Your children are not your children.
They are the children born of life's longing for itself.
They came into this world through you,
but not because of you,
they are by your side,
But it doesn't belong to you.
What you can give them is your love,
but not your idea,
Because they have their own ideas.
You can shelter their bodies,
but not their souls,
For their souls belong to tomorrow,
It belongs to the tomorrow that you can't even dream of.
You can do your best,
become like them,
but don't let them become like you,
Because life doesn't go backwards,
Nor do they stop in the past.
——Excerpt from Gibran's "Your Children Are Not Your Children"
This winter is rainy and rainy. The uncle who sits at the intersection every day watching passers-by and traffic has not appeared for many days, including his wheelchair. Nobody knows, nobody knows. Like many people, pass by or even walk through your life without any marks.
Slowly, the hustle and bustle of the carriages and horses suddenly quieted down, everyone looked at each other, the world seemed to freeze, and the wind in those few seconds was finally felt.
In a rental house, four underage children depend on each other. The oldest is 12 years old and the youngest is four or five years old. They have no source of income but they refuse welfare institutions. They don't even have the money to rent. How will they survive? This is what Nobody Knows wants to present to us.
The director is Hirokazu Koreeda. I think this is his best work so far. Audiences who are familiar with Hirokazu Kore-eda will know that his films never win with plot, but with the meticulous details.
The plot of the movie goes like this, a single mother with four children moves into a newly rented house. My mother often comes home late from work, and my brother takes care of several children. After the mother left, the four children had no financial resources and used various methods to survive. After her sister died, her brother buried her with his friends, and life went on.
The story is simple, there is no major dramatic conflict, the camera is quite restrained, there are no tears, not even the emotional background music. But it was this movie that made me want to say something after watching it several times in a row, but I couldn't start it, and this movie review has been delayed again and again.
Every character in this movie is full and full, and after watching the whole movie, you can't blame anyone for such a tragedy, not even the mother who abandoned her family. Maybe this is where the movie is higher than life. In reality, we are limited to our own eyes, and the movie provides a broader perspective, allowing us to understand the truth of the matter and empathize with each character.
1. Brother Akira Fukushima
The 12-year-old brother, Akira Fukushima in the film, is the only child allowed to go out under the rules. He is in charge of the family's life like a parent: busy shopping, cooking, paying rent with ATM machines, all of which are familiar , This move in the movie is not the first time they have lived like this, it is reassuring like adults. That's why mom can go out to work, come home late, or even run away from home with peace of mind.
Such a life has a fragile premise: financial resources. This seemingly methodical life gradually crumbled after Mom stopped providing financial support. The kids don't want to go to the orphanage, they get separated, they've been through it before, and that's worse. All four children are under the age of 16 and there is nowhere to offer them jobs.
After the water was cut off, he took his younger brother and sister to the park to go to the toilet, washed clothes, brushed his teeth, and collected water; if he didn’t eat, he went to the back door of the supermarket to wait for expired food. They are like weeds planted in the instant noodle bucket, no one cares about them, but they grow recklessly. But in the end they couldn't even pay the rent.
Even in such a living environment, Akira Fukushima has his own principles to adhere to. The only time he steals something is to steal medicine for his sister. Before, he would rather lose a "friend" than steal a toy; even if he is dying of hunger, he does not want a girl to sell herself money, lost love. All the emotions surrounding him were so vulnerable in front of life's heavy negatives.
1. three phones
He called his mother three times.
first call
When his brother didn't have much money left, he made the first call, and his mother asked him to find Xiaoxue's father. The taxi driver and the staff of the game arcade, two people who may be Xiaoxue's father. Judging from the driver's impatient eyes when he got off the car and Ming's familiarity with the game arcade, Ming had also approached them before, but this time they both No money was given. Ming is a very shy child, and after hearing their complaints, he will not go to them again.
second call
Call where mom works and make sure she quits.
After knowing that his mother could not be reached, he did not tell his younger siblings. There was not much money left, and he couldn't buy vegetables to cook, so he only bought instant noodles. Just like when they first moved in, everyone gathered around the table to eat instant noodles. It's just that we still used bowls and my mother was still there. Everyone was planning a new life. Now they use buckets directly, and they no longer pursue the quality of life.
