Coincidentally, about 4 days before the release of this movie onto Netflix I had actually sent the trailer to V. And then after my trip to Hawaii I ended up watching this with my favorite Canadian.
{Spoilers, maybe}
One of the first things that really got me going about this movie was the food. Albeit the food was only really the focal point of the first of the three short films that made up the movie itself, but that one short really made me glad that my favorite Canadian and I had gotten food to eat beforehand. The food shots were Ghibli-tier. You know what I'm talking about, the Ponyo shot of them eating soup that his mom made and all of that.
Beyond the food though, was this sort of quietness about the whole film. It was a reoccurring thing that tied everything together and made it a cohesive trilogy of sorts. In the first short it was about a man that kind of just walked through life and who's life seemed more like a frame through which to view the world rather than the focal piece within the frame if you know what I mean? (I just worked an 8 hour shift so I'm not certain that what I'm saying makes any coherent sense, but I didn't want to lose my motivation to write this post at all so here I am.) There was a sense of melancholy as he was narrating his childhood and his first love all revolving around that bowl of noodles that followed him since his youth. It was also very mysterious in a way because the world around him kept moving in unpredictable ways and we never really got to know what happened to the people he watched.
In a way completely different from how the first short was, the second short was a whirlwind of circumstances that were more dynamic. It was a story of a girl who was thrust into the spotlight and through this became disenchanted with this life that many people idealize. I think that this short would especially resonate with anyone who is a workaholic or who is often blinded by all of the shortcomings in life rather than the blessings.
In the third short, one that S and I both agreed was the best of the three by the end of the movie, it was a romance. I mean who doesn't love a good romance story full of drama and emotions? Sorry, that was kind of the broad summary of every romance story ever hehe. It called back a lot of memories of nostalgia, a sort of archaic and classic feeling that you can't get nowadays what with Spotify and digitalized music. There is a very romanticized feeling about it with the use of recorders, and a reverence for things that haven't changed in the face of progress or technological advancement. It's about a boy and a girl and their unspoken love for one another. The things left unsaid leave room for many unfortunate misunderstandings, however the two of them are able to come together at the very end. This short in particular was a bit of a wake-up call. The main character was almost an echo of myself, not that I study quite that hard, but just the times when I would brush my parents off or ignore them in order to study for a test. It really provoked this self-reflection in me to wonder what exactly I was studying for which was to not burden my parents and to make them proud, and to wonder why I was allowing myself to treat them so roughly because I was stressed. The main character missed out on so much because he was caught up in fulfilling his dream that he hurt the people around him. I guess, before you start to work hard, it's best to think about why you're working hard and not to neglect the present in order to achieve what you want in the future. Good lord I am just a wheel of cheesy feelings aren't I?
Anyways, this sort of vignette style of movie is one that I was not expecting. I was expecting a lot of food and for eating to be the focal point of the movie, but instead I got such a nostalgic and contemplative feeling from the movie. It really made me reflect on myself and it made me quite emotional. It was a good movie to watch with a friend, to laugh together, to discuss together, and to just enjoy hanging out with someone I don't see too often anymore. I'd recommend that you watch the movie if you haven't done so already. Each of the shorts is strong enough to stand alone and I think it's really commendable to be able to tell three successful stories that could each reach out and touch a whole wide range of audiences and for them to be melded together into one beautiful masterpiece.
{No screenshots because Netflix heh}
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