The loud sound is unbelievable, the elephant is invisible-Watching Kitano Takeshi's movie from "Fireworks"

Thomas 2021-12-30 17:17:15

Looking at the Japanese film industry today, Kitano may have the highest comprehensive coefficient among living directors in terms of popularity, popularity, and achievement. His early legendary experience and his talent as a director and editor have added to him. Endless charm.

There are many movies directed by Takeshi Kitano, but if you want to cite a few masterpieces, then "Flower Fire" must be on the list. The film has won many awards such as the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival. It is an iconic work of the Japanese film revival in the 1990s and established Takeshi Kitano's position in the international film industry in one fell swoop.

"Fireworks" is a very typical Kitano Takeshi movie, with a simple storyline but profound artistic conception. In this movie, you can find many of Kitano Takeshi’s film language of "great sound and invisible elephant", as well as the interweaving of cruelty and humor, violence and warmth, sometimes melancholy and solemn, sometimes soothing and gentle, gorgeous and simple. aesthetics.

The plot and clues of the film are quite concise. Xi is a very responsible police officer, but he is in a difficult situation both internally and externally. His wife is terminally ill and has reached an advanced stage; his colleague Horibe was injured during the mission, causing his lower body to be paralyzed and abandoned by his wife and children; another colleague, Tanaka, was killed by a criminal, and there was a widow in the family who needed support. In order to help them, the western police officers did not hesitate to owe large debts to the underworld. After learning that his wife would die soon, he robbed the bank, repaid the loan shark, settled in Horibe and Tanaka's widow, and resolutely accompanied his wife on the last trip of his life. For such a simple story, Kitano used a loose, fragmented, flashback and montage narrative method to present it. The editing and splicing of the screen reflects a very personal style of minimalism. .

This kind of minimalism is first embodied in "Da Yin Xi Sheng". In Kitano Takeshi's works, language or dialogue has always been a scarce item, so that it is inevitable that viewers will find it monotonous. Kitano once said: The best form of expression in movies is silent film. If the meaning can be expressed in simple walking and sitting, the effect is better than lines and actions. In "Hua Huo", the protagonist West Police Officer's lines totaled less than 20 lines, and West Police Officer's wife even had only one sentence "I'm sorry, thank you." There are many benefits of white space in language. First, it allows the audience to focus more on the vision and feel the power of the lens language through the picture; second, it becomes the finishing touch of "less but refined" For example, the "I'm sorry, thank you" from the wife of the police officer of Yixi played a direct role in the audience's heart. It not only expressed the deep feelings between the husband and wife, but also hinted at the tragic ending afterwards.

Fortunately, in addition to large sections of silent pictures, music has become a powerful weapon to fill the lack of dialogue in Kitano's films. Outside of Hayao Miyazaki, Kitano may be the director with Hisaishi to collaborate the most, so we can hear the master's beautiful soundtrack in many of Kitano's works. In many passages of "Fireworks", there are soothing and melodious music from time to time, using contrast to remind the audience that the story contains a cruel trend under the warm and beautiful surface. At the end of the film, the gunshot sounded and the music stopped abruptly, leaving only the sound of the sea, which left a deep impression on people.

The other side of minimalism is "the elephant is invisible." If you want to ask which aspect of Kitano Takeshi's movie is your favorite, my personal answer is "picture." In his films, fixed shots occupies a considerable proportion. We can often see a lot of expressionless close-ups in Kitano Takeshi’s films, as well as mid-to-close shots of a person standing or sitting blankly, and even Empty shots without characters. Even if there are moving shots, they are mostly slow. Many paragraphs only use the stitching of a few still shots to complete the narrative. Kitano once said: "Human eyes are always accustomed to following the beating object. Therefore, many scenes are very easy and effortless to follow the action. If you watch too much, you will be paralyzed and will not think. But keep your eyes on the other It’s more laborious to move the object, it has to be concentrated, so as to force the audience to think.” Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why he uses this comic-like way to interpret the movie.

