It is Hirokazu Kore-eda's debut novel "Phantom Light" adapted from Miyamoto Teru's novel of the same name. Here I would like to make some comparisons between this film and the original, as well as the style of director Hou Hsiao-Hsien.
The movie has obvious traces of Hou Hsiao-hsien (ps. It seems reasonable to see someone writing about European literary films. I once saw an article by an American scholar, to the effect that Hou Hsiao-hsien developed without clearly understanding European films. Since it was Hirokazu Kore-eda who publicly expressed his love for Hou Hsiao-hsien, it seems more appropriate to say that it is similar to Hou Hsiao-hsien), but the narrative feels broken. Hou Hsiao-hsien's works have stronger inner logic and connection between narrative segments than "Light of Illusion". Empty mirrors, depth-of-field shots, and long shots are used extensively, focusing on images. In this regard, Hirokazu Kore-eda also learned from director Hou Hsiao-hsien.
If you haven't seen the original, is the narrative a little difficult to grasp? The adaptation of the original book is quite large, especially in terms of style. Teru Miyamoto wrote it in the first person, similar to Japanese classical novels, and repeatedly emphasized Yumiko's uncontrollable thoughts and sensitivity to her husband; but Hirokazu Ededa is a bystander's perspective, Added some family life after marrying to the fishing village, which seems depressing and forbearing. In fact, this is mainly caused by different media: literature is more suitable for describing delicate emotions, while film is suitable for observing the outside world.
In the handling of the ending, it was Hirokazu Kore-eda who added a funeral to vent Yumiko's emotions at the seaside. This treatment is significantly better than the original. The emotional catharsis in the original work happened at home. Before, the husband found Yumiko alone at the beach, and seemed to want to die. It is Hirokazu-eda's handling that increases the rationality of emotional production, and at the same time makes good use of the unique charm of images.
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