Not only about "abandoning the old", but also not limited to the current survival process driven by life like the animal world, this film also uses a lot of space to describe the theme of "sex and nature". Treat different sexual behaviors interpreted in movies, whether it is the sex of the elderly, the sex of children and grandchildren, the sex of animals, the sex across ages, or even the sex between humans and animals across species. Sometimes it is for physical stimulation and pleasure, sometimes it is an irrational physiological need, and sometimes it is necessary for reproduction based on survival. The biggest confusion of ethics and morality in this film is reflected in endless sexual affairs. It gives people a strong impact, and interprets this huge natural theme in a greater way by taking Imamura's shooting concept and natural analysis of "demoralizing" sex since the last "Dolphins and Warships". Sex is the most important way of mating between humans and other creatures to survive to the next generation, and it is also the greatest species resonance.
Reproduction/desire/morality. In each of Imamura's works, the madness and chaos are closely related to the cycle of sex and natural existence. It also created his unique film style.
We can intuitively see that all the scene changes in the movie, in the spring, summer, autumn and winter that express time, Imamura Shohei is very good at using his traditional method to use the [animal] metaphor to imply the impact of his current situation and environment. It includes a guide that also covers the subject. In the film, the mouse bites the snake that has just woken up in the twisted winter, the snake also slowly devours the mouse, the flying eagle catches the rabbit on the ground, the mantis eats the dead frog, and the crow gathers in the sky to make a piercing cry.
As I think of the animal world, whether animals, insects or human beings here seem to be equivalent to each other at this moment. Not only can they seem powerful to eat each other, but they can also be twisted and humble in conformity with nature. Sometimes it is seen as nature that the opposite of cruelty is not warmth, and "giving up" is also a form of obedience. In the current biological world, such obedience can even be matched as a strange "completion and consummation" to explain the end of life .
The level of shock at the end of the movie kept me from coming out of it for a long time. Because it is too cruel, the naked death is punished in the most extreme speciesized way. It's like an elephant going to a place before dying and letting its body be devoured by a passing beast. Once human beings are also embodied in such a biological way at the end of their lives, it is too biting and cruel. But perhaps if we expand our understanding, we can understand "loss of life and gain of freedom" and liberation, which is a two-sided understanding of one body. Looking at the various life-and-death stories in this story using blood donations, it seems that the story is not as heavy as we thought.
In the final scene, the white and black are very much used. Including the production of light and shadow, the shooting methods of the characters all have the director's unique style. Shohei Imamura is known as "the director's anthropologist." The real focus of his films is how to connect religious beliefs, human emotions, and natural laws. How to choose, how to show the absurd and chaotic stories in the most offensive way is the directing style he has always pursued, and he will continue to learn more about his works in the future.
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