At the same time, the complex colors are also disliked by Kitano. Blue (known as "Kitano Blue" by the Western film industry) is the color he uses the most. It is cold, depressing, yet calm and tolerant. artistic conception. The last scene of "Fireworks" is at the seaside, and the blue sea witnessed the final destination of the western police officer and his wife.

In "Fireworks", another technique that has been used many times is repeated montage. In movies with a lot of silent scenes, the use of repetitive montage plays a role of concatenation and reinforcement. For example, a western police officer wearing sunglasses standing next to a car, a police car driving out of an abandoned car yard, or a situation where Tanaka was killed by a criminal. The recurrence of these images is very important to explain the inner activities and behavior motives of western police officers.

In addition, Kitano Takeshi’s films have a label-like feature, that is, the organic combination of multiple elements can be reflected in a movie. Violence, comedy, and black humor can form a unity without a sense of violation and allow the audience to get Feelings of joy in sadness and sadness in joy. This is inseparable from the early days of Takeshi Kitano as a comic actor and comedian. Regarding the expression of emotions, he said something like this: "I deliberately made the audience cry, but the audience really cried. I feel a little bit about this kind of movie. No taste. I kept the attitude of'No, I don't want to shed tears for this movie', but I still shed tears. If there is such a subtle feeling, the movie must be level."

An example of this is in " "Fireworks" is also too numerous to mention. There are both humorous sections in the film (Western police officer kicks the car washer, ruthless junkyard owner, Western police officer and his wife’s poker guessing game, etc.), and there are also bridges full of life. Duan (Western police officer and his wife eat cakes and play tangrams, grandpa and grandson watching the big clock, the girl flying a kite by the sea, etc.), these episodes not only bring warmth to the film, but also dilute the fierce violence. The beauty of life, on the contrary, further strengthened the tragic effect of the whole movie.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the paintings of police officer Horibe in this film. The scene where Horibe looks at flowers outside the flower shop is one of the classic sections of "Fireworks". The director uses a slide-like way to switch between real flowers and art works repeatedly, showing Horib's love for painting and even rekindling life. Hope. In fact, these paintings are all made by Kitano Takeshi himself. We must not forget that he is also an outstanding "painter" in addition to his role as a "director." His all-round artistic talents are displayed in his films.

Japan is a country that admires restraint, self-reflection, and even death (suicide). Their love for cherry blossoms is a true portrayal of their subconscious "withering at the most beautiful moment." This deep-rooted concept naturally affected Kitano, so the element of "death" always occupies the highest position in his films. In "Fireworks", "death" is the result of the western police officer's introspection, and it is also his means of seeking salvation. He took the terminally ill of his wife, the death and disability of his colleagues to himself. Therefore, he chose to leave hope to everyone and despair to himself, robbed the bank, settled down with friends, and took his wife to Huangquan together.

Life is like summer flowers and fireworks, fleeting. When the most important and cherished things in our lives are about to go away, other things are really not so important anymore. It is better to give the chance of life to those who need it more. This is the reflection and understanding of the meaning of life by Takeshi Kitano and "Hanahuo".

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Extended Reading
  • Lesly 2021-12-30 17:17:15

    Sure enough, I can't watch this film if I lack sleep. It's too slow, I have to fall asleep several times.

  • Erwin 2021-12-30 17:17:15

    1997 Venice Golden Lion Award. 1. The blue sonata of life and death, juxtaposition of violence and tenderness, like a chrysanthemum and a knife, flowers and fire. 2. Quiet shots, few words, abrupt hard cuts and flashbacks, Hisaishi let the soundtrack. 3. The kite that bursts suddenly and folds its wings in forbearance. 4. Takeshi Kitano after facial paralysis, twitching cheeks and throbbing left eyelid. 5. Flower head animal body illustrations, dotted colors, all memorable. 6. Haitao ends, fights outside the painting and the foreground obscures the composition. (9.0/10)

Fireworks quotes

  • Yoshitaka Nishi: Next time, I'll kill you.

  • Miyuki, Nishi's wife: Thank you - thank you for everything.