If you want to find a Japanese animation master who has the potential to surpass Miyazaki, at least in China, Imatoshi is almost the only option.
Perhaps in the eyes of some people, Imatoshi failed to surpass Miyazaki only because he lived too short. In 2010, before the age of 50, he died young, leaving only 4 animated feature films.
One of the most well-known must be "Red Hot Chili Peppers".
Most reviews put Red Hot Chili Peppers together with Inception.
But personally, I think it is more appropriate to compare Mulholland Road.
Both works are at the ceiling level of a dream film.
It can be said that "Mulholland Road" is the most godly live-action dream movie;
Red Hot Chili Peppers is the best animated dream movie.
None of them.
"Inception" was charged with plagiarism because some of the scenes were similar to "Red Hot Chili Peppers", which was released 4 years late.
The comments on whether there are really copies have been made very carefully, and there is no longer a waste of words here to convince those who still think that Nolan has plagiarized.
The fact is that both works are very good, and those who like "Red Hot Chili Peppers" do not have to feel any sense of superiority. Because "Inception" has helped "Red Hot Chili Peppers" to increase its popularity to some extent, even if Nolan has a reference, he can also help promote it for free, so that more people recognize Imatoshi.
Let's say that the original novel of "Red Hot Chili Peppers", when it was published in 2010, was called "Dream Detective", republished in 2015 but became "Inception", the publisher obviously wanted to rub the hot spot of "Inception", and also forcibly used "Nolan Inspiration Source" to promote, even if "Dream Detective" did not have any "Inception" plot, Nolan himself never showed that "Dream Detective" was the inspiration for "Inception", he only said that the inspiration came from his own lucid dream experience.
So red hot chili pepper fans criticizing or looking down on "Inception" is more like a kind of jealousy. Jealous of the high box office of "Inception", "Red Hot Chili Peppers", which is obviously at a higher artistic level, does not sell well.
Give an inappropriate example. A singer covered a song on fire, and the original singer benefited from the cover song also on fire.
But the fans of the original singer have vigorously denigrated the cover singer, which is a bit unkind.
It is undeniable that in terms of the degree of shock to the soul, "Red Hot Chili Peppers" completed "Inception".
To thoroughly analyze "Red Hot Chili Peppers", there are no tens of thousands of words that cannot be put down.
Here's one of the big themes.
That is "ideals and reality".
This should be a motif that runs through Imatoshi's work, just like Nolan is "time".
The central character of Inception is Cobb, a frustrated man who has lost his wife and family, and the way to solve the knot is to return to the child;
The central character of "Red Hot Chili Peppers" is Fan Chuan, a frustrated person who chooses to be a police officer for the sake of life. This allows for closer access to people of a wider age group.
It can be said that as long as it is an adult, almost all can find resonance from Fanchuan, and imatoshi's target group is also adults, and "Red Hot Chili Peppers" is a naked adult animation. In contrast, people like Cobb with tragic experiences have always been a minority, and the audience is more sympathetic than empathetic.
Why is Fanchuan the core, not the red pepper that is the title of the film?
Look at the beginning and the end, both about Fan Chuan.
The beginning is lost, and the end is redemption.
Perfect for character arcs.
Red Hot Chili Peppers are more like a pivotal character, and their role is to help the core character complete the metamorphosis.
Why do adults easily resonate with Fan chuan?
Because Fan chuan chose reality in the choice between ideal and reality.
This is also the choice of most people.
This choice brings a relatively stable life, but also brings pain.
The tormented Fan chuan, thanks to his acquaintance with a research institute director, was given the opportunity to use DC MINI for psychotherapy.
DC MINI is The MacGophine of Red Hot Chili Peppers and plays a role in driving the plot.
Because of the theft of DC MINI, the director and project leader Atsuko Chiba immediately launched a pursuit investigation.
Fan chuan began to intervene in the investigation based on the uncontrollable injuries of several researchers. However, he was only routine and did not take the initiative to help Atsuko Chiba with them.
So the story begins with two lines.
On one side is Atsuko Chiba tracking down the DC MINI out-of-control incident;
On one side is Fan Chuan's psychotherapy with DC MINI.
The progress bar took 1 hour before the two lines really converged.
It is not that Fanchuan took the initiative to help Atsuko Chiba, but that DC MINI itself has the function of sharing dreams, and Fanchuan has the opportunity to save the United States under the mistaken collision.
The plot does not start to point out why Fanchuan should carry out psychological treatment, but leaves suspense and foreshadowing, and solves the puzzle step by step.
For the first time, Fan Chuan claimed that he was not interested in movies.
However, in the prologue, his dream clearly appeared in the movie plots such as "Tarzan" and "Roman Holiday", indicating that he had seen the movie in reality and only then appeared in the corresponding picture in the dream.
Red Hot Chili Peppers asked him, don't you like to watch movies?
His answer was, "Neither is it." ”
Why do you like to watch it, but deny your interest in movies?
Second, when the director talked about wanting to return to the university era and envision the future, Fanchuan was greatly stimulated.
This shows that when he was young, something unforgettable happened.
Undoubtedly, this is why he needs psychotherapy.
Laying the groundwork three, the key number 17.
Because of the hint of 17, Fan chuan finally has to face the truth that his dream is to make a movie.
He once longed for his future and loved movies.
But he chose betrayal.
Instead of continuing his film career, he chose to become a police officer.
One of the important reasons is that the classmates he worked with were too good, which made him feel that his talent was too mediocre.
He didn't have the confidence to become a movie master, or a movie star, and instead of watching his peers in the film industry, he should do something else and not face the fact of his mediocrity all the time.
He killed his own soul who loved movies.
So in the dream, the person he killed was himself.
The other plots of the plot are more or less to help and contrast Fan chuan to complete the redemption of the soul.
It's like the concept of combining dreams and reality.
In the end, the combination of dream and reality leads to a catastrophe, but it is also the key to unlocking the shackles of Fanchuan's soul.
Fan Chuan discovers that he can become the movie star of his dreams in his dreams, and he kills the villains in his dreams, frees Atsuko Chiba and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and also happens in reality.
Because dreams and reality are one.
That life is not a dream.
This is not a movie.
He's still a director, an actor, self-directed, his own life.
Thinking like this, the dream has never been far away, so why should I grieve.