The last time Kasumi Arimura looked up to him with admiration was "The Bottom Hot Girl". Anyone who has experienced the college entrance examination will probably feel sympathy for that movie after watching that movie. After adulthood, the phrase "effort will make progress" seems to be only valuable in a few scenes in life, such as the college entrance examination, such as fitness. And most of the time after adulthood, ordinary people like you and me are trapped by helplessness and difficulty, drifting in a destiny that is not transferred by personal will.

The movie "Miss Chihiro", also starring Arimura Kasumi, is trying to portray this "drifting" state. The film is adapted from the manga of the same name created by Hiroyuki Yasuda. The film is directed by Ritsuya Imaizumi and co-written by Kaori Sawai. Working in a convenience store, she is beautiful and amiable, and soon became the signature girl in the store. She is loved by many people in the small town, but she prefers to be alone and refuses to communicate with people in depth.

Stills of "Miss Chihiro"

However, it is strange that such a loner Chihiro often gives great kindness and help to strangers in the small places within her power. The most interesting group of characters in the first half of the film is the homeless old man who was helped by Chihiro. She helped the old man drive away the children who bullied him, took him home to take a bath, and sent him the leftover bento in the store. After disappearing, he searched everywhere and finally found the body of the old man who died alone. At this time, a stroke of genius appeared, and Chihiro wore a head-mounted flashlight in the middle of the night, dug a hole by himself, and buried the old man.

Benefited from Chihiro's kindness, there are also high school girl Jiu Renzi who is breathless in a traditional high-pressure family, a little boy from a poor single-parent family Xiaocheng, and an ordinary worker Taniguchi who ran away from a domestic violence father, who is blind due to illness Duohui, the proprietress of the convenience store, and so on. They get the warmth from Chihiro respectively, and surround them again, gradually getting to know each other and becoming friends, thus establishing a bridge between people.

Stills of "Miss Chihiro"

I saw someone commenting on the Internet that the character design of "prostitute" and "saint" is full of "masculine" meaning, and the author does not agree with this. In Japan, where the economy has been sluggish in recent years, the porn industry is one of the few career choices for many young women who are deeply impoverished. It will be faced for a long time in the future. The character of Chihiro is not portrayed as a "saint" who wholeheartedly benefits others, but an ordinary woman who is still tender to those in similar situations amidst difficulties and traumas.

"Miss Chihiro" poster

The most interesting part of the film is that these characters who emanate from Chihiro as the axis finally connect with each other. "Connection" is a seemingly very common word. In today's era, it seems that the most indispensable thing between people is instant feedback and communication. But it seems that this is another extremely lonely era. Unlike the pre-modern society, the interpenetration and internal unity between people and family, society and nature have long since disappeared in post-modern society. Spiritual re-growth in the midst of family breakdown.

The process of this breakup is often long, painful, and close to death. This is reflected in many characters in the film, but it clearly distinguishes the past from the present: Taniguchi and the homeless old man are adults who have suffered the painful consequences after breaking up with their families, while Kyuhito and Xiaocheng are It is the minors who are currently facing this kind of rupture or are about to face it. The latter is more fortunate than the former in that when facing the pain brought by the family, they met people outside the family who extended a helping hand, sympathized with each other, and supported each other. Therefore, their fate, although not unfolded in the film, can be expected to be better than the former.

One of the most personally touching scenes in the film is when Kyuhiko, who is facing a big dinner at home, is tasteless, but at Xiaocheng's house, she cries aloud because of Xiaocheng's mother's bowl of fried noodles. It turns out that the deliciousness of food depends on who it is shared with. Even if the silent table is full of delicious food, it is not as good as the ordinary family chatting and laughing on the messy table in the middle of the night.

Screenshot of "Miss Chihiro"

All in all, they are all people who have been disconnected from their own spiritual world to some extent because they have been disconnected from their families and have fallen into a quagmire. Chihiro descended like an angel, seemingly casually building a new relationship for them, so that people who are similarly lonely can hold each other's hand and walk together through a dark tunnel that is almost inevitable in life.

Among all the characters, Chihiro seems to be the protagonist who is the loneliest. The account of her history is only shown in some flashbacks and short dialogues in the film. Indifferent, one can guess her unfortunate native family; and in the narration of the store manager, when she first met Chihiro, the pair of dilapidated shoes is a metaphor that the girl had come to an end at that time. The store manager commented on Chihiro's "empty heart, like a ghost", and the antecedents that created Chihiro at this time are not the subject of the film to be traced seriously. When the scars have come to the present, how to continue is worth asking. s future.

Chihiro is like the sparkling water reflected on the wall of her house day and night, while pushing other people's boats to the other shore with gentle waves, while hiding the pain that sometimes slag rises under the deep still water, "No There is no moment to die." What should you do when you sink into the water? The store manager said that it will float up anyway, "As long as you don't struggle, you will float, and if you start to panic, you will sink."

However, how do we get rid of this powerless current that will pull people into the abyss at any time, and stand firmly on the ground?

"Qianxun" is not her real name, but it comes from a childhood relationship, but it gave the young heroine the name of a warm companion. The use of this name is not only a farewell to the painful past for the girl originally named "Aya", but also a desire to hold on to a trace of warmth. "Once you have no expectations for yourself and others, things become much easier." In fact, because we have so little, we often treat the little goodwill of strangers as a piece of jade and cherish half of our life; Few, in the face of the great kindness offered by others, they will panic and shrink back. Before Duo Hui's hug and retention, Chihiro finally left, but at this time, she changed back to her previous name.

Stills of "Miss Chihiro"

Objectively speaking, the film still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of drama structure and single-scene selection. Compared with Hirokazu Kore-eda who is also good at telling the painful life of marginalized people in peace... Forget it, no comparison, A little harsh. Let's go back to the real touch brought by the story itself. At the end of the film, Aya started a new career on a cattle farm. This time, when someone asked about her past career, the answer was no longer a sex worker, but a bento clerk. There is no distinction between high and low occupations. The feeling is that life goes on and on, and Guanshan goes one step after another. Every step in the past seems to have a trace, but it seems that all the past will be covered by the next step of life. For example, the year before last was painful and unforgettable, but last year was ordinary and trouble-free, so this year, when I recall it with relatives and friends, the time is like the shadow of flowers behind the curtain, and the pain that was once bloody has faded away.

So the longer you live, the pain that has happened will be diluted by the longer and longer life experience, right? So, it's better to be alive.