Through the address sent by his mother, he found the number of his mother's new home. After dialing, the voice was his mother's, just like a hostess's tone. Ming didn't say a word, so he couldn't bear to disturb it.
On the day he sent her away, he also questioned his mother's selfishness because of whether her mother had talked to her partner about their children. When he heard his mother's voice on the phone, he felt that after getting used to the life there, his mother would come to pick them up, just as they had agreed before; Stop bothering her.
third call
The sister fell into a coma after falling from the chair. Helpless, Ming ran out and used the public phone to call his mother. After connecting, he waited for someone to call her. After running out of money, his mother didn't come.
At that moment, the mother should have been very frightened. She thought she had gotten rid of the four children. She was afraid of being found out and afraid of going back to live like that again, so she refused to answer the call. But she far underestimated Ming's sensibleness. She didn't know that Ming was really desperate to make that call, just like she didn't know that Xiaoxue was dying, and no one would tell her the news in the future.
2. Fukushima Akira's "sensible"
When my mother left, she promised to come back for Christmas, but she didn't. My brother put the rest of the living expenses in an envelope, asked someone to write everyone's name, and told the younger brothers and sisters that it was a gift from my mother.
The Christmas cake placed at the door of the convenience store will continue to be discounted as it approaches twelve o'clock. In order to get this cake for his younger brothers and sisters, he has been standing across the road and waited until late at night to get it at the cheapest price. .
After the water and electricity were cut off at home, he washed his hair in the park, changed his clothes and went on a "date". He did not open the drink Shahi bought him along the way, but took it home and shared it with his younger siblings in cups, but the bottle cap was his own, and it was his souvenir.
3. Akira Fukushima is a child
My brother has always been looking forward to the school, and stood outside the school several times in the camera. Although I didn't go to school for a day, I treated the accounting every night as a math problem. On the day his mother left, he took him to eat. He blamed his mother for being selfish. He stopped eating after a few bites and asked when he could go to school. Mom said there was no need to go to school, and many big people didn't go to school either. It was rare for my brother to be reluctant once, and let her give an example, and my mother hesitated. Until she said the name of a sumo wrestler, Ming finally smiled, Mom was right, and happily ate the rest.
He was finally like a child, he was a child after all, he was just a child after all.
In the American drama "This is us", a mother was unable to raise her own child, and the community sent the child to a foster home, but she refused to give up the child's custody. When her daughter lived with her, she took care of her diet and daily life. She often said to her daughter: What can I do without you. But after she went to her daughter's foster home, she finally gave up custody of the child. She said she had never seen her daughter like that, like a child .
Children are forced to become sensible only when no one takes the responsibility of adults. But no matter how sensible a child is, he is still a child, and a child's sensibleness is distressing.
2. Sister Kyoko Fukushima
Of the four children, the elder sister's love for her mother is the most obvious.
On the night of the move, my mother made a rule: my brother could go out to buy things, no one else could go out, not even on the balcony, and they couldn't be found. Because except for the brother, the other three children are all black households. My sister was in charge of laundry, so the balcony that I couldn't go to became a privilege. She keeps staring at the washing machine while doing laundry, and spends as much time "out there" as possible, but she doesn't go to the balcony at other times because that's the rule her mother made.
When her mother came home late for the first time, Kyoko was waiting for her at the window, counting the time it took for her to go upstairs to open the door in seconds.
My mother painted her nails before she left home for the first time. After a month, the nail polish fell off and she was not willing to take it off.
My sister has never lost her temper, even when her brother is addicted to games when he has little money left, and his game partner pushes his brother down, she only sees worry and understanding in her eyes. But when her brother wanted to sell her mother's clothes, she locked herself in the closet. It was her mother's clothes. Her mother said not to touch her things. Even if she covered herself with sweat on a hot day, she was in the closet. Look at these clothes.
Insecure children are very sensitive, and she even thinks her mother won't come back because she knocked over her nail polish. The nail polish sprinkled on the ground has long been dry, and when she thinks of her mother, she will grope for the dry marks with her hands.
Although the elder sister Jingzi has never been to school, she is very smart, and she is also very talented in mathematics and music. The envelope that my brother asked someone to write was different from the one my mother gave her before, and the name was different. She knew that her brother had been hiding it from them, but she did not expose her brother's white lie, but just touched the words that her mother wrote before.
