Musical analysis of the film Funeral.

Dawu (played by Masahiro Motoki) was originally a cellist in an orchestra. However, due to the dissolution of the orchestra, he had to give up the "embarrassing" poster road of the performer and return to his hometown. At this time, he found a job advertisement "regardless of age, high salary is guaranteed." The actual working hours are very short. Domestic helpers who travel. NK agent. "Looking at this job with low threshold requirements, Wu Xinran applied. For some reason, he came to an old office with a coffin. President Sasaki (played by Tsutomu Yamazaki) didn't even look at his resume, but only looked at his face and decided to admit him. But when I was surprised to ask him about his job, I didn't expect that it was not "travel housekeeping" but "happy housekeeping", and NK was the dead NK. Seeing that this job was not what I expected, I realized in panic that I had found a job at the wedding venue with my wife Xiang Mei (played by Ryoko Hirosue) when I was hesitant.

Dawu's new life began. During the probation period, he saw a beautiful woman he thought, but unfortunately he was a man, leaving his young daughter's dead mother, leaving a lip print on his face that was respected and loved by his younger generation ... There were all kinds of experiences waiting for him to leave. Unconsciously, Dawu began to understand the work of the undertaker, but because of the misunderstanding to Mei, after the incident was revealed, he could not understand him, left a word "dirty" and ran back to his family. For Dawu, Xiang Mei is his only relative, because his mother died a few years ago and his father disappeared when he was young, so Xiang Mei's departure is a very sad thing for Dawu. But in order to do his duty well, Dawu took out his most sincere attitude to attend the ceremony. On the other hand, he is waiting for Xiang Mei to come back. In this way, as the days passed, Dawu became familiar with the work of being a mortician and felt full and proud in various ceremonies. However, in the face of Xiang Mei's pregnancy, his childhood mother died, and his father, who had been missing for 30 years, died. How should Dawu, as an undertaker, face his role as a husband and the death of important people around him?

In September this year, when people paid attention to the Venice Film Festival where three international Japanese movie master were shortlisted, this humble "embarrassed teacher" unexpectedly won the grand prize at the humble Montreal International Film Festival.

Y?jir? Takita, the director of this film, was born as a pink film. 0 1, with the box office dark horse "Yin" famous. In 2003, he changed his style and made a masterpiece of costume, Life of a Gentleman, which won the Oscar for Best Film. Takita is good at dealing with magnificent and bizarre fantasy materials, but also has the ingenious skills to create plain and serious dramas. Embarrassment tells the story of the growth of a novice funeral assistant. Although this theme has a strange but plain perspective, which is quite difficult for directors to control, Takita makes it emotional, slightly comic, light and touching. Focusing on Japanese funeral scenes, the film weaves a series of meaningful themes, such as husband and wife's love, life and death, and successfully touches overseas audiences.

Interestingly, the birth of this film originated from Masahiro Motoki's wish-"I want to be a mortician". Masahiro Motoki, with outstanding personality, was the winner of the16th Japanese Academy Awards, and has participated in many masterpieces such as sorge the Spy and Twin Sons. He talked to the president of the company about his desire to win support, and with the help of the producer in Toshiaki nakazawa, the film about the funeral master entered the preparatory stage. Nakazawa Tomohide found Kundo Koyama, a famous variety show director, and asked him to write a script. Komiyama Xun is not a full-time screenwriter. His most famous "work" is the cooking competition program "Cooking Iron Man" which is widely loved by TV viewers. He used to play with tickets occasionally and write a script for the TV series Tokyo Wonderful Hotel. At first Xiaoshan refused because of the theme. Later, Benmu found that Naoto Takenaka, the manager of the same firm, and Xiaoshan were college classmates, so he came to intercede with them. Hill was moved by the producer's sincerity and decided to give it a try.

Hill visited the director of the temple and the staff of the funeral venue to learn about it, and also interviewed two professional funeral workers for more than three hours. Finally, I wrote a play based on these materials.

This film brings together a group of powerful actors. In addition to Masahiro Motoki, the veteran undertaker of the film is played by Tsutomu Yamazaki, who has extraordinary acting skills and a strong sense of existence, while Dawu's wife Xiang Mei is played by Ryoko Hirosue, who has now lost her idol temperament. Kimiko Yo, a senior supporting actor, and Takashi Sasano from One Minute of Knight also joined us. They brilliantly interpreted this profound and moving story with colorful acting skills.

