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Review: Maborosi (幻の光) (1995)
This movie was definitely about feeling. You just have to watch and feel and that’s the story. Not for everyone, but I can understand that it was creative.
Spoilers.
Story
Yumiko and Ikuo were married and had a 3 month old baby Yuichi. Ikuo died when he was walking along train tracks, leaving Yumiko and Yuichi. Years later, Yumiko married again to a widower, Tamio, who had a daughter Tomoko. They were introduced by a neighbour. Yumiko moved to a small town with Yuichi to be with Tamio and Tomoko.
Life seemed alright. Yumiko was getting along with Tomoko and Tamio was getting along with Yuichi. Yumiko and Tamio also seemed to have a romantic relationship as well. At one point, the family had visited Osaka (where Yumiko was from) for her brother’s wedding, and revisited some of the old haunts that she and Ikuo used to frequent.
One day at the market, an old lady told Yumiko it was good that Yuichi was only a baby when Ikuo died so that he wouldn’t have remembered his father. Yumiko retrieved a bell that was a gift to Ikuo, and pondered on it. Tamio got home late that night, somewhat drunk. Yumiko accused Tamio of hiding the reason why he’d returned to this small town. He’d told Yumiko that he’d done it to take care of his father, but he’d done it to marry his high school sweetheart who’d passed. Yumiko was hurt that Tamio had lied to her.
Towards the end of the movie, Yumiko questioned why Ikuo had committed suicide. Tamio said that sometimes, the sea calls to people. And that was the end.
As mentioned, this movie was more about the emotions than the plot. In fact, the dialogue was incredibly sparse, as much of the movie was spent watching our characters do things, walk around, etc. Instead, this movie was about Yumiko still struggling in her grief for Ikuo.
Production
The direction style was a huge part of this movie. As I mentioned, this movie had very sparse dialogue. Most of the time on screen is spent watching our characters do things, whether it was just walking on the street, working. Our characters barely spoke. It forced the viewer to let the feelings overcome them, and to sympathize with the characters.
Characters
Yumiko was our main character. Her late husband was Ikuo and her son was Yuichi. Tamio was her current husband, and Tomoko her stepdaughter. I will say the character profiles weren’t very deep. Because again, the movie was about feeling. While Yumiko was experiencing grief and confusion, that was just one part of her personality. We knew that she was kind and nice and responsible.
Yumiko and Ikuo had a special chemistry and it was cute to watch. They simply liked spending time together, watching each other, doing small things to remind each other of the other. So I understand why Ikuo’s death came as such a shock to Yumiko, because things seemed to be going well, and they had a newborn baby who needed both his parents. I understand why Yumiko needed help from her neighbours in those first months after the death.
Tamio was decent. But to be honest, he and Yumiko were not very familiar with each other when they married. They were set up through a friend. They only got to know each other afterwards, and we saw that they did try to open their hearts again, at one point we saw they had a sexual relationship.
I think the reason Yumiko was upset with Tamio’s lie was that she felt that Tamio should have been more distraught over the death of his ex-wife as Yumiko was over Ikuo. But everyone gets over grief differently and perhaps Tamio’s ex-wife’s death was not so confusion to him as Ikuo’s was to Yumiko.
Themes
I guess the dominant themes are a combination of death, grief, and mystery. It seemed that Yumiko had gotten over her grief as her relationship with Tamio grew, but when Ikuo was mentioned by the lady at the market, it brought on all those unresolved feelings, the why of Ikuo’s death. For Yumiko, it was a huge question mark because her perception of their relationship was the opposite of it.
At the same time, is there anything to question? Perhaps it truly was an accident. Maybe Ikuo was just on the tracks for fun and he didn’t get out of the way in time. That’s not to say there isn’t a possibility that Ikuo was harbouring negative thoughts.
Tamio has the opposite viewpoint of Yumiko though. He just accepts that sometimes, people die because they feel it’s time. Perhaps there is an answer out there, but Tamio thinks there’s no use finding out because you’ll just torture yourself.
