It was by chance that I met these two movies. Usually, I seldom watch foreign films and TV works, but I was attracted by the beautiful poster cover images of these two movies. Of course, even if you watch a good movie, you won't write a movie review until you see this movie. For me, like encountered a beautiful surprise, so suddenly very want to write some words.
The movie is divided into summer and fall and winter and spring, so at first I mistakenly thought it was a documentary about food. It was only when I saw the word "Film" in the title that I realized it was a movie.
It is because the movie slowly unfolds like a painting, the idyllic pastoral is almost mythical, the scenery in the film is quiet and quiet, almost no plot spread, completely the natural flow of life emotions. It's what gave me the illusion of watching a documentary.
As a backdrop to the story, the movie begins with a brief introduction to Komori, narrated by Ichiko. Although all four parts of the movie open with the heroine narrating the same passage, the change of seasons and the different landscapes that change along the way give it a very different feel.
"Komori is a small village in the middle of a village in the Tohoku region. There aren't any stores here, so if you want to buy something, you go to the center of the village where the official office is located. There are a few small stores there, and a farmer's cooperative supermarket. The trip there is basically downhill and takes thirty minutes on a bicycle, but how long it takes to get back I don't know. In the winter, you have to walk there because of the snow, and it takes an hour and a half to walk slowly. But it seems that most people go to the big suburban supermarket in the next city over. It takes me almost all day if I have to go there."
The heroine, then, in the midst of her unflinching self-reporting, rides her bicycle and slowly enters the center of her vision, with the camera following her back all the way through the four seasons of the wooded path, as if she's entered a dream world on earth. And Komori was quietly waiting to meet us.
Summer sunlight pours slowly, through the gaps in the trees sprinkled with dappled light, the grass grows joyfully; after the new rain on the empty mountains, the fresh air pours in, as if the fog in the mountains with a rich green; springs ding-dong, mountain streams murmuring, fish play; endless rice paddies undulate in the wind, intoxicating green infinitely spreading; the sun's rays of the sunshine sprinkled all over the earth, as if an The sunlight of the sunset spreads over the land, as if the whole summer has become quiet; the full moon is in the sky, the nebulae are vast, and the forest is visited by a lot of people; the night of the fireflies is lonely, but not without romance.
As autumn intensifies, the full ears of wheat dance with the wind, and the golden waves of wheat are breathtakingly beautiful; on frosty mornings, the smoke-covered Xiaosen is filled with a vague and hazy beauty; the sky is always different from the previous seasons, with colorful leaves rendering the branches, and cute squirrels foraging for food; at dusk, there are the most gorgeous flaming clouds in the sky; and the persimmon trees become a landscape of their own when the first snow arrives, which makes them all the more beautiful instead.
The swirling snow greeted the long winter, the whole Xiaosen covered with a silver wedding veil; the branches of the falling snow, like a cluster of white buds competing for spring; the dark surge under the ice is also glowing with a different kind of vitality, in the refraction of the sunlight flooded with a bit of silver; the snow-covered roofs, lined with curls of cooking smoke, just like a fairy tale of the woodland hut; in the midst of winter curtain fall, the blizzard and the sunshine The scene alternates between snowstorms and sunshine at the end of the winter, which makes people feel overwhelmed.
The season of ice melting, the breath of spring is also more and more dense; clear trickle slowly flow through, wild flowers and grasses grow in the wind; the first warm for the cold, the bright spring light is reflected in the branches of the brilliant; full of cherry blossoms dance, the air is dense with a light pink; the wind and the lush forest bamboo rustling, pheasants leisurely foraging in the forest clearing; twilight, the sky's clouds changing color, beautiful! The company's website is a great source of information about the company's products and services.
The stars are changing, and this is the change of seasons for Komori.
The camera pans to the idyllic life of a square pond. The grass is bearing its seeds, the wind is shaking its leaves, and the pure and sweet Ichiko sits quietly in front of the door.
Feeding chickens, chopping wood, planting rice seedlings and weeding, caring for grains and vegetables, picking game and nuts, guarding this silence and beauty.
Although it feels like the film intentionally downplays the hard work of working in the fields to emphasize the calmness and comfort of rural life, the film is set in the peaceful countryside of Japan. But placed in the peaceful countryside of Japan, with its intact forests, and the intimate but spatial upbringing of the people, it's all very convincing.
It does have a rare quietness to it, like a breath of fresh oxygen in a noisy world. It builds a shore that we may never touch, a life that we will never live, but without being vapid, because the agent that builds it all is food.
The film is described underneath as Mori Girl Cooks Idyllic Food to Heal the Heart, Japan on the Tip of the Tongue, Highly Acclaimed Japanese Food Movie, and so on. So that's the second thing that attracted me to it.
Ichiko, an idyllic girl, follows the memories of her taste buds from a meal in her youth, full of thoughts and waiting for her mom, and returns to nature from the city, slowly telling the changing seasons of Komori in her food.
