"She often lied...Until now, I still remember the time we spent together. In those three years we've spent together, how often have I been fooled by your lies..."
Quick Note: I knew exactly what I liked about the movie, but I re-watched it to take notes on certain scenes I loved. Ten minutes in, I am intrigued all over again and terribly missing the memory of the mixed emotions it leaves behind. It really is a classic - a must watch for hopeless romantics :P.
Based on the novel and manga Renai Shashin: Mō Hitotsu no Monogatari by Takuji Ichikawa, Tada Kimi Wo Aishiteru is a coming of age romance between the rather strange Shizuru and the rather oblivious Makoto.
- Makoto in search of Shizuku in New York
The movie opens with Makoto delightfully lost in the Concrete Jungle, New York. Of course his excitement was not entirely induced by his adventure in a foreign land, but rather our hero Makoto is thrilled to finally be able to confess his delayed mutual affections to Shizuru.
Shizuru was a university classmate, very childish and very bold. She is also quite unpredictable. One moment, she is lying through her teeth, poking fun at the naive Makoto. Then another, she's actually telling the truth, strange as they may seem, to the poor confused Makoto.
On the other hand, Makoto struggles making friends, because of a certain insecurity. He is kind and sensitive. However, as most guys his age, he's also quite superficial. Upon laying eyes on the beautiful Miyuki, he subconsciously disregards the possibility of romance with the apparently less attractive Shizuru.
As the story progresses, Shizuru makes no effort in hiding her affections for Makoto and initially uses his love for photography as an excuse to meet with him. However, since Makoto seems to have subconsciously made up his mind that he can never be attracted to child-like Shizuru (also as his eyes are fixated on the graceful and also kind Miyuki), she decides to continue loving him by cheering on his advances on Miyuki.
The rest of the movie tells how Shizuru's unrequited love blossoms into a very beautiful tale of bestfriends falling in love. Initially, the story revolves on the impending verdict on Makoto's rather late realization of his affection, i.e. Will Shizuru still accept Makoto's affections? Towards the end, the story takes a turn to something unexpected...
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WHAT MAKES THE MOVIE APPEALING
For me,
#1 ITS NONLINEAR PRESENTATION
I really appreciate how the movie is presented as a nonlinear/disjointed narrative. That is, it is not told in chronological order. (Like Guy Pearce's Memento)
1.1 For one, it changes the plot as perceived by the audience. Let's consider how the first five minutes gives the audience a clue of what the movie is about and more importantly how it creates a sort of impending thrill: Will Shizuru accept Makoto still?
Suppose the movie starts when Makoto meets Shizuru at the pedestrian crossing instead, the impending thrill would be: Will he fall in love with her too?
This technique really helps in (1) giving a faster pace to the story; (2) easily distinguishing the story from other love stories; and (3) making the story memorable through an unexpected twist.
1.2 The first five minutes also helps the audience accept/like Makoto. Shy as he is, he steps out of his comfort zone to find Shizuki; thereby, suggesting a redeeming quality to make up for his lack of indecisiveness. Again, let's suppose the movie starts at the pedestrian crossing, perhaps the audience would have taken little longer to like Makoto.
#2 ITS FALSE FORESHADOWING TECHNIQUE
The movie opens with "She often lies", which is actually a false foreshadow [falsely hinting towards certain future events, a red herring]. And so, somewhere in between, the audience can't help but be as confused as Makoto in deciphering Shizuku's strangeness. In the end, Makoto realizes she was truthful after all and so flashbacks of her saying: "I could die from happiness [from kissing Makoto]", "I am still growing up", "A disease from falling in love", really heightened our hero's sense of regret and our sympathy for poor Shizuku who chose love over life.
#3 ITS USE OF ENVIRONMENT EXPRESSION
I was looking for the right terminology for the use of music, scenes, colors, etc to invoke emotions. And this is the term I found: Environment Expression. Here's how it's defined by Prof. Cavaco Silva of the IST Technical University of Lisbon:
"Environment expression is about going beyond the usual Human emotion expression channels in virtual worlds."
In other words, the use of anything outside the characters to express an emotion or heighten an ambiance.
For instance, notice how the director/author carefully thought about how the audience would feel in every scene. For one, the background music transitions beautifully, suggesting changes in the character's emotions - indecision, confusion, pity, regret, happiness, etc. The changes in the colors were also well thought of. In the first 5-10 minutes (in Japan), many scenes were taken during sunrise signaling the start of a relationship. Meanwhile, the sunset in the end hinted on closure or perhaps regret or sadness.
- Shizuku flees to their secret meeting place, after Makoto fails to acknowledge their friendship to his new friends
- Shizuku sits happily under the same tree even after knowing that their first kiss meant nothing to Makoto
One scene in particular which I found so meaningful was how Shizuku sat in the same place in the woods, whenever she felt rejected by Makoto. You'd pity her for her constant foolishness in pursuing an unrequited love and probably even more so in their last meeting when she said she felt so happy sharing a kiss with Makoto despite being aware that he supposedly did not love her even a bit.
This is then followed by the slow pace of the rest of the afternoon, which shows Makoto totally out of it: coming to class late and completely ignoring his professor, looking lost as he bought groceries, etc...the scenes were designed to express not a sudden change of heart, but rather a slow realization of an already existent affection and his acceptance of it. [so cool :D]
#4 ITS SORT OF "LINGERING/POST MYSTERY" EFFECT
The structure of the movie and the unexplained details of the characters' decisions leave a strong sense of mystery. It was definitely the author's intention to leave a lasting impression by provoking several questions on the characters' true feelings/motivations. Such as: (1) Miyuki was such a nice girl and almost perfect too, why wouldn't Makoto follow her if she works abroad? (2) Why would Makoto lie to Shizuku about kissing Miyuki? (He says they kissed five times, but they never kissed at all.)
And the most important and thought-provoking of all: Why did Shizuku want to keep on lying to Makoto long after she's dead?
AND FINALLY LET'S END WITH MY THEORY ON: WHY SHIZUKU LEFT AFTER THEIR FIRST KISS AND WHY SHE HAD TO LIE TO MAKOTO LONG AFTER SHE'S DEAD?
- Makoto agrees to kiss Shizuku for her self-portrait project
My take on that is simple: When they last met/after their first kiss, Shizuku really believed that Makoto didn't love her even a bit, but she was happy being able to experience this emotion called "love". Her deepening affections would continue inducing an increase in her growth hormones, and so death became quite imminent. Thus, she decides to leave Makoto with only happy memories by never having to force him to love her and by never having him know that the reason she died sooner was because of her affections for him. Also, she wanted to experience many beautiful things before she died.
In New York, a year and a half later after she accomplished her dreams, she has a chance meeting with Miyuki who informs her that in fact, Makoto is still waiting for her and loves and misses her terribly. Shizuku's uncontainable happiness after knowing this might have caused her body to deteriorate faster. Thus, although she wants to see him so much, she cannot bear to have him see her in her pitiful state. Finally, together with Miyuki, they plan a way (1) to give Makoto a chance to express his love for Shizuku- through letters, (2) to give Shizuku a chance to live longer in Makoto's heart and (3) perhaps to bid a less painful farewell to Makoto. In the end, Shizuku chose not to leave Makoto in a state of "lack of closure". Thus, she loved him even more by choosing a path that probably caused her much physical pain on one hand and on the other, made her die smiling.
What did you think about the movie? Suppose you had the opportunity to alter the ending, how would you go about that?
Reblogged from: +WordPress
Link: Original Post
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