the temporal and spatial transformation of emotional surrealism is the first major feature of the structure of "Millennium Actress". The experience of Chiyoko in the film is like a beautiful dream journey, encountering by chance, separated suddenly, and pursuing in a daze. For a short encounter in the snow, it is a lifetime pursuit, and even if there is no destiny in this life, the destiny will be renewed in the next life. (At the end of the film, the elderly Chiyoko closes his eyes. The next picture shows the young Chiyoko flying into space in the costume of an astronaut, using a method similar to that in "2001: Space Odyssey" as the astronaut crosses the gate of life in space to get a new life. Substituting death, implying reincarnation and rebirth, Chiyoko once again embarked on a journey of pursuit.) The director arranged for Chiyoko's pursuit of a grand historical background, that is, a thousand years of change. Wearing a princess robe, Chiyoko looks out from the castle tower in the Sengoku period. Chiyoko is dressed as a ninja from the Edo period to ambush the enemy and rescue his lover. Chiyoko's clogs stepped on the snow in the Shogunate period. Heretics... the background is complicated, but the emotion is the only one: the only love, the only pursuit.
Chiyoko's love is closely connected with the development of life and Japanese film history, and is intertwined in detail. The different eras in Japan that are the background of Chiyoko's pursuit of travel are not only grand historical facts in history, but also project the performance of Japanese movies in different periods. Therefore, here, we can decompose the triple time and space in "Millennium Actress": different eras in Japanese history (Chiyoko’s millennium journey), different periods of Japanese movies (Chiyoko’s acting career), and current time and space (Tachibana and Hu Ji interviewed Chiyoko). And in this triple time and space, there is a little trick of watching and intervening. In Chiyoko's millennium journey, Tachibana and Torachi appeared in every scene without fail, carrying a camera to shoot, and from time to time they expressed feelings or sighs. Even in the second half of Chiyoko's thousand-year journey, there was a scene where young Tachibana and old Tachibana coexist in a time and space: Tachibana and Tokichi stood aside, watching the young Tachibana worship and care for Chiyoko. This little trick is the intention of the producer. Tachibana is an admirer and follower of Chiyoko. In Chiyoko’s story, he, a bystander, is particularly emotional, and even often plays the role of helping Chiyoko. Forget death, "Miss Chiyoko...I'm to you..." This line whimpered in his throat, but he didn't dare to spit it out again. Compared with Tachibana, a silly and cute super fan, the photographer Hu Ji is relatively calm. He saw Chiyoko’s journey from the past to the past thousand years, although he was moved and sighed, but his president Tachibana’s life Forgetting death, always watching with cold eyes, and often sarcasm. These two characters appeared in the gratifying image of escape in the pursuit of Chiyoko, diluting the bitterness and weight of the story. They sometimes watched and sometimes intervened, narrowing the distance between the audience and the people in the play. The audience seemed to follow Chiyoko through the spring and autumn of thousands of years with them, and get closer to the feelings of the people in the play. The old Tachibana's review of the young Tachibana's feelings at that time adds to the film an unspeakable sense of reality.
This kind of time-space transformation can be achieved through editing if it is a live-action movie, but how "realistic" and "unreal" can be compared to "like dreams" and "like fantasy". The montage in the cartoon creates a dreamlike historical vicissitudes, watching Chiyoko Hulala rushing through different eras, walking hurriedly, skirt corners flying, and soot kicking from under the feet that engulfed the spring and autumn of thousands of years, wearing the misty figure of a lover. The living world that flashes by light and shadow intertwined is prosperous. Drama is like life, life is like drama, life is real, and dreams are real.
Chiyoko can travel through time and space, searching for his lover after thousands of years. As a witness of Yinying's later period, Tachibana was also fortunate to join the play in the play, playing a supporting role for Chiyoko in two times and spaces, and always helping her to fulfill her wish of caring for her idol. There is another character that cannot be ignored is the witch who appeared on the castle in the Warring States Period. She tricked the princess Chiyoko who lost her love to drink herbal medicine, saying so, if the wish of staying with her lover in the sun cannot be realized, it can also come true in the underworld. . And that herbal medicine is actually a thousand-year longevity tea. After drinking the medicine, it will be tormented by love for life and never rest. (This tea can serve as a commentary on the plot setting of Chiyoko running through all ages, with the same youthful appearance, but still unable to meet his lover.)
This witch appears in the film every time when Chiyoko encounters sadness, disappointment and suspicion in the pursuit of Chiyoko, With white hair draped over his body, with a strange voice, he shook a spinning wheel, like a giant wheel of irresistible fate. It seems that Chiyoko's journey to pursue it is precisely because of the curse of this witch, and it is not found and scarred. At the end of the film, when the old Chiyoko stared at the portrait painted by the artist as a young girl, the face of the witch was reflected on the glass. The mole at the corner of the witch's eye shattered Chiyoko's heart: this witch is Chiyoko's own demon! The curse that often appears even seems to come true in this thousand-year journey of pursuit is actually the shadow of the worries, doubts and fears in Chiyoko's heart.
