Sumita (male protagonist)'s mediocrity should be reflected in his broken family background and self-defeating and dark personality. Even if he is dominated by a negative outlook on life, he still holds the basic moral values in his heart. For example, in terms of dealing with his father who is heavily in debt and beating his father all day long, although he has been shouting and resisting with words, there are many times in the movie that the male protagonist picks up a stone and wants to kill his father, but he finally puts down the stone. The scene shows that Sumita has a very clear moral bottom line in his heart, but because of the oppression of the distorted family environment, he has been hovering on the edge of the bottom line. Sumita always felt that he was different from his father and the loan sharks. However, in anger and impulsiveness, he killed his father with his own hands. At this moment, his world completely collapsed. It's funny that Sumita wants to achieve self-destruction in the form of assassinating the bad guys in this world, but he does good things everywhere. Although this act is the same as those extremists who take to the streets to chop passersby because of despair in life, the original intention is completely different. It may be precisely because of the persecution of these "scumbags" headed by his father that his life has been reduced to the point of despair, so Sumita wants to perish with such people. From start to finish, Sumita has been working hard to prove that he and the "scumbag" are not of the same kind, to prove his worth, and to believe in the value of mediocrity. In the movie, Sumita expresses the process of inner struggle vividly through various strange behaviors.
When I saw Chazawa (the heroine) in the classroom inexplicably and excitedly raising her hand and shouting to support Sumita, at first glance, she was the image of a silly girl with white eyes. But the deeper you look, the more you will find Chazawa's truth, kindness, beauty and positive attitude towards life. The presence of the heroine plays an important role in the development of the entire plot of the film. If there is no Chazawa, the male protagonist is very likely to actually hack and kill people on the street in the end, bear a bigger crime, and end up committing suicide. Then the tone of the movie will be gloomy from the beginning to the end, and the theme of redemption will not be reflected and sublimated. Chazawa's family background is different from Sumita's, but it is equally tragic. In a clip in the movie, Sumita frantically smashed things in the house, half leaning against the door, while Chazawa was half-kneeling outside the house, supporting the glass door. The two were separated by a door and cried hysterically at the same time. Immediately, it became clear that only people like Chazawa could empathize with what happened to Sumita and redeem Sumita. Although the two always fight together, it is undeniable that they are the same kind of people. Chasawa brought Sumita back to reality and made him rational again. In the end, the gunshots sounded at the beginning of the sun, and when everyone thought that Sumita had ended his life in the river, he came back to our sight once again with the cries of Chazawa. The two walked side by side, shouting "Come on! Livea", and ran all the way to the police station. Sumita finally found the path in life that he should follow. The movie ends here.
The film is based on the great earthquake in Japan in 2011. However, except for a few supporting characters who lost their homes due to the earthquake and the protagonist's scene shooting at the scene after the disaster, the plot does not have much content about the earthquake. Therefore, some viewers will mistakenly think that the background and the plot have nothing to do with it, but it is not. I don’t think the film itself is mainly about the 2011 earthquake in Japan. The reason why it is used as a background is that the scene of the devastation after the disaster is a true portrayal of the fragmented world in the protagonist’s heart, and the two mirror each other. The ending of "Mediocre" can be considered bright. The protagonist rushes to another direction of life in the early morning. At the same time, it is also a metaphor for people's restart after the disaster, showing people a new hope. The movie is combined with the major news events happening today. quite good. Finally, I have to admire the vivid acting skills of the two young actors, which add a lot of color to the whole film.
View more about Themis reviews
