To watch the Japanese movie "The Embalmer", you need to find a quiet environment, meditate and meditate. Although you don't have to shower and change clothes, you still need to maintain a unique calmness. Because the film shows you such a kind of calmness, calmness in the face of death, calmness in the face of life, calmness in the face of family, love and friendship.
Kobayashi Dawu is an incompetent cellist. Because of the disbandment of the orchestra, he had to return to his hometown where he had been away for many years, and his career became a serious problem before him. The care for his wife and the unique self-esteem of a man Being independent allowed him to choose a profession that was not accepted by society and his family - an embalmer. The camera shows us the confusion of Kobayashi Dawu as he walks on a snowy day. It also shows us the concepts of immortality and eternity that Kobayashi perceives through the work of the embalmer. When the melodious sound of the cello sounds on Christmas night, what we see is no longer a cold world, but a peaceful and warm world. President Sasaki slept peacefully, and club friend Yuriko smiled peacefully. The beautiful cello leads us to the wilderness and nature, allowing us to appreciate the flourishing life in the snow and fog. As a result, the decay in winter turned into high-spirited greenery, swans danced, water rippled, and the spirit of all things soared, which also brought joy to the human body.
This is a touching scene and a reflection on life. After going through the difficult journey of death, life has changed from disappearance to eternity. And this eternity is beauty, a testimony given to everyone by the years.
"Death may be a door. Passing away is not the end, but transcendence, taking the next step, just like a door." This is the language of the cremator, but it truly reflects the theme of the film. . Yes, life itself is a process, a journey from a starting point to an end point. During this period, we have to experience pain, sadness, love, nostalgia and reluctance. During this period, we also have to experience parting and resentment. But when real death comes, all we can do is to be indifferent, face the dead and disappear indifferently, and at the same time pray and bless for new life and hope.
Through the film, we can see the life course of Daigo Kobayashi. At the age of six, he was abandoned by his father, and then his mother died, and he began his lonely life. When the little body in the bathroom trembles under the gaze of the landlady, and when the woman in the bathroom tells Meixiang to treat Xiaolin well in a gentle tone, what we see is the love between lives.
The bathroom proprietress, Yamashita Aiko, is also a lonely woman. Her husband died young. She tenaciously and stubbornly guards the small bathroom alone, talking and laughing as usual. Be easy-going and approachable to everyone you interact with. Regardless of whether they are strangers or familiar people, they can feel the warmth and peace from her body. This woman and mother who walked through life independently gave Xiaolin not only calmness when facing the hardships of life, but also calmness when facing death.
When the camera turns to Kobayashi Dago to bury the proprietress Yamashita Aiko, and when the cremator stands by the furnace and speaks philosophical words about life and death to Yamashita Aiko’s son, what you feel at this time is a Peace in the process of life. Yes, everyone will die, and death is just like winter moving towards spring, it is a process. In this process, we have walked well, loved sincerely, and carefully cared for everyone around us. This is enough, just like the cremator said to Yanzi Yamashita who was placed in the coffin: Thank you. See you in the next life!
This kind of "see you again in the next life" also happened to Kobayashi Dawu's biological father. The end of the film gave us a sad scene. Kobayashi Kazuko, the father who once abandoned Kobayashi, passed away. His death was lonely and tragic. A person was lying on the cold tatami, with no relatives or care around him. All he had was a death notice from the police station and a small stone in his hand. This stone was given to him by six-year-old Xiao Lin, and it was the only communication and exploration between him and his relatives. It was this pebble that brought Xiao Lin back to his childhood and the happy time with his father, which relieved his resentment and dissatisfaction with his father for thirty years. Life thus has an end and perfection.
Xiaolin completed a baptism of life for a father whose face was no longer familiar to him. He baptized the rough life of a father with heart, sincerity, understanding and sympathy until he was sent to that sacred place. When the sunshine overflowed Xiaolin Dawu's face, the sunshine also reflected on Xiaolin's wife Meixiang. In the belly of the vanilla - there is a life gestating and growing.
This is the cycle of life, the beginning of a new life, like the rising greenery in the cello.
It cannot be denied that the film criticizes reality. The work that Kobayashi Dago is engaged in is first not recognized by his wife Meixiang, and then by the son of his childhood friend Yamashita Aiko. Even Kobayashi himself is not convinced. The undertaker's work was initially skeptical. However, the dedication of the old president Sasaki infected him, and the deeds of several embalmers guided him, which made Kobayashi more deeply aware of the significance of the existence of an embalmer, and then work better. The swans flying in the sky and the octopus that lived and died are all witnesses of Xiaolin's profound understanding of life. At the end of the film, Xiao Lin's encoffining of his father becomes a perfect theme, implying that death itself is the prelude to life. And death does not mean the end of life, it is just a node, a stay of life. Then life will start again and move on to another journey.
Cello music is the music that runs throughout the film. Its melodious and soothing rhythm tells Kobayashi Dawu's perception of life and understanding of death, and tells a kind of persistence in life and no regrets about death. The film's composer, Joe Hisaishi, is a famous Japanese composer who has scored many films, TV series, and cartoons, and his achievements are extraordinary.
First let us listen carefully to the music in "The Embalmer". "Ave Maria" is the song played by Kobayashi on Christmas night. The cello is slowly introduced, and then the importance of life and death, love and hate, togetherness and separation is reiterated through the dialogue between the cello and the piano; "Memory" is the background music that appeared when Xiao Lin was enclosing his father, low and soothing, like A cool river flows slowly through Xiao Lin's memory. At that time, my father was still young and the relationship between his parents was still good, and he was living happily under the care of his family. Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is the song given at the beginning of the film. It is cheerful, bright, passionate, and full of strong breath of life. . Three songs, three flavors, and three different feelings of life create a unique atmosphere for the film. This atmosphere is both joyful and touching.
Life is an eternal topic that has been said by people since ancient times. The interpretation of life also shows different cognitions of different nations due to different cultural backgrounds. The cultural connotation shown in the Japanese film "The Embalmer" is restrained and restrained, and it also promotes vitality and new power. Therefore, it has received recognition and attention from many people, and has thus crossed national borders and won many awards such as the top award at the 32nd Montreal International Film Festival in Canada, the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the 81st Academy Awards, and more.
Watching a video with a clear theme always makes us think a lot and feel a lot. How to move from the impetuous and noisy life to calmness, how to face the unbearable hardships and hardships in life, is what everyone needs to think about, and it must be something everyone needs to truly understand. Perhaps, this is another meaning that "The Embalmer" wants to show - the purpose of baptizing death is to treat new life better, and everyone should know how to cherish life!
Mumen’s eldest son, formerly known as Liu Ping, is a member of the Gansu Provincial Writers Association. He is good at writing novels and essays. His works have been published in Fraternity, Storyteller, New Story, Micro-Novel Selections, and Tianchi. "Little Novels", "Comedy World", "Little Novels Monthly" and other newspapers and magazines, anthologies and e-books.