It was originally for the god-level storyboard recommended by a friend. During the viewing process, while admiring Jin Min's freely changing storyboard, he was critical of the theme that seemed to promote infatuation, until Chiyoko said at the end, "It's just love. That's me who is chasing love." Ruping thunder exploded in my mind. I felt that the carefully arranged water lilies symbolizing "innocence" in the film, the face of the man who had never appeared, and the inexplicable witch all paved the way for the final theme.
Contrary to what I criticized, it turned out that Chiyoko was only in love with the self who maintained her innocence and struggled her whole life to pursue the love that was a phantom. It turned out that the witch who appeared to curse Chiyoko many times was a metaphor for the self who had come to the end of her life and looked back on the past, and she would love and hate the self that she had been chasing. It turns out that Master Jin Min is not singing about pure love until death, but reflecting on life.
The interweaving of reality and fantasy in the film and the perfect mirroring technology are the biggest technical highlights of the film. Although the remarkable bgm can't be said to be tear-jerking, it has achieved a sensational effect. The transformation of the picture is combined with the changes of the times, and the phrase "everything keeps turning to the right" also hints at Toshi Kon's attitude towards Japan at that time. Chiyoko is chasing her real love in fantasy. Presumably this is also very easy to confuse the audience's judgment on the boundary between reality and fantasy in the film. None of the eye-catching animation skills proved that Jin Min was an animation trainer who was comparable to Hayao Miyazaki at that time.
Here I want to focus heavily on what the work wants to convey. At the same time, I quoted a passage: "What you can't give up is no longer the person you like, but the self who gave silently. When you are amazed at your giving, the person you fall in love with is actually just yourself now. In the end, in this one-man show, the only person who is touched is you." It is true that Chiyoko spent her whole life chasing not the person she loves, but love itself, and chasing herself in love. Looking at it this way, it seems to have become a "self-satisfied person" criticized by modern society. This reminds me of the woman who is obsessed with love in Zweig's "Letter from a Strange Woman". At first glance, Chiyoko suddenly found that Chiyoko and the woman were very similar but at two extremes. One realizes his own value through the process of chasing love, and the other determines his own existence by wasting his life for his lover. After thinking about it carefully, the two of them can be converted into each other again. (If the image of the man in this film is more specific) And, as "everything in the world is a metaphor". It symbolizes the pure water lily, and it symbolizes another witch in her heart. All are metaphors for what Jin Min wants to express.
So what is the real significance of this film? If there is no sublimation of the end of the shadow and Jin Min's guidance, it may be regarded as a "criticism of the tragedy created by the times". But the reality is optimistic, so my humble opinion is, "At a certain moment in the process of chasing, I suddenly find that what I originally wanted has changed in quality, or at the end of the day I find that it is a virtual shadow at all." Let out a sigh. (Chiyoko's complete withdrawal from the film and television industry after the earthquake and no longer frantically searching for lost keys can be explained in the film.)
Chiyoko forgot why she was chasing in the process of chasing, and later she discovered this phenomenon, so she chose to withdraw from the curtain and live in seclusion. And what Jin Min wants to convey is that in real life, each of us is actually a Chiyoko. Each of us has something that we will spend our entire lives chasing. There is a little person deep inside each of us. And Chiyoko is not us. Because only she discovered and saw through the essence of the villain in her heart in time, and only she "give up" the chase in time. In reality, we either spend our whole lives deceived by ourselves and stubbornly believe that what we are chasing is what we originally yearn for (like the woman in "Letter from a Strange Woman"), or we choose to compromise. It is unacceptable to forget the original intention but the situation is still positive. (Reflecting successful people whose income is contrary to their original intentions).
So what should we do to deal with this phenomenon? The choice Chiyoko made was to give up, while most of us compromised. There is no way to tell who is right and who is wrong. Even Master Jin Min is just wandering in front of this fork in the road. After sighing, he turns around and chooses to be kept in the dark. He chooses to stubbornly think that what has deteriorated is what he originally pursued. Choosing obedient pursuit makes one forget why the pursuit is a phenomenon.
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