"Kikujiro's Summer" is directed by Takeshi Kitano, who is known as the "aesthetics of violence", but this film is the warmest and brightest of the films he directed, and the fresh and beautiful scenery of summer makes the whole film full of childhood atmosphere.
Released in June 1999, Kikujiro's Summer has won numerous film awards, nominated for Best Film at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or, nominated for Best Picture at the 44th Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain, nominated for Best Picture at the Golden Nail Awards, and Best Picture at the 23rd Japan Academy Film Awards. Douban's praise is as high as 8.8 points, and the film reviews are better than 98% of comedies and 96% of drama films.
The film tells the story of a third-grade boy Zhengnan, who is lonely and lonely at home because of the summer vacation, and accidentally receives a courier from his mother one day, and after learning his mother's address, he embarks on a journey to find his mother accompanied by Kikujiro. Through the process of traveling, he meets all kinds of people, so that Zhengnan's feelings for Kikujiro gradually change from fear to mutual understanding and trust.
Finally, in the seemingly nonsensical game, the childhood of the two people is healed, and the story ends with a new start and beginning. The film has a well-pictured picture, and the seemingly absurd and humorous and relaxed plot design at the beginning of the story evokes the trust between people and the innocence of human nature through the emotional changes of the characters.
Takeshi Kitano's filming of Kikujiro's Summer is his heartfelt emotional call, which is also an expression of his desire for fatherly love. The following article tells from the three aspects of "narrative technique, audiovisual language, and theme presentation" that in this movie, two people heal each other's childhood during their journey, and also express the summer warmth of growing up in the interaction between adults and children through themes.
The film adopts an absurd and humorous narrative method, and the story content sets up a lot of nonsensical plots and humorous performance techniques, making the plot more interesting, triggering the audience to think while promoting the development of the storyline, so that the audience can find the breath of childhood in the story.
At the beginning of the film, he was the only one on the empty playground after the summer vacation, eating watermelon was also a person, friends went to the beach for a vacation, but he was very bored, and the description of these plots made the audience feel the loneliness of Zhengnan's heart. Zhengnan is bowing his head in any scene and does not like to talk, and the lack of family affection makes Zhengnan mature prematurely.
When his mother sent a courier, he found her address, and he decided to go to Aichi Prefecture to look for her mother. On the way there, he meets his mother-in-law's friend Kikujiro and his wife, and thus begins a story of finding his mother with the rogue uncle. Kikujiro ran to the arena with Zhengnan to gamble, and finally lost all the money to go to the yakiniku restaurant alone, leaving Zhengnan at the door. Kikujiro's selfishness and bullying of the weak are seen here.
When in the tavern, Zhengnan is bullied by bald men, Kikujiro helps Zhengnan to get justice in a comedic way, which also protects the child's heart, kikujiro helps the weak with kindness.
The contrast between losing all the money and running to hitchhike, and the series of behaviors that do not conform to adults in order to explain Zhengnan at the carnival, etc., all allow the audience to witness Kikujiro's transformation and the core of the light of humanity.
When Masao talked about his mother, Kikujiro muttered, "He's just like me." "When the film is here, we find out that Kikujiro also longs for maternal love, so all his actions seem understandable.
Through the form of illustration, the development of the plot is promoted, and the audience is aware of the story in this journey from the perspective of zhengnan. A series of hilarious stories during the journey also show Kikujiro's childishness and willingness to accept new things.
The film uses the warmth under the cloak of comedy to let the audience experience Kikujiro's relief and growth of maternal love in the humorous storyline. In the end, through the game, he healed The sorrow of Shonan and also healed the lack of kinship in Kikujiro's heart.
These plots seem to be absurd and humorous plot design, but also present the confusion of reality, through the description of various storylines and the portrayal of the characters' hearts, spoof behavior and behavior, the lack of affection between the two people is shown to the audience in a witty state, adding a lot of humor to the film, and grasping the audience's emotions while coming to the comedy.
The use of lens language is used in the film, so that the audience can feel the theme content to be expressed as the photographer's lens changes; the use of musical techniques enhances the audiovisual appeal, strengthens the visual impact and psychological appeal, and the relaxed and pleasant tone makes the plot more soothing and dilutes the deep-seated expression theme of the story.
The film uses a large number of still shots and panoramic shots, which makes us more clear about the development of the plot, while making the plot more coherent, and gradually pushing the film to a more climactic place. The metaphor of the angel's backpack shows that the people who meet due south are angels, and the angel bell is a metaphor for Kikujiro being the angel who guards the south.
