Two years after the fateful day, a large hole appeared in the north of the planet. Star-scar syndrome ravages the planet. Our male protagonist Cloud also suffers from Starscar Syndrome, and runs TSLDS to live a secluded life as a courier boy. Until he was attacked by Kadje and his party, and then learned from Shinra Company that Kadje was the thoughtful body of Sephiroth who had died in battle with him two years ago. The purpose of appearing this time was to obtain but to be reconstructed. Facing the reality that Kadje and his party are full of hatred for the planet and Sephiroth may be resurrected, what choice will Cloud, who is convinced that no one can save him....
It seems that an old friend
came to this SQUARE ENIX company to learn the lessons of the upper FF movie, with a more complete story and plot, and the themes of love, hope, and salvation are also more imaged. After eight years, what the movie shows is two years after the end of the game. When we see those long-lost faces again, the images in front of us are contrasted with the memorials left in our hearts, and the inexplicable feelings surging in our hearts are so familiar and unfamiliar.
Cloud Strife. Just like the clouds that we often see when we look up, they are far away, floating, and sometimes fuzzy. The shadow, uncertainty, and untrusted nihility are heralded under its appearance.
In the trivial memories of Cloud represented by the use of montages in the movie, we can learn that he had a dream of becoming a fighter like Sephiroth during his growth, and had a good time with Zack and Aerith. And when he faced the death of Zack and Aerith alone, his despair, self-blame mixed with absolute distrust of himself doomed him to choose to leave alone when facing the sick self. However, just as clouds appear not only on cloudy days, when the bright sun's rays pass through the clouds, we can see the transparent and pure appearance of the clouds. Aerith's comfort and understanding, Tifa's special way of encouragement and the trust of his companions are all motivations for him to regain his courage. In the final battle with Sephiroth, the unimportant things said that did not exist, maybe he has found a reason to be trusted by himself again.
Strife literally means fighting. During the battle, Cloud realized that he might not be able to save anyone. "After dragging for too long, even the weapons became lighter." In the process of seeking forgiveness, he understands that facing the irretrievable past, holding onto the present, and facing the fight can he be redeemed, and only then can the present become an irreversible past that is not in the future. At the end of the film, Cloud said to everyone "I'm back", it is also an indication of this kind of spiritual return. His melancholy and avoidance all show his most human aspect, even if it is not absolutely strong, it truly shows the subtle and tortuous growth of the human heart.
Similar to other heroines who appeared in the FF series, Tifa Lockheart's beauty, gentleness, courage, and bravery, firmness, and never flinching in battle have all become her distinctive character symbols. Concern for Cloud always resides in preaching conversations. After waking up injured in the battle with Loz, he persuaded Cloud to face reality, dragging him around and unable to solve the problem. And why isn't she the same, she is worried about Cloud, and trust is definitely not just a childhood sweetheart. Tifa's injury also strengthened Cloud's determination to protect everyone to a certain extent. The literal meaning of Lockheart's closed mind is too far-fetched to require viewers to agree with this point. It's just that both of them have introverted personalities, and there is no more straightforward performance. Maybe a better ending will appear after the movie ends.
In the context provided by the movie, we can understand the relationship between Zack and Cloud only in trivial memories. The wolf that appeared in the related scenes was once in front of the tomb, and once in the white space where Cloud was at the end.
"Aren't we friends"? The argument that men are creatures expressed in actions rather than words is fully reflected in Zack. Just to insist on this reason, which cannot be called a reason, can even lay down his life.
"I will stay alive even with your share, even though it was decided at that time." Cloud's words on the deserted ground in front of the tomb contain the pain and loss of losing a close friend, while the silent wolf on the side actually symbolizes the strength of support and the understanding of loneliness.
Aerith Gains borough, the pink woman who appeared in Cloud's memories, is different from Tifa. The warm pink tone and the light blonde color are bright. Even people who have died do not make people feel depressed. Aerith's name comes from Earth, where all things live. No matter the soul will eventually ascend to heaven or hell, everything will return to the earth after returning to the dust. As the last Saitra who has the fate of guarding the planet, he still guards and guards the planet after death. Is true to one's own ideas, direct expressions and natural feelings are all due to pure and clear personality. And this kind of personality is also inexplicably attractive to Cloud, who is often trapped in thought and reluctance. For Aerith's death, Cloud's self-blame and regret always made him unable to forgive himself. On the way to the Forgotten City, in the space where the two met, the hand that Aerith held Cloud from behind and the hand that was placed on his forehead after the last battle symbolized the tolerance and spirituality of Cloud. support. The vastness of the earth is reflected in her equally inclusive love, and this love finally purifies and leads Kadje to the paradise he yearns for.