Joe Hisaishi, a master musician, also added a lot of color to the film. He created the background music with cello as the main instrument for this film. The sound of the piano is sometimes intense and sometimes gentle, just like the inner emotional flow of the protagonist Masahiro Motoki. This kind of music complements the stage of the movie "Ye Ping in Yamagata Prefecture", and the scenery full of natural atmosphere in the four seasons is lyrical and pleasant, which is particularly beautiful under the contrast of the piano.

Everyone will be a farewell person, a farewell person. This is a film with the universal theme of life and death, which tells the story of the love of flesh and blood, the love of husband and wife, the righteousness of friends and the pride of work, bringing people laughter, tears and a unique touch.

The origin of "I want to be a mortician" is only because of a wish of Masahiro Motoki. Masahiro Motoki, a character actor who won the Best Actor Award at the 16 Japanese Academy Award for Five Sumo Boys, took part in a ceremony called "Starting from this World" on a trip more than ten years ago. This experience impressed Benmu deeply, and he became interested in the funeral industry. Therefore, he expressed his wish to Toshiaki nakazawa, the president of the company who had participated in the production of the film "Twin Sons" starring him: "How about trying to make a movie about the dead world?" Hearing this, Nakazawa Tomohide felt impossible. After studying "The World of the Dead Teacher", he thought that this theme had a unique attraction, so Nakazawa Tomohide personally served as the producer and began the production planning of "The Dead Teacher". He nominated TV screenwriter Kundo Koyama to write the script, but at first Hill didn't accept the task. Later, Benmu heard that Naoto Takenaka's agent was in the same firm as himself, and he and Hill were college classmates, so he dragged himself into this relationship and asked Hill again. This moved the hill very much. "The other party is looking forward to it." Then "I'll try."

On the theme of funeral, Hill first thought of Funeral directed by Itami juzo. At first, Hill found it difficult. First of all, it has been decided that Masahiro Motoki will play the leading role in the film, and the shooting location is on the Zhuangnei Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. So Hill pondered the theme of the film and went to Zhuangnei District, where he visited the abbot of the temple and the staff of the funeral ceremony, and interviewed two funeral personnel for about three hours. Regarding the "funeral ceremony", Hill focused on "the beauty of the funeral teacher's behavior", and the embryonic form of the story gradually came out.

The embalmer observed all kinds of deaths from the perspective of a novice embalmer and stared at the caring people around the deceased. Everyone will have "giving" and "being paid", which is the most common theme about "people". It shows friendship, affection, love and work dignity by describing a story between a couple. In laughter and tears, the story of a late teacher will lead the audience to experience all the true feelings and true love in the world.

In early September, 2008, Mourning the Master won the highest prize in the 32nd Montreal International Film Festival. A few days later, The Master of Mourning won three awards at China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival: the audience's favorite foreign film, the audience's favorite foreign director and the audience's favorite foreign actor. Soon, good news came from Japan. The film The Dead Teacher will represent Japan in the 8 1 American Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, which can be said to be heating up step by step. After the film was officially released in Japan on September 13, the audience seemed impatient, and the film made a high box office of nearly 3 billion yen in constant praise.

Just as Slumdog Millionaire swept eight "Little Golden Statues" under the eyes of the whole world, in the competition for best foreign language film, the underrated Japanese film Buried Master won for the first time and became the number one dark horse of this year's Oscar. The love, affection and outlook on life and death woven in the story are deeply touching and quite humanistic.

Unemployed cellist Dawu returned to his hometown and became a undertaker to send the deceased to Elysium because of the misleading advertisement of "Travel Assistant". He persisted in all kinds of ups and downs for many years, and he was afraid. Although the film takes the literary route, when the subject washes his body, he finds that the other person is a "male". The embarrassment and added joy brought by the accident really made people laugh.

