The "Trilogy of Memories" contains three short films, each of which is about thirty or forty minutes. Audiences who have watched this film may find that the "trilogy" is not very connected, and it can even be completely independent. I also thought about why it was named "Memories Trilogy", because this film has a relationship with memories except the first story. The other two stories seem to have nothing to do with recollection. When we look at the relationship between time and space on a more macroscopic scale, I am suddenly enlightened. In fact, the "trilogy" is a flashback story. Otomo Keyang leads us from the distant outer space of the future, to the modern absurd society, and then to the past. The era of militarism. Every memory is dark, depressing, and sad. Otomo Keyang presents a memory map that he understands.
The works that make up the "Trilogy of Memories" can be said to have different styles. In addition to the differences in themes, the more important reason is that they come from different directors. Among them, the director of the first work "Her Memories" is Koji Morimoto, the second work "The Stinkiest Weapon" is from Okamura Tensai, and the final work "Street of Cannons" is personally supervised by Otomo Keyang. The scripts and original works of the three works are basically from Otomo Keyang. It is worth mentioning that Jin Min, who I admire very much, participated in the script creation of "Her Memory". As the chief director, Otomo Keyang has a very clear understanding of the entire work. Having seen the behind-the-scenes production story of "The Time Trilogy", both Morimoto Koji and Okamura Tensai both mentioned Otomo Keyang's strict control of the work. Therefore, no matter how varied the styles of the three short films are and how broad the subject matter is, they have not escaped the control of Otomo Keyang.
"Her Memory": The future, the rose black hole in outer space
This work is the only work in the "Trilogy" that has the original manga, and is adapted from the manga of the same name by Otomo Keyang. The future space has been deeply excavated, and mankind has established a perfect space order. A space garbage collection ship is traveling in the vast space, but suddenly encounters the SOS distress signal. The distress signal was Puccini's classic opera "Madame Butterfly", so the garbage collector decided to search and rescue according to space law, but this move led the spacecraft into a vortex of destruction.
This is the saddest part of the "trilogy". Through the memory of the famous opera actress Ava, the film travels in two time and space. Ava's memory is the source of today's tragedy. Ava's strong desire for control led her to kill her lover. After Ava's death, she built a planetary tomb that simulates her memories in space, where she had the applause, flowers and splendor she once had, as well as her own forever. of love. Two search and rescue personnel encountered Ava's memories in this cemetery, and the whole story was strung together. When the story was clear, we sighed endlessly. This is the tragedy of human vanity and greed. The future human beings will also inherit the same inferiority, which is represented by the search and rescuer Miguel. He is greedy, lazy, and oblivious. When tempted, he quickly indulges and eventually falls into the abyss of death. Another search and rescuer is the object of our study. He has a deep nostalgia for his family, and because of this, he was bewitched by Ava, but in the end, the warmth of the family and the love of his wife and daughter awakened him. His righteous bravery made the image of a tall father instantly established.
This film is not only a discussion of the concept of love, but also a profound attack on vanity. Shattered memories are painful, like a bottomless black hole that lures weak-willed humans to jump down. The beauty of the fantasy in the film highlights the mottled reality, and the gorgeous rose petals are an extreme irony of reality.
The Stinkiest Weapon: Modern, Absurd Society
The black humor of this film makes people smile, but this smile contains helplessness to the real society. Tanaka, a staff member of the research institute who dragged the sick body to work, accidentally swallowed biochemical pills, causing him to become a biochemical weapon without knowing it, but he kept his promise to his boss to bring the "pills" back to the company headquarters in Tokyo. This kind of biochemical pills made Tanaka emit a foul stench all over his body. Wherever he went, animals within a certain range, including humans, died quickly, and plants grew against the trend. Poor Tanaka, completely unaware that he was the source of the danger, had difficulty understanding these terrifying phenomena. In order to send the medicine to Tokyo, it can be said that it has gone through many obstacles and has experienced the ordeal that surpassed all special agent films and finally arrived in Tokyo.