Uncle Wen who still looks like a day for eight years, youthful Yuffie, straightforward Barret, airship-controlled Cid, wise Red XIII, and even the big Sephiroth with fluttering silver hair... The planet is still moving and living Still going on, when we met again in the image, we were moved by the thing called memory again. Sephiroth's missing body Kadje,
the children who
descended, waded through the mountains to look for the mother who had never met. Leading a pseudo-queen younger brother Yazoo and a younger brother Loz who always takes "Let's play" as his daily life goal along the way, it is destined that he can only appear as a tragic figure.
Advent Child personally believes that the translation of "Holy Son" is not accurate enough. The word "Holy" has too much justice and legendary color, and Cloud's spiritual return cannot be interpreted as "arrival", so it really came. The children should be with younger brothers.
As a longing body, Loz felt very disgusted when he smelled the scent of flowers when he was at Cloud's residence. Here, the flowers in the film symbolize the original life, and the disgust of the thinking body implies that their existence is opposite to the original life. So what exactly is the thinking body? Has Kadje ever had such a question, where did he come from? Does it really exist? Looking for "mothers" paranoidly believes in its power. Kadje is mixed with two completely different feelings of searching and confirming. After getting the "mother" and staying at the church where he lived while escaping, he found that he lost his voice and pain when he was missing, but stopped abruptly after Cloud appeared, like a strong child, refusing to shed a tear in front of others. At the same moment, the question that the flowers under his feet did not attract his attention is, does one possess life and affection if one has power?
If Cloud’s self-salvation can be compared to the death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus, Kadje is the existence of Judas, although the relationship between the two and betrayal has nothing to do with being betrayed, and without the existence of Judas, the redemption of Jesus It is a process that cannot be completed. The appearance of Kadje made Cloud unable to escape from what he used to be.
In the final battle, Kadje, who embraced his "mother", had the beauty and tragic of moths fighting the fire. He voluntarily lost the opportunity to be chosen by the "mother" and surrendered to his destiny as a thoughtful body. Does such a move conform to his original intention?
When the body turned into small black dust and dispersed, he heard the expectant voice, as gentle and warm as he expected.
May you be peaceful.
The legend of audio-visual structure
In the film, the application of 3DCG is no longer just a technical element, it has made a delicate and vivid expression of the development of the plot, the laying of the scene, especially the emotional expression of the characters.
There is no tedious narrative and explanation. The use of strokes and inserts in the film is very clever, respecting the wisdom of the audience while creating an atmosphere and rhythm that develops in sync with the plot. The intersecting narrative structure makes the film not easy to fall into monotony, and it also plays a very good auxiliary role in grasping the feelings. What made Zack and Aerith first appear in Cloud’s memories played such a role: while showing the memory in parallel, it also showed his sadness and regret, and their precious meaning to Cloud is clearly visible. .
And in the woods of the Forgotten City, Cloud and Aerith met in another space. The yellow and white lilies are full of them. Perhaps the white flowers are a symbol of Cloud's longing for her, while the yellow flowers are the visual expression of the friendship between Cloud and Zack. The beautiful atmosphere ends with a helpless look back in this world. The very simple alternation of shots is full of regret. The memory is beautiful, and he can no longer look back.
Director Tetsu Nomura is also commendable for his skills in expressing emotions with the use of the camera. The natural transition and combination of narrative paragraphs and battle scenes not only make the film complete in visual form, but also make it more pleasing to the eye with its grasp of rhythm.
In terms of character creation, not only the main characters, but other characters also enrich the film with distinctive features, making it a more complete and harmonious picture. For example, the appearance of licorice characters Reno and Rude alleviated the relatively dull atmosphere of the film to a certain extent.
The original soundtrack of the movie, edited by Nobuo Uematsu, fully displays the majestic momentum of the theme music and the meticulous feelings of the personal passages. At the same time, the connection between them is seamless.