The narrative of the whole movie is always in a state of relaxation, without too much procrastination. Compared with Japanese literary films, which have always been known for their dullness, the rhythm of "death" is still relatively moderate. Moreover, at the beginning, the protagonist consciously worked lowly and concealed the facts from relatives and friends, and the first job continued to vomit. Later, his friends discriminated against him and his wife ran away from home. His many disappointments also set a suspense for the development of the plot.

Masahiro Motoki, a Japanese movie star, is said to practice cello hard, so his role is honest and a bit like a musician. Because my father ran away from home when he was a child, his personality was shadowy, and later he took part in the work of a teacher, which was not understood and added to his misery. He has always had all kinds of entanglements in his heart.

Tsutomu Yamazaki, an old actor, plays the role of an old undertaker. Although he is eccentric, his words gradually inspired the protagonist. His admiration when eating puffer fish and his philosophy of life were not intentional. Ryoko Hirosue, who has lost her idol temperament, plays a lovely wife, which adds some tenderness to this film.

The most commendable thing about Embarrassment is that the story is well laid, especially the role played by Kimiko Yo, a famous supporting actor, seems redundant, but when Dawu's father died, her vicissitudes revealed the pain of ungrateful people. Moreover, the hero picked up the stone in his father's hand, which triggered childhood memories and was quite nostalgic and sad with a good lyric soundtrack.

Director Y?jir? Takita was born as an AV filmmaker, but after the baptism of films such as My Life and Teacher of Yin and Yang, he mastered the drama skills and gradually became proficient. Although the theme of "embarrassment" seems dull and boring, it was reversed by director Tianlong, with a long emotion and a slightly comic effect.

The background music created by Joe Hisaishi, a master musician, breaks the heavy burden of death with rich melodies dominated by cello, and the music is like the torrent of the hero's heart. In particular, the stream of consciousness of the protagonist playing the piano in the grassland is really a stroke of genius, lyrical and pleasant, especially romantic. The scene of eating chicken in Silent Night emphasizes that only by getting rid of the shadow of death can we enjoy life. At the end, Being an Undertaker, with piano music and artistic techniques, expresses a kind of respect for humble work, which is both sensational and sublimated.

In fact, everyone will experience life and death. In fact, life just lingers between opening eyes and closing eyes. In fact, the dying master seems to be telling stories about different people's deaths, but there are tears in his laughter, which exudes a kind of human touch. Recalling the hero's name "Dawu", he was not afraid of death, and he fully realized it. Only by accepting all kinds of true feelings in life can he better enjoy the art of "life".

In order to play his role well, Masahiro Motoki practiced the cello hard. When shooting location in Yamagata Prefecture, he practiced in his room every night.

? At first, the producer arranged for Ryoko Hirosue to play the classmate of the protagonist's wife. Later, in order to increase her role, she played his wife Xiang Mei instead. For this change, screenwriter Kundo Koyama specially rewrote the script.

? Kundo Koyama likes listening to music when writing. While writing the script for this film, he listened to the CD of Moriquand played by Yo-Yo Ma. Influenced by this, he set the protagonist's initial occupation as a cellist.

To tell the truth, if The Dead Teacher didn't win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, I wouldn't go to see Japanese movies. For the Japanese film Destiny, which stayed on the good film contract for a long time ago, I was moved by the sparse Japanese films. In fact, there are many people who share my views. /kloc-Before March 0/9, I couldn't find the complete source of this film on the Internet at all, but I downloaded DVDrip format on electric donkey and BT in recent days, and then I can buy D5 discs in a small shop near my home.

People have always been extremely taboo about death, especially China people's attitude towards death has always been very negative. Of course, a profession that serves the deceased like a funeral has always been spurned by people. I think of a junior high school classmate who used to work in a crematorium. At that time, many parents used him as a negative textbook to educate their children.

Before I came into contact with movies, the first thing I came into contact with was the soundtrack CD of the movie. At first, I had to conceive the plot in my mind through the soundtrack of the movie, which was a wonderful feeling. When the picture of the movie was combined with the soundtrack, I found that Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack was great! This is another attraction for me to watch this film. I have to admit that Joe Hisaishi, as a rare master of the new era soundtrack, deserves the movie music as much as the big-name musicians in Europe and America. It can even be said that Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Therefore, I will take Joe Hisaishi's music as the main line and music as the breakthrough point to analyze the music art of Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi in the film The Dying Master.

