After 20 years, a movie full of anime-style music, "Kikujiro's Summer", was successfully finalized and will be released nationwide on September 25, grabbing the little tail of summer and taking us to feel the warmth and happiness of that summer.
Kikujiro's summer
Perhaps it is the reason why Hisaishi let the old man soundtrack, coupled with a warm and slightly sad theme, "Kikujiro's Summer" brings a little sense of Miyazaki Hayao's anime, this time the poster of Huanghai teacher also uses the animation style, blue sky and white clouds plus angel bells, the protagonist Masao and the uncle next door, three partners who play together to form "Kikujiro's Summer".
This classic work that has won countless awards has brought the audience full of emotions, a left-behind child's family search journey, because a "rogue uncle" has become wonderful, although the tone of the story is still a little sad, but the overall look is relaxed and happy, for the audience, the most touching thing is to tell a sad growth story in a funny way.
summer
"Kikujiro's Summer" is self-directed and self-directed by the famous Japanese director Takeshi Kitano, who in a special way pays tribute to the father who does not communicate with him much, in this work, he tries to look at a middle-aged father through the perspective of a child, but let the audience feel the meaning of growth in the experience of two people, one old and one young.
Two generations
In this story, there is a shadow of director Takeshi Kitano's real life, but it is more of his understanding of his relationship with his father. The man who made Akira Kurosawa, the "Shakespeare of the film industry", say that "the future of Japanese cinema is up to you", the personal experience is no less wonderful than that of the movie.
Takeshi Kitano Kurosawa Akira
The work's multiple positioning of the protagonist of the story, "Kikujiro", also allows the audience to have a better understanding of the work at the end of the topic.
"Who the hell is Kikujiro?"
Kikujiro is a young boy
This is the question that many viewers held at the beginning, who is "Kikujiro" in the name of the work, the story has not been explained, so many viewers subconsciously think that "the little boy is Kikujiro", which is also a misleading of the director to the audience.
Kikujiro's summer coincides with the little boy's summer vacation, which is the little boy's memories of summer adventures.
Little boy
The little boy's father died, his mother worked in a distant city to raise him, his grandmother took care of him alone, with the arrival of summer, the school closed, and the friends around him went to the beach for a vacation, this little boy named ZhengNan felt extremely lonely. So he wanted to go far away to see his mother, and the neighbor aunt not only borrowed money out of kindness, but also lent him her idle husband, and the middle-aged man embarked on a journey with the little boy.
Originally it was a simple story of the uncle taking the little boy to find his mother, but because the uncle gambled and spent all the money given by the aunt, it became complicated, and the two people who had no money could only go to the distance to find their mother by walking and rubbing the car, and finally after finding the mother, the little boy who was full of joy saw that the mother had re-established the family, and the sad two people embarked on the journey home, the uncle tried his best to make the little boy happy, the two people experienced a wonderful adventure back to their hometown, bid farewell to each other, and the little boy's summer vacation ended.
Summer adventures
At first, many people think that Kikujiro is a masao, after all, the story revolves around him looking for his mother, and his failure to find his mother also makes many people very sympathetic.
Kikujiro is an uncle
Seeing the second half of the work, some viewers began to think that the uncle was Kikujiro, a man who played with treasures along the way, so that countless people followed the footsteps of this middle-aged uncle back to childhood, after all, he did those gambles to swim, prick other people's tires, go to the cornfield to steal corn, and take a group of people to play funny games, which is a portrayal of most people's summer life.
Kikujiro
This uncle is always full of dirty words from beginning to end, and seems to be less likely to communicate with "normal people", but every small detail is the delicate warmth of adults. The director also finally made a point through the little boy's question, letting us know that Kikujiro was originally an uncle. In this journey, it is not only the right man who has grown, but also this barbaric middle-aged man.
It turns out that the uncle is Kikujiro!