On the basis of the original game, the film gives the story a deeper symbolic meaning.
Salvation means salvation and atonement. In fact, there is a religious metaphor in the film. The statue of the Virgin Mary in prayer costume that appears many times in the film, even though there is only one window away from the person in pain, even though she looks kind and gentle when she looks at her child, facing illness and pain. At time, can human beings still pin their hope of salvation on the God we have been looking up to? The film shows that God is only a symbol of power that people cannot be sure of, and this power actually exists in each person's own body.
In Cloud's residence, the abandoned church actually symbolizes sin and salvation. Cloud spent a moment when a person was suffering from illness, and
found Tifa injured here, and was also here to help Denzel remove the star marks. These seemingly unrelated events occur in the same place, symbolizing that the transformation between sin and salvation is only limited.
Under the harmonious rendering of audio and video, the film shows us the most outstanding influence on the original.
Think back, echo.
As the most faithful carrier of memory, voice records the names branded in our hearts with its unique meticulous charm. Most of the seiyuu's excellent interpretation of the characters in the film deepens this imprint.
The voice of the melancholy male No.1 Choke, presented by the beautiful young voice actress Takahiro Sakurai, has not changed much from beginning to end. Plain, hesitant, gentle, and lack of affirmation are just the appearances of his contemplative character. From the beginning of the evasion to the face of the battle, the changes in Cloud are reflected in the subtle differences in sound. During the whole process, it is further affirmed again and again, until the final firm tone reflects the delicate and deep changes of Cloud. If you use a larger voice Changing the performance will make the character's personality appear too dramatic, so Sakurai's interpretation of this role with little room for play is almost perfect even if it is not perfect.
For the interpretation of the two heroines, I personally think that Ms. Maaya Sakamoto's interpretation of Aerith is very successful. The tone filled with warmth and playfulness makes people sound very relaxed, tolerant, and understanding that the beautiful temperament of others is expressed in a jumping tone with affinity. For Aerith, who has barely appeared on the stage, sound has become a symbol of its existence. When asked who Cloud wanted to be forgiven, his voice was soft and messed up.
Compared with other people, there are many delicate close-ups of Tifa in the film, and the shaping of the characters is mainly displayed through visual elements. The imagination of the kind, beautiful, and brave lead heroine is ready to come out. Correspondingly, voice has become a means to add color in the film, but Miss Ito's slightly hoarse voice still appropriately expresses Tifa's introverted and implicit feelings. The section of educating Xiaoke is especially commendable. (^_^..) It's just the fine crafting of visual technology that overshadows the expressive power of sound.
And Zack, who was handsome but irresponsible and just passed by hastily, has so few dialogues that it makes people want to go wrong. Although I personally think that the character of Zack is much stronger than Mr. Kenichi Suzumura's soft voice, it is this kind of tenderness and sincerity to friends that makes Zack the most moving thing.
As for the villain, Mr. Morikubo Shotaro has shown Kadje's paranoia, unwillingness to return, and the publicity of his character to the extent that it can't be added. And before returning to the kingdom of heaven, the innocence that is indisputable in the world, the quiet and expectant voice is pure as a child.
Even if the playing time is only a short ten minutes (mostly fighting hum==), Mr. Morikawa Tomoyuki still perfectly created the aura of Sephiroth's dominion. The deep and heavy voice expresses the deep belief in his own strength.
It is also worth mentioning that Mr. Toru Okawa of Rufus, with a slightly tough tone of force, shows the calmness and shrewdness of the BOSS level throughout. After revealing his true colors, it is incumbent to think of the young Subaru. (= =|||..)
My personal favorite is the final dialogue between Aerith, Zack and Cloud. Although Cloud only offered the word "mother", (although it was still squeezed out), the warm and cheerful atmosphere was outlined by a few simple sentences. Maybe only if both of them are happy, Cloud can wake up with peace of mind.
Such a work cannot find a coordinate parallel to it to the left or forward. It has nothing to do with movies, games, music and sound.
We live in the same world outside the story, the encounter and reunion that also happened at some time and place in our lives, the love and salvation at some time and place, that's it, those touches are so clear.
So, toward this gathering, we pay tribute one and a half.
View more about Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children reviews