For the shot of Zhengnan, many times let the audience feel the loneliness in the heart of this little boy, and childhood is a lack of happiness for him. He followed Kikujiro, more than ever choosing silence, and after meeting the little couple, we found him smiling happily for the first time.
The little couple gave him an angel backpack and let him fly happily like an angel, where the camera slowly pulled away, as if there was endless happiness in the lens, and the full view also gave him a strong sense of visual comfort.
There is a scene in the film where the little couple takes Zhengnan and Kikujiro to the bus stop, and the camera uses the reflection of the wheel to rotate the image of Zhengnan, which is also very interesting, evoking a frank and childlike fun, which also makes the audience look forward to the next journey.
After Zhengnan saw his mother, he looked at his mother from a distance and had a new family, the children abandoned by his mother, the missing love in childhood, and the panoramic lens made us feel sad with it.
Kikujiro gave the stolen Angel Bell to Zhengnan, and under Kikujiro's comfort, the two looked at each other and continued to move forward hand in hand, and the large panorama described the seaside scenery while also highlighting the inner changes of the two.
The dreams in the film are specific shots, showing his mental activities through the dreams of Zhengnan, until the final dream he let go of the guard in his heart, from trust to fear, to understanding, he also harvested a different summer vacation in this journey.
The picture presented from the main perspective of the dragonfly is more unique, and the overlapping images symbolically imply a colorful childhood and a chic summer landscape. Under the use of these lens languages, it renders a relaxing summer journey, allowing the audience to enjoy a happy journey under the introduction of the characters.
The bgm in the film is the "summer" by the piano master Hisaishi Jean, the tune around the ear, the smart notes let the audience run up with the steps of the south, and feel the summer freshness of the journey in the film. The beginning and end of the story, the same scene picture, this is exactly the spiritual healing that the director wants to express.
The director integrates music and film, expresses the film in the way of music, and also uses the film to express music, which promotes the plot and extends the inner activities of the characters under the blessing of music.
Of course, as a summer film, the beauty of nature adds a lot of color to the film. Frogs on reeds, caterpillars on grass blades, blue sky views, summer cicadas chirping, all of these lenses are used in good terms. A fresh summer scenery is displayed in front of the audience, which makes people feel relaxed, greatly enhances the atmosphere of the film, and highlights the healing of the soul.
The use of camera language and music in the film makes the plot of the whole film more full, interspersed with the theme of the film between comedies, mobilizes the audience's emotions, and produces a subtle sense of resonance, so that Zhengnan and Kikujiro can find each other's childhood happiness and heal spiritual growth.
"Kikujiro's Summer" belongs to the road movie, with family affection as the main line, although Zhengnan's journey to find his mother ended in failure, but it is more about two people growing up and healing each other during the journey.
Finally, with "Kikujiro, Roll", kitano Takeshi's inner feelings are expounded, and the shooting inspiration for "Kikujiro's Summer" comes from the life experience of Kitano Takeshi's father, and the image of Kikujiro in the film is a combination of his real father and his ideal father.
The other people who play with Zhengnan in the film, in our opinion, they are marginal people in society, all of whom are confused in life, but they also gained a long-lost childhood happiness in this game. In Zhengnan's eyes, they are "Mr. Good Man, Mr. Bald, Mr. Heavy" and Kikujiro, these people are the people who gave him happiness during the journey, and let him harvest love and kindness in this lonely summer vacation, and these people are the angels who guard him.
Lucky people are cured of childhood all their lives, and unfortunate people are cured of childhood all their lives. - Adler
A lot of times we overlook the impact childhood has on a person. Kikujiro's childhood was devoid of maternal love, so many of his behaviors were childish and childlike behaviors, which were just making up for his childhood. Because of the early death of his father, the departure of his mother, and the life of his grandmother, Zhengnan entered the society prematurely and experienced the sorrow that only adults have.
Perhaps there is a microcosm of us in the childhood of Zhengnan and Kikujiro, and the missing love in childhood is also the pursuit we have been trying to pursue. Ending the film with the little wings dancing on the angel's backpack, Zhengnan also gains a pair of spiritual wings and finds his own childhood fun.
In this touching journey of one childhood, we feel the understanding of the adult world in one childhood, the respect of childhood in the other adult world, and after a series of stories, from relief to growth, they all heal their childhood spiritually.
epilogue:
The soothing and relaxed tone of the film, the humorous plot design, and the opening of the viewing film and television corner in the form of illustration add a lot of childlike fun to the story, and also let us harvest the innocence of human nature in the two childhoods. The film brings a faint sadness, blowing away one by one in the pleasant summer scenery, and also allowing us to find spiritual healing and happiness in the plot.