What is the charm of the film "Love Letter"? Iwai Shunji himself said that he just added a lot of personal things to the film. The so-called "individualization", I think it is not only his personal artistic style, but also the expression of national psychology and emotion, and it is an Eastern style of film art concept. This article intends to elaborate separately from the three aspects of the structure, emotional expression and life feelings of "Love Letter".
1. Intricate montage structure.
In many love films from all over the world, stories of love between men and women have long been commonplace. Some are straightforward and passionate, some are fighting secretly, some are adult beauty, and some are loved by others, either sad or happy, or sad and happy. There are many different kinds of people. Although the stories are very different and different, the common point is that they lay out the course of the characters' emotional development and changes. However, Shunji Iwai's "Love Letter" has taken a unique approach and stood out in many love films. In fact, strictly speaking, "Love Letter" is not a romantic movie, because the three heroes and heroines in the film have never really fallen in love with each other. Communication between girls is a medium for recalling memories. So, what did "Love Letter" use to impress millions of viewers from different borders? This is the secret of Shunji Iwai's movie conception.
The narrative text of "The Love Letter" is very simple: Fujii Ki, a middle school male student who is in the budding period of youth, has a crush on the girl with the same name and the same name as him. Although his innocent feelings are very strong and persistent, he never confessed to her, only revealing a trace of inner secrets in the form of pranks in some trivial details. The female Fujii was completely unaware of his love at all. Before graduating from high school, the male Fujii Shu transferred to another city with the secret love of youth buried in his heart, and met another girl named Hiroko. Hiroko's appearance and temperament are almost exactly the same as those of the female Fujii tree, so the male Fujii tree poured his love for the female Fujii tree on Hiroko. Later, the male Fujii tree fell accidentally and died while climbing a mountain.
Such a simple story, if it adopts the general structure model, can completely evolve into a tortuous and vivid but featureless romance film. However, Iwai Shunji's unique and clever feature is that he deliberately abandoned the right and wrong of the love between the three male and female protagonists, and focused his pen and ink on the pursuit and memory of the past, forming the intricate and complicated "Love Letter". Movie structure text.
The plot development of the film is driven by Bozi's search for the truth about love of her boyfriend Fujiiki, which triggers the memories of another heroine, Fujiiki; and then uses the memories of the female Fujiiki as a secondary driving force to continuously promote the emotional transformation of Bozi, thus completing the two together. The process of emotional transformation of girls.
Time and space level. The plot in real time and space adopts the form of external perspective, according to the rational thinking and emotional changes of the editor, showing that the two heroines are jointly searching for the answer to the "love letter" mystery, due to the connection of certain external factors. two
or closer to, or away from, or ambiguous. The narrative in the recalling time and space adopts the form of internal perspective, and the progress of the plot completely follows the psychological logic and behavioral laws of the hero and heroine. It is not difficult to find that there are at least four groups of action lines of characters in different time and space in the two levels of reality and memory in the structure of "Love Letter". The thread is knitted together, and it is seamless and exquisite. This is the reflection of the Japanese nuanced way of thinking in the film structure. From this, I can’t help but think of what the Chinese dramatist Li Yu said: “Weaving a play is like sewing a garment. At first, it is cut into pieces with the perfect piece, and then made with the piece pieces. It is easy to cut, but difficult to make. The work of success is all in the tight stitching. One section is sparse, and the whole article is flawed." It can be seen that the aesthetic principles of the structure of Chinese theater and the aesthetic practice of Japanese director Shunji Iwai in the film montage structure are in harmony with each other. They are similar to each other, and they are purely Eastern aesthetic consciousness.
2. Delicate and sad emotional expression
The film "Love Letter" makes us deeply feel the faint sorrow contained in the beautiful lyric, which is the unique emotional expression of the Japanese nation. The formation of this national sentiment has its profound historical origins. Among the nations of the world, Japan is undoubtedly one of the nations with pure racial composition and high cultural homogeneity. Its unique history and geographical environment have shaped the Japanese psychologically sensitive and delicate introverted personality. The geography surrounding the sea, the narrow land, and the tortuous coastline form Japan's humid climate. Therefore, some scholars call Japanese culture "moisture culture". It is combined with the introverted personality to make the Japanese admire purity and elegance, thus advocating the persistence and perseverance of "clear mind" and "mood and morality". This kind of national sentiment is especially strong and long in Iwai Shunji's "Love Letter". At the beginning of the film, Hiroko visits his grave with infinite sorrow for the male Fujii. After returning home, he accidentally finds the address of Fujii. Subconsciously, he feels that the male Fujii is not dead, so the idea of writing a letter arises. The letter was sent, and she had no intention of receiving a reply, however, an unexpected reply came. It turned out that Fujii Shu, a woman living in a different place, had a cold and was resting at home. She received an inexplicable letter from Bozi and replied out of curiosity. Since then, the two heroines have frequently exchanged letters, evoking a series of memories between both sides. Hiroko feels guilty for Fujiiki in her love affair with Akiba from time to time. This kind of psychological fetters and unfree feelings make her fall into contradictory pain. As a result, her desire to find out the "truth" in reply was stronger and more persistent. At the same time, when the female Fujii was waiting for treatment in the hospital, there flashed in her