, and the restless voice was set off by the rumble of the tram.
The charm of music is probably the easiest thing to touch people's hearts in the wild.