If you look at it again, you will feel that the two people are Kikujiro and not like Kikujiro, Kikujiro is the father of Director Takeshi Kitano, and his real experience we have no way of knowing, so these two people are not Kikujiro. But they are all Kikujiro, and the director looks at the middle-aged Kikujiro from the perspective of a childhood director in such a way, looks at the father from the perspective of a child, and at the same time treats a child in the way of a middle-aged man, which is a summer shared by father and son, and perhaps represents the childhood experience of left-behind children.
In this way, the author makes a person who has lost a loved one, his childhood and middle age are intertwined, middle-aged people are innocent and naughty in childhood, but the child reflects the maturity and stability of adults, and will change back to his own identity when playing. This way of interweaving narrative presents a kind of opposing picture of returning while experiencing.
Antagonism and unity
Kikujiro's life experience was deduced by two people, one old and one young formed a distinct opposition, but finally completed the unification, it turned out that this is a person's childhood and middle-aged experience.
Kikujiro's short journey with Masao to find his mother in the past few days also represents Kikujiro's bumpy path of finding his mother for decades.
Why did Masao, such a cute and well-behaved child, grow into Kikujiro's kind of angry uncle?
From the outside point of view, this uncle is actually not very cute at the beginning, not only loves to broadcast alone, Kikujiro is also preoccupied, bullying soft and afraid of hard, but also loves to take advantage of small advantages, can not swim and like to pretend, a typical image of a middle-aged uncle who wastes firewood, but in various experiences, it shows an unusual side, perverted guys, hotel waiters, couples who have carried them for a ride, wandering poets and flying car people, a child without parents in the face of all kinds of social right and wrong, and finally grew into an uncle like this, He was able to take good care of himself, but he gave another child the opportunity to realize his dream and took him to his mother.
The warmth of the uncle
When we saw that the mother with a heart and mind had another happy family, the two people tacitly did not bother, which was not in line with the character of the uncle, but let us see the kindness and thoughtfulness. This point is put together with the scene of the uncle's sudden going to the nursing home to see his mother on his journey back to the city, and it is also a far-away glance and leaves, knowing that you are doing well, I am relieved.
The adventure of the man looking for his mother, experienced heavy wind and rain, mud and bumps, hunger and sadness, playing pitiful and asking for a ride, in just a few days, the mental journey has changed many times, corresponding to the uncle's decades of mental journey, these decades of this middle-aged man's innermost tastes, and the moment of seeing the mother again is relieved or worried, so that the audience can't help but be sad.
Uninformed mothers
In the journey of finding a mother, Masao and uncle play the role of children, from the sadness of facing their mother's reorganization of the family when they were young, to the relief of seeing their mother again when they grow up, what growth brings us is the understanding of our mother, as well as the redemption and letting go of ourselves. I still remember that the uncle told Masao that he must tell his mother how good he was, and he took him to find his mother all the time, and the expectations and worries about his mother in his heart were actually hidden in the story.
The last childhood game, a few bored adults with a small child playing wooden people, octopus and aliens and Indians, as well as the game of watermelon, let the little boy experience the joy of childhood, a group of people spent a happy summer together. The angel bell of the uncle and the big dipper of the wandering poet have brought hope to the boy, so that he can grow into a kind and warm uncle.
Game
Director Takeshi Kitano called out to his comedic partner "Pai Ziqing" and several members of the group to make this work in tribute to childhood and his father, when the film was released, his father Kikujiro had been dead for 20 years, when his father was alive, he and his father had little communication, only once when his father took him to see the sea, he showed off his swimming skills in front of him. Takeshi Kitano, who remembered his various experiences with his father, later had some new ideas about the relationship between father and son, and the father should be the first stumbling block in the child's life journey, so he had this work.
Famous scenes
In an interview about Kikujiro's Summer, director Takeshi Kitano said how he felt about the work.
"Is Kikujiro your father's name?"
"Yes. It seems that he didn't have a memory of speaking to him before he died. But looking back now, he was really lonely. The theme of the movie this time is a bit like the feeling of tomb sweeping filial piety, which is also considered to be an offering. (Takeshi Kitano)"