"Tokyo Sonata" is a typical patriarchal film. From the beginning to the end, the film is immersed in a kind of bland depression. Even if it seems like a reunion at the end, it is shrouded by a panoramic fixed long shot. , let people be held hostage by the hint of warmth that came out, and the lingering anguish. This oppressive look and feel is quite reminiscent of Yasujiro Ozu's unique way of handling the camera - indeed, when dealing with family conflicts, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa often directly captures Ozu-style composition, creating a layered sense of depth of field. It focuses on depicting the sense of line brought by home furniture to form a unique film language, and the tension contained in this family conflict is fully described between the movement and immobility of the characters.
The film begins with a housewife wiping the raindrops floating into the floor of the home from the window. The neat and uniform furniture in the home indicates that this is a family with strict management and strict management, and these few drops of rain seem to be leaking and raining overnight. omen. Sure enough, what followed was a series of tragedies headed by the unemployment of the head of the family, Sasaki: the youngest son Kenji openly contradicted the teacher, and then misappropriated the funds to pay for food expenses to study piano; Influenced, he chose to go to the United States to join the army when he was desperate at home; Sasaki had to wander every day in parks that distributed free lunches and employment agencies that introduced unreliable jobs; his wife, who was the most peaceful at home, happened to have strange behaviors. thieves. These three men and one woman connect a series of small roles outside the family, and build a whole real and sensible society of the times. Sasaki, who was finally unemployed, chose the job of a shopping mall cleaner. After seeing through the tricks of American imperialism, Agui stayed in the Middle East to help the local people, and Kenji, who proved to have a talent for piano, took the entrance exam of his music-affiliated high school. In front of his parents, he was shocked. The story ends abruptly here.
The story and script creativity of the film are not wonderful, and can even be said to be cliché: a family is involved in the joys and sorrows of an era, and Yang Dechang's "One One" has long been successful; the Japanese people in the economic crisis desperately need spiritual comfort, some time ago The vigorous "The Undertaker" hits the spot; Ozu has also completed the description of the city's citizens in a series of films such as "Tokyo Story", all of which have implemented Ozu's standard film language; even robbery, unemployment, joining the army, car accident, etc. No matter how the plot of picking up gold is not ignorant, it is difficult to become a climate after all, so how did the "Tokyo Sonata" give birth to such a tearjerker? I think the most important reason is that Kiyoshi Kurosawa ingeniously constructed the collapse of three sets of patriarchal mechanisms in the script, and this sudden collapse coincides with the audience's expectation of the degeneration of authority: these three sets of relationships are not rigid. It is embedded in the daily life of the Sasaki family, and is scheduled just right, just like the title of the film, like a sonata, which slowly tells the original story of the early morning in this city, so it does not move in the quiet narration. The sensuality shattered the audience's psychological defense.
These three groups of patriarchal mechanisms, first, are above the family, and are the eldest son Agui’s worship of American culture. The words spoken from his mouth naturally express the ideology of the United States, that is, the United States. They are obliged to give everything to maintain world peace, but other countries do not understand. So Agui's recruitment of American soldiers was in fact an execution of the worship of patriarchy. However, at the end of the film, Agui finally recognized the essence of American politics and chose to create a better life with the people at the bottom in the Middle East. For a long time, teenagers from all over the world have been invaded by American culture and corrupted their hearts. Hollywood movies continue to attach their own ideology to the world like cultural cannonballs, and Japan is no exception. Although the film does not tell how Agui, who is on the battlefield, recognizes the reality, it is not difficult to imagine that anyone who has experienced the war will inevitably move towards peace. Therefore, the lies of US imperialism are nakedly exposed by a child in the film. This is the first collapse of patriarchy, and it also caters to the "self-esteem" of the Japanese people.
Second, being in the family itself is an extremely hegemonic patriarchy. Sasaki's control of children seems to inherit the etiquette of the feudal system. Since he is the only source of income for the family, his dominance over the family structure is even more extreme. However, once the reason for this dominance is not established, as a father Sasaki is bound to find ways to maintain or even disguise the illusion that patriarchy still exists. Then, the rebellion of Agui and Kenji as sons will eventually play an "Oedipus-like" function under the unstable foundation formed by this disguise. In "Tokyo Sonata", the director took the most pains to describe such a story of the collapse of patriarchy, and even did not hesitate to construct a family with an equivalent but completely opposite ending to describe the tragic consequences of this collapse of patriarchy. , the suicide of the Black Sha family is the proof. In addition, Kenji's classmates are sometimes considered to be "chased and killed" by the child's undisciplined father. In the game of these power relations, only Kenji won the final victory, so the emotion of the audience is reasonable.
Third, compared to the collapse of the first two, it is an appetizer. It appeared when the movie began to introduce the character Kenji, which brought the conflict between Kenji and the teacher to the forefront. Because Kenji refused to accept the teacher's discipline, he watched the teacher in the subway. The deeds of the yellow comics were made public, which made him an anti-patriarchy hero in the eyes of his classmates. This extreme alien in the eyes of the teacher eventually became a piano prodigy. However, it is conceivable that this stubborn child will eventually become a piano prodigy. become another representative of patriarchy, waiting for the next generation of children to subvert it.
The three-layer relationship makes the film layered clearly, but the structure is natural. This kind of epic film should be the most respected category in the current film environment: it not only reflects the past film culture, but also portrays the reality of contemporary society. That year's "Yi Yi" won the first Cannes Best Director for the Chinese, and now Kurosawa Kiyoshi has won the "Un Certain Regard" Best Film at the 71st Cannes Film Festival with this film. In fact, the film's The weight is enough to enter the main competition unit, which can not be said to be an encouragement to the sincere realism and non-"dull art" films. For the new generation of directors in mainland China, if it weren't for Yang Qing's "Night Club" and Ning Hao's "Crazy Series" with the skillful use of screenwriting skills and collage style, then based on China's vast territory, such a warm and A sharp philosophical story should be a good way out. After watching this movie, I started to write my next movie script, which is also a family story in such a city, and the name is temporarily called "Requiem".
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