3. Brother Fukushima Shigeru
The younger brother is the most active. It can also be understood from the dialogue that the last time they moved was because their younger brother was discovered. So on the first day I came here, my mother emphasized that I couldn't be found, especially my younger brother couldn't go to the balcony.
Mao has always followed this rule. Most of the time, he played with toys by himself. When playing cards, one person decorated the four corners. Even the plasticine rolled to the balcony, and he didn't go out to pick it up. This seemingly carefree child knows very well what he needs to do to maintain this home .
The elder brother knew that on the day when his mother resigned, they ate instant noodles at night, but the younger brother was not full, and secretly used the remaining instant noodles and water to make rice in the middle of the night.
After the water and electricity were cut off, everyone was hungry. My brother was woken up by a strange noise. It turned out that my brother was chewing something. My brother asked what it was. He turned around and said it was paper . The figure makes me sad. The older brother used the remaining money to buy two bowls of instant noodles. Because there was no hot water at home, he carried it carefully all the way home, but the younger brother had already gone out to play games with other children.
A child who is full of childishness and can laugh in any situation.
4. Sister Fukushima Snow
There are a lot of things in the movie that allude to time, like the nail polish on my sister's fingers, my brother's hair and voice changing. When my mother just left, my sister Xiaoxue's crayons were new and she drew her mother; when Shahi came, my sister wanted to draw her, and there were not many crayons left.
On Xiaoxue's birthday, she wore her favorite slippers to go out in the big winter, making a noise. Just like when my brother went out to buy things for the first time, he read out everything he saw on the street. They didn't wait for their mother at the station, and ate the remaining chocolate that they had been reluctant to eat. It was bought for her by her brother when he went to the supermarket for the first time. It had been several months.
The last piece of chocolate was like her remaining hope. She swallowed it and no longer expected her mother to come back.
Her brother took her to see the tram, and even that became happiness. Her brother promised to take her to the airport to see the plane in the future, so after her death, her brother took her in a suitcase and buried her next to the airport.
In fact, the director has already hinted at the fate of his sister twice before this: the first time is when her sister is climbing a chair to reach for the cups in the cupboard; the second time is lying on Shahi's lap in the summer, drowsy like she is sick , fortunately she opened her eyes. But when my brother went to play baseball, my sister fell down.
The younger sister has grown taller, and the box she came in could no longer fit, so she used the younger brother's box. Inside were her favorite shoes, bunny toys, and lots of Apollo chocolates.
5. Mother Keiko Fukushima
When mother was still there, judging from the way the four children were dressed, they didn't look like they were short of money.
It's just that such a day is far away, and my mother has always longed for love and a normal family life, so she tossed between various men and gave birth to four children, and she couldn't even tell who Xiaoxue's biological father was.
When her brother learned that she had a new relationship and questioned her selfishness, she said: Can't I be happier?
She obviously went to Kanagawa, but she told her brother that she was going to Osaka. She wanted to get rid of these children completely. That was her determination, so she shed tears when she woke up that morning.
After her sister's death, her mother, who was frightened by her brother's phone call, sent a letter. She didn't know what happened. She asked Ming to take good care of her younger brother and sister, and said, "I'm all up to you ."
Can't you be happier after taking care of four children by yourself for so many years? Of course she can, but she can't give her the happiness she wants, and she can't understand that while taking care of the child, the child gives her more happiness.
6. Music
After burying the light snow, Ming and Shahi were walking on the road covered in dirt, the movie episode came out, brisk music, and it seemed that there was bright sunshine everywhere.
The whole film has been holding back, not a single tear, not even a strong outburst of emotions. At this moment, the director finally gave the audience a vent, as if to tell you, it's okay, don't hold back, just cry, I can pretend that I don't know.
Seven, the end
As the day went on, Shahi joined, and together they went to the park to fetch water and to the back door of the supermarket to get food. The plane flew across the sky, and the elder brother watched in fascination. The younger brother pulled the sleeve of the elder brother, just like the younger sister who was frightened by the toll collector at that time.
The younger brother will still be ecstatic about the coins left in the public phone. The four children are walking on the road together. The younger brother turns his head blankly, and the picture freezes.
You have no idea what will happen to them in the future, everything seems hopeless, and everything seems so unhurried.
The most shocking thing is that the film is based on real events , and the reality is much crueler than the film .
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