The setting of this role adds a layer of color to the film: the obstacle to fulfilling a wish is not only the involuntary in the war era, not only the Javert-style police tracking, but also the soul of the seeker. How deep is the desire for "getting", the fear of "not getting" is multiplied, how bright is the confidence that oneself will win, and how dark is the mood of doubting oneself will be defeated. The suffering of the world, but the words "internal and external troubles", in order to realize the wishes, not only must be exclusive, but also selfless.
The beauty of images-scene conversion and costume design
The use of fancy and complicated montages to deal with time and space is a signature gesture of director Jin Min. His previous work "The House of Mima" also focuses on the chaos of drama and life. Its protagonist Mima is from the pop star Turned to be an actress, she was chased by crazy fans, under the pressure of shooting scenes she didn't want to shoot, she collapsed under the mercury lamp, lost in reality, she played the murderer in the play, and committed murder outside the play. In "The House of Wei Ma", montage is used to deal with Wei Ma's homicide series and her gradually out of control personality split, using clever scene transitions to confront reality and illusion, and the misalignment of dreams and reality: after Wei Ma actually kills. The applause on the set, while Wei Ma revealed her split personality during psychotherapy in the play... When Wei Ma was lost in reality and dreams, it also caused the audience to confuse the relationship between the inside and outside of the play. The chaos, the horror of the outsiders, the evils of the two worlds are balanced because they are both true and illusion, and the nightmare in the play has actually broken the truth outside the play.
"Millennium Actress" also tells the story of a dream life, and Jin Min also uses the montage technique of time and space transformation and scene transformation to create beauty. Chiyoko constantly changes his identity in the millennium dream (a continuous play in a play), and the theme of persistent pursuit extends from the play to the outside of the play, always running. In the film, a variety of elements are used ingeniously to transform scenes. Open the door and you can walk from one situation to another. During the run, the thousand-year historical change is just a different setting behind you. Obviously, he fell from the Warring States era. The princess raised her head but became a geisha of the shogunate...At this time, the constant changes and several phases coincided with Chiyoko's true identity-an actor. The so-called drama is true, Chiyoko is a constant stream of drama. The emotion of self-expression in the middle is Chiyoko's love for life and death regardless of the reality of the play, dreams and reality, making the man-made stories have flesh-and-blood truth.
Regarding the design of "a little bit of red" in the costume, what has become famous is Spielberg's fantastic idea in "Schindler's List": in the gray black and white world, the red dress of the little Jewish girl is the only bright color. Although this faint and tender "a little bit of red" indicates a glimmer of hope in the dark, but what fills the hearts of the audience is the pity and sentiment caused by this faint little bit of red. The little red that appears in the ruthless world where the great human tragedy is staged, although it is a sign of hope, it cannot be the solution of the vast hope like the rising sun, nor can it be like the endless iron and steel of Scarlett Scarlett. "Tomorrow is a new day." "Solution, this bright color is ruthless to the vast with faint sentimentality, and such a strong contrast makes it rainy and immense. The size of hope is not that important anymore. Several appearances of the painter in "Millennium Actress": Encounter in the snow, conversation in the warehouse, collision on the road, back in prison, and figure in the painting. Since the first encounter in the snow, when the painter reappears, there is always a touch of red on his neck. It is the red scarf that Chiyoko bandaged his wound when he first met. The painter always wears this scarf when he appears in the film. Although he has very few chances to appear in the film, even if he appears, he is either a hurried side in the run, or a back figure that made Chiyoko desperate in the prison. Chiyoko is affectionate and affectionate for his recklessness. After a thousand years of pursuit, does he know it is still unknown! And the design of this red scarf answers this question: In his heart, he has a deep-rooted affection for Chiyoko. And the "a little bit of red" that accompanied him at this moment was the affectionate response to Chiyoko. This little red design, although small, is as important as the extremely important "coffin nail" in the novel. The audience moved by Chiyoko’s millennium pursuit journey will surely question whether the painter "is in the blessing and knows no blessing". This "a little bit of red" is also the "feeling" in the ruthless war era. It turns out that Chiyoko's millennium pursuit, It is the pursuit of a real and responsive relationship, not the wishful thinking of a girl’s dream caused by a short encounter. Once the important point is explained and guaranteed, the pursuit of the "empty" is the affectionate" As evidenced by the reality, the trueness of his dreams and the depth of affection, the audience's hearts were turned over 87 minutes in devotion and doubt. At this time, they were speechless.
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