The life of the hated pine nuts

Kirstin 2022-09-29 13:52:11

Thankfully, this is the first film I've seen directed by Tetsuya Nakajima. This allows me to fully enjoy this huge surprise.
As soon as I saw the poster, I thought it looked like the red one in "Angel Emily". And a series of quick cuts at the beginning of the film, interspersed with songs and dances, and plays within the play, also make people full of wonderful fantasy. The picture has always been like a fairy tale, with warm golden tones and flowers blooming in every corner of the picture. This is probably the tone of the whole movie, like "I want to be happy" sung at the beginning. Of course, this is just a formal tone. At the beginning, the death of Matsuko and the appearance of various suspicious characters made the film a little suspenseful; and the interspersed singing and dancing in the middle made it like a musical. In fact, it is a total tragedy, a tragedy about the traditional theme of the fate of women. And all this gorgeous glossy packaging makes it even better and, of course, makes it even more grief-stricken. I like such a contrast, and it is precisely because of this contrast that this film is absolutely outstanding.
Matsuko died as soon as he appeared, and his nephew Sheng, who had never met before, assumed the clues about Matsuko's life memories. The police investigating the case, Sheng's father, Matsuko's friend Sawamura, and Matsuko's student Aaron put together the memories of Matsuko. This life, as the name of the movie, is "a life of disgust"; also as Sheng's father said, "a humble life"; in Matsuko's own words, it is "born as a human, I'm sorry".
Aaron said that pine nuts are his god. This also makes Sheng feel that he agrees, Matsuko has been working hard all his life to love others and make others laugh, but he is so sad and scarred. But I don't agree. Matsuko has longed to be loved all her life. From childhood, he longed for his father's love. To every man he met later, Matsuko desperately longed to be loved. No matter whether this man is worthy of love or not, no matter how many times she has been hurt and deceived, she will work hard to love and pay for it in exchange for the love of the other party, and then she even just asks to be together. Matsuko's tragedy is not so much a case of being unkind to others, but rather a character defect caused by the shadow of childhood.
Many scenes are impressive. Matsuko, who has just been released from prison, returns to the barber shop in the sky of cherry blossoms, only to see that the man she takes as hope has formed a new family. Still outside the high wall, Song Nuo greeted Aaron, who was released from prison. In the white snow, only the rose in his hand was as bright red as the blood on the corner of his mouth. Among the many songs and dances, "Love is a bubble" and "What is a life" are the most exciting.
If there's one thing missing, it's probably the end of that lengthy pine nut going to heaven after he dies. Originally, the picture of recalling Matsuko's life along the river like a flight was already perfect, but the director added a religious ending like singing a hymn. Maybe it's a comfort to the audience, making it less sad. But I don't think it helps much.

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Extended Reading
  • Marcella 2022-03-15 09:01:09

    This story is a naked mockery of "Girls' Feelings"!

  • Maxine 2022-03-15 09:01:09

    She is just afraid of loneliness...