To really count, the first time I watched "My Neighbor Totoro" was probably back to the third grade of elementary school. I still remember it was played by the music teacher at that time. Thirty or so children were sitting on the white wooden floor, with all kinds of strange postures, but their eyes were all pointing at the gray animal writhing on the screen. I've known Miyazaki since then and kept watching. "Howl's Moving Castle," "Spirited Away," and "Arrietty the Borrower" were the ones I was most looking forward to taking music lessons.
I consider myself very lucky. After I got to junior high school, my art teacher also loved Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli animation. So we keep watching, again. It's just that it was the third year of junior high, half of the black head was facing the screen, and the pen on the half-height book kept shaking.
I can't recall how many times I've seen "My Neighbor Totoro", and it is only today, seven years later, sitting in a movie theater facing the big screen, that I pick up those blurred memories.
What kind of work is "My Neighbor Totoro"? It won't be the best, it won't be the deepest, but to me it's the most beautiful. Smoke-like clouds blowing slowly on a clear blue background on a sunny day, waves on the lawn when the wind blows like an invisible hand sweeping the soft belly of chinchillas, even if it rains on a cloudy day, the round raindrops hit the leaves and splash There was a mist of water, not the slightest muddy, just felt refreshing and refreshing. From characters to animals, each image is shaped with enough patience and brush and ink. Looking at the whole environment, you can see countless vivid individuals. Sitting in front of the screen, it seems that the whole person is pulled into the picture by an invisible gentle force. If one word is used to describe the texture of the film, it is only "smooth", which makes people not feel the slightest stagnation. It's a very sophisticated technique, and every scene in My Neighbor Totoro is in motion. The movement of the perspective or the movement of the characters adds a natural fluidity to the connection of each scene. Motion can still be created even if there is no moving entity. A nameless wind can come, or a sudden rain can come, and the original rigid scene can be revitalized between the movement. This is the art of painting.
This uncapable power comes from a silent blend with nature. The family who moved to the new house is very naturally familiar with the environment around them. Just like Xiaomei can touch the monsters in the picture book without fear, just like the family can thank the ancient tree. It's respect, not awe, it's to listen to unbounded fantasies, answer them with sincere emotion, and choose to believe like a child. Perhaps this is what Mr. Miyazaki wants to tell us, after we truly return to life in nature, each of us is just a child of nature. In fact, children and adults have already blurred the concept in the film, and the wrinkled mother-in-law can also recall the childhood dust elves with the brightest smile. What maintains the relationship between people is equality and trust, sincerity and kindness. In the dark theater, I seem to be back in the dim classroom of seven years ago. Dark red curtains blocked the sun, and we grinned into a ball.
The image of the mother seems to fade out of our sight, but when we think about it carefully, the figure that the children look forward to day and night is the guide that guides us to meet Chinchillas and drives the whole film forward. "My Neighbor Totoro" is not sensational, but it does not mean that it is not moving. Hayao Miyazaki expressed his sincere wishes to his mother in a way unique to a big boy during his mother's nine years of illness. He built such a beautiful world for his mother. In this world, human beings and animals, human beings and nature, and human beings grow and flourish in a proper distance.
Hisaishi's soundtrack is excellent and several times brought back memories with soothing and energetic tunes. I found each picture very familiar, it turned out that I never forgot. How many people walk into the door of the theater with their childhood memories, find a gap in the endless life, and get into the world of "My Neighbor Totoro". Miyazaki's works have unknowingly accompanied generations of Chinese children growing up. In this eastern country where talking about each other is somewhat emotional, we treat Hayao Miyazaki's works with a kind of indulgent tenderness. Perhaps only in the bright world of Mr., we can find ourselves many years ago. In fact, everyone has not forgotten, everyone just grew up unknowingly.
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