Middle age is often considered the most complex stage of a person's life. The sandwich biscuit metaphor vividly illustrates the pressures that people of this age go through. However, it is often under heavy pressure that the real and rich human nature can be seen, and there are wonderful stories, so this stage is also the focus of film and television materials. Of course, Japanese movies are no exception.
"Shall We ダンス?" (1996)
Middle-aged white-collar workers, working from 9 to 5, have an empty heart, a dull family, and a boring life. Sugiyama Masahira is like the subway he rides every day, driving on the established life track every day. One day, however, he caught a glimpse of a beautiful face in the window of the "Kishikawa Dance School" upstairs on the subway. Her beautiful and lonely figure attracted him, brought some fantasies to his boring life, and gave him a glimpse of his daily life. After hesitating for a long time, he walked into the dance classroom and, like other men, approached the beautiful dance teacher Kishikawa in the name of learning to dance.
This isn't the cookie-cutter cheating story you might think. Indeed, Sugiyama joined the dance class with not-so-good motives, but after persevering, he really fell in love with dance, and enjoyed the physical stretch and spiritual relief that dancing brought him. He met Aoki, the fat man, and the little man here, and this became a space for them to release themselves. Dancing has injected vitality into Sugiyama's life. His body became more flexible, his commute became more energetic, and his life began to become alive. As for Kishikawa-sensei, he only respects him. His passion and dedication to dancing even infected Kishikawa, allowing her to come out of her unfortunate past...
Beginning with desire, through the transformation of dance, Sugiyama rediscovered himself, got out of the monotonous life, and got out of the predicament of reality. Director and screenwriter Zhou Fangzhengxing is good at discovering the subtle psychology that is rarely mentioned in ordinary life. From this, it tells a warm and comedic adult fairy tale.
After the film was released in 1996, it immediately won almost all awards such as the best film, best director, best actor and actress, best supporting actor and actress of the Japan Academy of Film Awards, known as the "Oscars of Japan". In 2004, American director Peter Chelsom remade this masterpiece, starring veteran movie stars Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.
By the way, gossip, the heroine in the film and the director became attached to this film, fell in love, danced, and finally became husband and wife.
"Eel" (うなぎ) (1997)
The honest and dutiful Takuro Yamashita accidentally bumped into his wife having an affair with someone else. He stabbed his wife to death in anger and was sentenced to eight years in prison. During his parole, he opened a small barber shop in a remote town to pass the time, and accidentally rescued Guizi who committed suicide by taking medicine. Out of gratitude, Guizi stayed in the barbershop to do things. With a cheerful personality, she attracted many customers for the small shop, and the small shop gradually became popular, and even the bottom of the mountain became sunny. The two fell in love for a long time and slowly came together. Seeing that a beautiful new life is about to come, but after a long time, they each fell into a new predicament.
This movie can be said to be a history of frustration for two middle-aged people. From the murder of his wife's infidelity to the parole release, it can be seen as the history of the male protagonist's disappointment in the past. Director Imamura Shohei also treated this part as an introduction and background, so that we can see the anger and killing intent of this cowardly man in the face of a failed marriage. In fact, the failure of marriage is largely due to his own poor management of feelings. His anger was actually anger at his own incompetence. Compared to Yamashita, Guizi's story is handled as a dark line. Trapped in love, she tries to commit suicide, looking forward to a new life only to find out she is pregnant with the child of an old lover.
This movie can also be said to be the self-help history of two middle-aged people. After being released from prison, Yamashita stayed by the river in front of his barber shop, fishing and managing the shop. He has no hobbies other than fishing, and he doesn't trust anyone other than the eel he raises. He was like the eel he raised, trapped in a small fish tank. Until he accidentally rescued Guizi, she entered his world. The life under the mountain slowly changed, and he opened up a little bit and walked out of the prison of spirit. And Guizi is also an unfortunate person, and she is also imprisoned in her past emotions. Two bruised people met, helped each other, and plucked up the courage to walk out of their respective cages, ready to welcome a new life.
At this time, Guizi found out that she was pregnant, and the child belonged to her ex-boyfriend; the inmate at the foot of the mountain appeared and uncovered the scars of his murder of his wife and imprisonment; Guizi's ex-boyfriend also found the store and wanted to take her away...
How to do? The director defuses the conundrum with a hilarious scuffle. The fish tank is broken, and his new life seems to be broken, but the cage is broken, isn't the person free? Knowing that he would face the fate of returning to prison to continue serving his sentence, Yamashita bravely stood up and admitted that the child was his own.
The scene at the end is very meaningful, it may hint us: Yamashita may be back in prison, but Guizi will always be waiting for him. That cage is no longer set up for their hearts.
Two other films are also the subject of a midlife crisis. One is "Paradise Lost" adapted from Watanabe Jun's novel of the same name , and the other is "The Warm Current under the Red Bridge" directed by Imamura Shohei . Forgot to mention, the four films have one thing in common - the main actors are Yakusho Koji. It seems that he is particularly good at expressing the depression, frustration and downfall of middle-aged Japanese men, and the directors all came to him invariably. So much so that every time I see the word "midlife crisis", his face pops out of my mind.
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