The end of the curtain - a turbulent era, but the rhythm of the film is extraordinarily peaceful. Obviously it is an era of rapid change, but it is full of calm warmth everywhere. This contrasting setting makes the feelings expressed in the film even more moving.
Emotionally, there are two main lines. The first is the family line between Qingbingwei and his mother and two daughters, who are still persistent in a difficult environment.
Kiyobei asked his daughters, "Are you lonely without a mother?"
"With my father there is no loneliness."
Family is the spiritual support of Kiyobei and the reason for his existence. When Numata told him excitedly about the changes in Kyoto and Tokyo, there was no interest in his eyes.
In the same era, Isamu Kondo resolutely threw himself into this torrent when he heard the social unrest. In contrast, the choice of Qingbingwei was mediocre, but it was the creed of his happiness in life.
The second emotional line is the love line with Pengjiang, a childhood sweetheart.
The film delicately sets the contrast of an uncle's marriage. Qingbingwei rejected the marriage because "it's not buying a cow or a horse". Compared with the financial constraints of life or the form of a complete family, Qingbingwei cares more about the condensation of emotions in this family, and any strangeness and randomness are blasphemy to him.
So when Pengjiang naturally gets along with Qingbingwei's daughters, especially when teaching them to write, the audience seems to have acquiesced that she is the mistress of the family.
It is also because of a duel for Pengjiang to get rid of the entanglement of his ex-husband, and paved the way for the final decisive battle. The real decisive battle does not take up much space, but it concentrates on showing the simplicity and kindness of Qingbingwei.
In a cruel and bloody coup, he was forced to bring the long-awaited tachi to the decisive battle for the sake of his family, but in Yu Wu's words, he revealed that he was actually carrying a bamboo katana.
Perhaps it is precisely because of Qingbingwei's kindness and focus on feelings that the film still arranges him to successfully complete his mission and be with the person he truly loves. It's a more forgiving ending than many similar Japanese movies.
However, it was dusk after all, and the night was about to fall. Three years later, Qingbingwei died in the fire of the Boshin War, but his life was short and happy just as his daughter Eden described.
Dusk is a sentimental moment, and the movie uses the tone of dusk to render the emotions well. The overall rhythm of the film is very slow, and there are many long-term scenes, which well brewed emotions and gave the film plenty of room for expression.
The film's grasp of the camera space is also very good, and there are very few close-ups except for the scene where Kiyobei was forced to be ordered. Many of them are single-camera and multi-characters in a small space, which should be to highlight the bond between people in the film.
All beings, when night falls, have different choices. The people at the upper level move with the trend, or suppress dissidents, or make cronies, while the people at the lower level are lambs to be slaughtered, sacrificed for the times, and of course there are those who raise their swords and slash the seven-foot white snake, trying to change their lives against the sky.
However, life is short, and the most important thing is to be worthy of your own choices and to stick to your own pursuits. How can others add to me? For some people, fame and fortune are nothing but the pursuit of the happiness of the world under their feet. Even if I die, there is no need for them to sigh for us.
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