mind what it looked like when the male Fujii was leaning against the window to study in high school. This shows that there is still a beautiful and innocent past in her heart. Especially when Bozi decided to go to Nv Tengshu to learn the truth, unfortunately, he didn't see it. When the driver of the car accidentally revealed that Hiroko and the female Fujii tree look very similar, Hiroko suddenly realized that the plot also suddenly changed and transitioned to the stage where Hiroko rediscovered the truth about the love of the male Fujii tree. Here, the choreographer has carefully designed a depth-of-field lens. In the depth-of-field, the female Fujii tree riding a bicycle is slowly moving forward. It is in motion and becomes the eye-catching active factor in the picture; and the foreground is a contemplative blogger, in a quiet place. The momentum, the movement and the silence, formed a sharp contrast, highlighting the feelings of looking and expecting on both sides. When the female Fujii tree passed by, Hiroko blurted out her name, and the picture was fixed on the scene of the female Fujii tree looking back and looking for it. But in an instant, her focused search gaze was obscured by the endless stream of people, drowning in the vast crowd. Two infatuated and persistent girls unfortunately missed each other. Thus they began to have unforgettable and slightly sad memories again. The female Fujii tree is reminiscing In the game, the beginning of school, elections, on duty, Otoi tree writing his name on the book card, using a bicycle to generate electricity for examination papers, taking pictures of Otoi tree at sports meets, and so on. For her innocent love, she also gradually realized that this naive and beautiful feeling would be her precious wealth, and made her free from the fear of her father's death. Hiroko really wakes up from the memory: he is actually a substitute for the male Fujiiki's first love object. As a result, she broke free from the painful remembrance and thinking, faced reality bravely, and accepted Qiuye's love. But her love for the male Fujii tree is still hard to give up, so with Qiuye's encouragement, when the sun is rising, Hiroko cried over and over again in the face of the vast expanse of snow: "How are you?" "In this way, I pour out my thoughts and sorrows for O Fujii. At this time, the female Fujii tree lying on the hospital bed also replied to herself over and over again: "I'm fine. How are you?" At the same time, in different spaces, the two girls shared the same voice. Calling the male Fujii tree calling each other, and calling himself deeply. At this point, they have completed a long and arduous emotional transformation and sublimation, transitioning from the "past" me
To the "now" me, and herald the "eternity" beyond my own emotions.
The reason why these plots and details in the film are reproduced more specifically is to show that Shunji Iwai expresses the sharpness of the character's soul and the delicacy of emotions in this way. It is the film's seemingly plain and watery but touching charm. It is also a Japanese. A unique way of expressing emotions, which is hard to see in Western films.
Hiroko is desperate to go back and explore the truth about the love of the male Fujiiki. Isn't the female Fujiiki's faint memories of the former secret lover in pursuit of the "pure" and "truth" of feelings? Doesn't it show the persistent spirit of yearning for the beautiful things in the ideal? Isn't it just the image expression of the "pure heart" and "mood and morality" that the Japanese people admire? If the persistent spirit of pursuing true feelings is placed in the general background of today's commodity society, it is not difficult to find that the editors work hard to find and praise a sincere feeling that transcends the temptation of material interests and is hidden deep in people's hearts. Therefore, it can be said that the delicate and sad emotions in "Love Letters" are an indirect denial and criticism of today's money and material desires.
3. Ways of life perception The
reason why the cherry blossom has become the national flower of Japan, the flower of the nation, is because the delicate Japanese have a keen sense of soul to understand the true meaning of life from the cherry blossoms "bloom in a timely manner, thanks to the benefits": companionship in heroism Feeling sentimental. In the Japanese tea ceremony, the concept of "one period, one meeting" is actually the embodiment of the "impermanence" view of the "transitory" of life. Therefore, everyone cherishes the limited life and the first chance in life. This assimilation of oneself and the object creates a sense of sympathy with the object, or it can be said that discovering and contemplating oneself in the object is a reconciliation of impermanent beauty and impermanent sadness. It is from this sad artistic philosophy that the Japanese perceive the world and life, so as to reach the state of "quiet" or "silence" in life.
The character of Sakura and the spirit of tea ceremony are permeated in the overall artistic conception of "Love Letter", showing the Eastern style of Shunji Iwai. The male Fujii Shuhide died young. He went with a secret love affair with the female Fujii, and with an infatuation that used Hiroko as a substitute for the female Fujii, but could not express it; the female Fujii Shu took the male Fujii. Shu's innocent love affair stayed deeply in her memory; after Hiroko realized that the male Fujii tree regarded himself as a substitute for the female Fujii tree, although she felt that she was missing, the pure love affair between her and the male Fujiiki , But it is the emotional experience of a lifetime... Isn't this just like a cherry blossom blooming brilliantly, and thanking it sadly? Isn't this the rare "one period, one meeting" in his and their young lives? This beautiful emotional experience between him and them will become the permanent nostalgia of female Fujiiki and Hiroko in their lives. The value and meaning of life are reflected in this emotional journey after another. They pursue the innocence of feelings, ideal sentiments, and the beauty of realm... it is the deep life experience and life perception.
Iwai Shunji's "Love Letter" does not seem to explain any philosophy on the surface. However, those faint memories, full of faint sorrow, are more worth cherishing and nostalgic, and life is here.
While Hollywood blockbusters are weaving screen fairy tales with their bizarre high-tech effects, the Japanese movie "Love Letter" is like a fresh poem quietly evoking people's longing and memories of youth and love, and it will last forever.
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