Let's think about this absurd story. First, who developed these drug weapons? Such a deadly thing, a little attention to live will lead to the demise of the entire human race. All this is controlled by government departments. In order to win political interests, those in power often disregard the safety of the public and develop some deadly weapons. Just like the atomic bomb, everyone knows its dangers, but no one can resist its temptation. When scientists regret the invention of the atomic bomb, who in government and those in power have thought about its potential destructiveness? The minds of political animals we can never understand. In addition, Tanaka is too loyal to his boss. This is a common phenomenon in Japanese society. The superiors and subordinates are very clear. The inferiors do not know what drugs the superiors are developing. Tanaka is only doing the research work at the bottom but does not know what the final result is. Later, he even swallowed it. The subordinates are obedient to the superiors, and Tanaka does not hesitate to complete the task at the cost of his life. In addition, the government seemed powerless to deal with the entire emergency. The siege by sea, land and air was disrespectful to life. Among them, Grandma Tanaka shouted to the armed officer on the helicopter: "You are going to kill my grandson." Ling. Impressed. They did not take action to persuade Tanaka to leave Tanaka in a rational way, but directly killed.
What is exaggerated is that in the end Tanaka miraculously appeared in front of his boss in Tokyo. When Tanaka took off his space suit, the command center of this farce was completely wiped out, which was extremely ironic. It's not the weapons that's really scary, but the motive for making them.
"Street of Cannons": Reflections on the past, militarism
The finale work of the "Trilogy of Memories" is "Street of Cannons" by Keyang Otomo, which is about half an hour long and is the shortest of the "Trilogy". This work is very distinctive, the steampunk style is very retro, whether it is home furnishings, trains, guns, and classrooms are full of steam equipment. "Street of Cannons" uses a lot of onecut (one shot to the end) shots, which adds a lot of difficulty to animated films, but the effect is satisfactory. After watching it, the audience remembered that the commander took a mechanical lift from the lower level. Proud demeanor to the top.
Anyone can see that "Street of Guns" is actually the epitome of a militaristic state. An ordinary family is closely related to guns and guns. The father is an artilleryman, the mother works in an arms factory, and the children also learn the theoretical knowledge of gun shooting in school. integrated into military life. There are a few details worth savoring. The father made a mistake in carrying the gun and was terrified. From his expression, it could be seen that he feared and disliked the work but dared not express it. When the shells were fired, the female workers in the military factory where my mother was working were singing militaristic songs, and my mother even reminded the female workers in front to raise their hands and sing loudly. The son's dream is to be an artillery commander. No matter in the dream, after getting up, in class, or before going to bed, he is all thinking about the scene of his becoming a commander. The picture-in-picture expression near the end of the short film is very expressive. creative.
The many guns are aimed in one direction, but the film does not show the other side. Militarism has already penetrated into the bone marrow of this country, and people are left with only an empty shell, mechanically firing guns in one direction. What is worrying is that the repression of the entire country is lifeless. Children are educated by militarism from an early age. The country is actually creating weapons rather than cultivating children. Otomo Keyo pointed to the drawbacks of militarism in a short period of time, and it was also a reflection on World War II, which was invaluable to him as a Japanese.
The "Memories Trilogy" has a strong Otomo Keyang imprint, and the three short films all reflect his fascination with machinery, his love for technology, the spaceship of "Her Memories", the biochemical weapons of "Stinky Weapon", and the "Memories of Her". The steam machines of "Street of Cannons" are all reflected. In addition, the application of music in the movie is deeply impressive. The use of opera not only fits the heroine's identity as a famous opera actress, but also makes "Her Memories" more magnificent. The music also complements the work, and the viewer can savor it carefully. As Otomo Keyang said, the ending song when the subtitles are released is also a part of the movie. He wants the audience to think about the content of the film after the music ends, rather than thinking about what they saw in the movie when the ending song begins. It can be seen that he High standards and high confidence in music.
The "Memories Trilogy" with a strong behind-the-scenes production team has been unanimously praised by the animation industry as soon as it was launched. "Memories Trilogy" is a work created by Otomo Keyang as the chief director and summoned by the elites of the Japanese animation industry. It seems that it still has strong vitality. Today, when animation technology is so developed, the fine picture of this work, and the production The standards are all first-class, not to mention that its uniqueness is reflected in its thinking on the times, society and politics. Otomo Keyang said that the creation of "Time and Space Trilogy" should keep the audience in shock and surprise. Obviously, he did it. This film can be enjoyed as a masterpiece.
View more about Memories reviews