Overall
An interesting movie. Different, but I understand what it’s going for.
Spoilers.
Story
Yumiko and Ikuo were married and had a 3 month old baby Yuichi. Ikuo died when he was walking along train tracks, leaving Yumiko and Yuichi. Years later, Yumiko married again to a widower, Tamio, who had a daughter Tomoko. They were introduced by a neighbour. Yumiko moved to a small town with Yuichi to be with Tamio and Tomoko.
Life seemed alright. Yumiko was getting along with Tomoko and Tamio was getting along with Yuichi. Yumiko and Tamio also seemed to have a romantic relationship as well. At one point, the family had visited Osaka (where Yumiko was from) for her brother’s wedding, and revisited some of the old haunts that she and Ikuo used to frequent.
One day at the market, an old lady told Yumiko it was good that Yuichi was only a baby when Ikuo died so that he wouldn’t have remembered his father. Yumiko retrieved a bell that was a gift to Ikuo, and pondered on it. Tamio got home late that night, somewhat drunk. Yumiko accused Tamio of hiding the reason why he’d returned to this small town. He’d told Yumiko that he’d done it to take care of his father, but he’d done it to marry his high school sweetheart who’d passed. Yumiko was hurt that Tamio had lied to her.
Towards the end of the movie, Yumiko questioned why Ikuo had committed suicide. Tamio said that sometimes, the sea calls to people. And that was the end.
As mentioned, this movie was more about the emotions than the plot. In fact, the dialogue was incredibly sparse, as much of the movie was spent watching our characters do things, walk around, etc. Instead, this movie was about Yumiko still struggling in her grief for Ikuo.
Production
The direction style was a huge part of this movie. As I mentioned, this movie had very sparse dialogue. Most of the time on screen is spent watching our characters do things, whether it was just walking on the street, working. Our characters barely spoke. It forced the viewer to let the feelings overcome them, and to sympathize with the characters.
Characters
Yumiko was our main character. Her late husband was Ikuo and her son was Yuichi. Tamio was her current husband, and Tomoko her stepdaughter. I will say the character profiles weren’t very deep. Because again, the movie was about feeling. While Yumiko was experiencing grief and confusion, that was just one part of her personality. We knew that she was kind and nice and responsible.
Yumiko and Ikuo had a special chemistry and it was cute to watch. They simply liked spending time together, watching each other, doing small things to remind each other of the other. So I understand why Ikuo’s death came as such a shock to Yumiko, because things seemed to be going well, and they had a newborn baby who needed both his parents. I understand why Yumiko needed help from her neighbours in those first months after the death.
Tamio was decent. But to be honest, he and Yumiko were not very familiar with each other when they married. They were set up through a friend. They only got to know each other afterwards, and we saw that they did try to open their hearts again, at one point we saw they had a sexual relationship.
I think the reason Yumiko was upset with Tamio’s lie was that she felt that Tamio should have been more distraught over the death of his ex-wife as Yumiko was over Ikuo. But everyone gets over grief differently and perhaps Tamio’s ex-wife’s death was not so confusion to him as Ikuo’s was to Yumiko.
Themes
I guess the dominant themes are a combination of death, grief, and mystery. It seemed that Yumiko had gotten over her grief as her relationship with Tamio grew, but when Ikuo was mentioned by the lady at the market, it brought on all those unresolved feelings, the why of Ikuo’s death. For Yumiko, it was a huge question mark because her perception of their relationship was the opposite of it.
At the same time, is there anything to question? Perhaps it truly was an accident. Maybe Ikuo was just on the tracks for fun and he didn’t get out of the way in time. That’s not to say there isn’t a possibility that Ikuo was harbouring negative thoughts.
Tamio has the opposite viewpoint of Yumiko though. He just accepts that sometimes, people die because they feel it’s time. Perhaps there is an answer out there, but Tamio thinks there’s no use finding out because you’ll just torture yourself.
Overall
An interesting movie. Different, but I understand what it’s going for.