——A Brief Comment on the Film "Love Letter" When I
first saw the characters in "Love Letter", I immediately thought of "Norwegian Forest" (the director himself also mentioned "Norway" as his inspiration), but there are differences The thing is, the protagonists in "No" are all trapped in the quagmire of love and cannot extricate themselves until Naoko's suicide, and "Love Letter" is not a standard romance from the beginning, because the two Fujii trees have never been in love with each other. , the film chose to exchange letters between the two heroines to open up a secret and soft water-like past. Director Iwai Shunji, with his unique narrative style and meticulous emotional expression, made the film full of moving power. The aesthetic interest of pure oriental style can be seen.
1. Exquisite structure setting
"Love Letter" adopts a narrative method of two clues. One is the mental journey of Hiroko from "can't let go of the Fujii tree" to release the knot and accept the autumn field, and the other is naturally between the two Fujii trees. A youthful past, as pure and white as snow. Among them, the activities of Hiroko and Nemujii, Hiroko and Akiba, Hiroko and Hiroko, Hiroko and her family in different time and space are indistinctly linked by the director: the letters of the two heroines involve Nemujii's relationship with Hiroko. In the process, female Fujii slowly felt that hazy and precious affection, and this affection was the driving force that prompted Hiroko to let go of the past and liberate herself. These four groups of characters intersect with each other under the arrangement of the director and act as cause and effect, reflecting the meticulous thinking unique to the Orientals.
The rhythm, as an aid to the cross-montage structure, is composed of tension and relaxation, alternately switching, mainly reflected by the lens and color. In reality, the combination of shots is relatively tight. For example, grandpa went to the hospital with a fainted tree on his back. The blizzard was raging and walking was difficult. The director used shaking shots here. The picture enhances the sense of realism and tension of the film; but in the memory, more stable long shots are used. For example, when the female Fujii stares at the male Fujii who is reading by the window, she deliberately slows down the rhythm, highlighting the leisure and comfort of time. Contains nostalgia for the past. In addition, the tones of reality are darker and colder, while the tones of memories are warm and bright. This is because the reality is cruel: the male Fujii passed away prematurely, the female Fujii's life was on the line, and Hiroko could never let go of his obsession... But the mind of his youth was not It's as simple and transparent as that: the only thing that worries me is confession and rejection. The combination of these long and short shots and light and dark tones in the film, supplemented by tight or soothing music, enables the audience to be both affected by the tense plot and relieved during the filming process. The "worry-style" expectation of the plot achieves the artistic effect of alternating inflections, sharp contrasts and well-proportioned patches, which further highlights the beauty of the years (whether in the past or present).
two. Unique storytelling skills
The film is full of "inevitable coincidences", that is, coincidences arranged by the director to develop the plot reasonably, such as: Hiroko and Qiuba went to Otaru to find female Fujii, but she "just happened" to see a doctor; female Fujii was entrusted by Hiroko to return to her alma mater. Taking pictures, I "just happened" to meet the school girls who knew her name, and the school girls "just happened" to discover the secret in the book "Reminiscence of the Time Is Like Water"... Every "coincidence" is actually the development of the plot The essential elements of the film and the turning point constitute a dramatic film situation. Another unique feature is the director's use of "artistic exaggeration", which is embodied in two places in the film: one is Bo Zihe The tree met on the street, the tree heard Bozi calling her name and looked back. At this time, the camera slowly swept over the eyes of the tree instead of the tree. When he saw Bozi, the picture was frozen, and the two similar faces stared at each other for a few seconds across the crowd. I moved away, and when I came back, I couldn't see any trace of Bozi, and I couldn't help but ask: Did the tree see Bozi? It can be said that they have never met each other from beginning to end, but they have established a special bond because of male Fujii. This deliberate confusion (ie exaggeration) casts a dreamy color on the relationship between the characters, which is suitable for the whole film. Romantic fresh tone. The other is the interlude part of the film. Female Fujii looks up at male Fujii who is leaning against the window reading a book. The wind raises the curtains high, and the light and shadow are intertwined, and male Fujii disappears! But the curtain fell, and the male Fujii was still leaning there. This design was intended to depict the hazy past and the situation of secret unrequited love, to isolate that memory from reality, and to overflow with the pure and natural beauty unique to that era. It can be seen that the combination of various narrative techniques has greatly enriched the content of the film.
3. Delicate emotional expression
The emotion expressed in the film is strong, but the way of expression is extremely detailed, often shown through symbolic elements. For example, the continuous snow in the film, almost from the beginning to the end, the crystal white snow symbolizes the pure and touching friendship between Hiroko and the girl Fujii, and also contains the nostalgia for the clear and sad past; Years" is simply an accurate summary of the film itself. The story of the film is very simple, but the connotation expressed is very deep. From Bozi's side, she is a relatively stubborn person. She has the courage to write a letter to a "non-existent address" in exchange for comfort, but she is always afraid of mountaineering. I wish to truly say goodbye to Fujii, but those letters, the "truth" that she didn't know about him, and the "truth" that she might just be a substitute for Mai Fujii, gradually pulled her out of the chaos, and finally moved towards the end. Silently waiting for the autumn field next to her; from the female Fujii side, she is not a careful person. Even if the correspondence with Hiroko made her pick up the past, she was completely unaware of the male Fujii's feelings until a life and death. The catastrophe, she recalled Nan Fujii again in the confusion, perhaps it was her subconscious nostalgia for life, she finally touched Nan Fujii's careful and thin-ice love, and took this firm and shy emotion as the driving force for the continuation of life, This is how the two protagonists complete their self-sublimation. At the same time, the director reveals the impermanence, fragility and tenacity of life through the plot of the death of the male Fujii and the serious illness of the female Fujii, which triggers viewers to think about life and death, so as to cherish the beautiful years more, which is also the sublimation of the theme of the whole film.
At the end, Hiroko greets Yuanshan loudly "How are you" and the scenes of female Fujii muttering "I'm fine" on the hospital bed are stacked together, as if to say goodbye to the past self, but also like to say goodbye to the future. I said hello to myself, no matter what, everything has settled, and a new life is about to begin.
The reason why this work by Shunji Iwai is widely praised is that in addition to its fine montage structure and unique expression skills, what is more impressive is its fresh and timeless style and delicate and moving emotions, which reflect the aesthetic interest of the Orientals. and aesthetic tendencies. "Love Letter" is like the "Love Letter" of the boy Fujii Tree, which appears suddenly, and quietly lifts up the softest feelings in your heart, which will be fresh with time.
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