The Story of Hachiko the Loyal Dog (2009)
Director: Lysé Holstrom
Writers: Stephen P. Lindsey / Kanehito Shindo
Starring: Richard Kiel / Sarah Romer / Joan Allen / robbie sublett / Eric Avalli / more...
Genre: Drama
Country/Region of Production: United States / United Kingdom
Language: English / Japanese
Release Date: 2009-06-13 (Seattle Film Festival) / 2010-03-12 (UK)
Runtime: 93 minutes
Also known as: Loyal Dog Kohachi (Taiwan) / Akita Inu Yachichi (Hong Kong) / Legend of loyal dogs
Douban score: 9.2 points
Hachiko (Forest) is a mysterious dog, as no one knows where it came from. Professor Parker (Richard Gere) picks up a lost puppy at the town's train station, and it seems that the puppy and Professor Parker have some kind of fate, Parker can never put the puppy down as soon as he picks up the puppy, and eventually Parker's love for the puppy Hachiko impresses his wife Carter (Joan Allen), who is strongly opposed to dog ownership at first. Hachiko grew up under parker's care, and when Parker went to work, hachiko would always send him to the station, and hachiko would climb at the station early to wait, and Hachiko's loyalty made the people in the town love him more. One day, Hachiko behaved abnormally when Parker was going to work, and actually played a game of picking up balls that he had never played before, and Hachiko's performance made Parker very satisfied, but on that day, Parker died of illness. Parker's wife, daughter Andy (Sarah Romer Sarah Roemer) and son-in-law Michael (Robbie Sublett) bury Parker with great sorrow, but the unknown Hachiko is still waiting at the door of the small station at five o'clock every day, waiting for the master to return...
Based on a true story that took place in Japan in the 1930s, the film grossed 4 billion yen when it was made in Japan in 1987. © Douban
One of the smartest things about the film's success is the way it is narrated. We have seen more of the sensational way of modern movies, handsome men and beautiful women on the big screen one by one to do their best, crying heart-rending lungs, liver and intestines, off-screen we report cold eyes, or hehe a smile, no pain and no itch.
But "The Story of Hachiko the Loyal Dog" is not, its narrative has been taking the warm route, moisturizing and silent, and even some funny.
The 90-minute film is divided into three parts.
At first, the professor picked up Xiao Eight at the station, not so much that the professor chose Xiao Eight, but that Xiao Eight chose the professor, and in the next twelve years, he always insisted on his choice and never left.
In the face of his wife's strong opposition, the professor still did not give up Onochi, and finally his wife was finally touched by the professor's love for Little Eight and accepted the existence of Little Eight.
The next is the story of Xiao Eight's slow growth in the professor's home, Xiao Eight sent the professor to the station in the early morning and picked up the professor in the evening, maintaining this habit.
The family loves each other and is happy. Until one day, Xiao Eight suddenly played the game of "picking up the ball" that he had always refused, and the professor was very happy, but the professor never came back after going out that day.
The last part is that after the death of the professor, Xiao Eight did not want to live in a place without a professor, ran back to the station thousands of miles away, waited for the professor to return every day, until the end of his life, as if seeing the professor standing in the distance smiling and waving at him, Xiao Eight finally closed his eyes peacefully.
It is such a simple story, but it has earned the tears of countless people.
To put a story that can be told in 300 words, director Lyse Holstrom spent 90 minutes, which is typical of "Japanese sensationalism", but the American director made it effortlessly and had to admire the director's ability to tell the story.
The slow and steady narrative structure, coupled with the piano song goodbye, coupled with the director's deliberate editing of the "Little Eight" up to ten minutes long shot, the time-lapse shot of the station people coming and going, and the little eight always maintains a gaze posture. Spring and autumn come, the leaves are green and yellow, and the child becomes a teenager, a dream for ten years.
This big dog, called "Little Eight", was just sitting in the corner of the small flower bed that belonged only to him. The director uses a large amount of film to record every step of Xiao Eight's journey.
Shallow depth of field and large depth of field switch back and forth, long shots and close-up cross-mapping, which is enough to show the director's skills.
There was also the train station administrator Carl, the one who had refused to accept Little Eight, Who had been waiting for the professor at the station for ten years, and Carl had also stood by and watched for ten years, he was like an outsider, but the director gave Carl a lot of shots, complex expressions and a lot of want to talk and stop.
Karl is the number two character in the movie, living longer and longer than the professor.
However, in the long time he watched Xiao Eight wait for the professor, how much regret occupied it, if it was Carl who took In Little Eight, then now, who would Xiao Eight be waiting for.
In a fixed shot at the last ten minutes of the film, the elderly Little Eight walks slowly in the snowy night, and the long rails carry his ten years of thoughts.
At the end of the story about Little Eight, it seems to see the familiar smile on the professor's face, standing not far away and shouting loudly "hi, buddy, come on!" In the dream, Little Eight and the professor were together forever, and in reality, he closed his eyes forever.
The film begins with the narration of the little boy and ends with the little boy's words. Intertextual structure, comfortable, natural.
"Never forget the person who loves you."