Summer--FLOWER FLOWER (movie interlude)
After weeding in the summer, only refreshing and delicious sour rice wine can save the muggy; hand-baked bread with sour jam or rich chocolate sauce can have a good mood for the whole day; and after working odd jobs, savoring the delicious salt-grilled fish is the best way to make a good meal for Komori. A delicious salt-roasted fish after odd jobs as a treat to yourself; a mouthful of chilled tomatoes in hot weather will revitalize your whole body, and your boredom will be swept away by the canned tomatoes.
Autumn - FLOWER FLOWER (film interlude)
When harvesting, the walnut rice lunchbox meets the hungry stomach; leisure time, fishing with friends and then cooking delicious; autumn afternoon, and neighbors to share a few slices of baked groundnut is also comfortable; chestnuts bring cold weather, but also brings a sweet and greasy sense of happiness; harvest season, the gluttonous The heart and the mouth will not let go of the fat duck.
Winter--FLOWER FLOWER (movie interlude)
The cold season gives people a headache, recalling the experience of participating in the making of natto sticky rice ball with childhood friends, the whole winter becomes sweet; with nothing to do, meeting friends, baked sweet potatoes create more warmth; after shoveling snow After shoveling snow, you can enjoy a bowl of noodle soup and satisfy your stomach; it turns out that the cold is also an important seasoning, white radish can also be made into a delicious, hot fruit tea and persimmon cake is really a good match.
Spring -- FLOWER FLOWER (film episode)
When the rice planting season comes, the mountain wild vegetables are also a delicacy; the occasional spring snowfall, winter flowers taste increase has become a common meal; spring game a lot of randomly collocation, the fresh and elegant flavor of the lips and teeth; occasional leisure I will also invent my own food and enjoy the joy and surprise in the process of creation.
"The ingredients themselves are cold and rational, but through the hands of simple ingredients to wear out the life itself things obsessive and hot. "
Five years ago the mother suddenly left. She left home without a word, as if she didn't care whether she could live on her own in Komori.
Probably there is still resentment in the heart, so the winter baked Christmas cake, change the red and green to yellow and purple; no matter how to make can not taste the taste of mother's potato bread, can only quietly wait for mother; contains the thoughts of mother, step by step to follow the way of mother, making Worcestershire sauce and chocolate hazelnut butter; repeatedly tried and failed, and finally made the same as the taste of mother's When you make the same taste as your mom's fried vegetables, you realize how much effort your mom puts into cooking.
Finally, at the end of the fall, I received a letter from my mother.
" Movies extend human life three times, they shape our world. "
"Little Forest" through a lot of ink, carefully shaping the image of Ichiko, an idyllic girl, clean face with a light smile, eyes emanating a clear light, stubborn growth also let the vitality of life released at will.
Ichiko was surrounded by green mountains and water from a young age, the blue sky and white clouds in front of her eyes, and cicadas and birds chirping in front of her ears. Over time, under the influence of the natural scenery, she gradually formed a kind of eternal attachment to the nature, and her character was also subconsciously melted into the thick and solid soil, and the flowing clouds of the agile and elegant.
She believes in tiptoeing to the ripe wild fruits, and has always believed in the principle of hands-on living, experiencing everything herself. Every day, she grows and harvests her own food, makes it herself, and then enjoys it quietly by herself, often sharing the flavor with her best friend Noriko.
The days passed quietly through spring, summer, fall and winter.
She arranged her self-birth in the silence of the mountains, without softness or delicacy, strong as a tree.
"If there is an afterlife, be a tree, very silent, very proud, never relying, never looking." I think that would probably be a reflection of her.
The village is surrounded by a large forest, and the people rely on farming for their livelihood. The film focuses on the ordinary fruits and vegetables of the countryside, and on the simple food, but it reveals the concept of a life of self-sufficiency, which is based on nature.
The people of Komori passed down the practice of cooking chestnuts with sugar, but it was a flavor for everyone. Elegant and quiet mountains and rivers of all things to nourish the townspeople good and simple character, they swim every day in the blue sky and blue water, sunrise and sunset, generations, grandparents rely on each other, it seems to be unaware of the Wei-Jin.
On the other hand, the city life, mechanical monotony. Under the cover of the fast-paced traffic, people are indifferent and emotionally detached. Both Ichiko and Yuta had gone to the city full of hope, but eventually they crossed the sky of burnout and returned to the idyllic countryside of their dreams.
Yuta, unwilling to live a life of "being killed and then complaining about the way he was killed" and tired of shallow people saying empty words, decided to return to the countryside, embracing nature, and regaining the courage to move forward in the rural countryside.
In contrast to Yuuta, who came back to face his life, Ichiko came back to escape, even because she had no other place to go.
Ichiko's stubborn insistence on cultivating tomatoes in the open air, and her capricious laziness in not cutting the weeds in the red bean field, even if pigeons would steal them. In her hesitant attitude is the fact that she can't convince herself to stay in Komori, but she can't fit into the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.
Ichiko is on her own, trying to live her life but dodging, covering up, and self-deceiving about things that matter. Those who want to live in Komori all the time, who try to accept everything and take it seriously, are the ones who enjoy life from the bottom of their hearts.
"Staying in Komori because the city can't get a foothold is disrespectful to Komori." After her own reluctance and some mental struggle, she decides to choose where she goes in another positive way.