Simple and simple plot and melodious music constitute the overall tone of the film "The Dying Master", so Joe Hisaishi's grasp of the soundtrack in the film is also measured. The protagonist Kobayashi Dawu was originally a cellist, so Joe Hisaishi used the cello as the main instrument to interpret the theme paragraphs in the film "The Dying Master" through a simple string quintet.

Joe Hisaishi's music scores are different from those of some European and American music masters. Generally speaking, European and American music masters prefer the "counterpoint" relationship of sound and picture synchronization. They pursue what music looks like, and put music in the position of "background", trying to make music render the environment, and music is even equivalent to sound effects. Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack is different. Most of his music is parallel to the picture, so you can't see the obvious feeling of sound and picture synchronization. But in fact, the music at this time is trying to portray the psychological state of the protagonist, which is why Japanese movies seem to be slow-paced, but they are very attractive. Music has become another protagonist in the film! Integrating music into narrative is the genius of Joe Hisaishi's score. From the summer of Kikujiro to the soundtrack of Spirited Away, an Oscar-winning animated feature film, all these ideas permeate it. This reminds me of many European and American "alternative" musicians, such as John Barry and ennio morricone. Their music rarely achieves the synchronization of sound and picture, but more often uses music to participate in narrative, portray the psychology of characters with music, infect the audience's hearing and awaken the audience's inner voice with hearing.

There is a passage in "Mourning the Lord" that makes people remember deeply. Xiao Lin couldn't sleep at night after attending the funeral ceremony for the first time. He thought a lot about his mother who died young, his father who abandoned his family and eloped with his mistress ... At this time, with Kobayashi's monologue, the camera vertically swept the portrait of his mother and some belongings from the first perspective, and finally landed on the cello box that Kobayashi took out. Then, we heard the theme of the protagonist Masahiro Motoki's personal performance as an undertaker. At this time, the lens was handled skillfully, and it was parallel to Kobayashi's childhood. At the same time, strings such as piano are added to the dry sound of cello, which highlights the warm atmosphere of love. This song is called "On the record" on the soundtrack CD. In the following plot, we learned from Kobayashi's wife that this song was my father's favorite. In fact, I personally think it is wise for the director to take this piece as the theme of the film. Although we heard Kobayashi's monologue about his father abandoning his family and eloping with his mistress, the music evolved in a warm melody tone. Does this also pave the way for Kobayashi to forgive his father at the end of the film? The most complete appearance of this song was at the end of the film, and the name in the original CD was changed to "Memory" (this song will be described in detail later).

There is an easily overlooked theme in the soundtrack of the film, which appeared twice in the original soundtrack. The name is "The Beautiful Dead", and this piece of music was added at all the funerals attended by Xiao Lin. The score appeared twice. The first time was in the plot of Sasaki's old undertaker performing a funeral ceremony for a young mother. When the man who lost his lover suddenly threw himself on the coffin of his dead wife and burst into tears, the score reached its climax. The theme of the score begins with a quintet composed of cello and other strings. It is sad and sad. It depicts the complex feelings of the families of the deceased when watching Kobayashi's funeral ceremony, which makes the audience feel the same. The climax passage in the score rises to the main melody with the violin, and the main melody gradually rises from the second degree. With a large span and soothing soundtrack, it depicts that the great man was finally infected by the bereaved teacher played by Kobayashi and Sasaki, and the music has already been generalized! The second appearance of this piece was at Kobayashi's funeral for the proprietress of the bathhouse, and the leading instrument changed from cello to clarinet. A tentative motive on the piano introduced Xiaolin's psychological feelings when she held a funeral for the proprietress of the bathhouse. With Hou Xian's music and clarinet, the gorgeous plucked harp seems to describe the ordinary and great life of the proprietress in the bathhouse. This time, there was less sadness and more longing and hope. When Kobayashi's wife finally forgave her husband, the music ended in his shallow smile. ...

