Could it be that loneliness is also hereditary, the father's loneliness is destined to be inherited by his son, and he can only live in a gray world of one person.
The protagonists in Haruki Murakami's writings live in this society, but they always keep a distance from this society. All the work they do must act independently and have nothing to do with others, just like Haruki Murakami's writing. These characters are the projections of Murakami himself, or the projections of us Murakami fans. At least from the heart, they have a desire to live on the fringe like a hermit, and they all have the label of loneliness on their foreheads. Loneliness is not an appearance, it is not alone, it is just loneliness, it is a self-talk that I often hear in my heart.
The protagonist of the film is named Tony Takiya, just like Haruki Murakami's text, it is a name that is mixed with Spanish and looks very unJapanese. Murakami's novels are more influenced by the West than Japan. His perspective has always been far from Japan to see Japan. The combination of the English name and Japanese surname of Tony Takiya is a portrayal of Murakami himself. I am looking forward to the adaptation of Murakami's works into a movie, and I am also worried. How to express the unique meaning of Murakami's words in images is a big problem. How can these classic works full of stream of consciousness be transformed into movies? I'm afraid to make a fantasy movie and disappoint people.
Director Hayabusa Ichikawa was careful, carefully selected this short story by Murakami for the film, carefully used dark gray tones, carefully matched with Sakamoto Ryuichi's piano, carefully freeze or pan the shot, and carefully used partial close-ups to transform Murakami's description of details. Everything is done carefully. For this simple story, Hayabusa Ichikawa tried hard to restore the original appearance of the novel. Such efforts still found a little feeling of Murakami characters, but it seems difficult to completely replace the feeling of words with images. The two are different. If the art forms are the same, I am afraid that they will lose the meaning of each other's existence. In fact, as Murakami fans, we are also contradictory. On the one hand, we hope that the film can fully express the temperament of Murakami's novels, and on the other hand, we feel that the film should not be bound by the original work and lose the characteristics of the image.
Tony Takiya's father, Saburo Takiya, has been drifting all his life. After marrying a wife and having children, his wife died, and he was destined to continue to drift alone. This seems to be a preordained fate. "Takiya Saburo is not suitable for being a father, and Tony Takiya is not suitable for being a son." In the strange eyes of others, Tony grew up alone, became an illustrator, and continued to work alone at home. He was used to being alone, but one day he wanted to change his fate, so he married the woman he wanted. The part of the film where he lives with his wife is the only bright part of the dark tones.
However, Tony is afraid that loneliness will come back, but loneliness has to come back. A lonely person can't stand the water-stop life being scratched by foreign things. He couldn't stand his wife's obsession with clothes after all. So in his life she was taken, but love was gained and then lost again, which seemed more painful than love never came. The woman who was recruited to replace his wife was only a short-term pain reliever, and he still needed to forget about love. Tony still needed to return to the original loneliness, which was the fate he could not escape in his life. Flowing from his father's blood into his life.
When Tony Takiya, played by Kazunari Ogata, appeared in the film, the first impression to Murakami fans was that this unassuming man really had the appearance and temperament of Haruki Murakami, but he was slightly older than the character he played. The whole story is coherently connected by the narration and the character's self-narration, so that the film is always filled with a self-styled inner world. Falcon Ichikawa is indeed trying his best to restore Haruki Murakami's novel, even if it is a slight smell, it should be said that this film is also aimed at Murakami fans from beginning to end. Maybe some people are critical and some are satisfied, but as far as I am concerned, it is true It is done enough, and the most important thing is to express the feeling of loneliness deeply into the bone marrow. Perhaps from the perspective of a reader who likes Murakami's works, he may not be able to evaluate such a film in an all-round way, but he does appreciate some of the characteristics of Murakami's works, not just the imitation of appearances. Perhaps the only regrettable thing is the open ending, which deviates from the expression of the novel, but it may also be understood as the director's re-creation of art, with a personal label printed on the film.
Text: Between the eyebrows
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