It is Hirokazu Kore-eda's debut film in 1995. The picture is subtle and beautiful, and it is the kind of simple beauty after using the heart. He uses natural light everywhere, morning light, twilight light, night light, window light, water light, moonlight... The background color is a bit dark, but the eyes are really comfortable.
Say phantom light. Fantasies are illusions. Grandma's leaving without a word and ex-husband's suicide all make people feel disillusioned. Fortunately, Hirokazu Koeda always has a warm color. The current husband brings hope of living. This man can be called light.
Illusion is self-awakening. Recognizing that life is illusory, everything is not enough to be too attached. Only by burying the past and burning it to ashes can people be born again. So in the scene at the seaside, the fire was burning quietly and rising into the sky. At this moment, he came to her. But instead of hugging, she only led quietly. She finally turned around, followed behind him, and walked home.
The old man (the current husband's old father) who has been ignored in the whole film, finally, she finally took the initiative to greet her, the weather is so nice today. Yeah, what a nice day today. The old father answered lightly. I knew then that she had come out of her hurt self.
I think, this faint old man who has been ignored by us is really the director's magic touch. In a few seconds of footage, the old man is sleeping on a stranded boat with the little boy in his arms. Eyes closed, looking bored asleep. At the end, you are shocked to realize that he is the heavy stroke in the phantom light. In hindsight, he is also a man with a light hidden in his heart. However, he is so ordinary!
This is what I like most about Hirokazu Koreeda. He shoots all ordinary people, but the shots are so shiny, the light is not imposed or modified, but like the light used in his lens, so natural, it makes you realize "Real" power.
Suddenly I thought, almost all the movies I've seen are Hirokazu Kore-eda, all of them are "Phantom Light". "The Thief Family", "Nobody Knows", "Haijie Diary"... (there is a little sister who is the most distressed and embarrassing, and is not related to everyone). Illusion is the background of life, and light is the light that leaks from the cracks. Happy but not promiscuous, sad but not hurt.
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