Another shining soundtrack paragraph in the film is in the scene of "Eight Dragons" that everyone talks about. In fact, this song started with Kobayashi eating chicken legs and playing the piano at NK Company on Christmas Eve. Kobayashi first played "Ode to Our Lady" by Cournot and San Sang. With the turn of the picture, we saw a lot of edited Kobayashi holding a funeral ceremony for the deceased and saw Kobayashi's busy figure. Music has also changed naturally and smoothly from ode to the theme of teacher mourning. The name of this song in the original CD is actually that the director also conveyed through music that with the deepening of Kobayashi's work, he gradually understood himself and the true meaning of life. This piece of music is complete and accomplished in one go, which is why I think this piece of music is very good. Music begins with a great classical work. It can be said that the theme of Funeral Master coincides with some musical elements of Ode to Our Lady in a sense. Joe Hisaishi handled this piece simply and smoothly, instead of stiffly splicing the two themes together, when the music of Ode to Notre Dame and the theme of Funeral Master smoothly transitioned together. The theme of Funeral Club, which started with a string ensemble, is full of life, lively and full of hope, especially the beautiful white swan and a touch of new green in spring. Although the film depicts the plot of death, there is no sad atmosphere. At this time, the narrative of the film is completely dominated by music. When the violin and viola were added to the soundtrack, we saw Kobayashi working hard and eating sushi while driving. When Kobayashi came home after a busy day, he found that his wife had come back, and the soundtrack of the movie finally ended. ...

The most tearful scene in the film is undoubtedly the scene in which Kobayashi performs the funeral ceremony for his father at the end of the film. With the sudden drop of pebbles in my father's hand, the most touching theme of the movie "Memories" sounded quietly ... There was no line in this play, and everything was described by music. At this time, the director interweaves Kobayashi's memories of his father with the plot of Kobayashi's funeral for his father at this time, and we see that the face of the out-of-focus father gradually becomes clear. The theme of this song is exactly the same as that of the undertaker, but it is full of tenderness, and the affection between father and son spreads in a mind that keeps splitting things. When I saw this episode, I was in tears. I was moved not only by my father's persistent apology to my family, but also by the echo of the music theme in the film. This similar soundtrack theme appears many times in the film, which actually implies that Kobayashi must finally make a funeral ceremony for his father. Many people say that the ending is nothing new, but in fact this is the greatest intention! This is what the Oscar judges value most: the return of humanity! This point will be involved in both Asian films and European and American films. In particular, several Oscar-winning films this year are all about the return of human nature, fundamentally because the return of human nature is what this society needs most!

Back to the score, the score is simple and simple, and the melody is like a song. The dialogue between cello and piano seems to replace the dialogue between Kobayashi and his father. Although there are no lines, they are expressed implicitly through the plot of sending stones. Can it be said that the cello actually symbolizes the father here, while the piano symbolizes Kobayashi? This piece of music replaced the hero's mouth, or surpassed the hero's mood at that time. Here we seem to see how much Kobayashi wants to see his father for the last time and how much he wants to talk to him. But in reality, the diaphragm finally made him see only his father's rigid body, which could only be expressed by touching. At this time, music seems to be a virtual conversation between father and son, or to see a normal father-son relationship. The music at this time describes the hero's mood so deeply and thoroughly, nuanced, tangled and unpretentious. I only heard the famous "playing with love" in "1900". Now I can say that I also fell in love with this soundtrack. This is so refreshing that I have to listen to it again and again. ...

In fact, Joe Hisaishi's music for the "embarrassed teacher" is very distinctive. For example, the playful soundtrack in Kobayashi Bathing in the Bathroom, the humorous music in Kobayashi's Participation in the Funeral Model, and some tentative and exciting themes in Kobayashi's First Report to NK Company are all very distinctive, rendering the atmosphere and setting off the mood of the protagonist. Especially at the end of the film, the director showed us a complete funeral ceremony. At this time, the music is jumping and happy, without the darkness and sadness brought by death, which seems to imply that Kobayashi is finally successful in his career and happy at home with his son. Everything ends in this brisk melody. ...

The plot and structure of The Dying Master may be simple, the theme conveyed may be simple, and the music may be simple; However, the lens design of the film is ingenious, the editing idea is exquisite, the soundtrack of Joe Hisaishi is exquisite and profound, and the philosophy of life discussed in the film is profound and optimistic. It can be said that I like this movie not only because of Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack, but also because it discusses the meaning of life, the value of life and the philosophy of life and death!